Walid Battal
To ensure food security for developing and emerging countries, experts are considering practical and innovative solutions. An international team of researchers, led by La Trobe University in Australia , has identified a “genetic switch” that can stop nitrogen fixation by legumes when the soil is rich in nitrates.
The study, published in the scientific journal Nature and funded by Gates Ag One , aims to help small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia expand their activities and increase their agricultural yields. This regulator, named FUN ( Fixation Under Nitrate ), controls this sometimes energy-intensive biological process. Researchers found that once the FUN gene is removed, legumes continue to fix nitrogen regardless of nitrate levels in the soil. This process increases yields and reduces the use of artificial fertilizers. This discovery paves the way for healthier, more sustainable agricultural methods that are less dependent on chemical fertilizers.