1 of 6 The use of electricity in farming is expected to help combat the global food crisis and reduce the environmental impact of largescale farming Photo: Getty Images via BBC The use of electricity in farming is expected to help combat it Tackling the global food crisis, reducing the environmental impact of largescale farming Photo: Getty Images via BBC
The translucent orange cubes swaying in the bright light look like candy. Something like gummy bears or Turkish Delight (a typical Turkish dessert made from cornstarch and sugar).
If it weren’t for the green leaves, I’d be tempted to put one in my mouth.
“We often have to remind visitors not to eat them,” says research technician Maddalena Salvalaio.
The cubes are made of hydrogel, a material with a network structure that retains liquids. It is most commonly used in medical devices and diapers.
But here, at the Plant Morphogenesis Laboratory at Imperial College London, Salvalaio and researcher Giovanni Sena are using the material to transform the future of vertical farming.
The secret to this new approach is electrodes attached to the sides of the cubes.
The study is part of a trend that began two decades ago to boost agriculture by using electricity in seeds, crops and soil.
2 of 6 Applying electricity to plants is a practice that has been around for more than a century, but studying its results has been complicated Photo: Getty Images via BBC Applying electricity to plants is a practice that has been around for more than been practiced for a century, but studying their results The results were complicated Photo: Getty Images via BBC
The topic has become so important that institutions such as the US National Science Foundation (NSF) are devoting millions to studying how it works cold plasma It can be used in agriculture in the form of rays emitted in rooms with controlled temperatures.
The proliferation of new projects seems all too familiar to practitioners of a strange 19thcentury obsession: Electroculturea technique that involves providing electricity to plants to encourage them to produce better flowers, leaves and fruit, or even to rid them of pests with varying results.
The new generation of researchers avoids the word “electroculture” and prefers terms such as “smart agriculture” or “fourth agricultural revolution.”
However, the underlying mechanism remains the same and proponents agree that applying electricity to plants may finally bear fruit after centuries of no results.
The hope is that these futuristic systems can be used to combat the global food crisis by reducing the environmental impact of largescale agriculture.
According to a 2005 estimate, the various sectors of agriculture worldwide can account for between 10 and 12% of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
The production of synthetic fertilizers using the energyintensive HaberBosch process, which revolutionized agriculture in the early 20th century, is responsible for hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
And soil erosion caused by unregulated land use contributes even more.
That’s why many researchers in the new wave of electric farming believe the technology can play a role in improving food production.
3 of 6 Soil erosion is one of the consequences of unregulated agriculture Photo: Getty Images via BBC Soil erosion is one of the consequences of unregulated agriculture Photo: Getty Images via BBC
To increase yields, some scientists are resorting to inventions inspired by the “electrovegetometer,” developed by a French physicist in the 1780s.
It was a type of lightning rod that supplied plants with atmospheric electricity, which often had undesirable consequences.
In the United States, several institutions are trying to revive the artificial lightning approach.
However, when ancient electroculture researchers first attempted to benefit from it centuries ago, their dubious anecdotal results were the only thing supporting the method’s implementation. They were just as likely to harm the plants as to cheer them up.
But since the last century it has been possible to use these rays more precisely.
And this happens through plasma, matter that is produced in nature by lightning and that is extremely hot, usually several million degrees, is converted into a kind of ionized gas. New technologies enable handling at room temperature.
When this happens it is called cold plasma. His operation is “an extremely active area”. [na agricultura] right now,” says José López, a professor at Seton Hall University and also director of the plasma physics program at the US National Science Foundation.
Along with Alexander Volkov, a biochemist at Oakwood University in Alabama, they are among those who have seized on the growing trend of applying cold plasma to young seeds in a variety of ways.
In his experiments, Volkov observed increases in yield of 20 to 75 percent, depending on the plant.
“We have increased cabbage production by 75%. “It’s also become tastier.” The taste was sweeter, he says.
4 of 6 Plasma is a thing of nature created from rays and is being applied to plants in new research Photo: Getty Images via BBC Plasma is a thing of nature created from rays and is being applied to plants in new research Photo: Getty Images via BBC
These scientists are not alone.
Several studies report a variety of benefits that plasma brings to crops, from supporting faster and larger plant growth to better resistance to pests.
