Space Farming Breakthrough with Chickpeas
Researchers successfully grew chickpeas in simulated lunar soil, using fungi and compost to help plants not only survive but produce seeds. This breakthrough shows promise for future space farming and extreme-condition agriculture on Earth.
This research is a direct response to the needs of upcoming lunar missions like NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. For future moon bases to be self-sufficient, growing food in-situ is considered essential to avoid the high cost of shipping all supplies from Earth. Lunar regolith, the fine powder and crushed rock covering the Moon, is hostile to plant life. It lacks the organic matter and beneficial microbes found in Earth's soil, contains sharp, glassy particles that can damage roots, and has high levels of potentially toxic metals like aluminum. To overcome these challenges, scientists from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University used two key amendments. They coated the chickpea seeds with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which help plant roots absorb nutrients and block the uptake of heavy metals. They also mixed the regolith simulant with vermicompost, a nutrient-rich fertilizer created by earthworms breaking down organic waste. The 'Myles' variety of chickpea was chosen for its resilience and compact size. The experiment found that the plants could successfully grow, flower, and produce viable seeds in mixtures containing up to 75% simulated moon dirt. In concentrations higher than 75%, the plants showed signs of stress and often died early. While plants in the 75% regolith mixture produced fewer seeds than the control group, the individual seeds they did produce had a weight comparable to those grown in terrestrial soil. Plants grown in 100% regolith simulant survived for a couple of weeks if treated with the fungi, but ultimately failed to produce flowers or seeds. This isn't the first attempt to grow plants in lunar soil. In 2022, researchers successfully sprouted *Arabidopsis thaliana* (thale cress) in actual lunar samples from the Apollo missions. However, those plants grew slowly and showed significant signs of stress, highlighting the difficulty of using unamended regolith. The next critical step is to determine the safety of the lunar-grown chickpeas. Researchers will analyze the seeds for heavy metal concentrations to see if they are nutritious and safe for astronauts to eat.
