At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, planetary scientist Abhilash Ramachandran presented a ground breaking discovery for future mars exploration that Martian soil may contain all the essential nutrients required for growing rice which is one of the most important sources for humans survival.
They also find that the pH of soil is within the optimal range for growing rice but Plants may face challenges in surviving in martian soil environments with high levels of perchlorate due to its toxic effects on their growth and development.
Cultivating rice in Martian soil is necessary for the successful colonization of humans.If we are able to achieve this, it would be a major breakthrough in Mars exploration.
Ramachandran and his team conducted an experiment where they planted rice in different mediums, including a soil simulant made from Mojave Desert basalt. They also used pure potting mix and various mixtures of potting mix and the soil simulant. The plants in all the pots were given one or two daily watering sessions
Team successfully grew rice plants in synthetic Martian soil. However, they observed that the plants had a growth with thinner shoots and finer roots compared to those grown in potting mix and hybrid soils. To address this, they experimented with replacing a portion of the Martian simulant with potting mix and found that even a 25% replacement helped the rice plants.
The research team conducted further experiments by introducing perchlorate to the soil. They use a wild rice variety along with two genetically modified varieties that were designed to be more resilient to environmental stresses like drought. Then the rice plants were grown in both Martian simulant with and without perchlorate.
From experiment it was found that by introducing perchlorate to the Martian simulant made a significant impact on the growth of rice plants. At a high concentration of 3 grams per kilogram of soil, none of the rice plants were able to grow. However, at a lower concentration of only 1 gram per kilogram, one of the genetically modified rice varieties was able to grow both a shoot and a root, while the wild variety only managed to grow a root. These results suggest that by modifying the SnRK1a gene of the successful mutant rice variety, scientists may be able to develop a rice variety that can thrive in Martian soil and will eventually help to colonize humans on mars.