Oral Session

ASA Section: Agronomic Production Systems From the Solar Corridor Crop System Community, the Solar Corridor Concept recognizes that the modern best management practices deployed in corn production, limit the amount of direct sunlight that reaches the mature chloroplasts in the lower leaves. In consideration of the fact that the bulk of yield is sourced in photosynthate based carbon compounds, considerations leading to the concept posed the following basic question, "What could we produce if we could get direct sunlight to all of the still potentially productive leaves vs being limited to those leaves in the upper portion of the crop canopy"? A simple paradigm shift has been achieved to serve as the 'treatment' protocol to test the hypothesis vs the current best management practices 'control'. The data from the first investigator's work indicate that the solar corridor concept with site/variety specific supporting practices does increase yields beyond what conventional wisdom might anticipate; while offering many soil quality, holistic & sustainable opportunities. This Symposia is intended to give a rigorous peer review of the current data and address the basic question from an interdisciplinary multi-crop perspective.

Cosponsor(s):

Solar Corridor Crop System