The tip of the iceberg: Chinese doctor grows fresh vegetables in Antarctic greenhouse

A doctor from Jiangxi province has grown the first vegetables at a Chinese Antarctic base, a feat that vastly improves the diet of researchers and potentially allows them stay longer in the extreme climate, the news website Jxnews.com.cn reported on Friday.

Dr Wang Zheng, the team physician for an 18-member expedition that began in late 2014 and returned home on Wednesday, said supplying vegetables to China’s four research stations on the southern continent had always been a big problem.

All supplies relied on the Xue Long, the Chinese ice-breaker research vessel, for deliveries from China or Australia, were expensive and had very limited storage life. One of the expedition’s goals was to test the feasibility of greenhouses.

Other countries grow vegetables at their Antarctic bases – for example, the Australians at Mawson Station and the Americans at their huge McMurdo Base, and even at an altitude of 2,835m at their South Pole base.

Wang ran the trial 16-square-metre greenhouse at Zhong Shan Station, growing plants under artificial light and heat from seeds shipped from Shanghai.

The environment is strictly controlled by computer, including automatic irrigation and timing the LED lights to maintain the humidity above 70 per cent.

And, in shades of the 1970s counter-culture classic, The Secret Life of Plants, soft music was played around the clock in the greenhouse laboratory to enhance plant growth.