major study with implication for world agriculture and biofuels

[poopfuel]

http://biopact.com/2008/03/scientists-discover-genetics-of.html

Ahead of its time, this symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and plants is described in David Blume's book
alcoholcanbeagas.com

I think this could put the food vs fuel argument to rest permanently if people cared to put the pieces together.

Gotta go. :)

[havocmom]

1. Thanks, interesting info

Havocdad got some bacterial supplement for the garden and did some experiments with it. Plants with the beneficial bacteria mixed into the soil at transplant did incredibly better than the ones without the supplement. Same with having it in seed starting trays v trays without. Amazing difference.

Will have to ask him for name/source of the stuff this evening. We do a lot of real life plant experiments and the addition of the helpful bacteria to our nasty, alkaline, clay soil really had an impact. Good to understand the mechanism better. Thanks for the post/link to the article.

[bananas]

2. Thanks - interesting websites

both of them - biopact and alcoholicscanbeagas :)

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Potentially very interesting, but lots of work to be done --

The outcome, of course, would be genetically modified (GM) crops which have the ability to play host to nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Such crops could flourish without fertilizer, and could displace many species of wild plants, not just weeds.

Tinkering with complex ecosystems should be done only with extreme caution. More food for people would be nice, but we should ask "what will we have LESS of?". It's likely to be less food for wildlife, even far removed from original crop locales.