b'NAPB Hits it Out of the Parkwith Annual MeetingThe National Association of Plant Breeders attracted nearly 400 people to its gathering in Ames, Iowa.Marc ZienkiewiczTHE CORN BREEDINGworld hasAccording to the researchers in thewould happen if we could talk to plants? changed over the past century. lab of Iowa State genetics professorImagine asking a plant what it needs, and It was in the early 1900s that GeorgePat Schnable, in the future they shouldit comes back and tells you its a little low Harrison Shull first presented the ideatheoretically be able to measure exactlyon nitrogen, so you give it more. And, that corn could be improved by develop- how much water a specific corn planthey, if you could give it some more water, ing inbred lines, making and then testingis consuming during the season, howthat would be great, says Duke Pauli, crosses to determine which had the bestmany nutrients the plant is taking up, andincoming chair of the Plant Breeding yield, selecting the best crosses, then pro- whether the plant is deficient in water orCoordinating Committee, which founded viding the seed to farmers. Known as thenutrients. the NAPB.pure-line method of corn breeding, it wasBut thats not the eventual outcomeToday, most crop management tends a revolution in plant breeding. to which plant breeders are aspiring to.to be on the reactive side. We see a prob-Fast-forward to today and youll findIt goes beyond that, as attendees oflem, and we seek to address it. If we can researchers at the Iowa State Universitythis years National Association of Plantcommunicate with plants, we kind of shift Agronomy Farm experimenting with aBreeders (NAPB) meeting heard lastthe paradigm to being more proactive.robot that collects images and 3D struc- month. The meeting was held at IowaPauli, a professor in the School of Plant tural data on maize plant architecture as itState University in Ames from Aug. 8-11. Sciences at the University of Arizona, is moves through the field. This years theme was the past, presentpart of a team of researchers that has Nitrate sensors taped to the leaves ofand future of plant breeding. received a $25 million grant to develop a corn plants continuously collect real-timePlants are like animals in that theybetter way to communicate with plants data on transpiration and nitrate concen- cant get up and move away from hot orand understand their signals.trations in the maize. cold or walk to food. The idea is, whatAs futuristic as it may sound, the 28/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2022'