BackgroundNew vegetable production systems, such as vertical farming, but also well-established in-door production methods led to the implementation of light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are the most important light sources in modern indoor-production systems and offer the possibility for enhancing growth and specific metabolitesin planta. Even though the number of studies investigating the effects of LED lighting on vegetable quality has increased, the knowledge about genus variability is limited. In the present study, the effect of different LED spectra on the metabolic and transcriptional level of the carotenoid metabolism in five differentBrassicasprouts was investigated. Cruciferous vegetables are one of the main food crops worldwide. Pak choi (Brassica rapassp.chinensis), cauliflower (Brassica oleraceavar.botrytis), Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapassp.pekinensis), green kale (Brassica oleraceassp.sabellica) and turnip cabbage (Brassica oleraceaspp.gongylodes) sprouts were grown under a combination of blue & white LEDs, red & white LEDs or only white LEDs to elucidate the genus-specific carotenoid metabolism.ResultsGenus-specific changes in plant weight and on the photosynthetic pigment levels as well as transcript levels have been detected. Interestingly, the transcript levels of the three investigated carotenoid biosynthesis genes phytoene synthase (PSY), β-cyclase (βLCY) and β-carotene hydroxylase (βOHASE1) were increased under the combination of blue & white LEDs in the majority of theBrassicasprouts. However, only in pak choi, the combination of blue & white LEDs enhanced the carotenoid levels by 14% in comparison to only white LEDs and by ~ 19% in comparison to red & white LEDs.ConclusionsThe effects of light quality differ within a genus which leads to the conclusion that production strategies have to be developed for individual species and cultivars to fully benefit from LED technology.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-023-04326-4.