Evaluation on the Growth of Super-Dwarf Rice under LED Lights for Space Agriculture
Abstract
Space agriculture needs to be considered to supply food for space crew who stay in a space station over an extended period of time. So far crops such as wheat, onion, oat, pea and lettuce have been grown to explore the possibility of space agriculture. Although rice is a staple food for many people in the world, not much research on rice cultivation in space has been conducted. Rice is nutrient-rich, well-balanced food, containing carbohydrate, protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. Moreover, rice is a high yield crop and harvested grains have a long shelf life. However, the plant height of standard rice cultivars is relatively long, which needs a lot of space. In addition, rice plants need to secure higher light intensities for greater yield. For these reasons, it is difficult to establish facilities for rice culture in the limited space. To overcome this problem, we suggest the use of super-dwarf rice. A super-dwarf rice Kozonosumika is the smallest glutinous rice variety in the world. This compact size with the height of about 20 cm is suitable for cultivation in such a narrow space. We planted to culture super-dwarf rice on the ground with 16 different wavelengths of LEDs, such as red (660 nm), green (525 nm), and blue (470 nm) lighting. Plants were grown on wire shelves with 13 h light period provided by LED lights in a laboratory at 27C. We will harvest the rice and investigate the yield and characteristics of the super-dwarf rice plants grown under the LED lights will be reported.
- Publication:
-
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E2024H