Paper looks at corn’s response to perennial cover

A doctoral student in crop production and physiology, Amina Moro’s work focuses on how corn responds to nearby perennial groundcover, a system gaining attention for its ability to protect soil year-round. Her paper, “Spatial Proximity to Perennial Groundcover Triggers Shade Avoidance Responses in Corn,” was recently published in the Journal of Agronomy.

Her research challenges a common assumption: Competition between plants begins only when they compete for water or nutrients. Instead, she found competition may start much earlier through light signals plants use to detect nearby neighbors.

At the center of Moro’s study is a concept called shade avoidance response. In simple terms, plants can “sense” when other plants are nearby even before they are physically shaded.

PHOTO: Looking down a corn row in a no-till planted field. (Adobe Stock │ #114167847- Margaret Burlingham)