麻豆淫院

When maize fields become too crowded, the plants signal each other to boost their defenses. A research team led by Dongsheng Guo of Zhejiang University found that in crowded conditions, maize plants release a volatile gas called linalool into the air. When it reaches neighboring plants, the gas triggers a defensive response in their roots.

While planting crops close together can increase harvest size, it also increases the risk of pathogens and pests such as caterpillars and the African maize stalk borer. When this happens, maize crops don't stand idly by. It was already known that the plants can change their shape in crowded conditions, such as growing taller to get more sunlight, but less was known about their immune response.

The research team reports that in dense fields, linalool acts like an alarm bell, triggering the roots of neighboring plants to increase production of jasmonate and other plant hormones. This, in turn, leads to more benzoxazinoids leaking into the soil around the roots.

This class of plant chemical defense compounds alters the bacterial composition of the soil, thereby protecting the plants from pests. And the protective response is a speedy one, with increased defense against caterpillars observed after just three days of growth in high-density conditions.

However, as the researchers note from their field studies, there is a catch. This defensive boost comes at the cost of reduced growth as the plants put more of their resources into defense rather than growing.

The scientists also showed that soil modified by densely planted maize crops offered ongoing protection for new crops even against different pests. Later plantings were protected from nematodes and other pathogens, not just insects. This suggests that maize defense readiness persists in the soil long after the initial crop is harvested.

Feeding the world

The research has a clear benefit for the future of farming, as the researchers state in their paper, which was in the journal Science. "Harnessing this natural defense pathway through breeding, microbial inoculants, or synthetic biology could enable the development of crops that are more resilient and require fewer chemical inputs."

Maize is a food staple in the diets of millions across the world, so understanding its defensive mechanisms is of huge importance. The broader implication of this research is that it could help address the challenge of feeding a growing global population while minimizing pesticide use and its associated environmental impact.

A Perspective on the research was also published in Science.

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