#chronoagronomy

Anyone working in #agriculture knows how important #timing is, but did you know that plants have internal #rhythmic biological mechanisms that can influence the effectiveness of #agrochemical applications depending on the time of day?

Understanding these mechanisms and how to apply this knowledge in the field is still a challenge. Together with Carlos Hotta and Antony Dodd, we decided to present some ideas in this new article published in The New Phytologist Foundation—my first as first author.

I’m very excited to share these ideas because they’re part of the topic of my doctoral thesis, which focuses on #plant sensitivity to #herbicides at different times of the day.

#Chronobiology is a relatively recent science, but its discoveries have already earned a Nobel Prize in 2017. Personally, I believe that studies in chronobiology applied to agriculture could lead to the emergence of a new scientific field: #chronoagronomy.

Chronoagronomy could focus on studying the effects of time in agriculture—understanding all temporal factors and how they affect production systems, from soil preparation and crop rotations to the final product price in the market—with the goal of optimizing outcomes through process synchronization and the application of #chronoculture or circadian agriculture.

#Agronomy has always relied on knowledge of temporal factors, but has never studied them systematically in all their dimensions. Understanding the role of #time might be the breakthrough we need to produce more, produce better, and avoid environmental disaster.

Check out the article here: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/nph.70346