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Tag: "crops" at biology news

Some good news for the world's poor

...of the impact of improved rice varieties and other crops over the past 40 years that showed they have significantly reduced prices for poor consumers, saved thousands of hectares of forests from being turned into farmland, and reduced the number of malnourished children. The research, led by respected Ame...

Anyway you slice it, tomatoes cut through drought with new gene

...This technology could ultimately be applied to all crops because it involves the over-expression of a gene found in all plants," said Dr.Roberto Gaxiola, a plant biologist at the University of Connecticut and the lead author of the study. "It has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and improve food ...

Plants, too, have ways to manage freeloaders

...n. This could explain why soybean and other legume crops in fields inoculated with the supposedly most efficient strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria do not always take up that strain - an expensive problem for farmers. "The most effective strain is not always best at competing for nodules," Simms said. "Is...

New maps reveal true extent of human footprint on Earth

... location, range and yields of over 150 individual crops reared around the planet. The exercise is already beginning to cast light on some emerging trends. Countries such as Argentina and Brazil, for instance, have increasingly cleared forests to grow soybean, a legume that has never been a traditional cr...

Study finds that nutritionally enhanced rice reduces iron deficiency

...rdisciplinary research program focused on breeding crops for better nutrition and led by IFPRI and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), will continue to work with these research findings and partners to increase the level of nutrient density in rice to be even more effective. "We vi...

Climate change: The rice genome to the rescue

...h has confirmed that global warming will make rice crops less productive with increasing temperatures decreasing yields. "Clearly, climate change is going to have a major impact on our ability to grow rice," Robert S. Zeigler, IRRI director general, said. "We can't afford to sit back and be complacent abo...

Sustainable farm practices improve Third World food production

...jects increased their yields, and harvests of some crops like maize, potatoes and beans increased 100 percent. Sustainable agriculture practices, such as conservation tillage and integrated pest control, also reduced pesticide use and increased carbon sequestration. In addition, sustainable farming practi...

Amazonian terra preta can transform poor soil into fertile

...ls, triple crop yields and support a wide array of crops in regions with agriculturally poor soils, but also can lead to technologies to sequester carbon in soil and prevent critical changes in world climate," said Johannes Lehmann, assistant professor of biogeochemistry in the Department of Crop and Soil ...

GPSDB, the free Gene and Protein Synonyms DataBase

...ls, triple crop yields and support a wide array of crops in regions with agriculturally poor soils, but also can lead to technologies to sequester carbon in soil and prevent critical changes in world climate," said Johannes Lehmann, assistant professor of biogeochemistry in the Department of Crop and Soil ...

Human albumin from tobacco plants

... through pollen transmission given that, with most crops under cultivation, the genome of the plastids is inherited maternally. More biomass in tobacco plants The tobacco plant is very easy to handle genetically and also it is great generator of biomass. The authoress of the thesis says that up to 100...

Spring migration of pink-footed geese under threat

...rth, unless they are compensated for the damage to crops and grassland. Together with colleagues in Denmar... geese stop to feed on sheep pastures and emerging crops at Vesterålen in northern Norway so that they arrive in Svalbard in good enough condition to breed s...

Growing crops to cope with climate change

...ch leader at the John Innes Centre, said, "Growing crops will become more difficult as the global climate changes. The varieties of crops grown in the UK are suited to the soil, seasons and traditional cool, wet summers. Later flowering i...

Formation of cellulose fibers tracked for the first time

...e one step closer to designing energy-rich biofuel crops and improved fiber crops." Cellulose fibers make up a significant portion of the dry weight of most plants. Because the fibers can be broken down into the sugar glucose, which can then be converted into ethanol and other biofuels, there are huge inc...

Study: Competition for sex is a 'jungle out there'

...ernative resources for pollinators of domesticated crops world wide," said collaborator Tia-Lynn Ashman, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh. "The concern is that we are losing habitat really rapidly globally, especially in tropical areas, and losing pollinators there as well," Knight said. "We show t...

Sun protection for plants

...hesis rates, and therefore productivity, in staple crops that feed millions in parts of the world where env...ply this research to improving the productivity of crops we need to understand how these processes relate to plant growth and development in field conditions...

UF researchers develop ways to keep the bloom on the rose

...hey go into a vase. Previously the leaves of these crops were susceptible to yellowing, said Nell. He anticipates that floral sales will increase if flowers perform better by withstanding the test of time. "It is already proven that flowers are the most popular gift to receive, that they consistently in...

Strawberries by design

...interested in improving strawberry and other fruit crops through genomics." He added: "We are now in a position to generate a collection of mutants that will serve as an invaluable tool not only for discovering new genes in the Rosaceae family but also for establishing the functions of these genes through ...

Gene thwarts some pathogens, gives access to others, could save crops

... 25 percent to 30 percent of tomato and strawberry crops in some seasons. It also infects many other fruits, vegetables, bulbs and a variety of flowers, including petunias, geraniums and chrysanthemums. Cool, humid weather fosters the fungus, which is spread by spores. The mold can appear in fields on grow...

Biofuels can replace about 30 percent of fuel needs with significant research and policy effort

... as poplar and willow and several perennial energy crops such as switchgrass. In addition to including mor...rgy crops. But doubling the productivity of energy crops will mean identifying constraints and correcting them with genomic tools. To make biofuels a truly...

New method enables gene disruption in destructive fungal pathogen

...siderable leaf loss in such economically important crops as canola, cabbage, and broccoli. Genomic methods that allow the disruption of several thousand genes are needed because they allow high-throughput identification of genes and gene function. Such procedures are widely applicable and would be extrem...

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