Mowing your lawn strengthens wheat crops, say researchers
The smell of freshly cut grass may seem like a simple summer pleasantry, but for plants, it’s a warning that boosts their resistance to disease
I’ve been hit
The mown-lawn smell that most people find pleasant is actually the grass releasing compounds that communicate to other plants in the area that it is under attack. It is a warning to other plants that it has suffered tissue damage due to fungi, insects or another stressor – such as a lawn mower.
The new research shows that the compounds, called green leaf volatiles (GLVs), increases the resistance of those nearby plants. “You can consider it as a sort of biological vaccination of a plant,” explained. Just as with a vaccination, the chemical substance stimulates the defence mechanism of plants.
The researchers applied the substances to wheat and rice. “We noticed that the grains had a greater resistance to a number of diseases and fungi after we had exposed them to GLVs,” said Ameye.
The results open up many new opportunities such as increasing resistance in a wheat field simply by adding a strip of grass. “We could take a new step towards a more innovative and sustainable way to protect crops and towards a greener agriculture in general,” said Ameye.
