Rapid human population growth leads to substantial development in agriculture production. Thus, large amounts of synthetic products are used to meet the demand for increased agricultural production. However, heavy usage of chemicals, pesticides, and antibiotics creates a burden on the environment, destroys the micro-fauna and flora in the soil, and causes threats to animals and human health. Therefore, sustainable agriculture production has gained global interest. In many ways, the application of effective microorganisms (EM) plays a vital role in sustainable production and has been widely spread throughout the world.

The EM is a fermented mixed culture of naturally occurring species of beneficial microorganisms that includes photosynthetic bacteria, lactobacilli, yeast, and actinomycetes in an acidic medium. After the concept of EM was initiated, different fertilizer manufacturing companies developed EM solutions to enhance crop production. This is an area where research and development activities are also abundant for long-term and short-term crop production. Promoting germination, flowering, fruiting, and ripening in plants; improving the physical, chemical, and biological environments of the soil, and suppressing soil-borne pathogens and pests; enhancing the photosynthetic capacity of crops and nitrogen fixation; ensuring better germination and plant establishment, increasing the efficacy of organic matter as fertilizer; and accelerating the decomposition of organic waste are some examples where EM could be used to gain an economic advantage in crop production. In the commercial use of EM, it could be found under different brand identities.

EM is eco-friendly, safe, organic and contains active microbes. EM solution is different from all the other agrochemicals in activity and composition. It is not necessary to put on goggles, masks, or protective clothing when spraying effective microorganisms. At the same time, effective microorganisms never pollute water systems. EM is considered mainly of the synthesizing type, which imparts beneficial effects on agriculture and environmental processes by generating a wide variety of bioactive substances. Since EM is easy to decompose after use, it never pollutes groundwater. Instead, it purifies soil, groundwater, lakes, and rivers, thereby reducing environmental burdens. The effective microorganism is compatible with various methods of farming, regardless of their scale.

However, some experiments reported that EM gives the best results when a natural imbalance of microorganisms has occurred and, in situations where the natural microorganism population is balanced and agricultural inputs are available, the addition of EM does not make a significant difference. Another argument emerging by scientists is the fact that applying EM to soil alters the natural chemical composition of the soil, displacing native microorganisms and nutrients, which may be harmful to the survival of native plant species Thus, and more research should be directed towards this aspect.

Advancements in the EM concept have paved the path to substitute synthetic products. Achieving sustainability in agriculture production using EM is directed basically to reducing the production cost, maximizing the profit, and protecting the environment, human and animal health.

References
Higa, Teruo (2001) ‘Effective Microorganisms in the context of Kyusei Nature Farming: a technology for the future’, in Proceedings of the conference on greater productivity and a cleaner environment through Kyusei Nature Farming, pp. 40–43.

Olle, M., and Williams, I. H. (2013). Effective microorganisms and their influence on 47 vegetable production–a review. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 88(4), 380–386.

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://img.freepik.com/free-photo/womans-hands-gloves-planting-young-plant_1157-37097.jpg?w=740&t=st=1665833048~exp=1665833648~hmac=5b3d8e68b3b3599a1baee366ebaa76687d7fe38c8938fe3a107f15648152496e

Coconut (Cocos nucifera ) is one of Sri Lanka’s three major export crops, bringing home a total revenue of US$537.62 million in 2014. Known for its great versatility, the coconut tree is one of the most important plants in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan lifestyle has been inextricably intertwined with the Coconut tree, not just for the milk, water, and oil-giving nuts, but for the leaves, the trunk, and the fibrous husk that surrounds the coconut. There is no part of the coconut tree that goes to waste in a Sri Lankan household. There are three types of coconuts in Sri Lanka: tall coconuts, dwarf coconuts, and King coconuts.According to figures published in December 2018 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is the world’s fourth largest producer of coconuts, producing 2,623,000 tonnes in 2018. Because of the value of the coconut in Sri Lanka, it is named “Kapruka”, which means the crop gives every wish.

In all but the upper elevations of Sri Lanka, coconut palms are found. It is a demanding, sturdy, and light tree. In the triangle created by Puttalam, Kurunegala, and Gampaha, the coconut is primarily found. The Coconut-Triangle is the name given to the region in which these three settlements are located.

Coconut Whitefly (Aleurodicus cocois) damage
This insect is known in Sri Lanka by various names, such as powdery mildew, whitefly, and white bug. About 1 mm in length, this pest lives in herds, sucking the sap of various plants. In addition to coconut, the insect attacks plants such as bitter gourd, watermelon, snake gourd, belonging to the Cucurbitaceae and peanut, cowpea, and beans, belonging to the Leguminosae, also being affected. In addition, it acts as a carrier of viruses or fungi and causes huge damage. At higher temperatures, their activity is somewhat stronger.

This white-colored insect penetrates the leaflets of coconut seedlings and mature coconut trees and then damages the coconut plant by sucking the sap out of them. They belong to the phylum Arthropoda class and have four basic stages in the life cycle. On the underside of the leaves of the coconut tree, many stages of the life cycle of this insect can be seen with the naked eye.

Control of white fly damage
There are two methods recommended by the CRI to control the coconut white fly attack.

The first method is the physical method. In this method, manual removal has to be done. Application of pressurized water to wash away the underside of the leaves well also removes the white flies.

Because these white flies are drawn to yellow, using yellow polythene with grease applied is another strategy for population control.

The second method is the chemical method, and in this method, the application of recommended chemicals can be done. For instance, the application of a dissolved solution of 3g of Thiamethoxam or 20ml of carbosulfan or 2.5 g of an insecticide containing chlorantraniliprole in 10 liters of water, using a sprayer, thoroughly wets the underside of the leaves of the plant.

References
https://www.srilankabusiness.com/blog/multiple-products–made-from-coconut-tree.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_production_in_Sri_Lanka#cite_note-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_production_in_Sri_Lanka#cite_note-5

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://m.indiamart.com/proddetail/detergent-surf-for-palm-tree-and-coconut-trees-for-white-fly-effect-21836262973.html
Figure 1 –  https://www.srilankabusiness.com/blog/multiple-products–made-from-coconut-tree.html
Figure 2 – https://goodhands.lk/coconut-whitefly-damage-aleurodicus-cocois/

What are mushrooms?
Mushrooms are unique structures of fungi that belong to the Kingdom fungi, which also includes yeasts, moulds, and mildews. Fungi have been categorized under four major groups.

1. Zygomycota
2. Ascomycota
3. Basidiomycota
4. Deuteromycota

Most mushrooms belong to the Basidiomycota ,and aid in producing, storing of spores that would be used in reproduction. Mushrooms have been consumed by humans for thousands of years. Since the demand for these mushrooms has increased, commercial mushroom cultivation has started. In Sri Lanka, demand for edible mushrooms has increased in the last few years.
In Sri Lanka, growing mushrooms is primarily done at the household level as a small business. There are many mushroom growers in Sri Lanka. Even though there is a sizable market for high-quality mushrooms, most growers frequently fall short of the standards because they lack the necessary knowledge. If done properly, mushroom cultivation can be a lucrative business.

