In a field at Champaign, Illinois, soybean plants are growing roots that plunge straight down instead of spreading sideways. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are testing whether such roots can help crops withstand some effects of climate change while drawing more carbon from the air and holding it underground, the Associated Press reported.

Over six years Salk scientists sequenced hundreds of versions of common row crops such as soybeans and sorghum from around the world, building what research professor Todd Michael calls an encyclopedia of plant genomes. After identifying 347 genes tied to carbon storage and root growth, they edited the plants' DNA to produce root systems that reach further down. The aim is roots that can find water below the topsoil in a drought and deposit carbon deep enough that it is less likely to be released by tillage; the team is also breeding for bigger root systems and more suberin, a slow-decomposing, cork-like substance in roots.

Based on earlier laboratory results, the institute estimates one hectare of deeper- and bigger-rooted soybeans could store an additional metric ton of carbon dioxide a year. An $18 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund is paying for field tests of how the plants cope with drought and other stresses, how much carbon they store and for how long, and how to get them onto farms at scale. Wolfgang Busch, director of Salk's Harnessing Plants Initiative, said the direction of travel is concerning: "It will become harder to grow enough food for enough people."

At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign the plants grow under a canopy that opens and closes to control rainfall, while underground cameras and sensors track root growth and soil carbon; further sites are in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. First field results are expected this autumn. Because breeders have rarely selected for roots, Busch said, "we don't really know what the real trade-off is" for yield, and it has to be tested in the field. Researchers also think steeper roots could allow closer planting and soak up more nitrogen before it runs off into waterways.

A 2025 study co-authored by Busch modelled that about a gigaton of carbon dioxide a year could be removed by 2040 if deeper-rooted soybean, corn, cotton and canola were adopted in countries that already grow genetically modified crops, using existing fields and infrastructure. Busch noted that herbicide-resistant crops spread in under a decade once large seed companies took them up.

Andrew Bovarnik, head of global food systems at the United Nations Development Programme, cautioned that new crop technologies usually take longer than researchers expect, because farmers' choices are shaped by seed companies, commodity buyers, subsidies, trade rules and finance, and growers are wary of unfamiliar crops that might prove more prone to disease or heat. Incentives could speed adoption, he said, but the impact will still depend on how land and soils are managed.

Reported by Joshua A. Bickel and Annika Hammerschlag of the Associated Press, published by Morning Ag Clips.

Source: Morning Ag Clips