Could biological clocks in plants set the time for crop spraying?

Antony Dodd, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Biological Sciences and lead author of the article, said: "This proof-of-concept research suggests that in the future, we may be able to refine the use of certain chemicals used in agriculture by taking advantage of the biological clock in plants. Such approaches, combining biotechnology and precision agriculture, can bring economic and environmental benefits."

Like human jet lag, plants have body clocks that are crucial to their lives in a world that is day and night. Biological plant clocks make a crucial contribution to their growth and to the response of crops to fluctuations in their environment.

In a new article published today[Friday, August 16] in Nature Communications, researchers found that the death of plant tissue and the slower growth resulting from glyphosate herbicide depend on when the herbicide is applied and the body clock.

Crucially, the biological clock also resulted in a daily change in the minimum amount of herbicide required to affect the plant, so less herbicide was needed at certain times of the day. This reduces the amount of herbicides used, saving farmers time and money and reducing environmental impacts.

In medicine, "chronotherapy" takes into account the biological clock to decide the best time to give a drug or treatment. This new research suggests that a similar approach could be adopted for future farming practices, with crop treatments applied at the most appropriate times for certain weed or crop species. By using some form of agricultural chronotherapy could have a future role in the sustainable intensification of agriculture needed to feed the growing population.