Commercially Cultivated Mushrooms in Sri Lanka

• Piduru Bimmal (Volvariella volvacea)
• Muthubeli Bimmal (Pleurotus ostreatus)
• Boththam Bimmal (Agaricus bisporus)
• Shitake Bimmal (Lentinus edodes)
• Abaloni Bimmal (Pleurotus cystidiosus)

Among these mushroom types, Muthubeli Bimmal is the most popular Mushroom variety and Piduru Bimmal are commonly cultivated.

Edible Mushrooms Native to Sri Lanka
Uru Paha Bimmal – Lentinus giganteus
Uru paha Bimmal is a mushroom species native to Sri Lanka. This mushroom species has the taste of Pork. Hence the name Uru (Pig) paha Bimmal. This species is the largest Mushroom in Sri Lanka. Uru paha bimmal grow naturally around the roots of large trees like Jack (Artocarpus heterophyllus). This species has shown promising results of growing under artificial environments. Apart from these varieties, some other types of mushrooms that naturally grow in Sri Lanka include Mawali Hathu, Indalolu, Monara Bimmal, and Kiri Bimmal.

Pest and the Disease Management in Mushroom Cultivation
Large-scale financial losses result from pest attacks on the mushroom industry. Particularly harmful insect species include Drosophila, which feeds on these mushrooms. When mushrooms appear transparent or decayed, these pest attacks are apparent.

Control Methods
Once these mushrooms have been infected, it is difficult to control the pests of mushrooms. So, it is really important to take actions to prevent the pest attacks from the beginning of the cultivation. Keeping the equipment used in Mushroom cultivation clean, avoid using same cultivation room to keep differently aged mushrooms, removing and destroying any infected bags from the cultivating area ,harvesting the mushrooms at correct maturity, only using sprayers to moist the cropping room without using hands, if the pest attack is severe, remove all the bags from the cottage and use a recommended insecticide to treat the infected area – keeping the cottage close for 24 hours after treating could be practiced.

Preservation of Harvested Mushrooms
As mushrooms contain more than 90% of water, they have less shelf – life. If mushrooms are kept in an open environment, these mushrooms can dry rapidly due to loss of water. This will also result in reduction of weight of mushrooms. So, it is really important to preserve these mushrooms immediately after harvesting.
Muthubeli Bimmal can be kept fresh in a cold place up to 12 hours after the harvest. This can be kept inside a refrigerator, packed in aerated polythene bags up to 2 – 3 days. To keep this species up to 4 -6 weeks, mushrooms can be boiled for three minutes and stored in a deep freezer.
Stripped mushrooms can be boiled with water vapor for 03 minutes and then sun dried to preserve for 06 months.
Piduru Bimmal is less preservable. It can be kept up to several hours after the harvest in a cold environment. Can be kept up to 24 hours in a refrigerator.

Characteristics of Poisonous Mushrooms
Poisonous mushrooms have a dark color and a strong aroma. One of the characteristics of poisonous mushrooms is that they deter insects.

Simple Tricks to Identify the Poisonous Mushrooms at Home
To identify poisonous mushrooms, one can perform easy tests at home. The mushrooms may be poisonous if the onions turn purple when cooked with them or if they stain the silver spoons black.

Advantages of Mushroom Cultivation
Good return on investment, availability of low-cost raw material, ability to start the cultivation within a small space, ability to start the cultivation with prevailing infrastructure facilities (Room inside a house), harvesting is possible in short duration of time.

References

https://agrislanka.blogspot.com

Image courtesy

Featured image – https://agri.pdn.ac.lk>dodangolla
Figure 1 – https://www.researchgate.net/figure.Mushroom-morphology
Figure 2 – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amanita_muscaria

Majority of the Sri Lankan families, including yours and mine, are facing an unprecedented food crisis. With the country’s acute malnutrition among children under 5 years, reaching 17%, Sri Lanka has secured the second highest malnutrition rate across South Asia, a position of shame and disappointment.

Many factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic, national issues such as poor governance and irrational policy making can be identified as major catalysts which have escalated this nutritional crisis.

Significant effects have been raised due to the continuous rising of food costs, which was reported as a 90.9 percent increase in July 2022 (Department of Census and Statistics – Sri Lanka). While a higher level of inflation is expected in the future, why has Sri Lanka’s inflation been so high and identification of the influence of the agricultural sector is of utmost importance.

In a broader perspective, Sri Lanka’s foreign currency shortage and bad credit reputation has resulted in continuous failures of purchasing and importing key agricultural imports such as fuel, fertilizer and pesticides. This in turn has led to almost halving of the gross agricultural production (BBC.com). While blames are being shared and thrown across, an important realization noted through this crisis was the heavy reliance on imports and unsustainable nature of Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector.

Although historically known to have produced enough rice to ship excess to Myanmar, today Sri Lanka is a recipient of rice donations from the same nation. There’s much to reflect and lament on where and what went wrong and even now it is not too late to take mitigatory actions.

Donations from friendly nations: Myanmar, China and India as well as global organizations such as the UN’s World Food Program play a vital role. Nevertheless, questions on their proper management and equivalent distribution exists in a major scale.

For short-term and long-term solutions, an in-depth analysis of the current and prevalent issues must be carried out and a systematic action plan must be implemented. This should be done while integrating the expert knowledge and advice of academics and researchers across Sri Lanka – frequently disregarded by all-knowing political factions.

Agriculture is of global importance and therefore, almost every day, a novel discovery inching us closer towards global food security, is being released. However, these require considerable investments and specialized training which is a heavy price to pay for a country already in crisis.

Therefore, search for feasible solutions that can be employed in a localized and short-term framework is of paramount importance.

1. Promoting urban farming. Farming in Sri Lanka has been concentrated in certain regions away from urbanization. Although it makes sense for large scale operations, small or medium scale farming within urban regions should be encouraged including individual households.

2. Improving existing infrastructure to facilitate easy transportation, distribution of agricultural products from farmer to consumer and minimizing mediator costs.

3. Reducing food wastage. Despite the ongoing crisis, food wastage by individuals and corporations is a significant problem. Focusing on demand vs. supply, and donation of excess daily produce can help feed many.

4. Providing specialized, ground-level support and guidance to farmers with available newest technologies and local discoveries.

