By studying the way two bacteria perform the difficult chemistry of photosynthesis, a team led by Imperial College London researchers have discovered the trade-offs they make when using lower-energy light.
Photo: Imperial College London
This could inform plant genetic engineering that aims to make crop and biomass production more efficient.
Plants, algae and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) perform photosynthesis to convert light and CO2 into sugars and oxygen. An enzyme called photosystem II performs the first step of this process, using light to extract electrons from water and feed them into the photosynthetic machinery.
Most organisms perform photosynthesis using visible light, which they collect thanks to a pigment called chlorophyll-a. The energy contained in visible light has been considered for a long time the minimum energy required to do the hard chemistry of extracting electrons from water.
However, there are some cyanobacteria that perform photosynthesis using lower-energy far-red light instead of visible light. Giving plants and algae the ability to use far-red light could make crop and biomass production more efficient, since far-red light is less energy intensive and is plentiful.
The ability to use both visible and far-red light in different conditions would also be a desirable property for crop plants and algae, but the researchers needed to understand if there were any trade-offs or compromises in systems that can do this.
The team studied cyanobacteria that perform photosynthesis using far-red light instead of visible light. Acaryochloris marina lives beneath a green sea-squirt, shaded from visible light but exposed to stable far-red light, that it collects using the pigment chlorophyll-d instead of chlorophyll-a.
Other recently discovered cyanobacteria can do photosynthesis using chlorophyll-a when visible light is present and then switch to using the pigment chlorophyll-f, which also absorbs far-red light, when shaded from visible light.
In 2018, researchers led by a team at Imperial discovered that in one of these cyanobacteria, Chroococcidiopsis thermalis, photosystem II can do the hard chemistry by solely using the lower energy provided by far-red light.
Now, in a study published in eLife, researchers led by the same team at Imperial have shown that the photosystem II of cyanobacteria using the pigment chlorophyll-f is less efficient at collecting and using far-red light than the photosystem II of those using chlorophyll-d, but that it is more protected from the damaging side-effects of too much light.
According to lead researcher Professor Bill Rutherford, from the department of life sciences at Imperial, engineering crop plants or algae that could use far-red photosynthesis may help boost food and biomass production.
"Our study is an important first step in understanding the trade-offs between efficiency and resilience in systems that can use far-red light. These insights could help researchers determine which features would be beneficial, and under what conditions,” he said. ●
Most organisms perform photosynthesisusing visible light…
Drought conditions have impacted many growers in 2022 across the North American crop growing regions (Figure 1). Drought conditions can have a severe impact on yield, depending on the onset of the dry conditions (discussed here at length). Aside from the impact of hot, dry conditions, drought can also have an influence on the ability of the crop to uptake nutrients. In this article, we will discuss how drought can have a negative impact on specific nutrients due to the nature of their uptake mechanism – mass flow.
Figure 1: Drought has been a common threat across many crop growing areas in North America during the 2022 growing season. The map above shows drought conditions across Canada, the United States, and Mexico for June 30, 2022. The redder the shade, the worse the drought conditions for that area.
What is mass flow?There are three primary pathways that a crop can utilize to pull in necessary nutrients from the soil: mass flow, diffusion and root interception (Barber 1984). Mass flow refers to the movement of nutrients with the flow of water from the bulk soil to the plant roots. As the crop actively pulls water from the soil to drive photosynthesis and other biological processes, this sets up a natural movement of water from the bulk soil to the root zone, carrying nutrients along with it.
With this much dependence on soil water and moisture conditions prior to acquiring the nutrient, it is easy to see how drought (e.g., dry, hot conditions) can have such a damaging impact on yield. However, not all nutrients are impacted the same by drought. We can predict the impact of drought on nutrient uptake
by ranking them by the proportion that is influenced by mass flow.
Which nutrients are most impacted?Table 1 shows that many macro- and micronutrients can be impacted by drought due to the dominance of mass flow as the primary crop uptake mechanism. In the example below, nitrogen, sulphur, and magnesium are macronutrients that are susceptible to “drought induced deficiency” since most of the nutrient is brought into the root system via mass flow. On the micronutrient side, copper, boron, molybdenum and manganese also have a crop uptake mechanism dominated by mass flow. As a contrast, phosphorus, iron and zinc are nutrients that are not as dependent on the flow of water through the soil to drive crop uptake.
