Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “crop genetics”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

Sustainable Use of Groundwater May Dramatically Reduce Irrigated Production of Maize, Soybean, and Wheat

Groundwater extraction in the United States (US) is unsustainable, making it essential to understand the impacts of limited water use on irrigated agriculture. To improve this understanding, we integrated a gridded crop model with satellite observations, recharge estimates, and water survey data to assess the effects of sustainable groundwater withdrawals on US irrigated agricultural production. The gridded crop model agrees with satellite-based estimates of evapotranspiration (R2 = 0.68), as well as survey data from the United States Department of Agriculture (R2 = 0.82–0.94 for county-level production and 0.37–0.54 for county-level yield). Using the optimistic assumption that groundwater extraction equals effective aquifer recharge rate, we find that sustainable groundwater use decreases US irrigated production of maize, soybean, and winter wheat by 20%, 6%, and 25%, respectively. Using a more conservative assumption of groundwater availability, US irrigated production of maize, soybean, and winter wheat decreases by 45%, 37%, and 36%, respectively. The wide range of simulated losses is driven by considerable uncertainty in surface water and groundwater interactions, as well as accounting for the many aspects of sustainability. Our results demonstrate the vulnerability of US irrigated agriculture to unsustainable groundwater pumping, highlighting the difficulty of expanding or even maintaining irrigated food production in the face of climate change, population growth, and shifting dietary demands. These findings are based on reducing pumping by fallowing irrigated farmland; however, alternate pumping reduction strategies or technological advances in crop genetics and irrigation could produce different results.

sustainability↗
NASA NTRS2009

Roadmaps and Strategies for Crop Research for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems A Compilation of Findings from NASA’s Advanced Life Support Meetings

Extensive testing with plants for bioregenerative life support systems has been conducted by NASA for nearly 40 years, both through university grants and work at NASA field centers. During this time, numerous meetings were held to develop strategies and roadmaps for implementing bioregenerative life support systems. Findings from several of these meetings are summarized in this report. In nearly all cases, the recommendations included an active ground-based research program and integration tests with other life support subsystems, followed by eventual spaceflight testing. The most recent roadmap of NASA’s Exploration Life Support Crop Element suggests a sequence of first developing a modular vegetable production unit (VPU) to provide perishable foods to supplement the crew’s diet. A similar system could then be used on the lunar surface, with additional modules added as the lunar outpost expands. Eventually, these modules could be transferred to a dedicated pressurized logistics module (PLM) for crop production. Experience from the lunar tests could then be used to conduct a similar buildup for Mars missions, where in situ food production and bioregeneration would be important for achieving outpost autonomy. To date, most trade studies of bioregenerative life support systems indicate that reducing the costs associated with crop lighting systems are key, and use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or direct solar lighting offers promising options. Likewise, sustaining high yields and high harvest index (% edible biomass) will be important for minimizing costs, and this can be achieved by optimizing growth environments and through selecting, breeding, and genetically engineering crops suitable for space environments. Collectively, these strategies and roadmaps suggest that a combined approach of fundamental research, hardware (plant chamber) development, and operational testing is required to achieve reliable bioregenerative life support systems.

Bioregenerative↗
NASA NTRS1994

Plant photomorphogenesis and canopy growth

An important motivation for studying photomorphogenesis is to understand the relationships among plant photophysiology in canopies, canopy productivity, and agronomic yield. This understanding is essential to optimize lighting systems used for plant farming in controlled environments (CE) and for the design of genetically engineered crop strains with altered photoresponses. This article provides an overview of some basic principles of plant photomorphogenesis in canopies and discusses their implications for (1) scaling up information on plant photophysiology from individual plants in CE to whole canopies in the field, and (2) designing lighting conditions to increase plant productivity in CE used for agronomic purposes (e.g. space farming in CE Life Support Systems). We concentrate on the visible (lambda between 400 and 700 nm) and far-infrared (FR; lambda greater than 700 nm) spectral regions, since the ultraviolet (UV; 280 to 400 nm) is covered by other authors in this volume.

