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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

05/09/21 11:00 AM IST

Soil microbes can make for a greener revolution

In news

A new and fascinating aspect to hybrid vigour has been found in the rhizomicrobiome – the rich collection of microbes that surround the roots of every plant

Details
  • Maggie Wagner of the University of Kansas (at the heart of one of the great corn-producing areas of the world) addressed heterosis from the viewpoint of plant–root microbe interactions.
  • Using maize as the model crop, her group has recently shown that the rich biomass of roots in hybrid maize, as well as other positive traits, is reliant on appropriate soil microbes.
  • Agronomists estimate that depending on the fertility of the soil, hybrid maize requires 180–225 kg of artificial fertilizer for a yield of nine tons of grain per hectare.
  • Producing this fertilizer is an energy intensive task. As our nation strives towards lofty goals for sustainable agriculture, using simple microbial ways of improving crop quality (and quantity) would be a small step in that direction.
Ancient association
  • The association between plants and fungi is ancient.
  • Fossils of plants from about 400 million years ago show the first evidence of roots, and these roots are fungus associations – rhizoids – suggesting that roots co-evolved with fungi.
  • One good example is species of Penicillium, the fungus from which Alexander Fleming isolated the antibiotic penicillin.
  • Fungus–root associations, called mycorrhizae, appear at first glance to be simple mutualisms that are beneficial to both.
  • The root-invading fungus gains nutrients made by the plant, and the plants get difficult-to-find minerals like phosphorus from the microbe.
Source: The Hindu

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