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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Research Project #435817

Research Project: Technologies for Fruit Production and Plant Propagation that are Compatible with Spaceflight Conditions

Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection

Project Number: 8080-21000-029-018-M
Project Type: Memorandum of Understanding

Start Date: Oct 1, 2019
End Date: Jul 15, 2020

Objective:
The objectives of this project are to: 1) Optimize transgenic early flowering plum material and growing conditions that minimize space and resource requirements, while reducing harvest time and optimizing yields, and 2) Test TC09 growth promoting fungus and study the plant microbial interactions for controlled environment grown crops and the use of bio-stimulants to increase plant growth and yield.

Approach:
Early flowering plums will be grown in spaceflight simulating environmental growth chambers to identify optimal growth conditions and assess potential yields and performance. Fruit and vegetable crop plants will be exposed to TC09 produced volatiles to assess growth promotion potential and spaceflight compatible exposure regimes will be designed. This will include testing different methods of fungal culture and volatile exposure.