Ballare, Carlos L.↗
NASA NTRS2002

ASTROCULTURE(tm) Commercial Plant Growth Unit and Glove Box Insert

Two commercial plant investigations will be conducted during the STS-107 mission: living flower essential oil production and gene transfer. The research will be done using the ASTROCULTURE (trademark) hardware, which builds on similar experiments flown in the past on the space shuttle. This research will investigate how microgravity might affect the formation of the volatile chemical compounds - the essential oils - produced by two different types of living flowers. The flowers will be cultured in the ASTROCULTURE (trademark) plant chamber, which provides an enclosed and controlled environment. As the flowers bloom in space, they will produce essential oils, and these volatile compounds will be collected using International Flavors and Fragrance's proprietary Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) technology. The gene transfer experiment examines a newly developed transformation system to see if it operates efficiently in the microgravity environment. This research is important for the development of genetically engineered crops, also known as transgenic crops.

Wei-Jia Zhou↗
NASA NTRS1996

Considerations in miniaturizing simplified agro-ecosystems for advanced life support

Miniaturizing the Earth's biogeochemical cycles to support human life during future space missions is the goal of the NASA research and engineering program in advanced life support. Mission requirements to reduce mass, volume, and power have focused efforts on (1) a maximally simplified agro-ecosystem of humans, food crops, and microbes; and, (2) a design for optimized productivity of food crops with high light levels over long days, with hydroponics, with elevated carbon dioxide and other controlled environmental factors, as well as with genetic selection for desirable crop properties. Mathematical modeling contributes to the goals by establishing trade-offs, by analyzing the growth and development of experimental crops, and by pointing to the possibilities of directed phasic control using modified field crop models to increase the harvest index.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2020

Diversity Buffers Winegrowing Regions from Climate Change Losses

Agrobiodiversity—the variation within agricultural plants, animals, and practices—is often suggested as a way to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on crops [S. A. Wood et al., Trends Ecol. Evol. 30, 531–539 (2015)]. Recently, increasing research and attention has focused on exploiting the intraspecific genetic variation within a crop [Hajjar et al., Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 123, 261–270 (2008)], despite few relevant tests of how this diversity modifies agricultural forecasts. Here, we quantify how intraspecific diversity, via cultivars, changes global projections of growing areas. We focus on a crop that spans diverse climates, has the necessary records, and is clearly impacted by climate change: winegrapes (predominantly Vitis vinifera subspecies vinifera). We draw on long-term French records to extrapolate globally for 11 cultivars (varieties) with high diversity in a key trait for climate change adaptation—phenology. We compared scenarios where growers shift to more climatically suitable cultivars as the climate warms or do not change cultivars. We find that cultivar diversity more than halved projected losses of current winegrowing areas under a 2 °C warming scenario, decreasing areas lost from 56 to 24%. These benefits are more muted at higher warming scenarios, reducing areas lost by a third at 4 °C (85% versus 58%). Our results support the potential of in situ shifting of cultivars to adapt agriculture to climate change—including in major winegrowing regions—as long as efforts to avoid higher warming scenarios are successful.

Morales-Castilla, Ignacio↗
NASA NTRS2003

Adaptation of SUBSTOR for controlled-environment potato production with elevated carbon dioxide

The SUBSTOR crop growth model was adapted for controlled-environment hydroponic production of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Norland) under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Adaptations included adjustment of input files to account for cultural differences between the field and controlled environments, calibration of genetic coefficients, and adjustment of crop parameters including radiation use efficiency. Source code modifications were also performed to account for the absorption of light reflected from the surface below the crop canopy, an increased leaf senescence rate, a carbon (mass) balance to the model, and to modify the response of crop growth rate to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Adaptations were primarily based on growth and phenological data obtained from growth chamber experiments at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J.) and from the modeling literature. Modified-SUBSTOR predictions were compared with data from Kennedy Space Center's Biomass Production Chamber for verification. Results show that, with further development, modified-SUBSTOR will be a useful tool for analysis and optimization of potato growth in controlled environments.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
NASA NTRS2002

