Dr. Nate Bickford
Oxidative stress is a byproduct of harsh environmental conditions and can limit efficient growth throughout the three kingdoms of life. Ultra-reactive side-products of an oxygen-based metabolism can damage critical cellular components and force programmed cell death. In plants, the cell’s redox status is intimately tied to interpreting environmental cues. Our preliminary data recently showed that a small antioxidant compound from anaerobic methane-producing archaea (CoX) appears to be a superior
natural antioxidant with the potential to change plant cell’s redox status and increase growth by 250%. It remains unclear if these high yields will be sustained in an ecosystem setting. A convenient complex ecosystem for testing this question is aquaponics because it is a complete and yet contained ecosystem that is scalable for agricultural purposes. Thus, in this proposal we address the question, “Can the CoX archaeal redox system be used to increase cannabis yield in an aquaponics setting?” We investigate this through the following three objectives:
- Build a collaborative bridge between Colorado State University-Pueblo and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
- Determine the concentration of CoX conferring cannabis enhancement in the aquaponics environment.
- Determine the effects of CoX supplementation on aquaponics and cannabis health.