5. Recruiting the private sector for aid, under the corporate social responsibility frameworks.

6. Raising public awareness of the ongoing crisis and creating a collective social impact via Scientific communication.

Although feasible solutions are available, without proper guidance or monitoring, it is difficult to achieve them. A national strategy with a clear set of objectives and goals is imperative if we are to overcome this crisis because, nutritional Crisis might not be your problem today, but it could be yours tomorrow.

References
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62990385
https://srilankabrief.org/sri-lankas-agricultural-scientific-community-predicts-substantial-yield-losses-in-agricultural-production-due-to-govts-new-policy/

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://srilankabrief.org/sri-lankas-agricultural-scientific-community-predicts-substantial-yield-losses-in-agricultural-production-due-to-govts-new-policy/

Poinsettia is a colorful blooming potted plant, in the Euphorbia family. It is a popular holiday plant especially used for decorations during the winter holidays in Europe and American countries. Poinsettia is more attractive because of its colorful bracts (leaves). Different colored poinsettias in the market are from different varieties. The Poinsettia flower is made up of bracts that look like a petal, but in the center, there are tiny yellow flowers called cyathia. The potted poinsettia has more branches and it grows like a small bush and it is an important feature in the market. They are usually produced through cutting propagation of the axial bud or terminal bud of vegetative stock plants. It is necessary to treat the plant with chemicals 6-7 times. Today all the commercial poinsettia varieties are planted with free branching phenotypes. The secret of this free branching is a result of the infection by phytopathogens known as Phytoplasma.

Phytoplasmas are a group of prokaryotes which are very small bacteria without a cell wall but covered by a membranous envelope. Phytopathogenic studies of various genes of phytoplasma suggest that they are descended from walled-bacteria in the Bacillus/Clostridium group. They are less than 1µm in diameter with a reduced genome greatly in size. Therefore, they lack enzymes needed for biosynthetic pathways. Thus, what should they do to obtain the necessary compounds? All known phytoplasmas infect plants and transmit through insect vectors and obtain necessary compounds from plants and vectors. Phytoplasmas are phloem-limited pathogens. In plants phytoplasma mainly lives in the sieve cells of phloem tissues. Therefore, phytoplasma transmission has been confirmed only through phloem-feeding insects. Phloem-feeding insects such as leafhoppers and planthoppers of the order Hemiptera are identified as vectors. Vectors acquire phytoplasmas passively during feeding and have a long time period of acquisition during feeding time to acquire sufficient phytoplasmas to establish in the vector body. It can take up to nearly three weeks. Once phytoplasmas are established, they will be found in most organs of the infected vector. Phytoplasma replicates in the salivary glands of vector insects. In addition, phytoplasma can be transmitted through vegetative propagation.

Phytoplasma diseases spread mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The presence of phytoplasma is associated with a wide range of symptoms. Phyllody is the development of leaf-like growth in place of normal flowers. Some plants develop green color in place of normal flower color (green flowers) called virescence and witches' broom is an abnormal excessive proliferation of axillary shoots resulting in a broom-like growth. The other characteristic symptom is little leaves, the development of abnormally small leaves.

The proliferation of axillary shoots is useful in the production of poinsettia. Witches' broom symptoms are shown at the infection of poinsettia. The phytoplasma associated with poinsettia branching belonging to group 16SrIII-H produces more auxiliary shoots that have more than one coloured shoot with flowers. Therefore, some symptoms of phytoplasma are commercially important except for their negative impacts.

References
Pondrella, M.; Caprara, L.; Bellardi, M.G.; Bertaccini, A., Roll of Different Phytoplasma in Inducing Poinsettia Branching. Proc.10th IS Virus Disease Ornamentals, 2002, pp 170-176.

Assunta, B., Plants and Phytoplasma: When bacteria modify Plants. MDPI 2022, 11
Hogenhout, S.A., Plant Pathogen – Minor (Phytoplasma). Elsevier 2009

Kumari, S.; Nagendran, K.; Bahadur Rai, A.; Singh, B.; Rao, G.P.; Bertaccini, A., Global Status of Phytoplasma Disease in Vegetable crop. Frontiers in Microbiology 2019, 10

Bertaccini, A.; Oshima, K.; Maejima, K.’; Namba, S., Phytoplasma: Plant Pathogenic Bacteria-III, Chapter 2

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://www.ambius.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Poinsettia-1024×679.jpg

Introduction to biopesticides
Biopesticides are biological agents used to control pest populations.They include botanicals, pathogenic microbes such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, other natural enemies of pests such as parasitoids, predators, nematodes and semiochemicals.

Biopesticides can be divided into three major categories.

1. Microbial pesticides
These consist of microorganisms as the active ingredient. Microbial pesticides can control many kinds of pests. However, the active ingredient of the biopesticide is relatively specific for its target pest.
E.g., Bacillus thuringiensis: each strain of this bacterium produces a different mix of proteins that specifically kills one or few related species of insect larvae.

2. Biochemical Pesticides
These are naturally occurring substances that control pests by non–toxic mechanisms in contrast to conventional pesticides that either kill or inactivate pests.
E.g., Sex pheromones, various scented plant extracts that interfere with the mating behavior of pests.

3. Plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs)
This is where plants produce certain pesticidal constituents by themselves from genetic material that are inserted to the plant genome.
E.g., Scientists can extract the gene for the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt.) pesticidal protein and introduce the gene into the plant genome. Thereby, the plant can manufacture the particular pesticidal protein that inhibit the pest when it feeds on the plant.

An insight to microbial biopesticides
In this category, the active ingredient is a microorganism that either occurs naturally or is genetically engineered.

The pesticide action may be from the organism itself or from a substance it produces. The most commonly used microbial biopesticides are the living organisms which are pathogenic for the pest of interest. They include,

(i) Biofungicides (E.g., Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Bacillus)
(ii) Bioherbicides (E.g., Phytophthora)
(iii) Bioinsecticides (E.g., Bacillus thuringiensis)

The active ingredient of the microbial pesticide (which is a microorganism such as bacterium, fungus, virus, protozoa, alga, rickettsia, mycoplasma or nematode) suppresses pests either by producing toxic metabolites, competition, or various other modes of action.

An example for a microbial biopesticide; Bacterial biopesticides
Bacterial biopesticides are the most common form of microbial pesticides that function in multiple ways. Generally, they are used as insecticides, although they can be used to control the growth of plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi.

As an insecticide, they are generally specific to individual species of moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, and mosquitoes. To be effective, they must come into contact with the target pest and may require to be ingested. In insects, bacteria disrupt the digestive system by producing endotoxins that are often specific to the particular insect pest.

When used to control a pathogenic bacteria or fungus, the bacterial biopesticide colonizes the plant and crowds out the pathogenic species. The most widely used microbial pesticides are subspecies and strains of B. thuringiensis during its sporulation synthesizes crystalline infusions containing proteins known as endotoxins or Cry proteins, which have insecticidal properties.

