Wheat root compounds suppress soil microbes, helping retain nitrogen and cut emissions

On a quiet weekend morning in a greenhouse in Aarhus University Flakkebjerg, rows of wheat plants stand with their roots submerged in clear water.

There is no soil, no buffer, no automation to take over the work.

Every day, weekends and holidays included, postdoctoral researcher Purna Kumar Khatri comes by to check them.

He adjusts the pH drop by drop.

If he does not, the roots will suffer.

And the experiment will fail. ...