In a closed-loop vertical farming system designed to maximize food production efficiency and address global food security, crops are cultivated without soil. The plant roots are suspended inside a sealed chamber and intermittently misted with a nutrient-rich aqueous solution.
Identify this specific cultivation technique and its primary physiological advantage over standard hydroponic systems (where roots are submerged in a liquid nutrient medium).
Hydroponics; it reduces leaf transpiration rates by maintaining a continuous liquid film over the root surfaces, reducing overall water demand.
Aquaponics; it utilizes symbiotic nitrogen-fixing mycorrhizal fungi in the mist to convert atmospheric nitrogen directly into plant-absorbable nitrates.
Aeroponics; it provides superior root zone aeration (oxygen availability), preventing root anoxia and enhancing nutrient absorption.
Bioponics; it induces anaerobic digestion within the misting chamber to generate localized carbon dioxide, directly accelerating photosynthetic carbon fixation in the roots.
25 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Biology 6.2 Feeding the human race, covering 6.2.1 Biological factors affecting food security, 6.2.2 Agricultural solutions to growing demand, 6.2.3 Selective breeding, 6.2.4 Genetic engineering, 6.2.5 Steps in genetic engineering, 6.2.6 Benefits and risks of gene technology in agriculture, and 6.2.7 Biotechnological solutions to growing demand. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.