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IMAGE: Using a chronosequence of corn lines, University of Illinois researchers found decades of breeding and reliance on chemical fertilizers prevents modern corn from recruiting nitrogen-fixing microbes. view more
Credit: Alonso Favela, University of Illinois.
URBANA, Ill. - Corn didn t start out as the powerhouse crop it is today. No, for most of the thousands of years it was undergoing domestication and improvement, corn grew humbly within the limits of what the environment and smallholder farmers could provide.
For its fertilizer needs, early corn made friends with nitrogen-fixing soil microbes by leaking an enticing sugary cocktail from its roots. The genetic recipe for this cocktail was handed down from parent to offspring to ensure just the right microbes came out to play.