Maximum Yield Australia/New Zealand March/April 2018 | Page 16

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Bacteria Help Plants Thrive in Saline Conditions
Salinity stress is a major issue faced by farmers, but new research has discovered why
some plants handle salty conditions better than others: Enterobacter cloacae. These
plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), which grow in the soil or on the roots
of plants, help the plant acquire necessary nutrients, modulate plant hormone levels,
and protect the plant from pathogens. They found the PGPR influenced the production
of proteins involved in stress response pathways. The research suggested that
Enterobacter cloacae helped the plants produce more of certain cytoskeletal and cell
cycle proteins to reinforce the cell structure and to ensure that cell division goes on.
— researchmatters.in
Researchers Assess Interconnected
Benefits of Urban Ag
Over the past 10,000 years, we have bred selfish plants by
focusing on each plant’s individual characteristics and yields.
That is, we optimised crop yields by selecting and cultivating
only the strongest, most productive plants. However, a new
study in Ecology suggests that farmers could increase yields by
up to 35 per cent by cultivating more social traits in crops. “It’s
about imagining a new evolutionary strategy in plant breeding.
What is good for individual plants is not necessarily good for
the crop population in the field,” says professor Jacob Weiner
from the Department of Plant and Environmental Science at
the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. “Traditional breeding
chooses the plants that clearly give higher individual yields, but
in general these plants use a lot of resources to compete with
one another, which can potentially result in a poorer collective
yield.” So, instead of wasting time and energy competing, crops
would share their resources more equally. Though individual
yields may be smaller, the overall yield would increase. A team of researchers led by Arizona State University (ASU)
and Google have assessed the value of urban agriculture
and quantified its benefits at global scale. The researchers
estimated that existing urban ag areas show potential to
annually produce 100-180 million tons of food; save
14-15 billion kilowatt hours’ worth of energy; sequester
100,000-170,000 tons of nitrogen; and avoid 45-57 billion
cubic metres of storm runoff. With intense implementation, the
team estimated the overall annual worth of urban agriculture
could be as much as $80-160 billion. “We’ve known there
are benefits to having these small plots of land in our
cities, but we found that the benefits extend well
beyond having fresh food in the hands of those
who will consume it,” says lead author
Nicholas Clinton of Google, Inc. “The
global estimates that we provide are
useful because they provide a benchmark
for other researchers, but the societal
benefits extend well beyond that
because of the implementation of
Google’s Earth Engine platform,” says
Matei Georgescu, an ASU associate
professor of geographical sciences
and urban planning and a
corresponding author of the
paper. “Anyone on the planet
who wants to know whether
and how much urban agriculture
can provide for their locality can
now do so using open data and
code provided with the paper.” The
findings were published in Earth’s Future.
— sciencenordic.com — sciencedaily.com
Breeding Less Selfish Crops
Could Increase Yields
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