Organic Farming Sharpens Plant Defenses in the Field.

ABSTRACT: Plants deploy a variety of chemical and physical defenses to protect themselves against herbivores and pathogens. Organic farming seeks to enhance these responses by improving soil quality, ultimately altering bottom up regulation of plant defenses. While laboratory studies suggest this approach is effective, it remains unclear whether organic agriculture encourages more-active plant defenses under real-world conditions. Working on the farms of cooperating growers, we examined gene expression in the leaves of two potato (Solanum tuberosum) varieties, grown on organic vs. conventional farms. For one variety, Norkotah, we found significantly heightened initiation of genes associated with plant-defense pathways in plants grown in organic vs. conventional fields. Organic Norko

SUBMITTER: Krey KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7566882 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature