HOLY SH*T. THEY FOUND NITROGEN-FIXING CORN BRED BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MEXICO. @botanyshitposts
“The study found the Sierra Mixe corn obtains 28 to 82 percent of its nitrogen from the atmosphere. To do this, the corn grows a series of aerial roots. Unlike conventional corn, which has one or two groups of aerial roots near its base, the nitrogen-fixing corn develops eight to ten thick aerial roots that never touch the ground.
During certain times of the year, these roots secrete a gel-like substance, or mucilage. The mucilage provides the low-oxygen and sugar-rich environment required to attract bacteria that can transform nitrogen from the air into a form the corn can use.
“Our research has demonstrated that the mucilage found in this Sierra Mixe corn forms a key component of its nitrogen fixation,“ said co-author Jean-Michel Ané, professor of agronomy and bacteriology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UW–Madison. “We have shown this through growth of the plant both in Mexico and Wisconsin.”
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Researchers are a long way from developing a similar nitrogen-fixing trait for commercial corn, but this is a first step to guide further research on that application. The discovery could lead to a reduction of fertilizer use for corn, one of the world’s major cereal crops. It takes 1 to 2 percent of the total global energy supply to produce fertilizer. The energy-intensive process is also responsible for 1 to 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
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I’ve written about this before, this is one of those ‘saving the planet’ levels of discovery. No joke.
Look! The actual slaughter process. No bad lighting, potato level pocket cams, spooky music, or rare bad handling practices. Just the way it actually happens
IN AGRICULTURALRESEARCH, it’s been understood for some
time that many of our most important foods have been getting less
nutritious. Measurements of fruits and vegetables show that their
minerals, vitamin and protein content has measurably dropped over the
past 50 to 70 years. Researchers have generally assumed the reason is
fairly straightforward: We’ve been breeding and choosing crops for
higher yields, rather than nutrition, and higher-yielding crops—whether
broccoli, tomatoes, or wheat—tend to be less nutrient-packed.
In
2004, a landmark study of fruits and vegetables found that everything
from protein to calcium, iron and vitamin C had declined significantly
across most garden crops since 1950. The researchers concluded this
could mostly be explained by the varieties we were choosing to grow.
Loladze and a handful of other scientists have come to
suspect that’s not the whole story and that the atmosphere itself may be
changing the food we eat. Plants need carbon dioxide to live the same
way humans need oxygen. And in the increasingly polarized debate about
climate science, one thing that isn’t up for debate is that the level of
CO2 in the atmosphere is rising. Before the industrial
revolution, the earth’s atmosphere had about 280 parts per million of
carbon dioxide. Last year, the planet crossed over the 400 parts per
million threshold; scientists predict we will likely reach 550 parts per
million within the next half-century—essentially twice the amount that
was in the air when Americans started farming with tractors.
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