News tagged with plant productivity

How plants chill out

Plants elongate their stems when grown at high temperature to facilitate the cooling of their leaves, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in Current Biology. Understanding why plants alter ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Not only humans compensate: Dosage compensation of sex chromosomes in plants

Swiss researchers have found evidence that plants also "invented" the dosage compensation of sex chromosomes. They detected this phenomenon in the white campion.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

When the soil holds not enough phosphorus: Scientists describe new transporter in cells of plant roots

Plants cannot survive without phosphorus. It forms the backbone of many crucial molecules (such as DNA) and is a key player in energy transfer reactions. Low availability of phosphorus is a major environmental ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cellular secrets of plant fatty acid production understood; discovery could boost bioeconomy

(Phys.org) -- Research groups from Iowa State University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered the function of three plant proteins, a discovery that could help plant scientists boost ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Crop root study to boost Australian grain production

Researchers at The University of Western Australia say that "next frontier" of agricultural science is understanding the root system and function of crop plants to significantly increase Australian grain production, ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Breeder works to reduce aluminum toxicity in rice

(Phys.org) -- As rice farmers around the world begin to turn from wet paddies to dry fields in an attempt to conserve water and mitigate climate change, they are facing a new foe: aluminum.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers plan to double biofuel yield from a non-food oil seed crop

One of the most promising avenues for reducing our national dependence on imported oil, lowering greenhouse gases and boosting domestic fuel production is biofuel from non-food plant seed oils. Recently, a University of Massachusetts ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Modern hybrid corn makes better use of nitrogen, study shows

(Phys.org) -- Today's hybrid corn varieties more efficiently use nitrogen to create more grain, according to 72 years of public-sector research data reviewed by Purdue University researchers.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Startup offers game-changing energy solutions that reduce CO2 emissions

The University of Minnesota has launched a startup that will provide renewable energy more economically than existing alternatives while reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion such as from coal-burning ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Cyanobacterium demonstrates promise for biotechnology feedstock production

Harvard Medical School researchers have engineered a photosynthetic cyanobacterium to boost sugar production, as a first step towards potential commercial production of biofuels and other biotechnologically and industrially ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Ecologists explore new explanation for plant productivity

(Phys.org) -- Current ecological thought suggests the more diverse a plant community is, the more productive it is. But scientists don’t fully understand why this is so.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New alfalfa variety could be big boost to dairy industry

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dairy farmers could see a boost in milk production, thanks to a new alfalfa variety to be released by Cornell's world-class plant breeders.

Biology / Other

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Better understanding of triangular hormonal relationship between crop, fungus and parasite

Parasitic plants ruin crops and threaten the food production for some three hundred million people not only in Africa, but also elsewhere in the world. Developing crops are increasingly falling prey to these ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The future of plant science -- a technology perspective

Plant science is key to addressing the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century, according to Carnegie's David Ehrhardt and Wolf Frommer. In a Perspective published in The Plant Cell, the two researchers argue ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 02, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New study explores proteins in Yellowstone bacteria for biofuel inspiration

Studies of bacteria first found in Yellowstone's hot springs are furthering efforts at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center toward commercially viable ethanol production from crops such as switchgrass.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 14, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast