A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

Very exciting. As an outsider looking into the world of academic science, though, I am genuinely curious as to what about this paper took 13 years? The article mentions research by the team began in 2005, and only finished in 2018. Was it just the time needed to watch multiple generations of the corn grow? Anywho, fascinating stuff.

Re: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

#6

Post by rosstex » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 1:59 AM UTC

But what about the nitrogen production industry? /s

Re: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

#7

Post by wollstonecraft » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 2:07 AM UTC

This seems like it would lose an appreciable amount of water, but perhaps not nearly as much as transpiration. But in most places water is a cheaper input than nitrogen.

Re: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

#8

Post by mark-r » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 2:39 AM UTC

The ads on this page drive me crazy. The text of the article jumps around like a rabbit on steroids.

Re: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

#9

Post by mcgt » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 3:18 AM UTC

There's a better way to add nitrogen to soil and it's through the nitrogen cycle. The US Midwest (which grows a lot of corn) used to be highly populated with ruminants who did exactly this.

We killed them all (well, most) and now grow corn which we use most to finish off cattle, which is also a ruminant.

Maybe a better solution would be to feed the ruminants off the land now used by the corn? Imagine what that might do.

Re: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

#10

Post by rmason » Fri, Sep 11, 2020, 3:27 AM UTC

This is an extremely hard problem. I've been following efforts to replace nitrogen for around forty years. It's part of a bigger trend of the seed industry grabbing a larger portion of the crop production dollar.

It's the science of GMO's. We've replaced some insecticides by letting the plants produce their own. We've eliminated some herbicides (weed sprays) by producing resistance in the plant to first Roundup and later other herbicides. It's truly one of the scientific miracles of the past thirty years.

Yet it has had strong opposition by the very people, organic advocates, that it benefits the most. This saddens me greatly. The very people who run around advocating 'listen to the scientists' on some issues, then selectively don't listen to them on others.