Synergising plant symbionts and silicon to mitigate heat stress in legumes. Australia faces accelerated temperature rises which adversely affect many plants. Legumes often become unproductive because

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Synergising plant symbionts and silicon to mitigate heat stress in legumes. Australia faces accelerated temperature rises which adversely affect many plants. Legumes often become unproductive because their microbial symbionts, which turn nitrogen from air into plant-usable forms, do not tolerate high temperatures. This project aims to mitigate such heat stress by stimulating plant microbial symbionts with silicon supplementation. Recent research shows synergistic silicon-symbiont benefits, but the effects on soil microbial communities and soil nutrients are untested. The project offers a new mechanistic understanding of these processes, providing a sustainable adaptation to climate change via increased resilience of legumes to heat stress. This could confer significant benefits to soil health and crop productivity.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4101 - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation. Lead: Prof Scott Johnson