By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- This bi-monthly column condenses the latest news in the field of crop technology, research and products.
BATS PROTECT CORN
A former graduate student at Southern Illinois University has found bats play a significant role in protecting corn by feasting on some its most troublesome insect pests.
Josiah Maine outlines his findings in the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, http://tinyurl.com/…. An experiment funded by Bat Conservation International took a look at what bats' appetites for certain bugs might mean to corn fields in Illinois.
He found nearly 60% more earworm larvae in corn where bats were excluded from feeding. He also found 50% more corn kernel damage per ear in areas where bats were not allowed to feed. The research found more fungal toxins in ears that had sustained feeding.
A FIXATION ON NITROGEN
Unlocking a key chemical responsible for nitrogen fixation in soil has led scientists at Yale University http://tinyurl.com/… to discover a way that one day might produce nitrogen fertilizer on the farm.
Most farmers are familiar with nitrogen fixation. It's how nature makes its own fertilizers to feed plants such as soybeans and other legumes. The enzyme responsible for natural nitrogen fixation is called nitrogenase. Yale chemistry professor Patrick Holland and his team designed a new chemical compound that binds nitrogen from the atmosphere, just as nirogenase does. The findings are described in the September 23 online edition of the journal Nature.
Holland and his team of scientists hope to design synthetic catalysts that turn nitrogen into ammonia, the primary fertilizer produced in nature. The ultimate goal is to find natural systems to synthesize ammonia that are friendlier than the current industrial process which uses high temperatures and pressure.
PLANT METABOLISM DECODED
Researchers at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and Michigan State University received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a four-year to study and identify targeted molecules called small signaling peptides. They are concentrating on Medicago truncatula, a legume species, and alfalfa, according to a news release from the Noble Foundation, http://tinyurl.com/…
The study will help scientists better understand how molecules affect plant development, especially in root systems.
Noble Foundation researchers believe the molecules in question may control plant metabolism, plant microbe interactions and nutrient stress tolerance.
Once scientists identify the coding genes in Medicago truncatula, they can test the effects of identical, synthetic peptides on root development and root nodule formation. They will also be assessing the ability of the legumes to fix nitrogen in nutrient-limited conditions.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS GENE FOUND
Researchers at Oxford University have identified a photosynthesis gene that could help crops grow in adverse conditions, according to a news release http://tinyurl.com/…
The gene reportedly helps plants stay healthy during stresses, providing hope for helping crops better withstand drought and pests.
According to the release, plants rely on chloroplasts in cells to carry out photosynthesis, or capture carbon dioxide and convert it to sugars. The same process can develop during drought—the so-called reactive oxygen species can be toxic to plants.
Chloroplast development relies on a gene known as SP1. It controls the passage of proteins through chloroplast membranes. It is believed by scientists the gene might use the same process to help plants survive under duress.
Scientists believe the discovery may make it possible to create crops that grow easier in harsh conditions.
DEEP DIVE ON RICE
Scientists with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the University of California, Riverside may have figured out why and how rice seeds survive under water, according to a study published in Nature Plants http://tinyurl.com/….
Scientists have identified a gene that controls how much sugar is available to a growing seed in flooding conditions.
The gene creates a mechanism that allows the rice seed to grow more quickly underwater.
COLOR RICE PURPLE
Officials at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas, are hoping purple rice catches on in the market as a healthier alternative to other varieties, according to a news release from the Crop Science Society of America, http://tinyurl.com/…
The center curates more than 18,000 different varieties of rice in a bank focused on maintaining natural genetic diversity.
Scientists at the center have begun to look more closely at purple rice because of its healthy qualities and taste, according to the news release.
The variety faces a number of market challenges. First, it would need to be isolated from other more common rice varieties in order to maintain its marketability as a healthier product.
As a result, many farmers tend to shy away from purple rice because of the work it takes to keep it isolated at every step of the production chain.
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN
(PS/CZ)
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