Soil microbes could hold key to weed control

 “Plant scientists have been studying plant-soil feedback for decades,” said Tony Yannarell, University of Illinois microbial ecologist. “Some microbes are famous for their ability to change the soil, such as the microbes that are associated with legumes —we knew about those bacteria. But now we have the ability to use high-power DNA fingerprinting tools to look at all of the microbes in the soil, beyond just the ones we’ve known about. We were able to look at an entire microbial community and identify those microbes that both preferred ragweed and affected its growth.”

Read rest of article  HERE