NASA image: Fires in Mozambique and Madagascar Sept. 12, 2013

The location, widespread nature, and number of fires in this satellite image suggest that these fires were deliberately set to manage land. Farmers often use fire to return nutrients to the soil and to clear the ground of ...

Roots breakthrough for drought-resistant rice

Japanese biotechnologists on Sunday said they had developed a rice plant with deeper roots that can sustain high yields in droughts that wipe out conventional rice crops.

500 scientists create top 10 list of plant-damaging fungi

Almost 500 international experts have worked together to develop a ranking system of the ten most important phytopathogenic fungi on a scientific and economic level. The rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) sits at the ...

Gene breakthrough could boost rice yields by 20 percent

Scientists on Wednesday said they had developed a strain of rice that grows well in soils lacking the nutrient phosphorus, a feat that could boost crop yields for some farmers by as much as a fifth.

Seeking a splice for better rice

Every organism produces a staggering variety of molecules, each with its own particular biological function. Complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors determines the production levels for each compound. ...

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