Self-fertilising crops in the offing

Farmers may soon plant self-fertilising crops. A study undertaken by Cambridge University showed that plant nodules and lateral root development are related and overlap during development. This is against assertion that plant's lateral roots and nodules are shared. It is based on this realisation that scientists want to research on the possibility of developing self-fertilising crops. This is because their research also focused on establishing the interdependent communications that occur between plants and the nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria. The scientists did an analysis using microscopic and gene expression “to track cell development and how hormones played a part in the early stages of lateral root and nodule formation.”