Table 1: Macro- and micronutrients arranged by percent of plant uptake occurring by mass flow. The higher the percent uptake by the mass flow pathway, the higher the risk that drought will impact nutrient availability to the crop (Barber, 1984).
*This nutrient is more susceptible to drought induced deficiency.
ConclusionDrought can have a negativeimpact on your crop yield from several different mechanisms. Stress response to hot, dry conditions can reduce yield and this is a form of stress that we can personally sense and feel. However, below ground and sight unseen, drought can also cause induced nutrient deficiencies due the impact said conditions can have on the mass flow uptake pathway.
If drought is expected, growers can use tools to reduce evaporation from the soil including crop residues, minimizing runoff, deep watering if irrigating, and by managing the soil to have a good crumbly structure. Soils with good structure are great at capturing rainfall and snowmelt and storing the water for use later by the crop. In some situations, chemical management tools such as soil surfactants and wetting agents can be used to help get more moisture into the group and help promote the optimal mass flow of nutrients to the crop.
Dr. Karl Wyant currently serves as the Director of Agronomy at Nutrien. In this position, Dr. Wyant contributes proven agronomic leadership in growing the Nutrien commodity and premium fertilizer product lines and promotes advanced sustainability initiatives. ●
References
Unsaturated Water Flow and Nutrient Uptake in Corn | Pioneer Seeds
Barber, S.A. 1984. Soil bionutrient availability. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
The Dirt Podcast - Episode 17: Defining, Monitoring and Preparing for Drought Conditions with Dr. Karl Wyant Defining, Monitoring, and Preparing for Drought Conditions with Karl Wyant (nutrien-ekonomics.com)
Nutrien-ekonomics.com
A research team affiliated with the Laboratory of Polymeric Materials and Biosorbents at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Araras, São Paulo state, Brazil, has produced and is testing cellulose-based materials for enhanced-efficiency fertilizers to improve the supply of nutrients to crops and reduce the release of non-biodegradable chemicals intothe ecosystem.
The studies were funded by FAPESP and led by Roselena Faez, a professor at the Center for Agricultural Sciences (CCA-UFSCar). FAPESP – the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) – is a public foundation, funded by the taxpayer in the State of São Paulo, with the mission to support research projects in higher education and research institutions, in all fieldsof knowledge.
In an article published in Carbohydrate Polymers, researchers describe how they used modified nanocellulose to discharge the nutrients contained in fertilizer into the soil slowly and in a controlled manner, given that nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are highly soluble.
Controlled-release products are available on the market, but most are made of synthetic polymers, which are non-biodegradable. The researchers at UFSCar developed an entirely different product in which the chemical reaction between the modified nanocellulose and mineral salts keeps the nutrients in the soil. “We focused on the worst problems, which are nitrate and potassium. The material we developed is totally biodegradable and releases these nutrients at about the same slow rate as the available synthetic materials,” Faez said.
The nanocellulose was obtained from pure cellulose donated by a paper factory. The nanofibrils were functionalized with positive and negative charges to enhance polymer-nutrient interaction. “Because the salts are also made up of positively or negatively charged particles and highly soluble, we hypothesized that negatively charged nanocellulose would react with positive ions in the salts, while positively charged nanocellulose would interact with negative ions, reducing the solubility of the salts. This proved to be the case, and the group succeeded in modulating nutrient release in accordance with the type of particle in the material,” noted Débora França, first author of the study.
The group fabricated the product in the form of tablets and evaluated its performance in terms of nutrient release into the soil. Evaluation of release into water is the usual method, and water is a very different system from soil. This part of the research was conducted in partnership with Claudinei Fonseca Souza, a professor at CCA-UFSCar’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection in Araras.
“We evaluated nutrient release into the soil and biodegradation of the material at the site for 100 days. But we deliberately used very poor soil with little organic matter, because this enables us to see the physical effects of release more easily,” Faez said.
The researchers used two techniques to obtain tablets: atomization and spray drying to encapsulate the nutrients with the nanocellulose, followed by heat processing of the resulting powder, which was pressed in a mold. This work was completed with the help of colleagues at the Cellulose and Wood Materials Laboratory belonging to EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and in collaboration with UFSCar’s Water, Soil and Environment Engineering Research Group, led by Souza. França performed the cellulose modifications at EMPA while on an internship there with support from FAPESP.
