With scarce nutrients and weak gravity, growing potatoes on the Moon or on other planets seems unimaginable. But the plant hormone strigolactone could make it possible, plant biologists from the University of Zurich have shown. The hormone supports the symbiosis between fungi and plant roots, thus encouraging plants’ growth – even under the challenging conditions found in space.
The idea has been bounced around for a while now – and not just by the likes of NASA, but also by private entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk: that of one day establishing colonies for people to live on the Moon or on other planets. Such visions, as well as the prospect of long-term human space expeditions in the future, raise the question of how to sustainably provide food for the people in space. One possible answer is to cultivate crops in situ under controlled conditions. However, the soils on the Moon and on other planets are surely lower in nutrients compared to our agricultural land. The alternative – transporting nutrient-rich soil and fertilizers up into space – comes with a high economic and ecological cost.
Plant-fungal symbiosis promotes plant growth
When looking for a possible solution, the research group working with Lorenzo Borghi of the University of Zurich and Marcel Egli of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts concentrated on the process of mycorrhiza, a symbiotic association between fungi and plant roots. In this symbiosis, the fungal hyphae supply the plant roots with additional water, nitrogen, phosphates and trace elements from the ground. In return they get access to sugar and fat produced by the plant. This symbiosis is stimulated by hormones of the strigolactone family, which most plants secrete into the soil around their roots. The process of mycorrhization can greatly increase plant growth and thereby substantially improve crop yields – especially in soil that is low in nutrients.
Absence of gravity impedes mycorrhization
In space, cultivated plants would not just have to contend with low-nutrient soil, but also with conditions of microgravity, i.e. almost zero gravity. In order to investigate the influence of such an environment on plant growth, the researchers cultivated petunias and mycorrhizal fungi under simulated low gravity conditions. Petunias provide a model organism for plants of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which include for example tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants.
The experiments revealed that microgravity hindered the mycorrhization and thus reduced the petunias’ uptake of nutrients from the soil. But the plant hormone strigolactone can counteract this negative effect. Plants that secreted high levels of strigolactone and fungi which the researchers had treated with a synthetic strigolactone hormone were able to thrive in the low-nutrient soil despite the microgravity conditions.
Best practice for food production in space
“In order to get crops such as tomatoes and potatoes to grow in the challenging conditions of space, it is necessary to encourage the formation of mycorrhiza,” summarizes research leader Lorenzo Borghi. “This seems to be possible using the strigolactone hormone. Our findings may therefore pave the way for the successful cultivation in space of the types of plants that we grow on Earth.”
Learn more: Plant Hormone Makes Space Farming a Possibility
The Latest on: Space farming
[google_news title=”” keyword=”space farming” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Space farming
- La Farm Bakery to open its first Raleigh locations with two new spotson May 15, 2024 at 11:38 am
La Farm Bakery, which opened in Cary in 1999, will debut locations in downtown Raleigh and North Raleigh. Why it matters: Run by James Beard-nominated baker Lionel Vatinet, La Farm is one of the ...
- FARM Group's Flora and Fauna opens May 22 in former Back in the Day Bakery spaceon May 15, 2024 at 9:20 am
Just three months after the venerable Back in the Day Bakery closed after 22 years at the corner of Bull and 40th streets in the Starland District, Flora and Fauna blooms in its place with the same ...
- Chunk of space debris lands in Sask. farm fieldon May 15, 2024 at 4:00 am
As a farmer in rural Saskatchewan, Barry Sawchuk is used to removing rocks and weeds from his fields. But he recently discovered a two-metre wide, 40-kilogram heap of twisted, burnt metal.
- Peek inside Stew Leonard’s 2nd farm-fresh NJ grocery store (photos)on May 14, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Farm-fresh grocery chain Stew Leonard’s is gearing up for ... The 56,000-square-foot store takes over space left vacant by kosher supermarket Seasons. It will offer produce, dairy and meats from local ...
- Why Doctor Who's Space Babies mean more than you might thinkon May 14, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Even the 'Bogeyman', ultimately, is saved by the Doctor because of his empathetic understanding that it's our one-of-a-kind nature that makes us special in this world, and he doesn't want to see him ...
- Dunwoody allows State Farm office campus to add hotel, 300 apartmentson May 14, 2024 at 1:41 pm
Instead of more office space, the developer behind a massive corporate campus in Dunwoody will be able to add a hotel and hundreds of apartments.
- Dunwoody City Council OKs rezoning for State Farm campus' final phaseon May 14, 2024 at 12:20 pm
During a Monday meeting, the Dunwoody City Council unanimously approved a request to rezone a 2.6-acre parcel that will house the final phase of KDC’s Park Center, paving the way for the Texas-based ...
- See what the historic geomagnetic storm looked like from spaceon May 14, 2024 at 10:58 am
But cameras were also trained on the storm from space, capturing phantasmal monochromatic shots ... The New York Times reports the storm disrupted some navigational systems in farming equipment in the ...
- These Indianapolis students live in a food desert, so they're learning to farmon May 14, 2024 at 2:30 am
Allegiane Prepratory Academy, a west side charter school, offers regenerative urban farming class for students to learn how to grow their own food.
via Bing News