weeds

November 1, 2017

Selfish weeds can manipulate the nitrogen cycle to suit themselves

Weeds are selfish, self-centred, narcissistic, manipulative pieces of work that will do whatever it takes to make themselves look good and make the other plants around them look bad. Some weeds are so self-obsessed that they can manipulate the soil nitrogen into a form that is just the way they like it. New research by Cathryn O’Sullivan from CSIRO is showing that some weeds release chemicals from their roots that slow down the bacteria that are essential to the nitrogen cycle, retaining nitrogen in the ammonium form that weeds can potentially take up faster than crop plants. Totally selfish! Click through to get the details.

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AHRI Insight

September 8, 2017

How a new wheat variety could compete with weeds like Jonah Lomu did on the field

Jonah Lomu stood at 6’5”, weighed 120kg, and ran the 100m in a lazy 10.7 seconds. He could play the power game, the speed game, and he could step. He was the ultimate competitor. Mace wheat, on the other hand, is agile, dependable, and can play the yield game, but its ability to compete with weeds is limited. However, yield is king, and hence Mace has been an extremely successful variety where weeds are under adequate control. What if we could have a wheat variety that could play the yield game and the competition game? What would that look like?

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AHRI Insight

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