AbstractHigher plants, as one of the essential biological components of CELSS, can supply food, oxygen and water for human crews during future long-duration space missions and Lunar/Mars habitats. In order to select suitable leaf vegetable varieties for our CELSS Experimental Facility (CEF), five varieties of lettuce (“Nenlvnaiyou”, “Dasusheng”, “Naichoutai”, “Dongfangkaixuan” and “Siji”), two of spinach (“Daye” and “Quanneng”), one of rape (“Jingyou No. 1”) and one of common sowthistle were grown and compared on the basis of edible biomass, and nutrient content. In addition, two series of experiments were conducted to study single leaf photosynthetic rates and transpiration rates at 30 days after planting, one which used various concentrations of CO2 (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000μmolmol−1) and another which used various light intensities (100, 300, 500 and 700μmolm−2s−1). Results showed that lettuce cvs. “Nenlvnaiyou”, “Siji” and “Dasusheng” produced higher yields of edible biomass; common sowthisle would be a good source of β-carotene for the diet. Based on the collective findings, we selected three varieties of lettuce (“Nenlvnaiyou”, “Dasusheng” and “Siji”) and one of common sowthistle as the candidate crops for further research in our CEF. In addition, elevated CO2 concentration increased the rates of photosynthesis and transpiration, and elevated light intensity increased the rate of photosynthesis for these varieties. These results can be useful for determining optimal conditions for controlling CO2 and water fluxes between the crops and the overall CELSS.


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    Title :

    Selection of candidate salad vegetables for controlled ecological life support system


    Contributors:
    Qin, L. (author) / Guo, S. (author) / Ai, W. (author) / Tang, Y. (author)

    Published in:

    Advances in Space Research ; 41 , 5 ; 768-772


    Publication date :

    2007-09-17


    Size :

    5 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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