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Photos by Howard-Yana Shapiro (2)
The dripping gel from this corn plant harbors bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by the plant. Scientists have long sought corn with this ability to reduce the crop’s high demand for artificial fertilizers, which are energy intensive, expensive, and polluting.
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SPRING 2019
Hold the Fertilizer Researchers identify corn that acquires its own nitrogen, a rare advantage among crop plants The term is “nitrogen fixation.” No, it doesn’t refer to an unhealthy obsession with one of the most common chemical elements on Earth. Rather, it’s a process in which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into a form usable by a plant. Nitrogen is essential for plants to function, but very few crops can “fix” it on their own. Scientists have long sought corn with this ability, their goal
being to reduce the crop’s high demand for artificial fertilizers. Fertilizers are expensive, and excess can run off the soil, impacting water used for swimming, fishing, and drinking. Reducing corn's need for fertilizer would be a boon for farmers and water quality alike. And now the search for nitrogen-fixing corn may be over. A team of researchers from CALS; the University
