Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming
Prebiotics might contribute to astronauts' health in space, yet their production in Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) remains largely unexplored. Here, chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) exhibited the most appropriate characteristics among seven candidate species as the ideal crop for spa...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402500492X |
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| author | Alberto Battistelli Simona Proietti Gabriele Paglialunga Michele Mattioni Filomena Nazzaro Florinda Fratianni Giuseppe Colla Mariateresa Cardarelli Marta Del Bianco Stefano Moscatello |
| author_facet | Alberto Battistelli Simona Proietti Gabriele Paglialunga Michele Mattioni Filomena Nazzaro Florinda Fratianni Giuseppe Colla Mariateresa Cardarelli Marta Del Bianco Stefano Moscatello |
| author_sort | Alberto Battistelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prebiotics might contribute to astronauts' health in space, yet their production in Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) remains largely unexplored. Here, chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) exhibited the most appropriate characteristics among seven candidate species as the ideal crop for space prebiotic production systems. Furthermore, we evaluated chicory's performance under different light intensities (250 μmol m−2 s−1 and 500 μmol m−2 s−1 of photosynthetically active radiation) and growing cycle lengths (76 and 91 days after sowing) to optimize prebiotic production. Our findings reveal chicory's remarkable adaptability to fully controlled growing conditions and its ability to accumulate high levels of inulin in the young taproot, despite the short growing cycle. The length of the growing period influenced the productivity of biomass and inulin, the latter depending more on taproot biomass than on inulin content. A growing area of 6.3 m2 might be sufficient for a daily production of 12 g of inulin, the amount of “native chicory inulin” recognized by EFSA to promote health benefits in humans. These results establish important baselines for prebiotic production in BLSS or Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and may be used to design fully controlled cropping systems for space and Earth based vertical farming facilities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-87d5e065d5dd446eb7b43fd98220696a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj-art-87d5e065d5dd446eb7b43fd98220696a2025-02-02T05:28:59ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402025-01-01112e42112Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farmingAlberto Battistelli0Simona Proietti1Gabriele Paglialunga2Michele Mattioni3Filomena Nazzaro4Florinda Fratianni5Giuseppe Colla6Mariateresa Cardarelli7Marta Del Bianco8Stefano Moscatello9National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Porano, Terni, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy (CNR), Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Porano, Terni, Italy; Corresponding author.National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Porano, Terni, Italy; Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100, Viterbo, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy (CNR), Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Porano, Terni, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Food Sciences (ISA) Avellino, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Food Sciences (ISA) Avellino, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture and Forest Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100, Viterbo, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture and Forest Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100, Viterbo, ItalyItalian Space Agency, Rome, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy (CNR), Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Porano, Terni, ItalyPrebiotics might contribute to astronauts' health in space, yet their production in Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) remains largely unexplored. Here, chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) exhibited the most appropriate characteristics among seven candidate species as the ideal crop for space prebiotic production systems. Furthermore, we evaluated chicory's performance under different light intensities (250 μmol m−2 s−1 and 500 μmol m−2 s−1 of photosynthetically active radiation) and growing cycle lengths (76 and 91 days after sowing) to optimize prebiotic production. Our findings reveal chicory's remarkable adaptability to fully controlled growing conditions and its ability to accumulate high levels of inulin in the young taproot, despite the short growing cycle. The length of the growing period influenced the productivity of biomass and inulin, the latter depending more on taproot biomass than on inulin content. A growing area of 6.3 m2 might be sufficient for a daily production of 12 g of inulin, the amount of “native chicory inulin” recognized by EFSA to promote health benefits in humans. These results establish important baselines for prebiotic production in BLSS or Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and may be used to design fully controlled cropping systems for space and Earth based vertical farming facilities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402500492XControlled environmentBioregenerative life support systemsPrebioticsSpace biologySpace systems baselines |
| spellingShingle | Alberto Battistelli Simona Proietti Gabriele Paglialunga Michele Mattioni Filomena Nazzaro Florinda Fratianni Giuseppe Colla Mariateresa Cardarelli Marta Del Bianco Stefano Moscatello Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming Heliyon Controlled environment Bioregenerative life support systems Prebiotics Space biology Space systems baselines |
| title | Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| title_full | Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| title_fullStr | Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| title_full_unstemmed | Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| title_short | Establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| title_sort | establishing baselines for prebiotic production in controlled environments for applications in space and vertical farming |
| topic | Controlled environment Bioregenerative life support systems Prebiotics Space biology Space systems baselines |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402500492X |
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