Plant phenols, which are a type of secondary metabolite found in plants, can play a role in mitigating heat stress. Heat stress and plants can occur when temperatures rise above the optimal range for their growth and development, leading to various physiological and biochemical changes.
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The definition of weakness: the state or quality of being weak; lack of strength, firmness, vigor, or the like; feebleness. I see weakness as a vulnerability or as something that can be exploited. The “weakness” in agriculture is the constant mining of our soils without doing anything to offset the damage being done. The results are all too common – increased disease and insect pressure, decreasing crop yield and reduced quality, erosion, compaction, nutrient imbalance, pollution, acidification, water holding loss or logging, dwindling soil diversity, and increased salinity are affecting soil across the globe. Yet, we continue along this path without clear considerations of the medium- and long-term consequences. There may even be a point where the cost to revitalize soils becomes prohibitive given the level of damage. This is a major weakness in agriculture and demands that we start to change our approach.
This current heat wave has put considerable stress on our crops. Under stress, crops become less efficient in processing nutrients as their metabolism (photosynthesis, respiration, and the synthesis and degradation of organic compounds) slows down.
Higher nighttime temperatures are especially concerning. It has been known since 1939 (Laude, et al.) that plants’ response to heat stress fluctuates between day and night – if you apply heat stress to a plant during the middle of the day, it is much more likely to survive than if you applied the same heat stress at night. Plants’ daily cycle of heat resistance is a strategy that protects plants from the hottest parts of the day while saving energy at night.
There is a debate whether synthetic fertilizers impact soil biology in a negative way. I think it’s a discussion worth having but it doesn’t tell the real story that needs to be made clear. In defense of synthetic fertilizers, 48% of the human population would not exist today without chemical fertilizers. It defeated hunger in the world. It has become the standard of agriculture for the last 70 years, brought about by nitrogen production for weapons used in WWI and WWII.
Lignin is made up of carbon-based aromatic rings with various side chains found in the hard secondary cell walls of vascular plants. Soil organic matter (SOM) stores carbon in complex compounds like lignin, and releases carbon as CO2, primarily through microbial decomposition but also through abiotic factors.
The problem with lignin is that it takes time to break down and become useful in a soil environment or profile. In a wooden match burning, the lignocellulosic structure of the wood breaks down quickly into vapors comprised of phenols, carbon, and organic acids which are immediately lost to the atmosphere in the burning process when exposed to air.
Pesticides encompass herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. They’re chemical compounds designed to kill, each with their own targets and modes of action. As little as 0.1 percent of an applied pesticide interacts with its targeted weed or pest. The remainder contaminates the soil, air and water and can cause significant collateral damage throughout the ecosystem. Pesticides can undercut regenerative agriculture goals by harming soil communities and altering critical biochemical processes in the soil. By disrupting soil communities, pesticides can cause significant changes in the composition, diversity and basic functioning of important soil microflora.
As we go into our second year of drought, we need to look back at some of the lessons we learned from the 2012-2016 California drought so we can come out of this thing successfully. Droughts in California can be long and uncertain but, like all forms of disaster, preparation greatly diminishes drought losses, and organization is central to effective preparation and response.
Urine contains many nutrients that are beneficial for plant growth, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Many cultures around the world have used urine for centuries as a fertilizer. Given the skyrocketing pricing for synthetic fertilizers like urea, is it time to give some real consideration to this idea?
Plants are one of the most successful forms of life on earth, despite their inability to move about. Since they can’t flee inhospitable conditions, they have evolved numerous physical and biochemical coping mechanisms, enabling their own pollination and seed dispersals, combating variations in climatic conditions, deploying herbivore deterrents, creating barriers to pathogen invasions, and mitigating biotic and abiotic stresses.
Primary metabolites are involved in nutrition and the basic essential metabolic processes inside the plant. Secondary plant metabolites (SMs) help the plant adapt to changing conditions. Secondary metabolites may also inhibit the growth of competitor plants (allelopathy). Pigments (such as terpenoid carotenes, phenolics, and flavonoids) color flowers and, together with terpene and phenolic odors, attract pollinators. It makes sense for growers to promote the production of secondary metabolites to naturally make the plant more “bulletproof.”