At Iowa State University, Amina Moro is advancing research that could reshape how farmers balance productivity with environmental sustainability.
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'Sweet spot' key to success
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Doctoral student Amina Moro's work focuses on how corn responds to nearby perennial groundcover, a system gaining attention for its ability to protect soil year-round.
An experimental unit consists of two strips of grass and three pots of single corn plants. The corn and grass root zones were physically isolated using separate containers on a 25-by-50 centimeter tray, with three corn pots and grass strips positioned at assigned distances -- zero, six and 25 centimeters -- along the tray edges to establish different aboveground competition patterns.
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