Due to their high efficiency and safety in the environment, B. Thuringiensis and Cry proteins are considered as sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides for the control of insects.

References
Ruiu, L. (2018). Microbial Biopesticides in Agroecosystems. Agronomy, 8(11), 235. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8110235

What are Biopesticides? | US EPA. US EPA. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/what-are-biopesticides.

Image courtesy
Featured image – https://images.app.goo.gl/6Cg6FVPfKRsEDS41A

Viruses are non-cellular agents that replicate inside host cells, often leading to disease in the host. Plant virus infections are associated with devastating losses in agriculture and threaten global food security. Viruses are responsible for nearly 50% of plant diseases accounting for an estimated annual economic loss of US$30 billion (Hilaire et al., 2022). Some sources attribute major crop yield losses of up to US$ 60 billion annually worldwide due to plant virus infections (Fingu-Mabola and Francis, 2021). However, not all viruses should be viewed in a negative light. As viruses are host-specific, there is potential to utilize them as bio-control agents against agricultural pests and pathogens. Furthermore, virus infection of plant endophytes has been linked to increased thermal and drought tolerance in plants. This article, therefore, aims to explore the nature of viruses’ pathogenicity in plants and their importance and applications in agriculture.

So what is a virus? A virus is an acellular infectious pathogen composed fundamentally of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) genome encased in a protein coat known as the capsid. In addition, some viruses may have an outer envelope made of a membrane containing lipids and proteins derived from the host cell. Many viruses have spike proteins on the capsid or on the envelope which help the virus bind to receptors on the host cell. The infectious form of a virus is called a virion. Plant viruses, also known as phytoviruses, generally come in the form of helical (roughly elongated) or icosahedral (roughly spherical) shaped capsids (Gergerich and Dolja, 2006). While spherical viruses are relatively small (diameter ~30nm), elongated viruses can be significantly bigger: tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is 300 x 18 nm, and some filamentous viruses can reach the length of ~2000nm (2µm) (Gergerich and Dolja, 2006). A typical plant cell in comparison is ~50µm. Most phytoviruses contain an RNA genome, and DNA phytoviruses are rare (Gergerich and Dolja, 2006).

Why are viruses harmful to the host? Plant viruses are obligate, biotrophic parasites. The virion can penetrate the host cell mainly via wounds caused by damage to the cell wall or through insect vectors. Inside the cell, the viral genome leaves the capsid and takes over the host cell machinery to conduct transcription and translation producing new viral nucleic acids and proteins. New virions are assembled in the plant cell followed by the release of mature virions out of the cell to infect new host cells (Figure 1). In plants, virions can enter neighboring cells via the plasmodesmata (cell-to-cell movement) and can move to other parts of the plant in the phloem tissue (long-distance movement) (Gergerich and Dolja, 2006). The virus infection leads to adverse effects on plants such as stunted growth, abnormal flower and leaf formation, ring patterns and bumps on the foliage, necrotic spots, mosaic, and mottling of the leaves (Figure 2). This can have a severe impact on crop yields.

As negative an impact as most virus infections may have on plants, the relationship between virus and host can be blurred. Some viruses such as pararetroviruses in tomato plants are integrated in an inactive state within the genome of the host cell for long periods and will only become active under stress; the presence of an inactive virus in the host for an extended time may act as a method of immunization and give the host a selective advantage in fighting against other pathogens (Roossinck, 2015). Meanwhile, some viruses have mutualistic impacts on plants such as counteracting the effects of abiotic stress. In Yellow Stone National Park where geothermal soils can reach temperatures greater than 50˚C, one species of grass that is colonized by a fungal endophyte infected by the virus allows the plant to survive hot temperatures (Roossinck, 2015)! Greenhouse studies have also shown that some virus infected plants have conferred drought-tolerance to plants (Roossinck, 2015). Further study of this phenomena may have useful applications in the development of heat- and drought-tolerant plants that can survive global climate change.
Some plant viruses may also help fight against biotic stress. For instance, studies have shown that white clover mosaic virus infection helps the plant deter fungus gnats and zucchini yellow mosaic virus downregulates the production of volatile compounds in plants that attract beetles; as beetles are vectors of bacterial wilt, the viral infection has protected the plant from wilt disease (Roossinck, 2015). Studies are also being conducted on using bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) as an agent to control bacteria-borne diseases in plants.

In considering this, it is highly important to thoroughly study phytoviruses to understand the nature of plant-viral relationships and explore applications of this knowledge to increase crop yields.

References
Carbonell, A., García, J.A. et al. (2018). eLS Plant Virus RNA Replication, accessed https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/eLS-Plant-Virus-RNA-Replication-Carbonell-Garc%C3%ADa/85f49c32434c48dce5dbe0eec5d7b80e0af810c9
Fingu-Mabola, J.C. and Francis, F. (2021). Aphid-plant-phytovirus pathosystems: influencing factors from vector behaviour to virus spread. Agriculture, 11(6), https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11060502.
Gergerich, R.C. and Dolja, V.V. (2006) Introduction to plant viruses, the invisible foe. The Plant Health Instructor, DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2006-0414-01
Hilaire, J., Tindale, S., Jones, G. et al. (2022). Risk perception associated with an emerging agri-food risk in Europe: plant viruses in agriculture. Agriculture and Food Security, 11(2), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-022-00366-5 .
Roossinck, M. J. (2015) Move over, bacteria! Viruses make their mark as mutualistic microbial symbionts. Journal of Virology, 89(13), pp. 6532-6535.

Image courtesy
Featured image: https://p4.wallpaperbetter.com/wallpaper/374/292/34/medical-virus-wallpaper-preview.jpg
Figure 1: Carbonell, A., García, J.A. et al. (2018). eLS Plant Virus RNA Replication, accessed https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/eLS-Plant-Virus-RNA-Replication-Carbonell-Garc%C3%ADa/85f49c32434c48dce5dbe0eec5d7b80e0af810c9

Figure 2 : University of Maryland Extension (2018-2020) https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/styles/optimized/public/2021-06/HGIC_flowers_peony_virus-symptoms_CC_600.jpg?itok=EEPJsGqA

Climate is defined as the weather conditions prevailing in an area over a long period of time. Global climate change is the long-term alteration of weather patterns in the planet that results in elevated temperature, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, changing rain and wind patterns, melting of glaciers and rising seawater levels. Climate models predict that the global average temperature will rise by 0.2 ˚C in the next two decades in every climatic zone including tropical, temperate, and polar regions.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create energy in the form of sugar and produce molecular oxygen as a by-product. The carbon cycle in the earth is driven by this process of photosynthesis. This reaction happens mainly in green plants and in some other photosynthetic microorganisms. There are mainly two steps in the photosynthetic process. The first one is the light-dependent reaction where energy is stored in ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) and NADPH (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) while producing oxygen (O2) as a by-product. The next step is independent of light and is called the Calvin Cycle where sugar molecules are formed by fixing CO2. Furthermore, there are three types of photosynthetic mechanisms called C3 (in cotton, spinach, soybeans, etc.), C4 (in maize, sugarcane, sorghum, etc.), and CAM (in cacti, pineapple, etc.).

