Martian soil differs significantly from Earth’s—it lacks essential nutrients, contains perchlorates (a toxic chemical), and is highly alkaline. These factors make it inhospitable for most plant life.
So, how might human explorers support themselves on Mars? It turns out, an ancient agricultural strategy pioneered by Mayan civilization farmers may come to their rescue.
This approach, known as intercropping, is still in practice and entails growing two to three different types of crops together. This strategy is advantageous because it produces plants with complementary traits that can help each other survive.
The study team [at Wageningen University & Research] reportedly added beneficial microorganisms and nutrients. They also adjusted the greenhouse’s gases, temperature, and humidity to simulate Martian greenhouse conditions.
Remarkably, tomatoes grown in this intercropping method doubled their yield compared to monocropped plants in the same simulated Martian soil. Tomato plants also exhibited early flowering, accelerated maturation, increased fruit production per plant, and thicker stems. However, intercropping did not result in increased yields for peas and carrots.
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The team postulates that tomato plants performed better in intercropping due to the presence of pea plants, which can fix nitrogen from the air with the help of symbiotic bacteria called rhizobia.
