(1100-14) Enhancing crop defense strategies and productivity through the utilization of biogenic plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in agriculture: a case study.
Undergraduate Research Student Missouri Western State University Saint Joseph, Missouri
Body of Abstract: New sustainable solutions are crucial for modern agriculture, facing various challenges such as environmental pressures by a changing climate, the need for resilient crops, and increased demand for productivity. The sustainable exploitation of natural resources and metabolites has the potential to both intensify productivity and safeguard food security. Plants allocate a significant amount of their fixed carbon to producing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs emitted from leaves have great potential for agriculture, serving as a natural and eco-friendly solution to protect plants from stress and improve crop yields. While VOCs have solely been utilized for deterring herbivores, it is important to recognize that their potential applications extend far beyond this limited use. VOCs can protect against a range of stressors, including pathogens and environmental stresses, potential yet untapped for agricultural applications. Our current study focused on the understanding whether variations in the synthesis and emission of the most abundant plant VOC, isoprene, in response to temperature and light intensity affect plant development, in particular, the timing of the onset of senescence and benefit plant health under elevated temperatures in a feedstock-rotation crop, velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens), naturally emitting isoprene. Potted plants were grown in a greenhouse at very high (39°C;HT1), high (35°C;HT2), intermediate (30°C;IT) and low (25°C;LT) daytime temperatures, exposed to either 1100 (high-light;HL) or 400 (low-light;LL) µmolm-2s-1 irradiances of photosynthetically active radiation. We found, that plants with high isoprene emissions (under high temperatures and high light) showed delayed senescence, likely due to isoprene's antioxidant action neutralizing reactive oxygen species and the priming effect of higher H2O2 levels, upregulating the plant's antioxidant network and isoprene emission. Our work demonstrates, that the capacity to emit isoprene provides yet untapped developmental, health and fitness benefits to emitter crop species, and opens the door for applications in developing climate-smart crops for the future.