Monitoring plants’ nitrogen use

Nitrogen is essential for crop production. However, excess nitrogen in the soil can lead to serious crop losses, and run-off into water sources can cause serious ecological imbalances. A recent study by Soichi Kojima, a plant biochemist at Tohoku University in Japan, has uncovered the regulatory mechanisms at work when plants utilise nitrogenous fertilisers in their roots, ScienceDaily recently reported.

Kojima said: “One of the key goals of modern agricultural research is to develop crops that can grow healthily without relying on so much added nitrogen.”

According to ScienceDaily, the researchers worked with thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), a common species used for laboratory studies in plant science.

“Taken together, our results reveal, at the genetic level, regulatory mechanisms at work when plants utilise nitrogenous fertilisers in their roots,” said Kojima.

In the next phase of the study, the researchers would aim to determine if the processes they identified in A. thaliana were shared by other plant species, especially major crop plants such as rice and other grains, ScienceDaily said.

“If that is confirmed, it could open an avenue for plant breeders and geneticists to generate crops that might need much less fertiliser while still producing the yields needed to feed the world. Enhancing the production or activity of the amino acid-making enzymes could be the key to success,” ScienceDaily said.

Kojima added that the study could hold significant promise in terms of environmental health by limiting the need for nitrogenous fertilisers.