New York University researchers have pinpointed the molecular players responsible for plants “feeling full” once they’ve taken up enough nitrogen—a finding that could help scientists to develop plants that absorb more nitrogen from the soil and allow farmers to reduce environmentally and economically costly fertilizer application.

Researchers at Tulane University, Stanford University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered an antibody system never before documented in mammals. Vesper bats, a family encompassing more than 500 species, possess two distinct sets of antibody-producing genes, while every other known mammal has only one. Published in Science Advances, the findings reveal a previously unknown source of immune diversity that could help scientists investigate how bats coexist with viruses without becoming seriously ill.

Plantations of native fine-flavour cacao in countries like Peru have become rare due to the dominance of high-yielding cacao varieties for mass production. This threatens the valuable native cacao crop’s genetic diversity. An international research team, led by the University of Göttingen and Bioversity International, studied the use of selected genotypes of the native variety “Blanco de Piura”, known by local farmers for their high productivity, for grafting fully grown cacao trees. The researchers found that grafted trees yielded 59% more than non-grafted controls after three years. They also quantified the contribution of management practices, as well as plantation designs using either one or multiple clones of the native cacao variety. Results were published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

Artificial intelligence could help transform how farms manage nitrogen by connecting crop production, livestock feeding, manure recycling, and environmental monitoring within a single decision-making system, according to a new perspective published in Nitrogen Cycling.

Scientists have found a genetic switch that could shave years off avocado breeding by allowing researchers to identify one of a young tree’s most important traits long before it flowers.

Salvia miltiorrhiza, a medicinal plant widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, suffers severe yield and quality losses under salt stress—a growing concern as soil salinization expands worldwide. 

A new study by the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research, University of Oxford, reveals that industrial poultry farming has led to more than 100-fold increase in the movement of Campylobacter, allowing strains that once circulated in wild birds to mix extensively in commercial poultry populations. The study analysed nearly 2,800 bacterial genomes collected from chickens and wild birds in 30 countries and found that the huge global expansion of chicken farming has created ideal conditions for Campylobacter to spread, mix and acquire new traits that help it survive.