Feature Channels: Plants

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From nutritional supplements to managing irrigation to grower outreach and education, UF/IFAS researchers are finding additional ways to support Florida citrus growers in their fight against citrus greening disease. Twelve projects were funded by the state legislature-funded Citrus Initiative program in 2017-2018 that looked at possible short- and long-term solutions that growers might implement now, that could impact fruit growth, reduce production costs and result in more HLB-tolerant trees.

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Researchers have identified details of how certain plants scavenge and accumulate pollutants in contaminated soil. Their work revealed that plant roots effectively “lock up” toxic arsenic found loose in mine tailings—piles of crushed rock, fluid, and soil left behind after the extraction of minerals and metals.

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Heads’ up! Did you know that researchers have also found soils in the trees above our heads? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) August 1 Soils Matter blog explains how these unique soils form and the role they play in their ecosystems.

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The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and the UIC/National Institutes of Health Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research will host an open-to-the-public garden walk and lecture to celebrate the first and only urban medicinal plant garden in Chicago.

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Iowa State University researchers have received a grant to study how well the perennial grass miscanthus performs in low-lying areas of agricultural fields that are prone to flooding. The research has the potential to identify more efficient uses of such land while also providing environmental benefits.

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By testing new technology, University of Florida scientists will work with growers to encourage their use of alternatives to fresh water by using new smart irrigation systems. This way, growers can lower their risk of transferring pathogens from water to crops, said Eric McLamore, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

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Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges announce institute to be based at Iowa State; jointly funded by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Iowa State University.

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University of Adelaide researchers have uncovered fundamental new information about the malting characteristics of barley grains. They say their finding could pave the way to more stable brewing processes or new malts for craft brewers.

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Traditionally, farms included a variety of grazing animals, pastures, and crops. Mechanization and other factors prompted many farms to adopt more efficient systems. The July 22nd Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains why the traditional approach to variety in agriculture is getting a second look.

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The latest research on the environment in the Environmental Science News Source

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A team at Washington University in St. Louis has created a bacteria that uses photosynthesis to create oxygen during the day, and at night, uses nitrogen to create chlorophyll for photosynthesis. This development could lead to plants that do the same, eliminating the use of some — or possibly all — man-made fertilizer, which has a high environmental cost.

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With the new variety, growers would be able to produce more market-ready peanuts, and consumers can get more of the protein-filled legume.

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The compound urea is currently the most popular nitrogen soil fertilizer. It’s a way to get plants the nitrogen they need to grow. There’s just one problem with urease: it works too well! New research suggests farmers may have a choice in how they slow the release of nitrogen, depending on their soil’s acidity.

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A tiny fern – with each leaf the size of a gnat – may provide global impact for sinking atmospheric carbon dioxide, fixing nitrogen in agriculture and shooing pesky insects from crops. The fern’s full genome has been sequenced by a Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) scientist and his colleagues around the world, as reported in the journal Nature Plants.

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Pale and black swallow-wort are rapidly invading fields and forests across the Northeast, including New York, but a moth from the Ukraine holds promise to keep the weed in check.

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A new study conducted at the University of Michigan reveals a previously unrecognized threat to monarch butterflies: Mounting levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide reduce the medicinal properties of milkweed plants that protect the iconic insects from disease.

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What can a trench filled with woodchips do to improve water quality? The July 7 Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains bioreactors, a solution to nitrogen runoff.

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Dallas researcher's gene editing approach seeks broad spectrum crop disease resistance

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Lawns in the Salt Lake Valley up to 100 years old are not yet saturated in the nutrient nitrogen, which is added by fertilizer, according to a new study from University of Utah researchers. The result is surprising, since previous studies in the Eastern U.S. suggested that fertilized soil would become saturated with nitrogen within a few decades.

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“Samurai Wasps vs. Stink Bugs” is not the title of the latest Avengers film. But it does describe new efforts by Cornell University scientists to control a household nuisance and agricultural pest.

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Working with space commercialization company Space Tango, a team of UK College of Pharmacy researchers are studying the potential medicinal benefits of sending plants to space.

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A UF/IFAS researcher has found root-knot nematodes in the hops-growing area of the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, but scientists think the nematodes can be controlled.

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Agronomists and farmers are working hard to improve the sustainability of agricultural land. The June 22nd Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains which greenhouses gases are released in agriculture, and efforts to reduce them.

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The sustainable environments interdisciplinary graduate program’s floating islands research project has returned to Iowa State University’s Lake LaVerne for the first summer since 2015. While the project still measures nutrient uptake from the water, this year’s research adds pollinator plants to determine if floating islands could also help threatened insects such as bees and butterflies.

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Unlike humans, crops in a field can't move to air conditioning to endure a heat wave. Scientists in Australia are working to understand how heat waves impact wheat.

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In recent articles in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, scientists optimize experimental design for understanding potential chemotherapeutic agents, delve into crop responses to salt-water stress, and present a better way to ensure consistency in long-term proteomics studies.

