Here are some photos of the tents. The large tent covers the stress mitigation plots while the smaller one is for the drought plots. The tents, which have clear vinyl tops, allow sunlight to enter but no rain, thus stimulating harsh drought conditions.
A few days after these went in, we had some problems with wind, but the tents are now staked properly and seem to be doing fine.
Stress mitigation plots involve planting four rows each of corn seed all from the same genetic makeup but with different sets of traits side by side to track progress. We are starting with conventional crops and adding a trait every four rows to show the differences as we near harvest time. Plants are stressed by lack of water, insect infestation and so on. Conventional plants should show some stress, while the plants with more traits in the seed should clearly show the benefits that the traits bring to the plants’ roots and stalks. Here is a typical photo showing corn that was protected from the stress through a trait (left), and corn that lacked the trait and suffered from environmental stresses (right).