A second article by the group was published in Industrial Crops and Products, with chemist Lucas Luiz Messa as first author. The goal of the study was to extract cellulose from sugarcane bagasse and modify it with a surface negative charge by phosphorylation (addition of a phosphorus group) to allow controlled release of potassium. In theory, delivery of plant nutrition would be slowed by cellulose phosphorylation, which would create surface anionic charges that would bind to macronutrient and micronutrient cations.
The group prepared three types of structure with the phosphorylated cellulose: oven-dried paper-like film; spray-dried powder; and freeze-dried porous bulk similar to polystyrene foam. Freeze drying, or lyophilization, was seen to leave nutrients in the voids left by water removal.
“Technologically speaking, the paper-like structure was the best material we produced for controlled delivery of nutrients. Several products can be created using this paper,” Faez said. The group was able to develop small propagation pots for seedling cultivation. When this material degrades, the phosphorus it contains is released.
Biodegradable propagation pots are already available on the market. “But our product has built-in fertilizer, which is a major competitive advantage. Indeed, we’ve filed a patent application,” noted Faez.The pot is about to be trialed by a flower producer in Holambra, São Paulo state. ●
The first and third photos show the paper made from phosphorylated sugarcane cellulose. The second shows the 3D structure of the material comprising cellulose and nutrient. The fourth shows the microparticles in powder form and after molding into tablets. Photo: Lucas Luiz Messa/Débora França
The goal of the second study was to extract cellulose from sugarcane bagasse and modify it with a surface negative charge by phosphorylation to allow controlled release of potassium.
ICL has launched ICLeaf, a diagnostics tool that provides farmers with a personal prescription for maximizing yield. The tool measures 10 different elements in a leaf sample and then delivers accurate, real-time feedback and a recommendation regarding nutrient use.
The process begins with the collection of leaves from the targeted crop, which are then analyzed using unique technology. Results are rapidly available – within up to three days after initial sampling – allowing farmers to make quick and data-driven decisions, based on the measurements, and enable them to take multiple samples each year and make immediate, in-season improvements.
ICLeaf is complementary to Crop Advisor, a data-based crop nutrition plan, which provides customized fertilizer recommendations, based on type of crop, location and environmental conditions. This customer-focused solution is supported by professional agronomists, who offer personal guidance throughout the process.
ICLeaf is currently available for grape, cotton, banana, tomato and pomegranate crops in India, with other crops being added. The diagnostics tool was created at the Center for Fertilization and Plant Nutrition (CFPN), which was founded through a partnership between ICL and the Volcani Institute (Agricultural Research Organization ARO), the research arm of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture.
The digital technology suite – including the ICLeaf and Crop Advisor solutions, among others – was developed by Agmatix, an ICL owned digital ag startup. The Agmatix platform can read and interpret thousands of the different data points commonly used across the agricultural industry to help scientists, agronomists and farmers make actionable decisions. ●
BGI Genomics, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has uncovered a millet plant genotype-microbiota interaction network that contributes to phenotype plasticity.
Foxtail millet, Setaria italica, is one of the oldest and more resilient crops worldwide. Compared to rice and wheat, millet has excellent climate resilience and requires less fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation than mainstream cereals. In addition, millet-based foods are nutritionally superior to other cereal crops.
Previous studies revealed key loci for early and late flowering times and blast-resistance in foxtail millet, but the loci associated with plant growth or yield are still not known. This research (published in Nature Communications) revealed the association between millet genotype, root microbiome and agronomic traits through association analysis, and proposed genotype-dependent microbial effects for the first time. This provides an in-depth analysis of the genetic and environmental factors that affect millet crop growth and yield.
The research was based on genetic variation data of 827 foxtail millet genomes of different varieties, rhizoplane microbiota (external root-surface) data, and 12 growth and yield phenotypic data of each millet. This study integrates genome-wide association studies (GWAS), microbiome-wide association studies (MWAS), and microbiome genome-wide association studies (mGWAS) methods to reveal associations between genotypes, agronomic phenotypes and rhizoplane microbiota in foxtail millet.
