Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: CliffordK on 05/05/2011 21:22:06

Title: Could grains and vegetables be hydridised with legumes?
Post by: CliffordK on 05/05/2011 21:22:06

N₂ is the most common element/compound in our air.  Yet, the number of plants that can effectively utilize it is relatively limited.  Thus we end up using Petroleum to produce Ammonia and related compounds and injecting it into the soil near our plants.

It would seem to be much more efficient to develop plants that would do their own Nitrogen fixing which would then get the Nitrogen directly to the roots, with likely less agricultural runoff.

The competitive advantage would seem to be HUGE, but there must be a reason why Nature did not take that course.  So, I think it would be best to select plants that essentially require human intervention for propagation.  Wheat, Corn, Garden Vegetables, etc.  The risk of letting loose a pest would be too great to risk adding it to something like grass.

Apparently there are some grain-legumes including Soy...  perhaps I should look at it more.

Title: Re: Could grains and vegetables be hydridised with legumes?
Post by: SeanB on 06/05/2011 19:55:27

Most legumes fix nitrogen, and if you practice crop rotation you can get by without ant extra fertiliser, but it is not considered by big agri, so artificial is used instead to grow the same monoculture year after year.