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As many countries plan to return humans to the Moon, they must address many problems, one of the simplest of which is figuring out a way to feed the people who work there for a long period of time. The obvious solution is for those working there to grow their own food, but this also poses problems, such as how to transport soil to grow edible plants from Earth to the moon.
Scientific endeavors to grow the moon
Last year, a team in the United States showed that it is possible to grow plants on the Moon by growing a small number of weeds called thallus cress in real lunar soil samples. This test showed that lunar soil could be effective, but not good enough for plants to mature and produce food.
Recently, a team of agronomists and biotechnicians at China Agricultural University discovered that adding bacteria to simulated lunar regolith increases the amount of phosphate in the soil for use by plants.
In their study, published in the journal Communications Biology, the group added three types of bacteria to samples of volcanic material and then tested them for acidity and their ability to support plant cultivation. The research team found that adding microbes to lunar soil could improve its ability to host plant life.
Three types of bacteria
To test the possibility of using microbes such as bacteria to make lunar regolith more suitable for plant life, the research team obtained samples of volcanic material from a mountain in China, and a report published on the “Phys.org” website indicates that the test showed that it is a reasonable alternative to lunar regolith. The researchers then added one of three types of bacteria to three test vessels filled with the volcanic material: Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus melanogaster, and Bacillus mucus.
After growing the bacteria in the soil samples, the researchers tested the samples to see the effects. They found that adding the three types of bacteria made the soil samples more acidic, which led to a lower soil pH level. This dissolved insoluble phosphate-containing minerals in the soil, releasing phosphorus, making it available to plants.
The research team then directly tested the treated soil by growing a plant called Nicotiana benthamiana, and found that the improved soil produced plants with stronger roots, longer stems, and larger leaves compared to the untreated samples.