CO2 is a greenhouse gas that absorbs longer wavelength radiation and traps heat around the earth’s surface. This phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect. But when high CO2 levels are present in the atmosphere this eventually leads to excessive global warming.
Carbon dioxide levels today are higher than at any point compared to the past. The levels are rising mostly because of the burning of fossil fuels by humans. The last time the atmospheric CO₂ amounts were this high was more than 3 million years ago. Therefore, we are going back to where plants or small algae began photosynthesis. At the beginning of life on earth, the oxygen concentration was very low in the atmosphere. C3 photosynthesis is thought to have arisen at this time.
The majority of the plant species use C3 photosynthesis in which the first and most stable carbon compound containing three carbon atoms is produced. That’s why it is called the C3 mechanism. The RUBP (Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate) carboxylase enzyme which catalyzes carboxylation in the Calvin cycle has evolved in the primeval pre-photosynthetic atmosphere which contained high CO2 and no O2. Therefore, this climatic condition is favorable for plants to photosynthesize more efficiently and grow faster which leads to high crop productivity. Under well-watered and highly fertilized conditions, most C3 plants grow about 30% faster when the CO2 concentration reaches 600 – 750 ppm range but a little or no increased growth is seen in C4 plants which fix carbon dioxide into a 4 carbon compounds in order to enter the C3 or Calvin Cycle.
If CO2 concentration continues to increase at this rate, after a particular level plant photosynthetic rate will become limited due to the increase in atmospheric temperature. Under high-temperature conditions, plants tend to close their stomata (microscopic openings in the epidermis of leaves that facilitate gas exchange) to prevent desiccation. In the daytime, photosynthesis happens and thereby CO2 levels are depleted inside the photosynthetic cells and are not restored as stomata are closed. In such situations, the Rubisco enzyme binds with oxygen and leads to a phenomenon called photorespiration. It results in the release of CO2 with the utilization of ATP. This is energetically costly and a wasteful process that happens in C3 plants. Under elevated CO2 levels and high temperature, C4 plants are benefited since they are adapted to warm and high-temperature environments. These plants effectively maintain the CO2 levels in their photosynthetic cells and are adapted to prevent photorespiration.

Even though CO2 is much more important in photosynthesis and increases the rate of reaction up to a certain level the nutrients, and other factors act as limiting factors for the photosynthetic process. Therefore, the photosynthetic rate quickly becomes constrained by the less nutrient availability. Soil is eroded due to the low vegetation cover in lands and most of the nutrients are leaching out from the soil and it becomes poor in nutrients. The presence of pollutants in the atmosphere and low-level ozone can also indirectly reduce the net photosynthetic rate.
A better understanding of the above mentioned phenomena is crucial in studying natural ecosystems, in conserving a balanced ecosystem and in providing high crop productivity to feed the rising human population. If the above mentioned phenomena continue to happen in the future, the C4 and CAM plants may be benefited except the C3 plants even though C4 and CAM mechanisms are more energetically costly than the C3 mechanism. Since most of the plants on the earth are C3 plants, change in global climate patterns has a major influence on the plant community and their survival. Therefore, it is required to minimize these climatic changes while improving plants to adapt to this changing environment. To protect plants from climate change, personal action is more important than ever. Practices such as organic farming, eating less meat, producing clean energy, or even less use of vehicles can help save the planet from climate change and ensure the survival of plants that help us survive on earth.

References:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/climate-change/
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/predictions-
Plant Physiology and Development by Eduardo Zeiger, Lincoln Taiz, Ian Max Moller, Angus Murphy – sixth edition.

Image courtesy
Featured image: https://357h4a1tedstsbee1xvf35r5-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/climate-change.jpg
Image 01: https://biologydictionary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Photosynthesis-in-plant.jpg
Image 02:https://cnx.org/resources/ef7d8f88785507a73eebee86af5036a8/C3_C4_leaves.jpg

You might wonder why I named this article “Fertilize or not? It’s up to you”. It’s because plants have the ability not to fertilize even though the mature pollen falls onto mature stigma. Self-fertilization may occur in hermaphrodite (bisexual) plants and self-fertility might be beneficial for plants. However, plants also have developed mechanisms to prevent self-fertilization, which can lead to inbreeding depression. Higher plants which are mostly hermaphrodite can assure reproduction through cross-fertilization. Self-incompatible plants increase outbreeding and retain genetic variety, which is thought to be crucial in the evolution of flowering plants.
Self-incompatibility is essentially a carefully regulated genetic system that offers a highly selective detection and rejection system for pollen that is genetically similar to the pollen of the same plant. Darwin initially identified heteromorphic Self-incompatible systems, which use blooms with diverse morphs (e.g. distyly in Primula), but they have not been adequately studied and defined at the molecular level. Self-incompatibility provides a clever genetic mechanism for avoiding self-fertilization. S-determinant genes, which allow self-recognition and rejection, determine self-incompatibility. Several S-determinant genes have been discovered in various plants. A highly polymorphic, multiallelic S-locus is responsible for homomorphic Self incompatibility. It has been calculated that natural populations of a single species may have up to 30 to 60 alleles. As it is maintained, this polymorphism has been the topic of several populations of genetics research in the modern world.
There are mainly two types of self-incompatibility in plants. They are gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) and Sporophytic self-incompatibility (SSI). In Gametophytic self-incompatibility when the solitary S allele contained in the haploid pollen grain matches either of the S alleles present in the diploid tissues of the pistil, pollen is rejected. This is due to the detection of some proteins in pollens by the receptors in the stigma of the flowers. Some examples of plants that show gametophytic self-incompatibility are ornamental tobacco (Nicotiana alata), petunia (Petunia inflata and Petunia hybrida), potato (Solanum tuberosum and Solanum chacoense), and wild tomato (Lycopersicon peruvianum). In Sporophytic self-incompatibility systems, rejection is controlled by the interaction of the pistil’s self-incompatibility genotype with the genotype of the pollen parent, rather than the pollen’s haploid genotype, as in the gametophytic system. In plants with sporophytic self-incompatibility, each pollen grain contains the products of two S alleles, and rejection occurs when either of these alleles matches either of the S alleles expressed in the pistil; complex dominant or codominant interactions between S alleles frequently occur, influencing the outcome of specific crosses.

This amazing mechanism in plants has saved plants from genetic disorders and many other genetic disadvantages. Thus, self-incompatibility has provided a great evolutionary advantage to plants.

