Crop candidates for the bioregenerative life support systems in China

The use of plants for life support applications in space is appealing because of the multiple life support functions by the plants. Research on crops that were grown in the life support system to provide food and oxygen, remove carbon dioxide was begun from 1960. To select possible crops for research on the bioregenerative life support systems in China, criteria for the selection of potential crops were made, and selection of crops was carried out based on these criteria. The results showed that 14 crops including 4 food crops (wheat, rice, soybean and peanut) and 7 vegetables (Chinese cabbage, lettuce, radish, carrot, tomato, squash and pepper) won higher scores. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), soybean (Glycine max L.) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) are main food crops in China. Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis var. communis), lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia Lam.), radish (Raphanus sativus L.), carrot (Daucus carota L. var. sativa DC.), tomato (Lycopersicon escalentum L.), squash (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) and pepper (Capsicum frutescens L. var. longum Bailey) are 7 vegetables preferred by Chinese. Furthermore, coriander (Coriandum sativum L.), welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L. var. giganteum Makino) and garlic (Allium sativum L.) were selected as condiments to improve the taste of space crew. To each crop species, several cultivars were selected for further research according to their agronomic characteristics.