By Brittany Prempin
In efforts to better understand how soybean plants capture and use light, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how leaf size and shape affect light distribution within the crop canopy. Using controlled genetic approaches, the team altered soybean leaf shape and found that narrower leaves can improve how efficiently plants use available light.
The study, published in the journal Plant Physiology, was led by RIPE Director and Charles Adlai Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology Lisa Ainsworth.
How narrower leaves boost efficiency
"By simply changing the shape of the leaf from broad to narrow through a single gene, we reduced the total leaf area in our soybean plants by 13% without any loss in yield," said Bishal Tamang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Ainsworth group and the lead author of the publication. "This means the plants are doing more with less—they're essentially becoming more efficient at converting sunlight into seed."
Soybeans are one of the most important crops in the world and are a major source of protein, oil, and animal feed. Soybean plants grow dense canopies with several layers of leaves. As the plants grow, the upper layers with sun-exposed leaves block sunlight that could reach the lower layers of shaded leaves.
There is natural variation in soybean leaf area and size with some being long and skinny and others being large and round. But, modern soybean varieties tend to spend excess energy developing large leaves that create dense canopies when they could be funneling that energy into growing soybeans instead.
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