This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: As fertilizer prices remain elevated, researchers at South Dakota State University are developing an innovative solution to corn's nitrogen supply problems by taking inspiration from an ancient Mexican variety and root nodules found on soybeans. In a new study, published in Plant and Soil, the researchers demonstrate how hydrogel beads may offer a promising way to naturally supply plants with nitrogen.
Nitrogen is a key building block for life and is the most common gas in our atmosphere. While life on Earth is almost entirely dependent on nitrogen, only a tiny percentage of organisms can actually convert the gas into a usable form needed, in the case of plants, for making food from sunlight or growing new cells. Researchers around the world have been working to leverage the ability of these select organisms to naturally fix nitrogen into usable forms for crop production.
The goal is to reduce the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which are not only environmentally harmful but also skyrocketing in cost, creating financial instability for farmers. In the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico, scientists first observed in the 1980s how a specific variety of corn was able to grow in nitrogen-deficient soils. This was a considerable discovery and was later described in more detail in a 2018 study.
Previously, scientists had observed how leguminous crops, like soybeans, are able to naturally fix nitrogen through their roots. The key to this biological nitrogen fixation process is the relationship between free-living bacteria—known as diazotrophs, which are among the tiny percentage of organisms that can convert nitrogen—and oxygen. For bacteria to convert nitrogen into a usable form, an enzyme—known as nitrogenase—must be stable enough to split nitrogen atoms to create molecules of ammonia, releasing hydrogen as a coproduct.
Nitrogenase is highly sensitive to oxygen. When exposed, bacteria are limited in how much nitrogen they can fix. What allows soybeans to successfully convert nitrogen from the air is their root nodules.
Small nodules grow on the plant's roots, which work in tandem with bacteria to create ammonia in a sort of oxygen-free nitrogen-conversion laboratory in the soil. In Mexico, scientists observed a similar system. During certain times of the year, the corn's aerial roots secreted a gel-like substance that provided a low-oxygen microenvironment required to attract the type of bacteria that can convert nitrogen into ammonia from the air.
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