In Antarctica, the Chinese scientific expedition team made their neighbors cry with envy

Question:

In the icy Antarctic

How many steps are there to eat fresh vegetables?

answer:

Just one step

Go to the Chinese Station in Antarctica

You can eat fresh vegetables!

Overlooking the China Antarctic Great Wall Station

Image source: Tuchong Creative

(Copyrighted image from the gallery, no permission to reprint)

The Chinese people's ability to grow vegetables is definitely in their genes. We can grow vegetables wherever we go.

In order to eat the food, the doctor first

It is something that everyone on Earth knows that Antarctica is not suitable for growing vegetables outdoors.

Before 2014, the supply of fresh vegetables had always been a "difficult" problem for my country's Antarctic scientific expedition teams.

When Antarctica enters the long winter, scientific expedition team members can only rely on a few limited vegetables such as cabbage to survive the winter.

Verdant lettuce, fresh cucumbers, and juicy small tomatoes are simply "luxury goods" in the eyes of Antarctic scientific expedition members.

What to do if there is no vegetables in Antarctica? Grow your own!

For example, Wang Zheng, a doctor participating in the 31st National Antarctic Scientific Expedition, is doing the "big thing" of growing vegetables in Antarctica.

Source: CCTV video screenshot

"At that time, vegetables were grown in Antarctica without soil, relying mainly on light and heat for cultivation, and even the seeds were shipped from Shanghai in advance."

Soilless cultivation, computer control, automatic irrigation

"After getting up in the morning, I go to the vegetable greenhouse laboratory to check whether the automatic control system is normal and whether there is any water leakage on the ground. After breakfast, I pick vegetables and send them to the kitchen. In the morning and afternoon, I check to see if there are any vegetables that need to be replaced, and sow new seeds depending on the situation..."

This is a diary entry of Wang Zheng growing vegetables at Zhongshan Station in Antarctica.

At that time, the vegetable greenhouse laboratory was a 16-square-meter room. The entire greenhouse adopted soilless cultivation technology, and the vegetable planting automatic control system automatically controlled the irrigation pump, temperature and humidity, cultivation lights and nutrient solution.

Under computer control, LED plant growth lights can automatically adjust lighting duration according to vegetable growth conditions; the automatic irrigation system injects nutrient solution into the water tank every hour; and when the room humidity is below 70%, the humidification system will spray water mist into the room.

In order to promote the growth of vegetables, light music is played in the vegetable greenhouse laboratory 24 hours a day!

"The treatment for vegetables is much better than that for the survey team members," said Wang Zheng.

At this point, the doctors at the Chinese station have another glorious mission: growing vegetables.

Growing vegetables has become a "side job" for doctors at the Chinese station

Tang Mingjun is the accompanying doctor of the 33rd Chinese National Antarctic Expedition Team.

In Antarctica, Dr. Tang broadcasts live every weekend, claiming to be an Antarctic doctor who can grow vegetables.

After trying to grow peppers, okra, tomatoes and watermelons, Tang Mingjun set his sights on lettuce, cabbage and cucumber, which have short growth cycles, are easy to cultivate and have high yields.

In Antarctica, the expedition members ate the most lettuce, which tasted very good when boiled. There was not much cabbage left after stir-frying, so it was mainly used to make soup. They were reluctant to eat cucumbers raw, so they were mainly sliced ​​and mixed with black fungus to make cold dishes.

There are strict standards for picking vegetables, otherwise it will cause waste of resources.

For example, cabbage and lettuce can only be picked when they are more than 15 cm long, otherwise their growth will be affected.

Cucumbers should be picked when they are about 15 cm long, otherwise it is a waste. If they are not picked when they are more than 15 cm long, it will affect the normal growth of other cucumbers.

Hu Miao, a doctor who had just completed the wintering medical care mission of the 36th Antarctic scientific expedition, conducted multi-angle research on Antarctic vegetable growing technology from a nutritional perspective.

He found that strong ultraviolet radiation from sunlight affects the growth of vegetables, and using artificial light is more conducive to plant growth.

More importantly, he initially discovered that the hole in the atmosphere over Antarctica caused excessive ultraviolet rays in the sun, which was not conducive to plant growth.

Hu Miao increased the yield of various vegetables by adjusting ventilation, humidity, temperature, artificial light, etc. In more than a year, a total of 323 kilograms of leafy vegetables and 117 kilograms of fruit and vegetables were harvested, meeting the team members' nutritional needs for fresh fruits and vegetables, and basically ensuring the daily needs of B vitamins and vitamin C for the human body.

During the period when Hu Miao was responsible for medical support in Antarctica, no group of team members were found to suffer from symptoms of vitamin deficiency such as oral ulcers, athlete's foot, and continuous bleeding from wounds.

"Artificial planting technology can enable humans to live healthily in Antarctica for a long time," Hu Miao said proudly.

Zhao Junyong, the wintering doctor at the Great Wall Station, said that he can harvest more than 1 kilogram of fresh fruits and vegetables every day using soilless cultivation technology.

In Antarctica, the average annual temperature is around minus 10 degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature reaches minus 36.4 degrees Celsius. Even so, it cannot stop the Chinese people's determination to grow vegetables.

With the help of LED plant lighting, embedded greenhouse control systems and other technologies, 60 kilograms of fresh vegetables and fruits are brought from the vegetable greenhouse to the dining table every month. China's scientific research workers have basically gotten rid of the "pain" of eating meat and achieved "vegetable freedom."

The Chinese scientific research station has become the place with the best food in Antarctica.

This makes many foreign scientific expedition team members envious, so they often come to the station to eat.

But now due to the epidemic, scientific research stations can no longer visit each other casually, and it is estimated that there are many more "kids next door" crying with envy in Antarctica.

It is said that growing vegetables is a talent of the Chinese people. In fact, this talent comes from the Chinese nation's spirit of diligence, bravery, self-reliance and hard work.

Whether at home or abroad, whether in heaven or underground, as long as we have this spirit, we can grow our “vegetables” anywhere.

Source: Communist Youth League Central Committee

Editor: Li Zhiyuan

Proofreading丨Chen Jiaxuan

Proofread by Jia Wencheng

On-duty editor: Zhang Yu