Image: flickr/Chiot's Run
In the midst of the nation's worst drought in 50 years, two of the world's largest agricultural companies are testing corn that is bred and genetically engineered to withstand low rainfall levels.
Monsanto's DroughtGard hybrid corn -- the first-ever hybrid genetically engineered for drought tolerance -- was planted this spring in initial field trials. Sowed amid sufficient rain and optimism for a record-breaking crop yield, the company has encountered a close to worst-case scenario to test its product.
In addition, DuPont Pioneer's hybrid AQUAmax corn -- developed using advanced breeding techniques rather than biotechnology -- debuted last year with five different versions. This year, the company is launching six more with drought tolerance traits combined with pest resistance and other high-yielding attributes.
But the drought ripping through the Midwest is persistent and widespread. Despite positive feedback from farmers, the companies admit that cutting-edge technology can only go so far.
"We know there's a limit; we know you cannot grow corn without water," said Jeff Schussler, senior research manager in maize stress product development for Dupont Pioneer. "There's nothing magical about these hybrids."
The western Plains states typically experience drought conditions nearly every year, but this year's arid weather is more widespread and is hitting the heart of corn country.
"I don't think there will ever be a solution for this severe of a drought," said Mark Edge, DroughtGard marketing lead at Monsanto. Instead, the company seeks to reduce losses.
"It's really about managing risk," he said. "It's still corn, and it still needs water."
Nevertheless, both companies are pleased with early anecdotal results of their work. About 250 farmers on close to 100,000 acres across the western Great Plains planted DroughtGard in the spring.
Among those is Clay Scott, a corn grower in western Kansas who volunteered to grow the engineered corn as part of Monsanto's field trials.
"We're starting to see some real winners in the plots," said Scott, whose land is located in a region in extreme to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. "I'm excited about it."
Last year, yields of AQUAmax corn were observed 8,000 times, with 680 of those considered to be in a stressed environment. AQUAmax yields were 7 percent higher in the stressed environments compared to conventional hybrids.
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Drought resistance comes through the plant's ability not lose its hydration through respiration. The hybrids are bred or engineered to reduce the size of the plant's stomata, pores on the surface that regulate the flow of water inside and outside the plant. In addition, genes to improve and increase kernel development or combat pests increase yield despite the lack of available water.
In turn, the agriculture companies expect to produce corn plants with less leaf rolling, indicating that the crop is managing water stress better. AQUAmax corn growers have reported full and uniform corn silk, said Schussler, which facilitates successful pollination and forms an ear full of kernels.
Scott, the Kansas grower who draws his groundwater from the strained Ogallala Aquifer, expects to yield 200 bushels per acre for his irrigated corn and 100 bushels for dryland corn. If conditions continue, the National Corn Growers Association anticipates a 131-bushel national average, far below the 167 bushels per acre anticipated in the spring.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a group advocating for the environment and scientific integrity, has been particularly critical of agricultural companies' claims, targeting the largest of them all: Monsanto.
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12 Comments
Add CommentOK. First of all: You are what you eat. The DNA fragments of what you eat gets distributed and stored in various places in your body, to affect metabolism and offspring.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSecondly, the fact that the DNA change to this corn results in smaller pores to reduce water loss is a big red flag. Imagine what medical conditions this could cause in your children if similar attributes were being expressed by their genes.
DuPont's angle through breeding/hybridizing efforts is much better than the genetic engineering from Monsanto. Wasn't Kosher/Halal intended for our biological evolution, protecting our children from certain defects?
Nukes can desalinate seawater for free as a byproduct of their cooling system. Already the cheapest, cleanest greenist form of power there is. we just need to get on with it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGM foods = Obesity
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVapur: you're logic is utter nonsense. The DNA you consume anytime you eat plants, meat, fungus,.... is not stored in your body to affect metabolism and definatly not in your testies or overies. The DNA (and RNA) is broken down in your gut and digested. If this was true than you should grow horns if you eat cattle, goat, or deer meat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso Kosher/Halal is not intended for our biological evolution. It is a process of how you kill the animal and store the meat.
This technology is what has and will allow us to feed the millions of people on this Earth, many of them that are starving. I'll end this with a quote "A man with bread has many concerns, a man without bread only has one concern"
For a scientific target audience how does SciAm attract such an ignorant group?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat Vapur said is absolute nonsense. It doesn't even begin to make sense in the slightest.
And no, GMO does not mean obesity, a number of factors including easy availability to food, high caloric content with a high GI, and little exercise are drivers in obesity. In fact, GM foods can increase the nutrient content of fruits and vegetables and improve their taste.
Some people...
I agreed on your main points, thought microRNA ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Functional studies in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that MIR168a could bind to the human/mouse low-density lipoprotein receptor adapter protein 1 (LDLRAP1) mRNA, inhibit LDLRAP1 expression in liver, and consequently decrease LDL removal from mouse plasma. These findings demonstrate that exogenous plant miRNAs in food can regulate the expression of target genes in mammals."
http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v22/n1/full/cr2011158a.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=vitamins-minerals-and-microrna
Marclevesque: The miRNA study you mention I believe was retracted due to errors.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suspect that farmers have been increasing their acreage planted with corn, since the demand for corn products (including anticipated demand for increasing ethanol production) has been increasing. Increased planting, corn's high water requirements and the serious drought conditions (I think nowhere near 500 year levels) would all contribute to compound agricultural failure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have to wonder how well this variety of corn would do in wet years (perhaps next year)? Can we really successfully anticipate annual regional rainfall and plant only an optimized variety of corn?
jtdwyer: You are correct that farmers have increased their corn acreage. Its business wise--product B is in demand and has a good profit margin, therefore make more B. Monsanto, Pioneer, Dupont, and others are working on corn that uses less water. Monsanto's drought resistant corn works as it looses less water from its leaves during dry conditions. I believe that during normal or wet years the corn would perform the same as non-drought resistant corn.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom what I see there does appear to be a correction:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v22/n1/full/cr2011174a.html
"This correction of Figure 5 and its legend does not affect the description of the results in the paper or the conclusions of our paper. We would like to thank the reader who brought the error of Figure 5B to our attention."
You may well be correct that the drought resistant corn would perform well during wet years. However, if we did happen to get into the business of selecting specific crop characteristics for planting based on expected climatic conditions, it seems we'd be nearly guessing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBTW - I happened to be in Kansas a couple of weeks ago; the local TV weather announcer pointed out that the few (at that time around ten) days with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees were not approaching the record which, if I recall correctly, was about 56 days in 1936. As I mentioned before, I don't think we're approaching 'normal' 500 year drought conditions, yet... Things could be much worse, even without global warming.
Genetic engineering provides short term gains but this tinkering with nature always -- always -- comes with a devastating but unknown environmental price in the medium and long term. It's the price of pretending to be god whether it deals with physics or changing life forms.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a reason for the Atlantis myth: A warning of what not to do.