A team from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M has achieved that a handful of chickpea plants complete their life cycle in a substrate that imitates the lunar regolith. That is to say, (for the first time) it has been possible for a legume of direct nutritional interest to germinate, develop flowers and produce seeds in a medium of this type.
But, let’s go for twists.
Grow chickpeas on the Moon!? Although that is the most striking headline, the truth is that it is not exactly that what researchers have shown. We have been trying to find ways to grow crops in the lunar regolith for years and, in fact, the tests that were done in 2022 on real samples were a failure.
For this reason, the team has focused on demonstrating that a sterile substrate could be transformed into something similar to arable soil by exploring the symbiosis between the plant in question and a fungus. That is, the crucial thing is that they have managed to ‘bioremediate’ the pulverized rock.
And what did they do? The researchers got together chickpeas with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi drastically improve the absorption of water and nutrients, increase resistance to stress and function for practical purposes as natural biofertilizers.
The chickpeas in question flowered and produced seeds in soil containing up to 75% simulated regolith. In the soil composed of 100% simulated regolith they couldn’t get them to give seedsbut the step forward is incredible. Above all, because we have gone from a proof of concept in which lPlants could survive with a lot of stress to one where they can generate crops.
The choice of plant is also interesting. Typically, space agricultural research has focused on short-cycle leafy vegetables and, indeed, lettuces. have been cultivated on the ISS for a long time. The problem, as researchers say, is that these vegetables serve to complement the diet, but do not contribute much nutritionally.
Chickpeas (with their 15 grams of protein per cup and almost all essential amino acids) are something else.
However, the question is important: does it make sense to plant on the Moon? And the answer, as Raúl Herranz of the CSIC points outit’s just not right now. If you need 25% of the necessary soil, mushrooms and some worms… it is probably more efficient to carry the chickpeas packaged.
Luckily, this is only the beginning of the journey and there is still a long way to go before the final turnaround. The good news is that we are getting closer.
Image | Salvatore G2 – POT
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