Giving plants the ability to “talk” and express themselves once seemed like a fairy tale. Today, research groups across the country are exploring ways to turn what once seemed impossible into reality. One place where this is happening is at the University of Illinois’ research agronomy farm, in what Steve Moose lovingly dubs the CornBox plots. That’s where unique ways of looking at corn and attempting to quantify biological systems in digital ways come to life.

Catherine Li, a graduate student working with Moose, a longtime U of I agronomist, heads up a project to develop a prototype sensor so that anyone could determine the relative amount of nitrogen in the corn plant just by looking at the ear. The sensor isn’t electrical or mechanical. Instead, it’s genetic, meaning it is part of the plant itself.

“What we’re doing is introducing a GMO trait through genetic breeding which allows corn to express a fluorescent protein,” Li explains. “The more nitrogen that is in the plant, the more that this protein expresses itself. In this case, it expresses itself in kernels.”

The result is a built-in plant sensor that activates itself once the ear is pollinated and kernels develop. The more nitrogen in the plant, the darker pink the kernels become. And the darker pink that kernels become, the clearer the signal that there is a large amount of nitrogen within the plant.

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Proof of concept

While this development isn’t something you can use on your farm now, Moose believes it illustrates a method that could be used to fine-tune management in the future.

“You want to have enough nitrogen there so that the plant can produce maximum yield, but you don’t want to overapply nitrogen either,” Moose says. “By gauging whether plants had adequate nitrogen, too little or too much, you would be better able to tweak your nitrogen application and management program in the future.”

TECHNOLOGY AT WORK: A robot crop scout sensor aids Catherine Li in her research. She is developing genetics to express nitrogen amount in the breeding nursery to her right.

One drawback is that by the time the plants “talk” using this sensor, it is normally too late to make adjustments for the season. However, Moose believes it would be a good check on your management program in the given season. To get this kind of report card now, the primary tool is a stalk nitrate test, obtained by cutting stalk samples near the end of the season. That requires analysis by a lab and delayed results. Plus, interpreting results can become confusing. The built-in sensor would provide immediate feedback, Moose notes.

Right now, these plots are under regulation by USDA because they involve a GMO trait. Once nonregulated and if the concept proves feasible, perhaps only a portion of plants with the trait would need to be included to provide enough ears to indicate nitrogen level clearly. This work also might lead to other ideas about practical, built-in plant sensors.