The researchers identified 257 rhizoplane microbial biomarkers associated with six key agronomic traits. The rhizoplane microbiota composition is mainly driven by variations in plant genes related to immunity, metabolites, hormone signaling and nutrient uptake. Among these, the host immune gene FLS2 and transcription factor bHLH35 are widely associated with the microbial taxa of the rhizoplane. The microbial-mediated growth effects on foxtail millet are dependent on the host genotype, suggesting that precision microbiome management could be used to engineer high-yielding cultivars in agriculture systems.
According to Yayu Wang, co-author and BGI senior researcher, these research results will help to enhance millet productivity and its adaptability to the environment.
“A ‘personalized feeding strategy’ with precision microbial biofertilizers will be a key to develop high-yielding cultivars in the future,” noted Wang. “This will involve integrating DNA-level precision breeding with microbial ecological fertilizers, water and fertilizer integration, full-field management, precision seeding and other modern planting technologies.” ●
A reciprocal interplay among host genetic variations, the root-associated microbiota and the agronomic traits of crops is unraveled by an integrated GWAS, MWAS and mGWAS method.
Photo: BGI
A new interdisciplinary research collaboration between the U.S.’s North Carolina State University (NC State) and the Technical University of Denmark (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, DTU) aims to uncover new biology-based methods for CO2 management and sustainable fertilizer production.
The project, called the Biocatalyst Interactions with Gases (BIG) Collaboration, is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF). Led by NC State, the collaboration team will receive 50 million Danish Kroner (DKK), or approximately USD$6.5 million in funding over five years.
The project team will investigate and create new types of biological catalyst systems that are capable of carrying out fundamental chemical reactions required within two critical research areas: CO2 management for greenhouse gas reduction and nitrogen fixation for fertilizer production.
The BIG Collaboration will be led by Wilson College of Textiles Associate Professor Sonja Salmon. Salmon, a two-time graduate of NC State, earned her Ph.D. in fiber and polymer science and bachelor’s degree in textile chemistry. She is a recognized expert on carbon capture science and technology, with more than two decades of industry research experience.
“Fundamental insights generated by our BIG Collaboration will lead to advanced bio-based solutions,” said Salmon. “Working closely with our partners at DTU and NNF, this interdisciplinary initiative will help solve global challenges to nourish and sustain our future.”
Nitrogen, the most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, must be converted to water soluble ammonium salts before most crops can use it as an essential nutrient – making this conversion critical for a sustainable food supply. However, converting nitrogen to ammonia by current industrial methods is very energy-intensive.
The project team aims to develop new enzyme-based approaches that will lower the energy requirement for ammonia production. Similar approaches – using different enzymes – will also be investigated to improve the rate at which CO2 gas is converted into small water-soluble compounds, like bicarbonate and formate. The goal is for these complementary approaches to help advance technologies that will minimize industrial CO2 emissions while creating useful precursors for cement, fuels, chemicals and fertilizer. Studying these life-essential biocatalyzed gas reactions will lead to new innovations that contribute to global sustainability solutions. ●
U.S.-based Nitricity, a renewable nitrogen fertilizer pioneer, announced the close of its Series A investment capital raise at USD$20 million.
This fundraising round was led by Khosla Ventures and Fine Structure Ventures with additional participation from Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital and MCJ Collective.
Nitricity electrifies and distributes the production of nitrogen fertilizer. The Nitricity approach uses a new technology for regionalized nutrient production using low-cost solaror wind.
“This fundraising round brings us one step closer toward sustainable and locally produced fertilizer,” said Nicolas Pinkowski, CEO and co-founder of Nitricity. With this financing, Nitricity has raised $27 million in total funding to date.
“This electrified technology provides fertilizer in a climate-smart nitrate form, designed for efficient application, allowing it to address greenhouse gas emissions beyond ammonia-based technologies,” said Joshua McEnaney, president, CTO and co-founder at Nitricity.
The company said its technology has been proven in commercial-scale farming operations through multiple functional pilots, including sub-surface fertigation of tomatoes in a collaboration with California State University Fresno’s Center for Irrigation Technology and the Water, Energy and Technology Center. Through solar-fertilizer technology, Nitricity has demonstrated the power of its system to produce and apply nitrogen fertilizer closer to the end-user.
