Dhingra, A.

Amit Dhingra

Quantifying Synergies Among Soil-Based Carbon-Drawdown Approaches

Very large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) will need to be removed from the atmosphere over the course of the next century or two to stabilize Earth’s climate at a safe temperature. A handful of C-drawdown approaches are available to perform this task, three of which involve soils: increasing stocks of soil organic matter (SOM), […]

Understanding the molecular basis of plant response to organic versus conventional fertilizer using a metatranscriptomic approach

This project addresses breeding, varietal selection, management practices, processing, or marketing practices to increase food quality, nutrition, safety or access. In a previous study, we demonstrated that tomato fruit grown under an organic fertilizer regime had higher phytonutrient content. Thereafter, using a comprehensive transcriptome analysis we tested the following hypotheses : 1. Growth under organic […]

Understanding the molecular basis of phytonutrient composition differences in organic tomatoes via quantitative transcriptome analysis

In an ongoing BIOAg supported study, it has been shown that tomatoes grown with organic nitrogen sources had higher phytonutrient contents than those fertilized with readily available nitrogen. It is hypothesized that improved nitrogen cycling may be the underlying cause of these observed differences. In addition, defense compounds are enhanced in tomatoes grown with organic […]

Phytonutrients and Genomics of Organic Tomatoes: Soil Fertility and/or Plant Defense

In previous studies, we showed that apples, strawberries, and tomatoes grown with organic nitrogen fertilizer sources had higher phytochemical contents than those fertilized with readily available sources of nitrogen. It is also possible that increased pest herbivory in the field stimulates plant defenses that elevate these phytochemicals in organic crops. To test the relative contributions […]