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Published online 16 October 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.168
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Bacteria get the upper hand on modern crops
New soya-bean breeds don't cope well with swindling bacteria.
Decades of breeding high-yielding soya-beans in fertilized soils has produced varieties that have lost the ability to interact effectively with soil bacteria, researchers have found. The results suggest that modern breeds of soya beans, and possibly other crops, may now be less suited for growth in low-nutrient conditions, such as the unfertilized fields of developing countries.
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As a plant breeder i support these views but wonder if the same may be true also for other nutrients where under best management practices in trials, we may be too generous with N, P, K & Mg and therefore may be missing out on genotypes which are more efficient in the uptake of any of these nutrients. This has been seen for Mg for oil palms grown in Papua New Guinea (at DAMI Research). My own experience has shown some genotypes which are prone to Boron deficiency although this nutrient is required only in small doses (100-150 gms/palm/year) in mature palms. P and VAM association is reduced when higher rates of external P is applied but is the any interaction by the genotype. Would appreciate some comments on this.