Guardian angels for seeds
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 14:31
in Biology & Nature
The seeds that you plant in your backyard garden next spring -- and farmers sow in their fields -- may have a guardian angel that helps them sprout, stay healthy, and grow to yield bountiful harvests. It's a thin coating of chemicals termed a "seed treatment" that can encourage seeds to germinate earlier in the season, resist insects and diseases, and convey other advantages. These new seed defenders are the topic of an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.