Browsing by Author "Sirmons, Takiyah"
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Item Legume Crop Testing for Space(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Spencer, Lashelle; Gooden, Jennifer; Curry, Aaron; Sirmons, Takiyah; Romeyn, Matthew; Wheeler, RaymondLong-duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit will encounter challenges in maintaining adequate nutrition and acceptability in the food system. In situ production of fresh produce can supplement nutrient deficiencies in the prepackaged diet. Currently there is a relatively small number of crops that can be reliably grown in space for space crop production efforts. Recent challenges with Veggie plant growth technical demonstrations, such as interveinal chlorosis and necrosis of Tokyo Bekana Chinese cabbage when grown under elevated CO2 (~3000 ppm) and narrow-band LED lighting, have highlighted the necessity to conduct rigorous ISS-relevant crop screening on the ground. Additionally, crops should be selected to address specific nutritional deficits as identified by the Human Research Program, with an emphasis on having a diversity of crops to meet nutritional requirements and crew acceptability. To achieve this, the concept of Crop Readiness Level (CRL) has been developed to gauge readiness of crops for spaceflight applications. This includes assessing environmental compatibility, food safety considerations, relevant nutritional analysis, and sensory analysis. Recent testing at Kennedy Space Center has focused on the advancement of a variety of legumes along the CRL. Five varieties of peas (Pisum sativum) ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Royal Snap’, ‘Yellow Snap’, ‘ES Thick Pod 404-51-2’ and ‘ES Thick Pod 404-52-2-1’ and three varieties of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris); ‘Antigua’, ‘4921 snap’, and ‘Velour Purple’ were grown under 300 µmol m-1 s-1 PPFD from LED lights, 3000 ppm CO2, and 23°C to simulate an ISS environment. Crops will be harvested and yield, baseline nutritional analysis (Vitamins B1, C, K; elemental analysis; proximate analysis) and sensory evaluation will be performed. These baseline data are essential to selecting candidate crops for future missions in addition to assessing crop production hardware and changes in environmental conditions on future crop performance and nutritional quality.Item Novel Microgreen Crop Testing for Space(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Spencer, Lashelle; Spencer, Lashelle; Gooden, Jennifer; Curry, Aaron; Romeyn, Matthew; Wheeler, Raymond; Sirmons, TakiyahLong-duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit will encounter challenges in maintaining adequate nutrition and acceptability in the food system. In situ production of fresh produce can supplement nutrient deficiencies in the prepackaged diet. Currently there is a relatively small number of crops that can be reliably grown in space for space crop production efforts. An intriguing area of new investigation is into novel types of microgreens that have the potential to be sources of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein. These sources of nutrition are not obtainable in significant quantities with current pick and eat crops. Many microgreen cultivars are also sources of nutrients of interest, such as Vitamins B1, C, K and elements such as potassium. Microgreens should be selected to address specific nutritional deficits as identified by the Human Research Program, with an emphasis on having a diversity of crops to meet nutritional requirements and crew acceptability. To achieve this, the concept of Crop Readiness Level (CRL) has been developed to gauge readiness of crops for spaceflight applications. This includes assessing environmental compatibility, food safety considerations, relevant nutritional analysis, and sensory analysis. Recent testing at Kennedy Space Center has focused on the advancement of a variety novel microgreens along the CRL. These varieties were grown under 150 µmol m-1 s-1 PPFD from LED lights, 3000 ppm CO2, and 23°C to simulate an ISS environment. Crops will be harvested and yield, baseline microbiological, nutritional analysis (Vitamins B1, C, K; elemental analysis; proximate analysis) and sensory evaluation will be performed. These baseline data are essential to selecting candidate crops for future missions in addition to assessing crop production hardware and changes in environmental conditions on future crop performance and nutritional quality.Item Production, Nutritional and