Sensitivity of wheat and rice to low levels of atmospheric ethylene

Ethylene (C2H4) gas is produced throughout the life cycle of plants and can accumulate in closed growth chambers to levels 100 times higher than in outside environments. Elevated atmospheric C2H4 can cause a variety of abnormal responses, but the sensitivity to elevated C2H4 is not well characterized. We evaluated the C2H4 sensitivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.) in five studies. The first three studies compared the effects of continuous C2H4 levels ranging from 0 to 1000 nmol mol-1 (ppb) in a growth chamber throughout the life cycle of the plants. A short-term 1000 nmol mol-1 treatment was included in which exposure was stopped at anthesis. Yield was reduced by 36% in wheat and 63% in rice at 50 nmol mol-1 and both species were virtually sterile when continuously exposed to 1000 nmol mol-1. However, the yield reductions were much less with exposure that stopped at anthesis, suggesting the detrimental effect of C2H4 on yield was greatest around the time of seed set. Two additional studies evaluated the differential sensitivity of two wheat cultivars (Super Dwarf and USU-Apogee) to 50 nmol mol-1 C2H4 at three CO2 levels [350, 1200, 5000 micromoles mol-1 (ppm)] in a greenhouse. Yield of USU-Apogee was not significantly reduced by C2H4 but the yield of Super Dwarf was reduced by 60%. Elevated CO2 did not influence the sensitivity to C2H4. A difference in the C2H4 sensitivity of USU-Apogee between greenhouse and growth chamber trials suggests that C2H4 sensitivity is dependent on the environment. Collectively, the data suggest that relatively low levels of C2H4 could induce anomalous plant responses by accumulation in greenhouses and growth chambers with inadequate ventilation. The data also suggest that C2H4 sensitivity can be reduced by both genetic and environmental manipulations. 2002 Crop Science Society of America.

NASA Discipline Life Sciences Technologies↗
NASA NTRS2017

Space Pomology: Dwarf Plums for Fresh Food Production

Recently, USDA ARS researchers genetically modified plums for rapid breeding work and noticed the plants could flower and develop fruit rapidly on relatively small plants. We have tested several of these genetically modified (GM) plums in plant chambers to assess their potential as a space crop. We have been able to clone these genetic lines using cuttings that are rooted using growth regulating compounds. Results showed that the GM plums indeed flower and fruit on small plants in controlled environments similar to what might be used in space, but they require cross-pollination with pollen from a standard plum. Analysis of stomatal conductance and leaf transpiration showed that water use went up in the light period, as expected, and but that GM types typically showed higher conductance than a standard plum. Analysis of tissue showed that fruit could be a good source of potassium and phenolic compounds, which could be beneficial as a bone loss countermeasure (Smith et al., 2014). These findings are all promising for using dwarf GM plums as a supplemental food for space, but further horticultural testing is needed before they are ready.

Life Support↗
NASA NTRS2023

Wheat Crop Traits Conferring High Yield Potential May Also Improve Yield Stability Under Climate Change

