As climate change worsens global drought conditions, hindering crop production, the search for ways to capture and store atmospheric carbon causing the phenomenon has intensified.
As climate change worsens global drought conditions, hindering crop production, the search for ways to capture and store atmospheric carbon causing the phenomenon has intensified. Penn State researchers have developed a new high-tech tool that could spur changes in how crops withstand drought, acquire nitrogen and store carbon deeper in soil.
In findings recently published in Crop Science, they describe a process in which the depth of plant roots can be accurately estimated by scanning leaves with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, a process that detects chemical elements in the foliage. The method recognizes that roots take up elements they encounter, depending on the depth they reach, and a correlation exists between chemical elements in the leaves and root depth.
The new technology is the subject of a provisional patent application by Penn State, because it promises to speed up the plant-breeding process, according to research team leader Jonathan Lynch, distinguished professor of plant science in the College of Agricultural Sciences. The ability to measure the depth of plant roots without excavating them is a game-changing technology, he said.
Read more at: Penn State University
Although this method of identifying deep-rooting plants was accomplished with corn, shown here on a cloudy summer morning growing at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, it can be used with all plants, the researchers said. (Photo Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons)
