A research team led by
environmental toxicologist Jason White at the Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station is fortifying crops with nutrients
in nanosized packages to boost plant's immunity against pathogenic
fungi in a more efficient manner than traditional methods. Their
success is reported in Plant Disease.
Fungal diseases destroy
a third of all harvests, posing a big threat to global food
security. To combat fungal pathogens, farmers fumigate
the soil with chemicals. However, excessive use of fungicides can
be harmful to the environment, exposing even the beneficial
microbes and leaving wastes on the land. In the long run,
pathogenic fungi could also evolve resistance against these
synthetic chemicals. Thus, White and the team developed
nanonutrient concoctions to boost the fungal resistance of
soybeans, tomatoes, watermelons, and eggplants. The nutrients
delivered to the plants trigger enzyme production to help them
guard themselves against pathogenic attacks.
"People, in general, get
nervous when you talk about nanotechnology and food," says White.
He stressed that their team does not use any exotic materials, and
instead "we're using nutrients the plants need [that] they just
can't get enough of."
Nanoscale
nutrients can protect plants from fungal diseases | Science News