Small, productive And enriched with proteins: are the new varieties of rice that are developing For future colonies on Moon And Mars thanks to Moon-Rice project of the Italian Space Agency, conducted in collaboration with the State University of Milan, La Sapienza of Rome and the Federico II University of Naples. THE Preliminary results Obtained in the first nine months after the start of the four -year program, they were presented at the annual conference of the Society for Experimental Biology in progress in Belgium, in Antwerp.
One of the Main challenges in the cultivation of plants for the support of the astronauts in long -lasting missions It is represented by plants size: terrestrial crops are too large and the dwarf varieties often have difficulty in germinating the seeds that make them less productive. To overcome this obstacle, “researchers from the University of Milan are isolating Mutants variety of rice that can reach anHeight of only 10 centimeterstherefore they are really tiny and this is an excellent starting point, “says Marta del Bianco, a vegetable biologist of ASI.” At the same time, Wisdom has identified gene capable of alter the architecture of the plant For maximize there production el ‘growth efficiency“In addition, to compensate the lack of fresh meat in space, the team is evaluating the possibility Of enrich The protein content rice.
Everything is done by exploiting the experience accumulated by the Federico II University of Naples in the spatial crops. “Let’s simulate the microgravity On Earth by constantly rotating the plant so that it is uniformly pulled in all directions from gravity “, explains Del Bianco.” It is the best we can do on earth because, unfortunately, to conduct experiments in conditions of real microgravity, that is, in space, it is complex and expensive “.
Having plants suitable for cultivation in space will help the psychophysical well -being of astronauts, who can relax by gardening and at the same time will have to have fresh food with which to enrich their diet. But the spatial varieties they will be able to prove also useful on earth. “If you could develop a robust culture for space, it could be used in Arctic And Antarcticor in desertsor in Places with little indoor space available“, concludes Del Bianco.
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