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!