Organoleptic Analysis of Solanaceous Crops for Space(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Spencer, Lashelle; Sirmons, Takiyah; Romeyn, Matthew; Wheeler, RaymondMissions beyond low-Earth orbit will encounter challenges in maintaining adequate nutrition and acceptability in the food system. In situ production of fresh produce can supplement nutrient deficiencies in the prepackaged diet. Several tomato and pepper varieties were evaluated with the goal of determining those with the best growth, nutrition, and organoleptic potential for use in a pick and eat salad crop production system. Cultivars of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum); �Red Robin�, �Sweet N Neat�, �Golden Heirloom�, �Ground Dew�, �Ground Jewel�, �Tomato 851� and cultivars of pepper (Capsicum annuum); �Numex Espa�ola Improved�, �Pompeii�, �Mohawk�, �Baby Bell�, �Big Jim Heritage� and �Bulgarian Carrot� were grown under 300 �mol m-1 s-1 PPFD from LED lights, 3000 ppm CO2, and 23�C to simulate an ISS environment. Nutritional analysis of all crops and sensory evaluation of tomato was conducted. �Bulgarian Carrot� was the hottest pepper at 8217 Scoville Heat Units, containing the highest amount of magnesium (0.042%), phosphorus (0.087%), potassium (0.619%), protein (3.94%) and Vitamin K1 (0.24�g/g). �Pompeii� had the highest Vitamin B1; 0.230 mg/100g. �Sweet N Neat� tomato had twice as much lycopene (92.5�g/g) than the all other red tomatoes and the highest amount of potassium (0.305%). �Ground Jewel� tomato had the highest Vitamin C content (25.6 mg/100g), however, several pepper varieties had significantly more; �Mohawk�, �Pompeii� and �Bulgarian Carrot contained 63.7, 46.2 and 41.9 mg/100g Vit. C, respectively. All six tomato cultivars received �passing� overall acceptability organoleptic scores with �Red Robin� tomato achieving the highest score (8.04). Several pepper varieties suffered from severe intumescence injury, therefore fruit production under these environmental conditions was limited, and insufficient for organoleptic testing. These baseline data are essential to selecting crops for future missions and assessing the impacts of new crop production hardware and changes in environmental conditions on future crop performance and nutritional quality.Item Selection of Leafy Green Vegetable Varieties for a Pick-and- Eat Diet Supplement on ISS(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Massa, Gioia D.; Wheeler, Raymond M.; Stutte, Gary W.; Richards, Jeffrey T.; Spencer, LaShelle E.; Hummerick, Mary E.; Douglas, Grace L.; Sirmons, TakiyahSeveral varieties of leafy vegetables were evaluated with the goal of selecting those with the best growth, nutrition, and organoleptic acceptability for ISS. Candidate species were narrowed to commercially available cultivars with desirable growth attributes for space (e.g., short stature and rapid growth). Seeds were germinated in controlled environment chambers under conditions similar to what might be found in the Veggie plant growth chamber on ISS. Eight varieties of leafy greens were grown: ‘Tyee’ spinach , ‘Flamingo’ spinach , ‘Outredgeous’ Red Romaine lettuce , ‘Waldmann’s Dark Green’ leaf lettuce, ‘Bull’s Blood’ beet, ‘Rhubarb’ Swiss chard, ‘Tokyo Bekana’ Chinese cabbage, and Mizuna. Plants were harvested at maturity and biometric data on plant height, diameter, chlorophyll content, and fresh mass were obtained. Tissue was ground and extractions were performed to determine the tissue elemental content of Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca) and Iron (Fe). Following the biometric/elemental evaluation, four of the eight varieties were tested further for levels of anthocyanins, antioxidant (ORAC-fluorescein) capacity, lutein, zeaxanthin, and Vitamin K. For sensory evaluation, ‘Outredgeous’ lettuce, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, and Mizuna plants were grown, harvested when mature, packaged under refrigerated conditions, and sent to the JSC Space Food Systems Laboratory. Tasters evaluated overall acceptability, appearance, color intensity, bitterness, flavor, texture, crispness and tenderness. All varieties received acceptable scores with overall ratings greater than 6 on a 9-point hedonic scale. Chinese cabbage was the highest rated, followed by Mizuna, ‘Outredgeous’ lettuce, and Swiss chard. Based on our results, the selected varieties of Chinese cabbage, lettuce, Swiss chard and Mizuna seem suitable for a pick-and-eat scenario on ISS with a ranking based on all factors analyzed to help establish priority.