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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1999)
increase plants’ productivity By Michelle .Starr Staff writer UNL researchers are studying plants to try to make them more productive, which will reduce the amount of water and fertilizer they need and possibly increase crop yield. John Markwell, a UNL professor of bio chemistry, along with John Osterman, a UNL associate professor of biological sciences, have been studying plants’ responses under drought conditions in an effort to make plants more pro ductive. “In a state like Nebraska, water is the main limitability’’ Markwell said. The research, which began about three years ago, has also shown that when plants accus tomed to a high amount of water are under drought conditions, they use their energy more efficiently, Markwell said. The increased effi ciency could allow more productivity in dryer parts of the state, such as western Nebraska. “It’s almost like a desert out there,” Markwell said. With an increase in productivity, plants will utilize nitrogen more efficiently, resulting in less fertilizer use, which will reduce the amount of run-off and contamination, Markwell said. Also, the plants’ photosynthesis productivi ty is increased, which means plants might need less water and thus take less water from Nebraska’s aquifer for irrigation, Markwell said. The research is also looking at increasing crop yield by genetically engineering crops such as soybeans, Osterman said. “The majority of crops in Nebraska are going to encounter water limitations at some time. We’re trying to help those plants maintain their yields under these conditions,” Osterman said. The research is also examining why plants in drought conditions use a process of photores piration that takes carbon from the air and con verts it to oxygen and sugar made from photo synthesis and then turns it back into carbon, a counteractive process, Osterman said. The researchers are studying how to stop photorespiration because it expends too much of the plants’ energy. The plants might conserve energy by reduc ing photorespiration. The researchers are study ing what the genetic causes may be for this con servation of energy. The research has been partly conducted by examining the amount of chlorophyll in the plants’ leaves, which determines how efficient ly the plant uses its nitrogen; the more chloro phyll, the more efficient the use. Researchers used a chlorophyll meter and an equation calculated by Markwell to deter mine the amount of chlorophyll in the plant, Markwell said. The USDA is funding the project, and Markwell will be gathering more information to apply for other grants from the USDA and the Department of Energy, Markwell said. Live365.com py _ U This is not vo'ux f a.tlie3r1 s i - It's ********* up. fr.*dop loving oitlswu 11 J**«* It's a new dawn, the thought police are at the door and all they want you to do is visit a nice little web site called I*ive365.com. Just type in the URL and what at first seems a pleasant diver sion is soon an all—consum ing sonic passion. Your night, your day. Your wrong! yoar right, lad before yoa \ hnow it, you're hypnotised im front in yoar computer OPeabere for the nupf-eanth day in m row and little dbsgr end jane Mmarioa arm pledging allegiance to tbe Canadian flag. Resist tenp- , tationl ^eedjMrf I 4 Baggy! Jackson aka BJ Baggy! ***+**Ignort tb» follonr ing at your own parll********* ■All you're gamma feel is good.” Sure, the "tamest seen good, the Ws seem good, itf;s all good. 111IAt FIRST!!! But then you're hook ed and the turntables turn. Just how ■good* are you gonna feel when you have to move what's left of your belongings into a box car?!? MYTH 2 1 ■X can gait listening any tine X want.” Nail biting, slouching, "close11 dancing—these are things you can quit. Live365.com is not. Pretty soon, you'll be skipping work —-* £igl. £ig.2 £ig.3 MalU|«aa sources will -neither atmttxm »or dggy- the so-called iwtideaus insidious Brain-Devolu- - tion associated with repeated exposure to said -broadcasting1 procedure<Ud.ve365. can. ) ■ i'-c ■ -.items ^ J MYTH 3 - * /W. V - Tm on tbm iBttr Mfe lm good.a That's just what the Tri .* lateral Commission (aka the Illuminati aka the Bilder bergers) wants you to believe. Wake up, Nancy! Free music leads directly to Free X>ove~. ^ and next thing you know you're" keeping time to the music with a big dose o£ the Clap!