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posted by martyb on Thursday November 30 2017, @11:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-needed-plenty-of-???? dept.

Earthworms seem to enjoy Mars-like soil just fine after you add poop and water to it:

Two young worms are the first offspring in a Mars soil experiment at Wageningen University & Research. Biologist Wieger Wamelink found them in a Mars soil simulant that he obtained from NASA. At the start he only added adult worms. The experiments are crucial in the study that aims to determine whether people can keep themselves alive at the red planet by growing their own crops on Mars soils.

[...] 'The positive effect of adding manure was not unexpected', added Wamelink, 'but we were surprised that it makes Mars soil simulant outperform Earth silver sand'. Researchers added organic matter from earlier experiments to both sands. They added the manure to a sample of the pots and then, after germination of the rucola, they added the worms. The result: pots with all possible combinations with the exception of organic matter which was added to all of the pots.

Worms are very important for a healthy soil, not only on Earth but also in future indoor gardens on Mars or the moon. They thrive on dead organic matter such as old plant remains, which they eat, chew and mix with soil before they excrete it. This poo still contains organic matter that is broken down further by bacteria, thus releasing nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium for use by the plants. By digging burrows the worms also aerate and improve the structure of the soil, making watering the plants more effective.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:32PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:32PM (#603531)

    Since you already poo on the fields, just pee at them, too. :-)

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:44PM (2 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:44PM (#603610) Journal

    That simply moves the problem of where the water comes from.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:46PM (1 child)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:46PM (#603612) Journal

      How much water is contained in a whoosh?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 30 2017, @10:00PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 30 2017, @10:00PM (#603677) Journal

        Probably enough water to be worth ten million dollars on Mars.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.