For centuries, the vast physical diversity of maize, the most popular cereal grain crop globally, has fascinated biologists and plant breeders alike. Early breeders selected the maize variants with good, preferrable traits ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2021
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12
A large team of researchers, mostly from China, with a few others from the U.S. and Canada, has found that if many of the farmers in China switched from growing maize to growing soy, the country as a whole could boost yields ...
An abnormal build up of carbohydrates—sugars and starches—in the kernels and leaves of a mutant line of corn can be traced to one misregulated gene, and that discovery offers clues about how the plant deals with stress.
Plants & Animals
May 3, 2021
1
43
The adage goes, "Two is better than one." Well, that might be true for endeavors involving human heads, but when it comes to ears, hybrid maize tends to have a superior advantage over the parental stocks in most cases. This ...
Biotechnology
Apr 6, 2021
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13
Although stratospheric ozone protects us by filtering out the sun's ultraviolet radiation, tropospheric ozone is a harmful pollutant. A new study has shown that ozone in the lower layers of the atmosphere decreases crop yields ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 5, 2021
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8
The traditional milpa intercrop in which maize is grown together with beans, squash or other vegetable crops can provide food and nutrients for marginalized, resource-poor communities in the Americas, according to a study ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 16, 2021
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4
When humans first domesticated maize some 9,000 years ago, those early breeding efforts led to an increase in harmful mutations to the crop's genome compared to their wild relatives, which more recent modern breeding has ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 21, 2021
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50
Maize has a significantly higher productivity rate compared with many other crops. The particular leaf anatomy and special form of photosynthesis (referred to as C4) developed during its evolution allow maize to grow considerably ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 8, 2021
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260
Large perennial grasses like miscanthus are a primary target for use as bioenergy crops because of their sustainability advantages, but they take several years to establish and aren't ideal for crop rotation. Maize and other ...
Ecology
Jan 7, 2021
2
242
Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is a devastating disease that afflicts soybean crops, causing annual losses in U.S. soybean yields in excess of $274 million dollars. New Michigan State University research shows that the trick ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2020
0
11
