ISB News Report - April 2013
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2013/Apr13.pdf

Table of Contents

RESEARCH NEWS

Conservation Tillage, Herbicide Use, and Genetically Engineered Soybeans in the U.S.A.
J. Fernandez-Cornejo, Ch. Hallahan, R. Nehring, S. Wechsler, and A. Grube

Many of the positive environmental impacts of conservation tillage systems are well documented. By leaving substantial amounts of crop residue on the soil surface, conservation tillage reduces soil erosion by wind and water, increases water retention, and reduces soil degradation as well as water and chemical runoff. In addition, conservation tillage reduces the carbon footprint of agriculture. Less is known about the interaction of adoption of herbicide tolerant (HT) crops and conservation tillage as well as their effects on herbicide use. Consequently, HT crop adoption, conservation tillage and herbicide use should be examined together. The objective of the study is to analyze the long term relationship between conservation tillage, HT adoption, and herbicide use for soybeans.

Genetic Engineering of Cereal Grains with Starch Consisting of More Than 99% Amylase
Kim H. Hebelstrup, Massimiliano Carciofi & Andreas Blennow

Numerous textbooks tell us that plant starches are a mix of two starch types: amylopectin and amylose. We recently succeeded in engineering a cereal crop – a barley line – producing grain starch consisting of more than 99% amylose. This amylose-only starch contains a high residual fraction that is resistant to enzymatic degradation, even when gelatinized by cooking. The barley plants producing the grains had a moderate yield loss of 25% in comparison with other barley plants of the same cultivar. We believe that the method can be applied to produce amylose-only starch in other cereal crops including wheat and corn.

Deployable Phytosensors for Plant Pathogen Detection
C. Neal Stewart Jr. and Wusheng Liu

Plant genetic engineering can no longer be considered a new technology; however, it can become more revolutionary in nature a la cell phones/internet by the infusion of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology involves the design and creation of synthetic biological components and circuits that are configured to modify existing functions or imbue novel functions. Many plant scientists realize that precise tissue and conditional specificity is desirable when overexpressing transgenes. Hence, synthetic promoters have been promoted as one way to meet the need. If these are coupled with GPS, and other precision agriculture technologies, the future of farming could be revolutionized.
 

Website: http://www.vt.edu

Published: April 15, 2013