“As far as we know, plasma awakens the seed,” explains López.
When seeds germinate, the new plant is most vulnerable to a variety of environmental stresses. As a result, she refuses to open up until she is “satisfied” with her surroundings.
Accelerating this process has long been a common practice in agriculture, although this is generally achieved through chemical agents such as acids. Plasma seems to do the same thing, but much more effectively.
“It penetrates the seed wall, and when you plant the seed, it has a greater capacity to absorb water and soil,” López says.
“After just a few seconds of treatment, the plant grows faster than untreated seeds.”
Plasma even appears to revive plants that have already grown, says Lopez, whose own group at NSF has used a precision tool called a plasma pen to treat basil plants.
They became more robust and healthy and plant mass and height increased by 20%.
“The results are remarkable,” says Lopez.
Although scientists are not yet sure how it works, particularly when it comes to the interaction between electricity and entire systems, there are currently several NSFfunded initiatives studying it.
5 out of 6 Plasma awakens the seed and helps it better absorb water and nutrients Photo: Getty Images via BBC Plasma awakens the seed and helps it better absorb water and nutrients Photo: Getty Images via BBC
This uncertainty explains why the use of electricity in agriculture still generates skepticism.
Skeptics point out that 200 years after the first Victorians unsuccessfully powered their plants, it is still not known exactly how electricity interacts with plant biology.
“We have known for decades that electric fields improve plant growth,” says Sena from the Plant Morphogenesis Laboratory at Imperial College London.
The problem is that this data has never been fully reproduced; The experiments were carried out under different conditions.
But to transform this electrical intervention in plants into a technologically useful method, it is helpful to understand its basic science.
Elucidating the molecular mechanism of a plant’s response to an electric field is the core of the work Sena’s group is carrying out at Imperial College.
Among other things, they focused on studying the electrical signals that plants produce internally.
At every stage of growth and in every part of their anatomy, these organisms send numerous signals that can be measured with various instruments.
Recognizing these signs can help scientists figure out what the plant’s needs are in each of its stages, be it water, pest control, food or even soil.
However, unlike other needs, you cannot simply produce more land.
The best answer to this problem has long been the promise of vertical farming, which would allow crops to grow on any surface.
There’s just one problem, says Sena. What we call “vertical farming” is a bit misleading. We don’t grow plants vertically; We stack narrow horizontal propagation boxes vertically on top of each other.
This is because the roots are not vertical. Roots obey the law of gravity. They look for water and look “down”.
For this reason, it is actually very difficult to grow plants with many roots in space. Without gravity, the roots wander all over the place, making it logistically difficult to properly nourish them.
What if vertical farming literally did what its name suggests? What if it were possible to grow fruits and trees with roots that extend lengthwise instead of downward?
Roots grow downward because the living organism senses the pull of the gravitational field and the presence of water and coordinates its tissues to follow that direction.
However, this is not all that the roots can sense. They can also feel electrical fields, a sensation that can override others.
An electric field has veto power over the roots’ response to the gravitational field.
Last year, Salvalaio and Sena showed for the first time in precise molecular detail how the Arabidopsis plant could be made to realign the growth direction of its roots using specific doses of electricity.
6 out of 6 roots have the ability to sense electric fields, a feeling that can override the way gravity affects their growth Photo: Getty Images via BBC Roots have the ability to sense electric fields, a Feeling that can override the way gravity affects their growth Growth Photo: Getty Images via BBC
In other words, they let the roots grow the way they wanted.
Hence these delicious looking cubes.
Salvalaio and Sena teamed up with the Dyson School of Design Engineering in London to develop special 3D printed hydrogel cubes that can house growing Arabidopsis plants, as well as the electrodes that guide their growing roots to a sideways position.
The bright green leaves make it clear that the ventilation tunnels have proven to be a stimulating environment. Its roots wind densely through the plant.
Salvalaio aims to start using electricity by the end of this summer (in the northern hemisphere). If all goes well, saying “the sky is the limit” would be an understatement.
“If we could control the direction of root growth, we could grow trees on both the ceiling and the wall,” says Sena.
With this new electrical advancement, it would even be possible to grow trees in zerogravity environments.
Maybe there will soon be trees on the International Space Station or forests on the moon.
This report has been summarized and edited for better understanding. To read the original text in English, click here.