Corn really likes its space – so much so that it has a unique way of making its other cultures know if the terrain becomes too crowded. Preference does not come from claustrophobia. Instead, researchers discovered that corn (Zea Mays) releases a gaseous defense mechanism to protect itself and the surrounding plants against potentially dangerous pests and pathogens.
A team from the Chinese University of Zhejiang recently studied the crop conditions of overcrowded corn to see how close districts influence external threats, including voracious insects and microbial diseases. After carrying out a volatile profile of multiple corn test fields, agricultural scientists have found that certain conditions will trigger the immunospons of a plant, similar to the way it could physically adjust its growth form to harvest the most solar light as possible.
The researchers quickly observed a cascading chemical chain of events occurring in very dense fields. Once he felt the leafy walls approaching him, a corn plant would release a volatile gas called Linalool. Terpene alcohol is produced by several plant species and can be found in many perfumes and cleaning products. It is often described as having a complex floral aroma similar to spicy wood or French lavender. The neighboring corn which detected these smoke later increased the production of hormones by its roots such as jasmonate. The roots then secreted additional benzoxazinoids – a class of chemical compounds capable of modifying the bacterial composition of the soil to protect them from hungry pests.
“Above a threshold concentration, Linalool triggers a chemical response to the root of corn plants (Zea Mays). This finally leads to changes in the microbial community in the soil – the microbiome – which has a lasting effect on the growth and defense of plants, “explained an article of perspective which accompanied the article of the team recently published in the journal Science.
The team noted that the high density corn fields had increased their chemical defenses against their caterpillars after only three days. These subtle soil changes also lasted far beyond the original culture. Subsequent generations of corn seemed better to resist not only the caterpillars, but also to the pathogens of the soil and the nematodes. This indicates that a crowded field often changes the soil to help increase the survival rates of future plants.
However, there is a drawback to this ingenious defense. Study authors note that corn has reduced its overall growth rates in these situations, because more resources have been grouped in defense responses. Despite this, the discovery could soon provide farmers with better and greener strategies to protect their crops without counting on harmful pesticides.
“The amantage of this natural defense path through reproduction, microbial inoculants or synthetic biology could allow the development of more resilient crops and requires fewer chemical entries,” concluded the authors of the study.
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