Increasing genetic wheat yield potential is considered by many as critical to increasing global wheat yields and production, baring major changes in consumption patterns. Climate change challenges breeding by making target environments less predictable, altering regional productivity and potentially increasing yield variability. Here we used a crop simulation model solution in the SIMPLACE framework to explore yield sensitivity to select trait characteristics (radiation use efficiency [RUE], fruiting efficiency and light extinction coefficient) across 34 locations representing the world’s wheat-producing environments, determining their relationship to increasing yields, yield variability and cultivar performance. The magnitude of the yield increase was trait-dependent and differed between irrigated and rainfed environments. RUE had the most prominent marginal effect on yield, which increased by about 45 % and 33 % in irrigated and rainfed sites, respectively, between the minimum and maximum value of the trait. Altered values of light extinction coefficient had the least effect on yield levels. Higher yields from improved traits were generally associated with increased inter-annual yield variability (measured by standard deviation), but the relative yield variability (as coefficient of variation) remained largely unchanged between base and improved genotypes. This was true under both current and future climate scenarios. In this context, our study suggests higher wheat yields from these traits would not increase climate risk for farmers and the adoption of cultivars with these traits would not be associated with increased yield variability.

Climate change↗
NASA NTRS1999

Engineering plants for spaceflight environments

The conversion efficiency of radiation into biomass and yield has steadily increased for centuries because of continued improvement in both plant genetics and environmental control. Considerable effort has gone into improving the environment for plant growth in space, but work has only begun to engineer plants for spaceflight. Genetic manipulation offers tremendous potential to improve our ability to study gravitational effects. Genetic manipulation will also be necessary to build an efficient regenerative life support system. We cannot fully characterize plant response to the spaceflight environment without understanding and manipulating their genetic composition. Identification and selection of the existing germplasm is the first step. There are thousands of cultivars of each of our major crop plants, each specifically adapted to a unique environment on our planet. Thousands of additional lines are held in national germplasm collections to maintain genetic diversity. Spaceflight imposes the need to tap this diversity. Existing lines need to be evaluated in the environment that is characteristic of closed-system spaceflight conditions. Many of the plant growth challenges we confront in space can be better solved through genetic change than by hardware engineering. Ten thousand years of plant breeding has demonstrated the value of matching genetics with the environment. For example, providing continuous light can increase plant growth in space, but this often induces calcium deficiencies because Ca is not supplied by guttation during a dark period. This deficiency cannot be eliminated through increased root-zone and foliar Ca applications. It can be solved, in wheat, through genetic selection of lines that do not have the deficiency. Subsequent comparison of lines with and without the Ca deficiency has also helped us understand the nature of the problem.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2007

Solutions Network Formulation Report. Using NASA Sensors to Perform Crop Type Assessment for Monitoring Insect Resistance in Corn

The EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) is tasked to monitor for insect pest resistance to transgenic crops. Several models have been developed to understand the resistance properties of insects. The Population Genetics Simulator model is used in the EPA PIRDSS (Pest Infestation and Resistance Decision Support System). The EPA Office of Pesticide Programs uses the DSS to help understand the potential for insect pest resistance development and the likelihood that insect pest resistance will negatively affect transgenic corn. Once the DSS identifies areas of concern, crews are deployed to collect insect pest samples, which are tested to identify whether they have developed resistance to the toxins in transgenic corn pesticides. In this candidate solution, VIIRS (Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite) vegetation index products will be used to build hypertemporal layerstacks for crop type and phenology assessment. The current phenology attribute is determined by using the current time of year to index the expected growth stage of the crop. VIIRS might provide more accurate crop type assessment and also might give a better estimate on the crop growth stage.

Lewis, David↗
NASA NTRS2017

Temperature Increase Reduces Global Yields of Major Crops in Four Independent Estimates

Wheat, rice, maize, and soybean provide two-thirds of human caloric intake. Assessing the impact of global temperature increase on production of these crops is therefore critical to maintaining global food supply, but different studies have yielded different results. Here, we investigated the impacts of temperature on yields of the four crops by compiling extensive published results from four analytical methods: global grid-based and local point-based models, statistical regressions, and field-warming experiments. Results from the different methods consistently showed negative temperature impacts on crop yield at the global scale, generally underpinned by similar impacts at country and site scales. Without CO2 fertilization, effective adaptation, and genetic improvement, each degree-Celsius increase in global mean temperature would, on average, reduce global yields of wheat by 6.0%, rice by 3.2%, maize by 7.4%, and soybean by 3.1%. Results are highly heterogeneous across crops and geographical areas, with some positive impact estimates. Multi-method analyses improved the confidence in assessments of future climate impacts on global major crops and suggest crop- and region-specific adaptation strategies to ensure food security for an increasing world population.

