Using Fungi to Decrease Need for Chemical Fertilizers
Friday, April 8, 2016 - 18:10
in Earth & Climate
Plants share their carbohydrates with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that colonize their roots and, in exchange, these fungi provide their hosts with nitrogen and phosphorous. By exploiting this relationship, scientists may be able to increase the biomass production of bioenergy crops and the yield of food crops and to reduce the required fertilizer inputs. This could improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural production systems according to professor Heike Bucking of South Dakota State University.