Maize roots secrete certain chemicals that affect the quality of soil. In some fields, this effect increases yields of wheat planted subsequent to maize in the same soil by more than 4%. This was proven by researchers from the University of Bern. While the findings from several field experiments show that these effects are highly variable, in the long term they may yet help to make the cultivation of grains more sustainable, without the need for additional fertilizers or pesticides.
Plants produce an abundance of special chemicals. Some of these are released into the soil and influence its quality. This, in turn, affects the next plant to grow in the soil. So far, little research has taken place on the extent to which the excreted chemicals can be used in agriculture to increase productivity.
Recently, however, researchers from the Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) at the University of Bern have conducted field experiments in this area. With their findings published in the scientific journal eLife, the researchers demonstrate that specialized metabolites from the roots of the maize plant can bring about an increase in the yields of subsequently planted wheat under agriculturally realistic conditions.
On the basis of earlier studies conducted by researchers at the Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) at the University of Bern, it was known that so-called benzoxazinoids—natural chemicals which maize plants release through their roots—change the composition of microorganisms in the soil on the roots and therefore influence the growth of the subsequent plants that grow in the soil. The present study investigated whether plant-soil feedbacks of this kind also occur under realistic agricultural conditions.
“Such field experiments are essential to test the transferability of basic research into practice and thus assess the potential agronomic benefit,” explains Valentin Gfeller, who worked on the project as a doctoral student at IPS and now works at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL. During a two-year field experiment, two lines of maize were initially grown, only one of which released benzoxazinoids into the soil. Three varieties of winter wheat were then grown on the differently conditioned soils.
2023-08-11 16:48:02
Original from phys.org