Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have engineered sorghum plants with more upright leaves that produce higher yields while using the same amount of water, according to a news release.
This advance addresses a problem in sustainable farming by altering leaf growth patterns. When leaves point more upward, light reaches deeper into the plant to boost energy production across all leaves with no need for extra water.
The researchers achieved this by targeting genes, SbLG1 and SbLG2, that control leaf angle in sorghum. Instead of removing these genes, they reduced their activity using a technique called RNA interference. This careful tweak resulted in plants with moderately vertical leaves rather than the extremely upright leaves produced when the genes are knocked out.
The team tested its modified sorghum in actual farm conditions over two growing seasons, growing the engineered sorghum alongside standard types in four-row test plots to compare their performance.
"Under field settings, plots sown with these events showed an increase in photosynthesis in lower canopy levels, increased shoot biomass and seed yield, without an increase in water use," the researchers noted in their published findings.
The change produced exactly what scientists predicted. Plants with altered leaf angles received more light throughout their canopies, converted more carbon dioxide into sugars, and produced more grain and plant material than standard types.
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What makes this discovery so valuable is how it boosts crop output without using more water. As water becomes scarcer and food demands rise, producing plants that yield more food with the same resources is a valuable advancement.
This research demonstrates that gene editing can help crops better meet global food needs while adhering to environmental limits. The scientists refer to their work as part of a "design-build-test-learn cycle" to create an ideal "smart canopy" sorghum that yields more grain for food and plant material for renewable products.
If you grow plants in your garden or yard, you can apply similar principles. Consider spacing and positioning to maximize light capture throughout your garden.
The study appeared in June in Plant Biotechnology Journal. Continued field testing is likely to bring this technology closer to commercial farming applications within the next few years.
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