Outer space offers plant breeders some curious advantages
Radiation and microgravity may give rise to better crops
PLANTS GROWN in orbit, and thereby deprived of the comforting directional pull of Earth’s gravity, typically struggle to distinguish up from down. This makes it harder for them to carry water and nutrients around themselves. It also fouls up their ability to draw carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis from the air. The stress caused by all this seems to increase the level of genetic mutation induced by a given amount of radiation—of which there is much in space, in the form of cosmic rays and effluvia from the sun. And mutations are the lifeblood of plant breeders.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Greenhouses in the sky”
From the January 8th 2022 edition
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