Plant breeders have developed wheat plants capable of creating their own nitrogen fertilizer.
Researchers at the University of California used gene editing technology to increase a naturally-occurring chemicals that allow wheat to fix nitrogen .
“For decades, scientists have been trying to develop cereal crops that produce active root nodules, or trying to colonize cereals with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, without much success. We used a different approach,” said Eduardo Blumwald in a report in ScienceDaily publication.
Researchers, led by Blumwald, examined 2,800 chemicals that plants make naturally and identified 20 that could encourage nitrogen-fixing bacteria to form biofilms, the report said.
The university has applied for a patent and Bayer Crop Science has provided some money for the research.
Blumwald said that based on an estimate of wheat acreage, plants that can fix there own nitrogen would be worth $1 billion a year.
It could be even more important for poor farmers, such as many in Africa, who can’t afford nitrogen fertilizer, he said.