Nitricity aims for its renewable technology to be available in the market within a two-year period. ●
Nitricity has a functional commercial-scale pilot that is coupled directly with a sub-surface-irrigation system and used to fertigate green peppers in Fresno, CA. This solar-fertilizer technology can enable an irrigation system to now provide and inject its own nitrogen fertilizer compounds.Photo: Nitricity
The African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Fertilizer Canada and OCP Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on agriculture development programs that target sub-Saharan rural farmers, particularly women and youth.
The planned interventions will seea marked improvement in food-security and livelihoods for smallholder farmers through joint programming, shared learning and resource mobilization.
This MoU is a collaboration agreement as part of the Global Affairs Canada-funded 4R Nutrient Stewardship project in Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal being implemented by Fertilizer Canada, Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada and African Plant Nutrition Institute.
“Fertilizer Canada is pleased to be partnering with OCP Africa and APNI to facilitate knowledge transfer; and to translate lessons learnt from 4R Nutrient Stewardship project in Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal to other Sub-Saharan African country contexts,” said Clyde Graham, executive vice president of Fertilizer Canada. “This MoU reflects our shared commitment to improve food security, promote climate-smart agriculture and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”.
The 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework has demonstrated that scientifically based and site-specific application of organic and commercial fertilizers that come from the Right Source at the Right Rate, Right Time, and Right Place has potential to boost small farmers’ yields and incomes while improving environmental sustainability. Fertilizer Canada, OCP Africa and APNI have complementary objectives and goals to increase agricultural productivity and standards of living in Sub Saharan African countries through cost-effective and environmentally responsible soil management and enhancement to increase food production for smallholder farmers.
“Transforming African agriculture and improving smallholder farmers’ livelihood requires a partnership-based and inclusive approach. We are glad to collaborate with Fertilizer Canada to design and implement high-impact initiatives to support smallholder farmers,” said Dr. Anouar Jamali, CEO of OCP Africa.
Dr. Kaushik Majumdar, director general of APNI, added that APNI “looks forward to expanding this highly effective partnership to expand the development and delivery of science-based solutions to guiding appropriate source, rate, time and placements of fertilizer application to build resilience and sustainability within the diverse farming and food production systems across Africa.” ●
Summit Nutrients, LLC., a precision-based manufacturer and marketer of bio-nutritional and fertilizer products, has acquired AGVNT, LLC., an R&D company known for pioneering a technology platform of nutrient efficiency innovations.
This acquisition is part of Summit Nutrients’ growth strategy toward building a platform of nutrient efficiency technologies, and reaffirms the company’s commitment to expediting its pipeline of sustainable solutions currently in development.
“By pairing AGVNT’s market-leading assets with our rapidly transforming portfolio, manufacturing and commercial product skills, we immediately offer a compelling value proposition which we plan to scale across more acres domestically and internationally,” said Jeremy Fountain, director of business development for Summit Nutrients.
In the last five years, Summit Nutrients and its parent company, Wedgworth’s, Inc., have worked with AGVNT to develop more than 100 different bio-nutritional granular and liquid custom-blended products, which have been commercially applied on more than five million U.S. crop and turf acres to date.
The underlying intellectual properties of AGVNT related to the acquired technologies including patents, trademarks, registrations, data packages and physical assets associated with the formulation and manufacturing of technologies, have been transferred to Summit Nutrients.
With AGVNT fully embedded, Summit Nutrients is immediately headed to market with a suite of proprietary technology offerings as well as custom-blending and private-label programs, including six technology solutions that address farmers’ most critical plant nutrition challenges:
Nanobubble technology – the technology uses nanobubble gases to infuse oxygen into liquid fertilizer, increasing nutrient efficiency while reducing inputs.
Advanced chelation technology – designed to replace synthetic chelators, this all-natural chelation technology hosts the lipophilic nano molecule, allowing nutrients to penetrate the waxy cuticle and be fully metabolized by the plant.
Biostimulant technology – this technology triggers biological and chemical reactions for improved stress resistance, root growth and energy production.
Active carbon complex technology – containing all three humic fractions, this technology is a natural soil conditioner that acts as a chelator and microbial stimulator for improving plant and microbe interactions.
Nutrient delivery system technology – a nutrient delivery blend of nano-scale biostimulant components, this technology works immediately for full delivery of micros and macros in any fertilizers mix by removing barriers that hinder plant uptake.
Nutrient compatibility technology – this technology allows previously incompatible inputs to co-exist in a single stable homogeneous solution. ●
