Plant a Fertilizer?
Undergrad Studies Peanut Plants
Jordan Francisco, a junior in Environmental & Plant Biology, did not spend his summer like most college students. He used a Provost Undergraduate Research Fund grant to design and conduct a study of peanut plants' potential as a natural fertilizer.
"Peanuts are legumes, which naturally fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into usable forms that other plants could utilize. A source of nitrogen is available for plants once the peanut plant decomposes in the ground," Francisco says.
"This natural form of nitrogen fertilizer would help farmers cut down on fertilizer costs and reduce agriculture runoff, which is a major environmental problem."
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