Category

Agriculture

Dec 23
1

NET locus regulates both flavor quality and nutrient metabolite accumulation in rice

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Science

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crops worldwide, providing much of the calorific needs for half of the global population. Economic development and rising living standards have led to the demand for rice gradually shifting from satisfying the need to “be full” to satisfying the need to “eat well,” and combining flavor with nutrition is essential for the latter. Much research has focused on improving the eating and cooking quality (ECQ) of rice to meet the demand for “tasty.” However, effort to improve comprehensive nutrition in rice remains fragmented.

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Dec 16
2

​​Inbred to Well-Fed: Maize Breeding Efforts to Improve Food Security and Safety in Africa​​​​

By | Agriculture, News, Plant Health

Over 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on maize for nearly 30% of their caloric intake, and the popularity of maize is expected to continue its upward trend. As the demand for maize increases, so does the need for sustainable and safe production, yet numerous biotic and abiotic stressors threaten this staple crop.

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Dec 01
1

Researchers use Cas9 gene scissors to establish new resistances of winter barley to viruses

By | Agriculture, News

Genome editing comes with great hopes for the improvement of crops in regards to the challenges posed by climate change, but also for breeding of disease resistance and an improved sustainability of agriculture. A research team has now succeeded in modifying a gene in barley using the Cas9 gene scissors, making new resistances to important viruses available for winter barley.

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Nov 29
2

Groundcherry research bears new fruits

By | Agriculture, Fruits and Vegetables, News, Plant Science

Over 34 million people in the U.S. don’t have enough food. More diverse and adaptable crops are needed to address challenges in food production made worse by climate change. Small, sweet berries called groundcherries may not feed the country, but along with other related “orphan crops,” they could strengthen food supplies. Unfortunately, these distant relatives of tomatoes aren’t ready for large-scale production—at least not yet.

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Nov 23
5

The principles of Biofertiliation

By | Agriculture, Blog

The biofertilizer is a liquid organic fertilizer that can be produced within any rural property, with materials that are easy to find on the property itself, like animal manure and plant remains. Its preparation is very easy and relatively fast, being ideal to complement the fertilization with compost.

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Nov 21
1

Discovery of family of hormones may be key to increased crop yields

By | Agriculture, News

Crops often face harsh growing environments. Instead of using energy for growth, factors such as disease, extreme temperatures, and salty soils force plants to use it to respond to the resulting stress. This is known as the “growth-stress response trade-off”. Now, a group of researchers has discovered a previously unknown pathway that regulates whether a plant uses its resources for growth or stress tolerance. This discovery could enable the stress response to be controlled under agricultural conditions, increasing crop yields.

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