Use microbes, not pesticides, to boost crop yields Iowa State University Original StudyPosted by Fred Love-Iowa State on September 9 2013.
Smarter use of microbes that live in and around crops could pay huge dividends for farmers in the near future thanks to advances in genetic sequencing. A 21-member team organized by the American Academy of Microbiology established a set of recommendations on how advances in microbiology can be harnessed to improve agriculture. The recommendations published in the Academy s Colloquium Reports set a goal of increasing yields by 20 percent over the next 20 years by enhancing the use of microbes while reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers by 20 percent.A sharper focus on the billions of microscopic organisms that colonize plants and often share a symbiotic relationship with them could greatly improve yields and lessen the need for costly fertilizers and pesticides says team member Gwyn Beattie a professor of plant pathology and bacteriology at Iowa State University.Reaching those goals would drastically cut input costs for farmers and produce a range of environmental benefits.The sheer complexity involved in making sense of the virtually countless microbes that interact with crops made such an ambitious goal seem outlandish in the past. But new genetic sequencing technology means the benchmarks outlined in the report are realistic Beattie says.�The sort of changes we re talking about have gotten lip service in the past but because of the complexity involved it often gets dismissed� Beattie explains. �There are billions of different microbes and we didn t have the tools to tell one from another. Now we can profile them based on sequencing.�Most of the microbes in question are fungi viruses or bacteria. When crops are optimized with the right genetics and colonized by the right microbes both organisms can flourish.Mycorrhiza for instance is a fungus capable of forming an association with the vast majority of land plants. When that happens that symbiotic relationship helps to expand uptake by the plant's root system by as much as 90 percent helping the plant soak up water and nutrients from much deeper in the soil.The association also helps activate genes and physiological changes in the plant to help them survive drought conditions Beattie says. Other microbes can boost a plant's resistance to pests.�In the long run we can make better use of our resources and protect the environment while enhancing yields� she says. �We re on our way there.�Source: Iowa State UniversityYou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.