Science to help rice growers affected by Japan's tsunami

Under a year since a huge tsunami inundated paddy fields in Japan with salty sludge, scientists are near to developing locally-adapted, salt-tolerant rice. Following a Japan-UK research collaboration, a new method for marker ...

Plants can prepare for insect attack sequence

Plants are under attack by a variety of insect species. They have defense mechanisms to deal with this, including chemicals or sturdier leaves. But it's now been found that when wild black mustard plants defend themselves ...

Research identifies wild ancestor genes for crop improvement

Using the genetic variation found in wild and exotic rice species, researchers are providing breeders with genomics tools and knowledge to develop higher yielding, stress-tolerant varieties, a Cornell researcher reported ...

Sexual reproduction only second choice for powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is one of the most dreaded plant diseases: The parasitic fungus afflicts crops such as wheat and barley and is responsible for large harvest shortfalls every year. Beat Keller and Thomas Wicker, both plant ...

The independence of pollen grains: A matter of energy

The pollen grains of maize, rice and all other cereals, need to store starch as energy deposit for later use during fertilization. A research team, led by Dr. Ivan Acosta from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research ...

France goes soggy on using CRISPR technique for veggies

France's highest administrative court decided Friday that plants produced using new gene editing techniques such as CRISPR undergo strict testing as genetically modified organisms in a ruling that could see some varieties ...

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