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At least 127 records · Page 7

Nutrient management effects on sweetpotato genotypes under controlled environment

Sweetpotato is one of several crops recommended by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for bioregenerative life support studies. One of the objectives of the Tuskegee University NASA Center is to optimize growth conditions for adaptability of sweetpotatoes for closed bioregenerative systems. The role of nutrient solution management as it impacts yield has been one of the major thrusts in these studies. Nutrient solution management protocol currently used consists of a modified half Hoagland solution that is changed at 14-day intervals. Reservoirs are refilled with deionized water if the volume of the nutrient solution was reduced to 8 liters or less before the time of solution change. There is the need to recycle and replenish nutrient solution during crop growth, rather than discard at 14 day intervals as previously done, in order to reduce waste. Experiments were conducted in an environmental growth room to examine the effects of container size on the growth of several sweetpotato genotypes grown under a nutrient replenishment protocol. Plants were grown from vine cuttings of 15cm length and were planted in 0.15 x 0.15 x 1.2m growth channels using a closed nutrient film technique system. Nutrient was supplied in a modified half strength Hoagland's solution with a 1:2.4 N:K ratio. Nutrient replenishment protocol consisted of daily water replenishment to a constant volume of 30.4 liters in the small containers and 273.6 liters in the large container. Nutrients were replenished as needed when the EC of the nutrient solution fell below 1200 mhos/cm. The experimental design used was a split-plot with the main plot being container size and genotypes as the subplot. Nine sweetpotato genotypes were evaluated. Results showed no effect of nutrient solution container size on storage root yield, foliage fresh and dry mass, leaf area or vine length. However, plants grown using the large nutrient solution container accumulated more storage root dry mass than those with the small containers. Although plants grown with the smaller containers showed greater water uptake, plant nutrient uptake was lower than with the larger container. All genotypes evaluated showed variation in their responses to all parameters measured.

Solanaceae/genetics/growth & development↗

Gas Exchange, Transpiration and Yield of Sweetpotato Grown in a Controlled Environment

Sweetpotato was grown to harvest maturity within NASA Johnson Space Center's Variable Pressure Growth Chamber (VPGC) to characterize crop performance for potential use in advanced life support systems as a contributor to food production, air revitalization and resource recovery. Stem cuttings of breeding clone "TU-82-155" were grown hydroponically at a density of 17 plants m(sup -2) using a modified pressure-plate growing system (Patent No. 4860-490, Tuskegee University). Lighting was provided by HPS lamps at a photoperiod of 12h light: 12h dark. The photosynthetic photon flux was maintained at 500, 750 and 1000 micro mol m(sup -2) s(sub -1) during days 1-15, 16-28, 29-119, respectively. Canopy temperatures were maintained at 28 C: light: 22 C:dark. During the light period, relative humidity and carbon dioxide were maintained at 70% and 1200 micro liters l(sup -1), respectively. Nutrient solution was manually adjusted 2 to 4 times per week by addition of 10X concentrated modified half-strength Hoagland nutrient salts and NaOH to return the electrical conductivity and pH to 1.2 mS cm(sup -1) and 6.0, respectively. At 17 weeks (119 days) from transplanting, a total of 56.5 kilograms fresh mass of storage roots (84.1% moisture) were harvested from the 11.2 m(sup 2) chamber, resulting in a yield 5.0 kilograms m(sup -2). Harvest index, based on fresh mass, was 38.6%. Rates of net photosynthesis, dark respiration, transpiration, and ethylene production will be reported.

Barta, Daniel J.↗

Controlled Environments Enable Adaptive Management in Aquatic Ecosystems Under Altered Environments

Ecosystems worldwide are impacted by altered environment conditions resulting from climate, drought, and land use changes. Gaps in the science knowledge base regarding plant community response to these novel and rapid changes limit both science understanding and management of ecosystems. We describe how CE Technologies have enabled the rapid supply of gap-filling science, development of ecosystem simulation models, and remote sensing assessment tools to provide science-informed, adaptive management methods in the impacted aquatic ecosystem of the California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Delta is the hub for California's water, supplying Southern California agriculture and urban communities as well as the San Francisco Bay area. The changes in environmental conditions including temperature, light, and water quality and associated expansion of invasive aquatic plants negatively impact water distribution and ecology of the San Francisco Bay/Delta complex. CE technologies define changes in resource use efficiencies, photosynthetic productivity, evapotranspiration, phenology, reproductive strategies, and spectral reflectance modifications in native and invasive species in response to altered conditions. We will discuss how the CE technologies play an enabling role in filling knowledge gaps regarding plant response to altered environments, parameterization and validation of ecosystem models, development of satellite-based, remote sensing tools, and operational management strategies.

