Development of simple growth chamber for rice cultivation in space

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26506019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 宇宙生命学
• Research Institution: Osaka Prefecture University
• Principal Investigator: HIRAI Hiroaki 大阪府立大学, 生命環境科学研究科, 准教授 (50173208)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: イネ / 超矮性 / 閉鎖環境 / 栽培

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Interest in food production in the lunar base and for manned Mars exploration is rising. Rice is peculiar to Japan and extremely valuable as a candidate plant for cultivation in space. Super-dwarf rice‘Kozonosumika' is the smallest glutinous rice variety in the world. This compact size with the height of about 30 cm in a paddy field is suitable to cultivate in narrow closed environment of a space station. In order to make it possible to plant the super-dwarf rice in space, it is necessary to develop its growth chamber and management method, and to evaluate its taste. Thus, we first investigated the growth and yield of the rice in a paddy field and a container cultivation, and then clarified the chemical ingredients and the taste of the rice. In addition, we created a new growth chamber of the rice, assembled the device equipped with LED lighting, and evaluated the performance of the device.

Free Research Field

生産環境