Simulated Microgravity Effects on Shoot Parameters and Antioxidant Potentials of Three Essential Economic Crops: A Case Study of Abiotic Stressors

Simulated Microgravity Effects on Shoot Parameters and Antioxidant Potentials of Three Essential Economic Crops: A Case Study of Abiotic Stressors | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Simulated Microgravity Effects on Shoot Parameters and Antioxidant Potentials of Three Essential Economic Crops: A Case Study of Abiotic Stressors Funmilola A. Oluwafemi, Omodele Ibraheem, Afolabi R. Olubiyi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6721297/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Spaceflight-microgravity experiments are unusual and expensive. Thus, using microgravity-simulators such as Clinostat has enhanced microgravity research on Earth. Gravity reduction causes significant changes in chosen biological organisms, macromolecules, fluids or materials. These changes have led to discoveries that are of social-economic benefits. Consequently, there is a need to work on Clinostat Simulated-Microgravity Models (CS-MM) on essential-economic crops (peanut, corn, tomato) that would have inherent nutritional values far better than their terrestrial counterparts. CS-MM was therefore used to determine the effects of gravity-variations on shoots parameters and antioxidant potentials of the newly emerged crops. Furthermore, the effects of abiotic stresses; salinity [NaCl; 30mM-100mM] and heavy metal [Pb(NO 3 ) 2 ; 30mM-100mM] were determined as the cultivation of unstressed and stressed seedlings were nurtured to maturity by continual application of NaCl and Pb(NO 3 ) 2 . Seeds were grown under normal Earth’s gravity (1g-control) and under CS-MM. The Clinostat experimental-variables are rotation-speed, rotational-axis angle and rotation-direction. The antioxidant-potentials were determined via: phytochemical-contents, their scavenging-activities on free-radicals through DPPH (2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl), FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching) and ABTS (2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) while the antioxidant enzymes assay of polyphenol-oxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) were subsequently carried out and read with ELISA (Enzyme-Linked-Immunosorbent Serologic Assay) spectrophotometer. Results revealed that the plant developments (shoot-height and leaf-number) decreased with continual applications of NaCl and Pb(NO 3 ) 2 . Although, CAT did not have significant effect on all the experimental treatments for corn and tomato, higher quantities of essential phytochemicals, PPO and POD activities at varying-levels of significant activities depending on experimental treatments were observed. Overall, the obtained CS-MM crops produced better yields and have abilities to withstand environmental stresses. Thus, to these synergized efforts, aside the on-Earth benefits, space-explorers in distant future can have improved-breeds of crops from this research that may adapt and survive well in the harsh environment of space. Clinostat Enzymes Heavy metal Salinity Leaf number Shoot height Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6721297","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":467959374,"identity":"f226ec54-7e0f-4339-8b8e-5148dec5aa36","order_by":0,"name":"Funmilola A. 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Thus, using microgravity-simulators such as Clinostat has enhanced microgravity research on Earth. Gravity reduction causes significant changes in chosen biological organisms, macromolecules, fluids or materials. These changes have led to discoveries that are of social-economic benefits. Consequently, there is a need to work on Clinostat Simulated-Microgravity Models (CS-MM) on essential-economic crops (peanut, corn, tomato) that would have inherent nutritional values far better than their terrestrial counterparts. CS-MM was therefore used to determine the effects of gravity-variations on shoots parameters and antioxidant potentials of the newly emerged crops. Furthermore, the effects of abiotic stresses; salinity [NaCl; 30mM-100mM] and heavy metal [Pb(NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e)\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e; 30mM-100mM] were determined as the cultivation of unstressed and stressed seedlings were nurtured to maturity by continual application of NaCl and Pb(NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e)\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e. Seeds were grown under normal Earth\u0026rsquo;s gravity (1g-control) and under CS-MM. The Clinostat experimental-variables are rotation-speed, rotational-axis angle and rotation-direction. 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Overall, the obtained CS-MM crops produced better yields and have abilities to withstand environmental stresses. Thus, to these synergized efforts, aside the on-Earth benefits, space-explorers in distant future can have improved-breeds of crops from this research that may adapt and survive well in the harsh environment of space.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Simulated Microgravity Effects on Shoot Parameters and Antioxidant Potentials of Three Essential Economic Crops: A Case Study of Abiotic Stressors","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-09 02:21:37","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6721297/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b615c3cc-bcab-4d57-9003-bc2a898ee8f0","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 9th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-27T07:38:48+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-09 02:21:37","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6721297","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6721297","identity":"rs-6721297","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}