Chickpeas Sprout in Simulated Lunar Soil Mixed with Compost and Fungus but Yield Fewer Seeds

Jessica Atkin, a space botanist at Texas A&M University, demonstrated that chickpeas can germinate in simulated lunar regolith when the material is mixed with organic matter and a specific fungus, @NewScientist reported. The plants sprouted more quickly in the amended mixture than in terrestrial soil.

Atkin began the experiments in 2020 and 2021 by setting up a plant laboratory in her living room after a NASA proposal requested preliminary data.

She used simulated regolith made from Earth volcanic rocks that replicate the lunar highlands at upcoming Artemis landing sites. A University of Florida team had previously grown thale cress in genuine Apollo regolith samples. Lunar regolith grains are small, sharp, and positively charged, which causes them to cut micro-tears in plant roots and form cement-like barriers when watered.

The material also contains high levels of aluminum that stunt growth, even though it supplies phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and trace micronutrients. Atkin added compost and fungi to overcome these conditions and establish beneficial microbial partnerships. Plants grown in the regolith mixtures produced fewer seeds than those in Earth soil.

Atkin is having chickpea seeds from the trials tested at Pennsylvania State University for toxicity. She noted that any metals absorbed by the plants would represent biomining that transforms regolith into usable lunar soil for other crops. Atkin served in the U.S.

Armed forces as a police officer in Iraq and later as a firearms instructor before entering academia. Her interest in plants began with childhood memories of a strawberry patch tended with her grandmother. She has stated that microbes helped plants colonize Earth and could perform the same role on the moon.