“It's possible that when kin are grown together, they may balance their nutrient uptake and not be greedy,” Bais speculates.
The research also may have implications for the home gardener.
“Often we'll put plants in the ground next to each other and when they don't do well, we blame the local garden center where we bought them or we attribute their failure to a pathogen,” Bais says. “But maybe there's more to it than that.”
Bais's research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and by the NSF-Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada provided research funding to Dudley.
—By Tracey Bryant
kendra of OR @ Oct 21, 2009 22:12:46 PM