Futurity.org » Dan Kuester-Iowa State

Biomass link to plant diversity questioned

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:14:16 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — New research calls into question a decades-old theory about the relationship between how much biomass plant species produce and how many species can co-exist.

A 1970s study claimed that as plant productivity increased, so did plant richness (the number of plant species) but only to a point, with maximum species richness occurring at the point of intermediate productivity. After that, the number of species was thought to decline, creating a hump curve when plotted on a graph.

Super food: Shoppers will pay 25% more

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:16:18 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Consumers want access to food that has been genetically modified to be healthier and are willing to pay significantly more for it, according to a new study.

“What we found was when genes for enhancing the amount of antioxidants and vitamin C in fresh produce were transferred by intragenic methods, consumers are willing to pay 25 percent more than for the plain product (with no enhancements). That is a sizable increase,” says Wallace Huffman, distinguished professor of economics at Iowa State University.

In grasslands, every species matters

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:53:16 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — A new analysis of plants in grassland ecosystems around the world suggests most of those plant species are important.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, show most species promoted ecosystem functioning in at least some years, sites and environmental conditions. In all, 84 percent of the grassland species are important to the ecosystem at some point.

Cover crops don’t compete with corn

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:22:32 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Using a perennial cover crop on corn fields benefits soil and water quality, and may even increase farm profits, according to a new study that finds farms that do so can yield 200 bushels of corn per acre.

For the three-year study, researchers looked at 36 potential ground cover species, different corn hybrids, and various tillage practices to best keep soil, nutrients, and carbon in the fields, and found that strip till planting using Kentucky bluegrass as the cover crop offers the best environmental benefits while maintaining yield.

Self-help eases stressed out plants

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:46:16 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Plants are able to tolerate stress because of a built-in alarm system. In the wild, the move is a survival tactic, but for agricultural crops, the self-defense move is counterproductive, reducing yield.

Adverse environmental conditions, including drought, flood, and heat are crop yield’s biggest enemy, even more so that pests and disease, says Stephen Howell, professor of genetics, development, and cell biology at Iowa State University.

Gene pumps up protein in soybeans

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:51:27 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Placing a newly discovered gene into soybean plants increases the amount of protein in the soybean seeds by 30 to 60 percent.

The results were a pleasant surprise to the researchers as the function of the gene, which is found only in Arabidopsis plants, was previously unclear because its sequence is very dissimilar from all other plant genes. Arabidopsis is a small, flowering plant in the mustard family that is often used in scientific research.

Another piece to Parkinson’s puzzle

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:01:00 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — There’s hope that a newly discovered protein pathway could lead to a much clearer understanding of Parkinson’s disease.

Anumantha Kanthasamy, a professor of biomedical sciences and chair of neurotoxicology at Iowa State University, has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade. He believes this recent discovery offers hope for a cure.

Freshwater adds to greenhouse equation

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:21:13 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — Methane emissions from inland freshwater has been underestimated, according to a new study, that finds that greenhouse gas uptake by continents is less than previously thought.

The study, published in the journal Science, indicates that methane gas release from freshwater areas changes the net absorption of greenhouse gases by natural continental environments, such as forests, by at least 25 percent.

Biomass dilemma: Double crop or not?

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:09:35 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — An experiment to test the benefits of double-cropping to grow more biomass for ethanol production yields mixed results.

Researchers planted triticale, a relative of wheat, in the fall and harvested it in the spring. Then they planted sorghum in early June and harvested it in mid-September.

Listen up! How to grow better corn

Dan Kuester-Iowa State — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:42:23 +0000

IOWA STATE (US) — When researchers re-sequenced six elite inbred corn lines, they found more than 100 genes present in some lines, but not in others.

The process, called presence/absence variations, “was a real eye-opener,” says Patrick Schnable, professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. “One of the goals of the research is to try to identify how heterosis (hybrid vigor) works.”