Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced this month they had found several strains of bacteria which increase corn yields anywhere from 5 to 10 percent. The scientists have licensed their find to Agribiotics Inc. which hopes to have a product ready for commercial release within a few years.

Research conducted by microbial ecologist Eric Triplett is scheduled to be published in the Australian Journal of Plant PHysiology. Triplett tested the bacteria on corn crops planted in five states, with each planting resulting in increased crop yields. The bacteria increases crop yields by increasing the amount of nutrients, such as nitrogen, available to the growing plants.

Triplett told OsterDowJones that he plans to use any royalties from the bacteria to fund his ultimate goal which is finding a bacteria that could be used to provide crops such as corn with all the nitrogen they require. This would result in enormous savings in the cost of producing food, and a likely fall in world grain prices if Triplett could ever make such a technology viable.

Source:

ODJ bacteria strains increase corn yields 5-10% in tests. Tim Todd, OsterDowJones, January 15, 2002.

The Bacteria Could Increase Crop Yields by Brian Carnell, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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