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Crop Science Lab
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The lab uses stable isotopes to explore how crops acquire nutrients and water.
AboutAbout the lab
Studying how plants acquire nutrients and water for application in sustainable agriculture
The Crop Science Lab uses stable isotopes to study how crops acquire nutrients and water.
For example, sweet potato can use atmospheric nitrogen even though it does not form root nodules.
The lab aims to clarify the mechanism behind this phenomenon and to put it to practical use.
Its goal is to establish self-sustaining, sustainable cropping systems that do not depend on fertilizer or water resources.
Its main research methods are stable isotope analysis, analysis of root system and rhizosphere processes, and evaluation of plant-soil interactions.
Key terms
- Stable isotopes
- Atoms of the same element with different masses that do not emit radiation. This lab analyzes 2H, 13C, and 15N
- Nitrogen fixation
- The process of converting nitrogen gas in the air into nitrogen compounds that living organisms can use. In sweet potato, bacteria inside the plant carry it out
- Endophytic bacteria
- Bacteria that live inside plants. In sweet potato, nitrogen fixation by these bacteria is known
ResearchResearch themes
This lab uses stable isotopes to clarify how crops acquire nutrients and water, aiming to establish cropping systems that do not depend on fertilizer or water resources. Its recent research themes include nitrogen fixation without symbiotic organs, the ability to use poorly soluble potassium, and the ability to use poorly soluble phosphorus.
*Illustrative imageNitrogen fixation without symbiotic organs
Thanks to nitrogen fixation by endophytic bacteria inside the plant, sweet potato grows well even with little nitrogen fertilizer. Because high nitrogen-fixing capacity is possible without symbiotic organs, the lab says the barrier to applying it to other crops would also be lower.
*Illustrative imageIdentifying nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Having the genes or enzymes does not show whether nitrogen fixation actually took place. From sweet potato supplied with 15N2, the lab succeeded in identifying, non-invasively, bacteria that retained organic 15N.
*Illustrative imageNitrogen fixation that does not respond to potassium fertilization
Even when the amount of potassium fertilizer was increased, the nitrogen-fixing capacity of sweet potato hardly changed. The potassium content inside the plant was also at the same level regardless of the fertilizer amount, and the lab is working to clarify how the plant obtained a sufficient amount from the cultivation soil.
MembersFaculty
- Associate ProfessorKatsuya Yano
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Farmers in a sweet potato garden” Emmanuel Ssekaggo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Nitrogen fixation without symbiotic organs: “Sweet potato plants” Ivykas / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Identifying nitrogen-fixing bacteria: “Microbiology techniques 1” Luis Fernando Flores LAB / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Nitrogen fixation that does not respond to potassium fertilization: “Compacted potassium chloride, fertilizer grade” Abbas cucaniensis / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Physiology and Morphology Lab): “Coleus Leaf Trichomes (hairs on the leaves) via Electron Microscope” Swallowtail Garden Seeds from Santa Rosa, California / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Agricultural Informatics Lab): “Attendees from the 93rd Annual Agriculture Outlook Forum check field conditions during a pre-forum field trip to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) (20170222-OCE-PJK-0499)” USDAgov / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Aquatic Zoology Lab): “The fish tank as environment for freshwater goldfish” AJ Gray / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Environmental Systems Biology Lab): “Pupils plant and manage urine experiment ( )” SuSanA Secretariat / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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