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Ca

Possibly plant cover crops around your pumpkins and let mycorrhizae take from the rich and give to the poor?


"ROBIN HOOD" FUNGUS PRESENTS AGRICULTURAL DILEMMA
November 13, 1998
USDA - ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Most
soybeans form nodules, or small knobs, on their roots. Beneficial bacteria
that live on the nodules draw nitrogen from the atmosphere. But a genetic
mutation can prevent some soybean varieties from forming the nodules.
These non-nodulating plants have now supplied new clues for scientists at
ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific agency.
Since the 1970s, researchers have noticed that a row of nodulating
soybeans will share nitrogen with a neighboring row of non-nodulating
plants. The closer the two rows are, the taller and healthier are the
non-nodulating soybeans. Scientists have also suspected that mycorrhizae
can play an important role in nutrient uptake by plant roots.
ARS agronomist Joe Burton in Raleigh, N.C., tied these two facts together
by chemically tracing the path of nitrogen between crop rows. The
nodulating plants themselves are not being "charitable." Instead, Burton
found, mycorrhizae were busily transporting nitrogen away from the
nodule-producing "rich" plants to the non-nodulating "poor" ones. What
does this mean to farmers? They don't grow non-nodulating soybeans; the
nitrogen-fixing nodules make for high-protein soybeans. The question:
where else might the mycorrhizae take that extra nitrogen? The answer:
sometimes to weedsincluding sicklepod, Palmer amaranth and morning-glory,
the scientists have learned.
Because mycorrhizae are probably beneficial for acquisition of all soil
nutrients, getting rid of the helpful microbes is not desirable, even if
it were possible.
Now that agricultural researchers have demonstrated the mycorrhizae's
indiscriminate generosity, they will be exploring ways to make it shun
sharing n

8/10/2009 5:04:36 PM

Ca

I had to cut off the post due to the word limit. Here is the URL: http://archives.foodsafety.ksu.edu/agnet/1998/11-1998/ag-11-13-98-1.txt

8/10/2009 5:06:32 PM

Wi

MycoMan, can you tell us all who you are? Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't know??

8/10/2009 5:53:21 PM

North Smithfield, RI

And MycoMan could you please post in layman's terms ? Thanks

8/11/2009 5:51:51 PM

Long Island,New York

Does it matter who he is? I mean, he's referencing articles to read and studies etc....so you can make your own call. What difference does it make if he prefers to remain anonymous?....his info is an asset, not a Giant Jack post.

8/11/2009 7:51:24 PM