NO EVIDENCE OF ADVERSE-EFFECTS ON GERMINATION, EMERGENCE, AND FRUIT YIELD DUE TO SPACE EXPOSURE OF TOMATO SEEDS

Seeds of 'Rutgers California Supreme' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were exposed to outer space conditions aboard the long duration exposure facility (LDEF) satellite in the space exposed experiment de veloped for students (SEEDS) project of the National Aeronautics and S pace Administration (NASA), Seeds aboard the LDEF were packed in dacro n bags forming four layers per sealed canister, Some of these seeds we re used in Oklahoma and Florida for studies of germination, emergence, and fruit yield, Among all measured variables in three experiments, t here was only one significant main effect of canister 2 versus caniste r 7 (for mean time to germination) and only one main effect of layer ( for seedling shoot dry weight), There also were only two inconsistent canister x layer interactions in the germination tests, The contrast o f Earth-based control seed versus space-exposed seed was significant f our times: in Oklahoma in 1991 the mean time to germination of space-e xposed seeds and the days to 50% of final germination were 0.7 days le ss than for Earth-based seeds, and in Florida in 1992 seedling percent emergence and shoot dry weight were increased by space exposure, Frui t yield and marketability were unaffected in plants grown from space-e xposed seeds, These results support student findings from the SEEDS pr oject, and provide evidence that tomato seeds can survive in space for several years without adverse effects on germination, emergence, and fruit yield.