By Blake Jackson
Two Cornell doctoral students have developed an innovative solution that signals nitrogen deficiencies in plants by turning engineered tomato plants bright red. Their invention, RedAlert Living Sensors, has been named a finalist in the national Collegiate Inventors Competition, run by the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
The project, created by Jacob Belding and Ava Forystek, competes in the graduate student category alongside four other finalists. Developed through the National Science Foundation’s Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS), the genetically modified sentinel plants could help gardeners, farmers, and hydroponic growers determine when their crops need nitrogen.
By turning red when nitrogen levels are low, the plants indicate exactly where and when fertilizer should be applied, potentially reducing the overuse of nitrogen that contributes to harmful runoff and algae blooms.
The students will present their invention on October 16 in Washington, D.C. in a “Shark Tank” style pitch to a panel of judges, including National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials. Winners will receive cash prizes and a fast-tracked patent process.
Currently, nitrogen deficiencies are often detected only when plants show yellowing or wilting signs that the plant is already stressed. “We like to use the analogy of a dog that whines when it’s hungry,” said Forystek. “It would be kind of ridiculous to wait until you feel its ribs to feed it.”
The RedAlert Sensors exploit a natural plant pathway that detects nitrogen near the roots and communicates it to the rest of the plant. Genetically modified tomatoes display red pigments when nitrogen is low, with varying shades reflecting different nutrient levels.
“We’re taking a signal from the roots where the plant first notices there’s not enough nitrogen in the soil and it translates that into visible pigment, so we can see on the plant that it is hungry for nitrogen, but it’s not already starving,” explained Belding.
Advisers include professors Neil Mattson, Abraham Stroock, and Margaret Frank, who initially conceived the nitrogen-sensing plant idea. In the future, sentinel seeds could be planted in fields, home gardens, or hydroponic systems, with smartphone apps or camera-equipped tractors helping monitor nitrogen levels.
“It’s kind of a democratization of these smart agriculture tools that have seen a lot of popularity in the past decade, but are mostly restricted to pretty sophisticated, expensive systems, with highly technically trained operators,” Belding said. “This could be a smart ag device that is affordable and can be easily used by even a home gardener.”
Photo Credit: istock-azmanjaka
Categories: New York, Crops, Fruits and Vegetables, Education