URBANA, Ill. – A corn gene identified from a 118-year-old experiment at the University of Illinois could boost yields of today’s elite hybrids with no added inputs. The gene, identified in a recent Plant Biotechnology Journal study, controls a critical piece of senescence, or seasonal die-back, in corn. When the gene is turned off, field-grown elite hybrids yielded 4.6 bushels more per acre on average than standard plants.

Champaign, Ill. –– For thousands of years, plants have produced food for humans, but with genetic tweaks, they can also manufacture proteins like Ebola vaccines, antibodies to combat a range of conditions, and now, cellulase that is used in food processing and to break down crop waste to create biofuel.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A new computer model incorporates how microscopic pores on leaves may open in response to light—an advance that could help scientists create virtual plants to predict how higher temperatures and rising levels of carbon dioxide will affect food crops, according to a study published in a special issue of the journal Photosynthesis Research today.

Read more at the RIPE website.

MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center will host a field day Wednesday, July 17. University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences faculty, researchers, students, and Extension specialists will address issues pertinent to the 2019 growing season.

Read more from University of Illinois Extension.

URBANA, Ill. – The public will have the opportunity to learn from more University of Illinois scientists than ever before during the 62^nd Agronomy Day on Aug. 22. Researchers and Extension specialists from across the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences will share the latest discoveries and best practices in agronomy and land stewardship.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — If current climate and crop-improvement trends continue into the future, Midwestern corn growers who today rely on rainfall to water their crops will need to irrigate their fields, a new study finds. This could draw down aquifers, disrupt streams and rivers, and set up conflicts between agricultural and other human and ecological needs for water, scientists say.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

URBANA, Ill. – We’ve all heard about bacteria that are becoming resistant to multiple types of antibiotics. These are the so-called superbugs perplexing and panicking medical science. The plant analogue may just be waterhemp, a broadleaf weed common to corn and soybean fields across the Midwest. With resistance to multiple common herbicides, waterhemp is getting much harder to kill.  

URBANA, Ill. – With less than half the corn crop and less than a fourth of the soybean crop planted by June 1 this year, Illinois farmers are facing some difficult decisions. Emerson Nafziger, of the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, answers critical questions.

Q: How serious is the problem?

URBANA, Ill. – Illinois wheat growers, take heart. A new University of Illinois study shows no evidence of a highly toxic Fusarium head blight (FHB) variant, known as NA2, in the wheat-growing region of the state. The study also reinforces the effectiveness of wheat resistance to the fungal disease.

The relative contribution of new mutations to the problem of herbicide resistance is poorly understood. In a new study, Illinois crop scientists hoped to determine the baseline mutation rate for a plant of the genus Amaranthus, a group that includes waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, and other problematic agricultural weeds.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.