Zhao, Chuang↗
NASA NTRS2013

"Green Planet Architecture"-A Methodology for Self-Sustainable Distributed Renewable Energy Ecosystems

This planet has been endowed with a host of natural mechanisms to keep the environment and climate in balance. Humans are now facing the need to restore this balance that has been upset in the past years because of a growing population and resource demands. To steer dependency away from freshwater crops and decrease environmental damage from humanity s fuel and energy demands, it is necessary to take advantage of the natural adaptive biomass resources that are already in place. Using methods of "Green Planet Architecture," based on compilations of current research and procedures, could lead to new forms of energy and fueling as well as new sources for food and feed. Green Planet Architecture involves climatic adaptive biomass; geospatial intelligence; agri- and aqua-culture life cycles; and soil, wetland, and shoreline restoration. Plants such as Salicornia, seashore mallow, castor, mangroves, and perhaps Moringa can be modified (naturally, model-assisted, or genetically) to thrive in salt water and brackish water or otherwise not arable conditions, making them potentially new crops that will not displace traditional farming. These fueling sources also have potential to be used in other rapid-growth industries, such as the aviation industry, that have incentive to move towards more sustainable fuel supplies. This report highlights an example of how synergistic development of biomass resources and geospatial intelligence high-performance computing capabilities can be focused to resolve potential drought-famine problems. These techniques provide a basis for future e-science-based discovery (and access) through technology that can be expanded to support global societal applications.

Saxena, Nikita T.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Green Planet Architecture - A Methodology for Self-Sustainable Distributed Renewable Energy Ecosystems

Our planet has been endowed with a host of natural mechanisms to keep the environment and climate in balance. Humans are now facing the need to restore this balance that has been upset in the past years because of a growing population and resource demands. To steer dependency away from freshwater crops and decrease environmental damage from humanity s fuel and energy demands, it is necessary to take advantage of the natural adaptive biomass resources that are already in place. Using methods of Green Planet Architecture, based on compilations of current research and procedures, could lead to new forms of energy and fueling as well as new sources for food and feed. Green Planet Architecture involves climatic adaptive biomass; geospatial intelligence; agri- and aqua-culture life cycles; and soil, wetland, and shoreline restoration. Plants such as Salicornia, seashore mallow, castor, mangroves, and perhaps Moringa can be modified (natural, model-assisted, or genetically modified) to thrive in salt-water and brackish water or otherwise not arable conditions, making them potentially new crops that will not displace traditional farming. These fueling sources also have potential to be used in other rapid-growth industries, such as the aviation industry, that have incentive to move towards more sustainable fuel supplies. This paper highlights an example of how synergistic development of biomass resources and geospatial intelligence high-performance computing capabilities can be focused to resolve potential drought-famine problems. These techniques, provide a basis for future e-science-based discovery (and access) through technology that can be expanded to support global societal applications.

Saxena, Nikita T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Biological Insights at the Interface of Multiple Arabidopsis Legacy Datasets

