Press release dated October 30, 2025
Yellow and red watermelons have been grown for the first time in the greenhouse of the new Vostok wintering complex in Central Antarctica. Crop yields were increased by 20% compared to the result obtained in 2023 at the previous plant. The work on growing fruit and berry crops within the framework of the Plants experiment is carried out jointly by scientists of the 70th Russian Antarctic Expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Agrophysical Research Institute and the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Scientists conducted an experiment in which identical varieties of watermelons were grown in identical phytotechnological greenhouse complexes in Antarctica at the Vostok Scientific Research Complex and at the agrobiopolygon of the Agrophysical Research Institute in St. Petersburg. In 2025, 4 fruits of two watermelon varieties were obtained from 6 plants in 104 days in the greenhouses of the NPC Vostok. Compared to 2023, it was possible to obtain fruits with red pulp weighing up to 1.2 kg and with yellow pulp - about 0.4 kg. Thus, the estimated yield of the tested watermelon varieties was 36.0 and 13.0 kg per 1 square meter per year, respectively.
Simultaneously with Antarctica, the harvest was harvested at the agrobiopolygon of the Agrophysical Research Institute, where the result was slightly higher: 51.2 kg and 22.4 kg per 1 square meter of area per year, with an average weight of 1.6 kg and 0.7 kg of watermelon with red pulp and 0.7 kg with yellow pulp.
The experiment showed that plant yields are affected by the climatic conditions of the Vostok station, including low oxygen content, low atmospheric pressure, and variations in the natural electromagnetic background near the south geomagnetic pole. High productivity in the agrobiopolygon was achieved due to comfortable growing conditions as close as possible to the real habitat of the crop. Nevertheless, even in difficult conditions, scientists are able to increase plant yields.
The groundless technology of "panoponics" has been making it possible for 6 years to consistently and programmatically obtain the expected yields of vegetable and melon crops in phytotechnological greenhouse complexes at the Vostok station. The process of growing various plants, especially watermelons, has a positive effect on polar explorers, positively affecting their psychological and emotional state.
In 2026, along with the continuation of research work on the selection of high-yielding and early-ripening varieties and hybrids of vegetable and melon crops adapted to the conditions of central Antarctica, polar explorers plan to grow garden strawberries at the Vostok station.
