Rocket seedling production on the international space station: Growth and nutritional properties

Producing sprouts directly during space missions may represent an interesting opportunity to offer high-quality fresh ready to eat food to the astronauts. The goal of this work was to compare, in terms of growth and nutritional quality, rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) seedlings grown in the Internationa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microgravity science and technology 2007-09, Vol.19 (5-6), p.118-121
Main Authors: Colla, Giuseppe, Battistelli, Alberto, Proietti, Simona, Moscatello, Stefano, Rouphael, Youssef, Cardarelli, Mariateresa, Casucci, Marco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronauts
Brassica
Carotenoids
Chlorophylls
Clinorotation
Environmental conditions
Experiments
International Space Station
Microgravity
Mills
Nutritive value
Rockets
Seedlings
Space stations
Weight reduction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Producing sprouts directly during space missions may represent an interesting opportunity to offer high-quality fresh ready to eat food to the astronauts. The goal of this work was to compare, in terms of growth and nutritional quality, rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) seedlings grown in the International Space Station during the ENEIDE mission with those grown in a ground-based experiment (in presence and absence of clinorotation). The rocket seedlings obtained from the space-experiment were thinner and more elongated than those obtained in the ground-based experiment. Cotyledons were often closed in the seedlings grown in the space experiment. Quantitative (germination, fresh and dry weight) and qualitative (glucose, fructose, sucrose and starch) traits of rocket seedling were negatively affected by micrograv-ity, especially those recorded on seedlings grown under real microgravity conditions The total chlorophyll, and carotenoids of seedlings obtained in the space experiment were strongly reduced in comparison to those obtained in the ground-based experiment (presence and absence of clinorotation). The results showed that it is possible to produce rocket seedlings in the ISS; however, further studies are needed to define the optimal environmental conditions for producing rocket seedlings with high nutritional value
ISSN:0938-0108
1875-0494
DOI:10.1007/BF02919465