References:
Matton, D. P., Nass, N., Clarke, A. E., & Newbigin, E. (1994). Self-incompatibility: How plants avoid illegitimate offspring. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91(6), 1992–1997. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.91.6.1992

Image courtesy:

Featured Image:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30232567@N05/8124026433

Figure 1
https://dfzljdn9uc3pi.cloudfront.net/2017/4085/1/fig-1-2x.jpg

Scientists asked a highly virulent microbe, what made you this tough? Here is the answer. Microorganisms including fungi, bacteria, viruses, molecules as well as nematodes can become pathogenic to plants. The ability to cause a disease or pathogenicity depends on the virulence of the pathogen, host resistance and environmental conditions. Pathogenesis helps pathogens to invade plant tissues to obtain nutrients for their survival and reproduction. Nature has given pathogens their “level of virulence” in this survival-based interaction that requires for the infection while plants were given their “range of defense”.

Back in the evolutionary time scale, plants and their special parts have evolved to provide at least room and board to many microorganisms, enabling them to fulfill their functions. As a result of this long-lasting process, some microbes might have evolved to interfere with the physiological function of plants due to the mutations favoured by natural selection. Then plants obviously might have had to react through responsive mutations related to their defense against those microbes.

Plants protect themselves as a result of molecular, cellular and tissue responses. These defenses can be either structural or chemical. Plants might have first tried their best to safeguard themselves using basic physical and chemical barriers as a form of passive defense. This can be pre-existing structural barriers such as wax, hairs, cuticle, epidermis, the orientation of leaves and the nature of stomata. Plants are well armed with pre-existing chemical defenses as well. They release inhibitors such as fungal toxic exudates to inhibit spore germination and some of these inhibitors are present in plant cells, for example, phenolics, tannins, saponins and lectins. Moreover, some plants lack receptors for toxins and some lack essential substances for pathogens.

Plants have further developed another level of defense called active defense, literally the immune system of plants. Plants can detect the presence of infectious agents through signals. These signalling molecules perceived by plant cells to induce defense responses are called elicitors. Elicitors can be specific or nonspecific. Nonspecific elicitors such as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) have a kind of evolutionary stability.  These elicitors can induce defense in a wide range of host species. They are originated from pathogenic organisms. These are sensed through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) on the surface of the plant cells, which would trigger the basal resistance called PAMP triggered immunity (PTI), but still, there could be better fighters!

The pathogens which successfully overcome basal resistance would produce effector proteins, which could inhibit signalling pathways mediated by basal immunity. Thus, they become specific elicitors, if the host plant manages to recognize them. Specific elicitors are produced by specialized pathogenic strains that match the receptors of the specific host cultivar. These effector proteins are encoded by avirulence genes (Avr genes) of pathogens. If the host plant has specific receptors to bind to those effectors, then effector-triggered immunity (ETI) will occur within the plant.  The resistance genes (R genes) are required to encode for these receptors, and not all hosts can produce such genes.

This never-ending race between pathogen and their host plants along the evolutionary pathway was proven through the ‘gene for gene concept’ by H.H. Flor in 1956. According to the theory, the host plants and their pathogens have evolved together. It further states that any change in the pathogen virulence is balanced by the evolutionary change in host resistance and this dynamic equilibrium is maintained by the step wise evolution. So, isn’t it a never-ending fight? Each opponent makes the other stronger in this battle while walking along the evolutionary pathway.

References:
https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/pm/article/view/5543

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009175

Image courtesy:
Featured image:
https://www.britannica.com/list/botanical-barbarity-9-plant-defense mechanisms
Figure 1:
https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/image/chp%3A10.1007%2F978-981-10-2854-0_12/MediaObjects/417622_1_En_12_Fig1_HTML.gif

Seasonal change is a common phenomenon in temperate regional countries. Plants get new looks during every new season. Have you ever wondered how plants recognize and change according to these seasons? After reading this article, you will be able to find the answer to this question.

As we already know, there are four major seasons named spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Seasonal changes can be described as the differences in temperature and the hours of getting daylight during a year. Therefore, it relates to changes in day and night lengths. These changes occur due to the Earth’s movement around the sun and the tilted rotational axis of the Earth. It allows some parts of the Earth to get direct sunlight and the other parts to get less sunlight and heat. Furthermore, the parts getting most of the direct sunlight and heat will have spring and summer, while other parts have autumn and winter. In summer, daylight lasts longer, and nights are short whereas in winter, days are shorts and nights are long.

According to seasonal changes, plants change their appearance by blooming, flowering, shedding, and becoming dormant. In spring, flowers start to bloom, and trees have young leaves and flowers. They have mature leaves and flowers during summer. They get tall, bear fruits, and most of their growth happens during this season. In autumn, their leaves become brown and shed. Since winter is colder and gets less sunlight compared to the other seasons, plants tend to stay dormant without any leaves, flowers, or fruits.

How do they decide to change as above at the correct time? Unlike us, they do not have clocks or calendars! The main reason is that plants are composed of light-detectors called photoreceptors. There are two types of photoreceptors in plants, and they are phytochromes and cryptochromes. Phytochromes are sensitive to the red and far-red region of the visible spectrum, whereas cryptochromes are sensitive to the blue region. The amount of the receiving light can be detected by those receptors.

During shorter days (daytime is less), they identify that there is less sunlight to be obtained and change accordingly. This response, according to the length of day and night, was described by the word photoperiodism. In other words, photoperiodism is showing responses to the length of day or night by organisms. This fascinating discovery was done by W. W. Garner and H. A. Allard in 1920. Different plants have different photoperiods. Some plants prefer more daylight, while others prefer less daylight.

The best-described example of photoperiodism is the flowering of plants. Most plants recognize the length of the dark period which is critical for the initiation of flowering. When a plant reaches its critical photoperiod by receiving an appropriate length of night period, it acts as a stimulus and starts flowering as a response. Based on photoperiod, plants can be classified into three categories. They are long-day plants, short-day plants, and day-neutral plants. When the length of night exceeds its critical photoperiod, some plants start flowering. Those plants are called short-day plants. Plants that start flowering when the length of night is less than their critical photoperiod are called long-day plants. However, some plants do not respond to photoperiod at all. Those plants are named day-neutral plants.

Now you know how plants get new looks during every new season at the correct time. By perceiving light signals via phytochromes or cryptochromes, plants undergo this amazing phenomenon called photoperiodism. They bloom, flower, shed, and become dormant in this astonishing world based on the season! Isn’t it amazing?

References:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/photoperiodism

https://www.happysprout.com/inspiration/seasons-plant/#:~:text=These%20amazing%20seasonal%20changes%20in,temperature%20also%20plays%20a%20role.

https://www.britannica.com/science/photoperiodism

http://www.biologyreference.com/Ph-Po/Photoperiodism.html

Image courtesy:
Featured image: https://bit.ly/3xqXuak

Figure 1: https://bit.ly/3cXTzKc

Figure 2: https://bit.ly/3gOMflb

Have you heard about green buildings? If yes, what comes to your mind when picturing a green building? Most probably it would be a building with some green plants placed here and there, wouldn’t it? Is that all within the meaning of green building? Go ahead to find the answer!

The impact on the environment has increased with the increasing population and the development of the world. From design to construction and operation of a building, it consumes a lot of natural resources. The green buildings are designed with efficient use of energy, water and other resources, protection of occupant health, improvement of employee productivity, reduction of waste and pollution etc. Therefore, the concept of green building is not limited to the walls but includes site planning, community and land-use planning. This concept is very important for the sustainable development of the world.

Simply a green building can be described as a building that is designed in a way to protect the natural environment and to improve the quality of life as well. A green building is further defined as a building that, in its design, construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on our climate and natural environment.

As the word ‘green building’ itself shows, they are eco-friendly having various benefits to the environment. Improving air and water quality, reducing waste streams, conserving and restoring natural resources, reducing the urban heat island effect, and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystems are some of those benefits. In addition to the environmental benefits, green buildings provide economic and social benefits. The economic benefits of green buildings are reducing operating costs, improving occupant productivity, and enhancing asset value and profits. There are social benefits such as enhancing occupant health and comfort, improving indoor and air quality and improving the overall quality of life. Most importantly green buildings fulfil 9 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) out of the 17 indicating the importance of having more green for a sustainable earth. However, there are still some hurdles such as the higher initial design and construction cost and lack of public awareness.

Sustainable building design relies on six fundamental principles. Optimizing site potential, optimizing energy use, efficient use and conserving water, optimizing building space and material use, enhancing indoor environmental quality and optimizing operational and maintenance practices. It is always considered to be more environmentally friendly through the whole process from planning the design to operation of the building under these principles. It does not matter whether it’s a school, an office, a shop, a hotel or even a hospital or any other type of structure. It can be a green building if it follows the above-mentioned principles. The methods which are used to follow these fundamental principles can be changed among countries depending on the climatic conditions, environmental, economic and social priorities, unique cultures and traditions, available technologies etc.

Who would not love to be in a city with more green and less pollution? Let’s always try to go green and make the city we live in, the city we love!

References:
https://www.greenbuilt.org/about/importance-of-green-building/

https://www.worldgbc.org/what-green-building

https://www.kmbdg.com/news/energy-engineering-company-sustainable-building-design/

Image courtesy:
Featured image – https://bit.ly/2Tk6SxW
Figure 1 – https://bit.ly/3hh8GQo

Social distancing is quite familiar for us these days because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But have you ever heard that trees are maintaining social distancing way before COVID-19? Amazing, isn’t it? This phenomenon is known as ‘crown/canopy shyness’, where the treetops avoid touching each other by creating channel-like boundaries among themselves at the canopy level. The visual aspect of crown shyness is breathtakingly artistic, and it resembles the bird’s eye view of rivers! You might have seen crown shyness which looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle when you look up at the sky in some forests.

This mind-blowing natural phenomenon was firstly described in the 1920s and the term ‘Tree Shyness’ was introduced in the 1950s by the botanist Maxwell R. Jacobs. Since then, this has been studying extensively for decades in order to investigate the reason for the occurrence of this ‘social distancing’ among trees. Other than some hypotheses and theories which have been suggested to explain crown shyness, the exact physiological basis behind this mysterious behaviour of trees is not unraveled yet.

Crown shyness does not occur between all types of trees. Most commonly, it occurs between the trees of the same species. However, there are some incidents where crown shyness occurs between trees of different species as well. More interestingly, crown shyness can also be seen between independently swaying branches of a single tree.

But how do trees have their own space? Some scientists suggest that shyness gaps can be formed due to the abrasion between the branches by wind. However, it has been discovered that the wind is not the only reason behind crown shyness because the studies conducted in Malay camphor trees (Dryobalanops aromatica) have not shown any abrasions between trees. Furthermore, crown shyness was not significantly prominent in trees which are exposed to high winds than that of in less windy areas. Hence, scientists have suggested another hypothesis where the trees stop growing by sensing light through their growing tips when they are near to the branches of the neighbouring tree. There is another hypothesis which suggests the influences exerted by individual trees on each other result in shyness gaps. These two hypotheses focus on minimizing competition among trees for resources such as light which is essential for photosynthesis. In addition, there is one more hypothesis which explains the formation of these gaps in terms of allelopathy. This hypothesis is quite interesting because if this is true, it means trees communicate with each other using chemical compounds and notify the neighbouring trees to halt their growth towards them. It is believed that the real reason behind crown shyness is quite a combination of all these hypotheses rather than a single specific theory.

Amidst all these theories and hypotheses explaining the potential mechanisms of the occurrence of crown shyness, there are some other suggestions which describe the benefits of this peculiar phenomenon. Shyness gaps allow light to reach the forest floor nurturing the lower canopy trees including shrubs and ground cover. Moreover, trees can minimize the effects from wind, harmful flightless insects and pathogens by avoiding physical touches among each other. Trees can also avoid the spread of invasive lianas by having crown shyness.

These natural phenomena always remind us how astonishing and mysterious our mother nature is. Being sessile and silent, isn’t it amazing how trees respond to each other and communicate among themselves? See how respectful and cooperative they are! So next time, when you are walking through a forest, do not forget to look up at the sky and enjoy the magnificent view of crown shyness. And also, spare some time to capture an instagrammable photo of this panoramic spectacle of timid treetops.

References:

https://www.treehugger.com/what-is-crown-shyness-4869713

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/crown-shyness-are-trees-social-distancing.html

https://daily.jstor.org/the-mysteries-of-crown-shyness/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/tree-crown-shyness-forest-canopy/

Image courtesy:

Featured image: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/discover/crown-shyness/crown-shyness2-full-width.jpg

Figure1:https://www.richardx.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191103-DJI_0733.jpg

Figure 2: https://www.jasonferrellphotography.com/images/xl/Ascension.jpg

There is no doubt that you all love to have plants in your home garden, but usually, people are wondering whether to say yes to indoor plants. You may have seen beautiful pictures of interior designs with indoor plants while surfing through the internet, yet worry to have one in home. Is it good to have them inside houses? This is the most frequently asked question that comes to the stage when talking about indoor plants? After reading this article you would probably set your mind to say ‘yes’ for indoor plants. 

