C.U. Research May Help Farmers Improve Annual Yield

In a lab already distinguished for excellence, yet another great discovery has been made. At the United States Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, scientists have been able to isolate and clone an aluminum-resistant gene in sorghum plants that allows them to grow in acidic soil, the same acidic soil that covers over half of the world with a heavy concentration in under-developed countries in Africa, Asia and South America.

Leon Kochian, the research leader and supervisory plant physiologist at the United States Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory USDA-ARS and a Cornell adjunct professor in plant mineral nutrition, has been working on isolating this gene for over ten years. According to Kochian, over that time, “a lot of breeding has been done to isolate this gene.”