Remote Sensing↗

The Microbiology of Microgreens Grown in Controlled Environment Chambers under ISS Conditions

Microgreens have been identified as a new type of pick-and-eat salad crop that can be utilized in space crop production systems. The majority of traditionally grown leafy green crops can be grown as microgreens, in addition to crops such as legumes, sunflower, buckwheat, most herbs, and corn, presenting hundreds of microgreen crop options. Notably, microgreens are nutrient dense, high in beneficial compounds like antioxidants, Vitamins C and K, and exhibit a variety of desirable flavors and textures.The short growth cycles (7-14 days), low water requirements and volume optimization potential make them a viable option for sustainable production of nutritious and flavorful crops in space.The crop production team at Kennedy Space Center is investigating the food safety aspects of microgreens grown under spaceflight relevant conditions for crew consumption. Microbiological analysis and screening for potential foodborne pathogens was performed on over 20 varieties of microgreens that have demonstrated positive horticultural attributes.Additionally, a comparison of microgreens grown hydroponically under ISS environmental conditions and similar varieties from local markets was completed to collect baseline data on the microbial load on microgreens. In aneffort to improve microgreen quality, strategies to reduce the microbial load were tested, including bulk seed sanitization, harvest age, exposure to high blue light, and post-harvest chemical disinfection. The efficacy of a citric acid-based produce wash currently used for ISS grown produce and 1% H2O2were investigated at different exposure times for reduction in bacterial and fungal counts on a variety of microgreens. Limited log reduction was achieved depending on exposure time.Our testing also demonstrated that seed sanitization impacted microbial load on microgreens and systems.

Mary E. Hummerick↗

Space Crop Production Controlled Environments

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a packaged diet to provide additional nutrients and dietary variety for astronauts. Several unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other planetary surfaces. Testing with the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) chambers on the International Space Station is allowing us to understand the impacts of gravity and spaceflight on crop growth, nutritional content, and food acceptability, and the importance of plants to astronauts living and working away from Earth. Ohalo 3 is a new capability being developed that will pull from both Veggie and APH as we transition from research approaches to an operational space crop production system to enable human exploration of the moon and Mars.

Gioia Donna Massa↗

Space Crop Production Controlled Environments

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a packaged diet to provide additional nutrients and dietary variety for astronauts. Several unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other planetary surfaces. Testing with the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) chambers on the International Space Station is allowing us to understand the impacts of gravity and spaceflight on crop growth, nutritional content, and food acceptability, and the importance of plants to astronauts living and working away from Earth. Ohalo III is a new capability being developed that will pull from both Veggie and APH as we transition from research approaches to an operational space crop production system to enable human exploration of the moon and Mars.

Gioia Massa↗

Controlled Environment Agriculture on the International Space Station

This presentation will discuss NASA’s Space Crop Production vision and introduce the crop plant research and production capabilities on the International Space Station, Veggie and the Advanced Plant Habitat. I will highlight the different crop production research that has been conducted in these facilities and discuss how these projects contribute to NASA’s goals and needs.

Gioia Massa↗

Prediction of Traffic Complexity and Controller Workload in Mixed Equipage NextGen Environments

Controller workload is a key factor in limiting en route air traffic capacity. Past efforts to quantify and predict workload have resulted in identifying objective metrics that correlate well with subjective workload ratings during current air traffic control operations. Although these metrics provide a reasonable statistical fit to existing data, they do not provide a good mechanism for estimating controller workload for future air traffic concepts and environments that make different assumptions about automation, enabling technologies, and controller tasks. One such future environment is characterized by en route airspace with a mixture of aircraft equipped with and without Data Communications (Data Comm). In this environment, aircraft with Data Comm will impact controller workload less than aircraft requiring voice communication, altering the close correlation between aircraft count and controller workload that exists in current air traffic operations. This paper outlines a new trajectory-based complexity (TBX) calculation that was presented to controllers during a human-in-the-loop simulation. The results showed that TBX accurately estimated the workload in a mixed Data Comm equipage environment and the resulting complexity values were understood and readily interpreted by the controllers. The complexity was represented as a "modified aircraft account" that weighted different complexity factors and summed them in such a way that the controllers could effectively treat them as aircraft count. The factors were also relatively easy to tune without an extensive data set. The results showed that the TBX approach is well suited for presenting traffic complexity in future air traffic environments.

Lee, Paul U.↗

A new apparatus design for high temperature (up to 950 °C) quasi-elastic neutron scattering in a controlled gaseous environment

A design for a sample cell system suitable for high temperature Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering (QENS) experiments is presented. The apparatus was developed at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge National Lab where it is currently in use. The design provides a special sample cell environment under controlled humid or dry gas flow over a wide range of temperature up to 950 °C. Using such a cell, chemical, dynamical, and physical changes can be studied in situ under various operating conditions. While the cell combined with portable automated gas environment system is especially useful for in situ studies of microscopic dynamics under operational conditions that are similar to those of solid oxide fuel cells, it can additionally be used to study a wide variety of materials, such as high temperature proton conductors. The cell can also be used in many different neutron experiments when a suitable sample holder material is selected. The sample cell system has recently been used to reveal fast dynamic processes in quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments, which standard probes (such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) could not detect. In this work, we outline the design of the sample cell system and present results demonstrating its abilities in high temperature QENS experiments.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