COWPEA HARVEST SCENARIOS AND EDIBLE BIOMASS PRODUCTION UNDER CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

CowPea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is a candidate species for inclusion in a space-deployed Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) because it contributes to a balanced diet with its moderate protein content, high complex carbohydrate content, and low fat content, and because leaves and unripe pods as well as dry seeds are edible. Pour harvest scenarios were compared in the experimental line IT84S-2246 under controlled conditions with and without CO2 enrichment. Plants kept vegetative by removal of flowers and periodically stripped of fully expanded leaves yielded as much as either mixed-harvest scenario in which leaves were stripped at either 1- or 2-week intervals until pods started forming. The 2-week harvest scenario outyielded the 1-week scenario by 15 to 25%. The seed-only control produced the same amount of seeds as the 2-week leaf harvest scenario, but had lower total edible biomass because leaves were not harvested. Under 1000 ppm CO2, all treatments yielded from 30 to 70% more edible biomass than under non-CO2-enriched conditions. Research sponsored by NASA Cooperative Agreement NCC 2-100.