The electrogenic properties of plant–microbial fuel cells (P-MFCs) assembled into a battery are studied. The operation of a single cell is studied experimentally in comparison with parallel and series connections of cells, which are two options for connection in an electrical circuit. A potential difference of ~70 mV, which gradually vanishes, is registered in a P-MFC that does not include a plant organism. We hypothesize that the root system, with involvement of electrogenic chemoorganotrophic microorganisms, gives rise to diffusional electromotive force. We show that in series connection of three fuel cells the bioelectric potential generated by an individual cell, which is 170 mV, increases only by a factor of 1.5. In parallel connection of three cells, the current produced under a load increases, but also only by a factor of 1.5, and this takes place at later developmental stages of the plants, which is presumably caused by triggering certain compensatory mechanisms that diminish the electrogenic properties of the plants.

Ensuring the technical and technological possibility of regularly obtaining fresh, high-quality plant production in Antarctic stations is an urgent task of our time. This work is devoted to studying the growth and development of leaf vegetable crops and the main quality indicators of their edible parts when grown in the phytotechnical complex greenhouses at the “Vostok” Antarctic station and at the agrobiopolygon of the Agrophysical Research Institute (AFI). The plants, belonging to 13 varieties of 9 types of leaf vegetable crops (arugula, garden cress, cabbage, mustard, leaf radish, leaf lettuce, amaranth, dill, parsley leaf), were studied during five growing seasons at the “Vostok” station and at the AFI agrobiopolygon under controlled conditions (control). The experimental data obtained demonstrate the high productivity of the phytotechnical complex for most of the investigated crops per unit of useful area, with lower costs of electricity and water consumption per unit of production compared with a number of greenhouses at foreign Antarctic stations and greenhouse complexes with controlled conditions located on other continents. Lettuce crops were the most adapted to the growing conditions at the Antarctic station “Vostok”. They did not differ in their evaluated characteristics from the control. All other investigated crops, while not differing in their development rate and quality, had statistically significant (16–61%) decreases in their yield per 1 m² per year. This may demonstrate the difference in the “genotype–environment” interaction in plants grown at the Antarctic station and AFI agrobiopolygon, probably due to the different barometric pressure and partial pressure of oxygen at the two locations. The positive psychological effects of the greenhouses were identified along with nutritional and other qualities of the plants.

BIOELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEMS BASED ON THE ELECTROACTIVITY OF PLANTS AND MICROORGANISMS IN THE ROOT ENVIRONMENT (review) T.E. Kuleshova, A.S. Galushko, G.G. Panova, E.N. Volkova, W. Apollon, Ch. Shuang, S. Sevda

A system for the noninvasive measurement of bioelectric potentials in the soil–plant system, which is based on a new—and harmless to plants—method ensuring the surface contact of the root...