The combination of climate change and an increase in world population has made feed humans in extreme conditions, has become one of the great challenges of science. Researchers at Linköping University, in Sweden, have just invented an electrically conductive soil, which would allow food to be grown without soil, and also grow faster, by stimulating its roots with electric shocks.
With this method they have achieved that barley seedlings have grown 50% faster in just 15 days, according to the conclusions of this study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). «In the future we will not be able to cover the planet’s food demands only with existing agricultural methods», warns Eleni Stavrinidou, associate professor at the Organic Electronics Laboratory at Linköping University, and leader of the Electronic Plants department.
Stavrinidou’s research group has now developed an electrically conductive substrate adapted to hydroponic cultivation called eSoil. Hydroponic growing means that plants grow without soil. Under natural conditions, soil acts as a reservoir of nutrients and minerals, but the soil itself is not essential for the plant to grow. They need only something for their roots to adhere to, as well as water and nutrients. In hydroponics, a closed system also allows the recirculation of both so that each seedling gets exactly what it needs, something that is not possible in traditional cultivation.
Hydroponics too can be done vertically, through large towers, allowing you to maximize space efficiency, and even grow crops in urban environments. Thus, lettuce and some vegetables are already being produced in some scenarios, to which Swedish researchers are now adding a cereal such as barley.
“We can make your seedlings grow faster and with fewer resources,” celebrates Eleni Stavrinidou. What it does not know is why it happens, or what biological mechanisms are involved in this growth. “What we have discovered is that process nitrogen more effectivelybut it is still not clear how electrical stimulation affects this process,” he concludes.