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Plants can be genetically rewired to resist the devastating effects of disease – significantly reducing crop waste worldwide – according to new research into synthetic biology by the University of Warwick.Led by Professor Declan Bates from the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) and Professor Katherine Denby from the University of York, who is also an Associate member of WISB, researchers have developed a genetic control system that would enable plants to strengthen their defence response against deadly pathogens – so they could remain healthy and productive.

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Iowa, known for its farms, also claims fame to a dramatic, rolling landscape known as loess hills. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains what formed this feature, and why its soil requires special care.

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Ecologists from the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are forecasting a larger-than-average Chesapeake Bay "dead zone" in 2018, due to increased rainfall in the watershed this spring.

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For decades, biologists have believed a key enzyme in plants had one function—produce amino acids, which are vital to plant survival and also essential to human diets. But for Wellington Muchero, Meng Xie and their colleagues, this enzyme does more than advertised. They had run a series of experiments on poplar plants that consistently revealed mutations in a structure of the life-sustaining enzyme that was not previously known to exist.

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Headed out on vacation? Don’t forget to observe the soil along the way! Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, can points out the soil landmarks. Bon voyage!

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Systems biology was used to identify previously unknown protein targets of plant pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana, employing some of the same methods used to analyze social networks. This theoretical framework could help analyze other interactions between species to reveal pathogen contact points.

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One of the iconic ingredients of the Mediterranean diet, which often has been associated with beneficial effects in the prevention of cancer as well as several other disorders, is extra-virgin olive oil. For thousands of years, olive trees were planted on Mediterranean coasts, initially by ancient Greek colonists, followed by several other civilizations and cultures, one generation after the other.

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For desert, how about a scoop of ice cream flavored with vanilla from Florida’s farmers? Because so many consumers enjoy vanilla, University of Florida scientists hope to help Florida farmers grow the bean.

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Scientists have identified patterns in how and when sorghum plants flower that could help plant breeders and growers predict other important traits in a wide range of environments and geographic regions. The research team created an index based on photothermal time, a crucial phase in a plant’s development when it processes the environmental cues of sunlight and temperature. The research looked at sorghum, but the scientists believe the same method could be applied to a range of plants, including other crops.

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High school science and agriculture teachers are gettting Ideas for new curriculum units and the chance to network with university professors and other teachers through iLEARN.

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Students in Gonzaga University’s Collegiate DECA Club kicked off the growing season recently in the GU Campus Garden, planting a variety of vegetables and learning to grow food using sustainable practices. Through their efforts, students learn the empowering nature of taking food security into their own hands.

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Spring came later this year, but high inter-annual variability is not unusual, according to geospatial scientists who been tracking the growing season since 2000 using environmental satellite data.

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We experience fortified food in items like vitamin D-fortified milk or fortified breakfast cereals. But what is biofortified food? The June 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains what biofortified food is. It also explains how crop scientists are using it to solve malnutrition worldwide.

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Technion researchers have found they can significantly increase agricultural yields, by using nanoscale delivery platforms that until now were used to transport drugs to specific targets in a patient's body. The technology increases the penetration rate of nutrients into the plant, from 1% to approximately 33%.

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Radiocarbon dating is a key tool archaeologists use to determine the age of plants and objects made with organic material. But new research shows that commonly accepted radiocarbon dating standards can miss the mark — calling into question historical timelines.

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All plants take up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. During this changeover, the plants emit an energy “glow” that is not visible to the human eye, but can be detected by satellites in space. Now, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have taken that one step further. By using satellite data from different major land-based ecosystems around the globe, they have found that the photosynthesis glow is the same across all vegetation, no matter the location. This first-of-its-kind global analysis could have significance in providing more accurate data for scientists working to model carbon cycle and eventually help better project climate change.

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As climate change brings more severe, more frequent wildfires and droughts throughout the western United States, land managers are increasingly challenged to find the best restoration approaches—and the right kinds of seeds to plant for successful outcomes. At the same time, pollinators such as bees, birds and butterflies are in decline, which poses a major threat to both conservation and agriculture. A cross-disciplinary team of NAU ecologists recently received a five-year, $935,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study which plants are most fit for restoring damaged lands and capable of supporting diverse pollinator communities.

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There are hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of organisms in just a handful of soil. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 1 Soils Matter blog explains the important role of soil microbes in freeing up soil nutrients for plants.

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Recently published research from Iowa State University plant scientists maps the stress response detected by the endoplasmic reticulum, an organelle in cells of corn seedlings. The study shows how cells transition from adaptation to death when faced with persistent stress and could help plant breeders develop stress-resistant crop varieties.

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Lafora disease is an ultra-rare, congenital form of epilepsy; every patient diagnosed with it dies before they are 30. Research into the mechanisms of glycogen metabolism at the University of Kentucky show promise for treatments for this and perhaps other forms of epilepsy.

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Summertime is recreation time! While the wilds may call us, respect for ecosystems should guide us. Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, explains why we should protect life underfoot.

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Researchers have recently published results identifying the major sources of E. coli breakouts on several beaches on Lake Michigan. They have also researched an effective method of reducing the breakouts and the resulting beach closings.

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Scientists hope to use trichoderma to supplement various pest-management methods to help control Fusarium wilt in crops including tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, eggplant, watermelon and strawberries.