Selection and hydroponic growth of potato cultivars for
bioregenerative life support systems
As part of the ESA-funded MELiSSA program, Ghent University and the Universite´ catholique de Louvain investigated the suitability,
growth and development of four potato cultivars in hydroponic culture under controlled conditions with the aim to incorporate such
cultivation system in an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). Potato plants can fulfill three major functions in an
ECLSS in space missions: (a) fixation of CO2 and production of O2, (b) production of tubers for human nutrition and (c) production of
clean water after condensation of the water vapor released from the plants by transpiration. Four cultivars (Annabelle, Bintje, Desiree
and Innovator) were selected and grown hydroponically in nutrient film technique (NFT) gullies in a growth chamber under controlled
conditions. The plant growth parameters, tuber harvest parameters and results of tuber nutritional analysis of the four cultivars were
compared. The four potato cultivars grew well and all produced tubers. The growth period lasted 127 days for all cultivars except for
Desiree which needed 145 days. Annabelle (1.45 kg/m2) and Bintje (1.355 kg/m2) were the best performing of the four cultivars. They
also produced two times more tubers than Desiree and Innovator. Innovator produced the biggest tubers (20.95 g/tuber) and Desiree
the smallest (7.67 g/tuber). The size of Annabelle and Bintje potatoes were intermediate. Bintje plants produced the highest total biomass
in term of DW. The highest non-edible biomass was produced by Desiree, which showed both the highest shoot and root DW. The manual
length and width measurements were also used to predict the total tuber mass. The energy values of the tubers remained in the range
of the 2010 USDA and Souci-Fachmann-Kraut food composition databases. The amount of Ca determined was slightly reduced compared
to the USDA value, but close to the Souci-Fachmann-Kraut value. The concentration of Cu, Zn and P were high compared to
both databases.