The most important benefit of the indoor plants is that they can purify the air. Did you know that the pollutants can stay even in air inside of buildings? Yes, sometimes it is more than the air outside. Indoor plants help to purify the polluted air by absorbing the toxic pollutants. They will assure that you are breathing good air. They do a really good job, don’t they? 

Another fact that you should know is, indoor plants can reduce noise levels. This is important in office buildings, since the plants help to reduce noise which can create a calm and satisfying environment for employees without distractions. This will help even to reduce the stress levels in the working environment thereby improving the performance of employees. 

Indoor plants offer you both physical and psychological health benefits. There is scientific evidence on the ability of indoor plants to reduce stress levels and anxiety of people. These indoor plants will help you to recover fast from illnesses and injuries. Studies have shown that the patients who stayed surrounded by indoor plants required less pain medication, had a lower blood pressure and heart rate, and also felt less anxiety and fatigue than patients without greenery inside their rooms. What a friend to keep inside your home!

In general, people love to see green plants which set them a peaceful mind. Thus, it would be a visually meditative experience for you to work in a place surrounded with green plants. Not only that, green shades of indoor plants will add more beauty with a natural look to your home or the workplace. It will create a fresh and peaceful environment for both you and the visitors.

Now think why not to admire indoor plants for their great service.
However, every plant is not suitable for indoor planting.  Each indoor
mate may have unique qualities. Therefore, choose the plants wisely.
Plants are living organisms. They can sense, so talk with them, touch
them, and admire them. Show some love to your indoor mates and see the
difference.

References

https://www.ambius.com/indoor-plants/office-plants/benefits/

https://www.prevention.com/health/g27586276/benefits-of-indoor-plants/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43344334_The_Investigation_of_Noise_Attenuation_by_Plants_and_the_Corresponding_Noise-Reducing_Spectrum

Image courtesy

Featured image:  https://unsplash.com/photos/S7viz8JWxwY

Image 1: https://www.admiddleeast.com/public/styles/full_img/public/images/2019/11/21/Osofsky_Oct19-571.jpg?itok=mBI07ilg

When you hear the term, “intelligence”, most of the time you think about it in an anthropogenic centred way. Yes, humans have a complex brain with interconnected neural networks. As a result, humans have many abilities such as making their own decisions, problem-solving, reasoning, learning and memorizing. Not only humans, other animals also have a different kind of neural systems. Even though some animals do not show well-developed brain organization, they have different scales of neural cells assemblies. These animals can manipulate their behaviour by responding to stimuli to overcome environmental challenges. They perceive signals, respond, learn and memorize the experiences in their lifetime. The collection of all these cognitive abilities can be considered altogether as intelligence. However, there is no universal definition for it. Do you think that intelligence only limits to humans and animals?

Recent studies suggest that intelligence may exist even in plants. It is a bit controversial because many of us think that intelligence connects with neural systems. In the animal aspect, it is true. Plants do not have neurone systems. They are silent, sessile organisms. However, we cannot say the silent green world is not intelligent! They perceive external signals and respond to them. This response can be considered as the behaviour of plants. Unlike the muscular movement of animals, plant behaviour is related to the changes in growth. Even though muscular movements are powerful and fast, growth responses are slow and below our visual capacity to see it without measuring. Initial cell signalling is associated with action potentials and changes in cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels like animals. The speed of the process differs between plants and animals. Intracellular communication exists in plants like animals. Plants use phytohormones such as auxins, gibberellins, cytokinin, abscisic acid, ethylene, salicylic acid and jasmonate. Hormone-based regulation also exists in animals. In plants, plasmodesmata enable movement of proteins, nucleic acids and other small molecules. They act as channels for the cell to cell communication. Physiological alterations occur in plasmodesmata after exposing to anaerobic or osmotic stress as adaptation. Similarly, the dendrites in neuronal cells alter to amplify the communication pathway during the learning process in animals. Thus, we cannot underestimate the abilities of the plants.

Dr. Monica Gagliano is a biologist who studied plant behaviours and their cognitive abilities. During the panel discussion at the World Science Festival 2019 titled “Intelligence without brains”, she explained about the experimental evidence related to the intelligent plant behaviour. She conducted several researches related to plant communication, plant memory and learning capacity. The rest of the article gives you a brief explanation about one of her studies about plant learning ability.

For the experiment, a sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica was selected due to its ability to show leaf-folding reflux as a response to physical disturbance. Other than that, this defensive response can easily be used for studying the behavioural phenomenon called habituation. Habituation is an adaptive process that enables organisms to extract important information from the environment while ignoring stimuli and events that are repeatedly proven to be irrelevant. It is a simple form of learning. Remembering the previous experience is crucial for the habituation process. Learning and remembering are features of intelligence. Thus, habituation represents a basic level of intelligence. To determine the degree of habituation, she designed special plant-dropping set up for training the Mimosa plants. These plants were subjected to seven consecutive trains of 60 drops with 5 or 10 seconds inter-stimulus intervals.

Here, they observed that Mimosa leaves reopened even before the first train of droppings was completed. By the end of the training, leaves completely remain opened. The leaf-folding reflux habituates rapidly. It means that Mimosa plants can show learning behaviour! Now, are there any questions coming into your mind? You can say that this phenomenon can be a result of energy depletion or fatigue. To answer this question, they placed trained plants on a shaker for giving a new stimulus. If the stopped leaf-folding reflux is caused due to fatigue, these plants would not be able to respond to new stimuli. Surprisingly, Mimosa leaves showed leaf-folding reflux again. There is no doubt that Mimosa plants can learn! Dr Monica Gagliano also showed that habituation could persist for about a month. It indicates that Mimosa plants can remember the details about stimuli by an unknown mechanism. These plants learn to ignore non-harm stimuli. This behaviour minimizes energy loss and maximizes light capturing. They change their normal behaviour based on the novel condition for optimum survival.

What do you think about plants now? Are these plants intelligent or not? Green life has a kind of intelligence, which needs to be studied more in the future. Let’s think differently about the silent green world. Then you will realize the secrets that exist within plants!

References
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-013-2873-7

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4845027/

https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/92/1/1/177536

https://www.bluesci.co.uk/posts/a-case-for-plant-intelligence

Image courtesy:
Featured Image: https://cdn.the-scientist.com/assets/articleNo/66101/aImg/32588/plant- consciousness-thumb-l.png

Image 01: https://media.wnyc.org/i/1860/863/c/80/1/3_brain-vs-plant.jpg

Image 02: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/2dzAOZfl4OsDsXUorB5gXwvQHgXK1tS3wHToWkbarN9UKwpi15fn_7oVNPYCtCH-U85si6ipJ3EnaKamvce_CVbbCA90Mx3dO0xD6dyaKm6k0kE2TvUskv5TYbM

Image 03: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/science/phenomena/curiously-krulwich/rights-exempt/files/2015/12/2GIF_Plant-Drop.gif