Source: Grain Central – 24 September 2021.

An international collaboration of scientists has discovered a chromosome segment from wild grass that, when transferred to wheat, can reduce nitrogen requirements while maintaining or raising the crop’s productivity and grain quality.

The wild-grass chromosome segment causes roots to secrete natural inhibitors of nitrification, offering a way to dial back on heavy fertilizer use for wheat and to reduce the crop’s nitrogen leakage into waterways and air.

The findings are outlined in a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America…