Changing the Color of Crops Could Help Robots Differentiate Crops from Weeds

ISAAA April 24, 2024

Figure: Photo Source: John Martin - Fotografo/Alamy | NewScientist.

Boosting the blue pigments in plants through gene editing could make weeding easier. This is according to the article authored by Pedro Correia and other researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark published in Trends in Plant Science.

Climate change rapidly impacts crops, thus the need for various ways to improve the tolerance of plants to stressors, such as weeds. This led the researchers to explore on adding signature traits to crops to be easily recognized by remote sensing. The researchers suggest gene editing of crops to target the genes linked to the production of anthocyanin and carotenoid, as well as changing the leaf and seed morphology to enhance the automated recognition of weeds in agriculture.

Read more in Trends in Plant Science.