Assessment of Fertility Dynamics and Nutritional Quality of Potato Tubers in a Compost-Amended Mars Regolith Simulant

Abstract

Mars exploration will foresee the design of bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs), in which the use/recycle of in situ resources might allow the production of food crops. However, cultivation on the poorly-fertile Mars regolith will be very challenging. To pursue this goal, we grew potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants on the MMS-1 Mojave Mars regolith simulant, pure (R100) and mixed with green compost at 30% (R70C30), in a pot in a cold glasshouse with fertigation. For comparison purposes, we also grew plants on a fluvial sand, pure (S100) and amended with 30% of compost (S70C30), a volcanic soil (VS) and a red soil (RS). We studied the fertility dynamics in the substrates over time and the tuber nutritional quality. We investigated nutrient bioavailability and fertility indicators in the substrates and the quality of potato tubers. Plants completed the life cycle on R100 and produced scarce but nutritious tubers, despite many critical simulant properties. The compost supply enhanced the MMS-1 chemical/physical fertility and determined a higher tuber yield of better nutritional quality. This study demonstrated that a compost-amended Mars simulant could be a proper substrate to produce food crops in BLSSs, enabling it to provide similar ecosystem services of the studied terrestrial soils.