The NASA GeneLab database includes an open-access collection of datasets yielded by space biology experiments. Six Gene Lab Data Sets (GLDS’s) performed in Arabidopsis were selected for analysis (7/17/44/121/205/213), all of which included transcriptome data from spaceflight and ground control environments. Hardware, ecotype, environmental conditions, and other experimental conditions varied, allowing the observations of overarching gene expression impacts of microgravity on plant life without focusing on effects of specific experimental conditions. Using GeneLab pre-processed datasets as the basis for the study, RNA microarray data were analyzed to identify genes that showed altered expression in microgravity when compared to control samples for each individual GLDS. All differentially expressed genes were compared to locate differentially expressed genes common between spaceflight experiments. The most noteworthy result is that not one gene shared differential expression among the six GLDS’s. However, gene expression was not influenced randomly by the microgravity environment, as there were several gene ontology terms that were significantly enriched across all experiments. These included 20 significantly enriched biological processes, and although the genes which enriched each term varied, there were many cases of specific genes common to clusters of multiple GLDS’s. Gene expression such as NAC92 and ERF011 or membrane structural element FFP6 provide insight and direction toward understanding the plant response to spaceflight. Characterizing these common processes and the shared differentially expressed genes has demonstrated potential targets for further study to understand and modulate the biological response of plants in microgravity. Life on Earth has never been subjected to the absence of gravity as a selective pressure, so observing how life forms react to a microgravity environment could provide insight to our shared fundamental biological processes. It is also feasible that the genetic modification of specific genes linked to the microgravity response could improve health and yield of space crops.

Joseph Emhof↗
NASA NTRS2017

Microbiological Horticultural Internship Final Abstract

GMO dwarf plum (Prunus domestica) is being evaluated as a candidate food crop for long duration space flight missions. A project was undertaken to develop a protocol for transferring selected genetic lines of GMO plum (previously maintained in pots and propagated by cuttings at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida) into in vitro tissue culture. In vitro culture may reduce the space, materials, and labor required to maintain the current lines of GMO plum and better preserve them for future study. Fresh plant material from three selected GMO plum lines (NASA-5, NASA-10, and NASA-11) and a non-modified control line (Control-5) were processed aseptically into in vitro culture on four separate occasions. The impact of multiple treatments on the successful growth of GMO plum tissue in vitro were tested: Parent explant tissue type (leaf petioles, stem nodes containing buds and internodes without buds), tissue sterilization method [soaking in 10 bleach only (5 min for petioles or 10 min for nodesinternodes), or soaking in 70 EtOH (30 sec) followed by 10 bleach (5 min for petioles and 10 min for nodesinternodes)], and media type [three Murashige and Skoog-based medias (SGM, SRM, and SRM+2,4-D) and one recipe containing woody plant media (WPM)]. 22.2 of the plates containing tissue sterilized with bleach alone developed microbial contamination after two weeks, while only 11.8 of plates containing tissue sterilized sequentially with EtOH and bleach developed contamination. Node bud tissue from all four genetic lines of plum produced leafy plantlets on SGM and SRM media after 4-6 weeks. The most numerous and well-developed plantlets were present on SGM. Upon reaching suitable size, plantlets were transferred to larger media containers for further growth. Some node bud growth occurred on SRM+2,4-D and WPM 2.5 weeks after plating, however as of yet no pieces on SRM+2,4-D have adequate development for transferring. Tissue pieces from NASA-5 plated on WPM are developing leaves and will be ready for transferring soon. Petioles and internode tissue lacking bud meristem failed to produce any plantlets on any plates, however petioles developed large masses of undifferentiated callus tissue on SRM+2,4-D media. These callused pieces were then transferred to SRM+TDZ media, which resulted in even larger callus growth but no differentiation. All four selected plum lines were successfully transitioned into in vitro culture. Nodes from NASA-5 and NASA-10 lines produced the most numerous and well-developed leafy plantlets in vitro, while those from NASA-11 and Control-5 were generally smaller, slower growing and less numerous. The best method overall was to use young stem node tissue with buds, surface sterilize the pieces sequentially with 70 EtOH and 10 bleach, and then plate them onto SGM media. Future areas of study will include introducing additional genetic lines of GMO plum into in vitro culture, attempting to induce shoot growth in petiole callus tissue, testing methods (such as cold storage) that extend the time interval between transferring explants into new media, and testing viability of plantlets transferred from in vitro culture back to traditional pot culture.

bioregenerative life support↗