Chickpeas Mature and Produce Seeds in Lunar Soil Simulant With Fungal Help
Mar 9th 2026
Using LHS-1 lunar highlands simulant, vermicompost and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, scientists grew Myles chickpeas to maturity and harvested seeds in mixes up to 75% simulant, showing fungi are key to plant survival and early soil conditioning.
- UT Austin and Texas A&M researchers grew Myles chickpeas to flowering and seed production in LHS-1 lunar regolith simulant amended with vermicompost and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
- Chickpeas produced viable seeds in mixtures containing up to 75% regolith simulant when inoculated with AMF.
- Plants in pure simulant died before flowering, although AMF extended survival by about two weeks.
- Yields declined as regolith proportion increased, but seed size stayed roughly the same across successful mixes.
- AMF improved plant nutrient access and helped form more stable particle aggregates in the simulant.
- Vermicompost from red wiggler worms supplied nutrients and could be made from habitat organic waste on the Moon.
- Open questions remain about metal uptake into edible tissues, nutritional quality, and how many cycles are needed to turn regolith into reliable growing medium.