Showing results for: crop breeding News
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Preparing Plants for our Future Climate
Planning is something we all do. As individuals, we may be planning for next weekend or our future retirement. Farmers and plant breeders are also planning for a future. The crops we currently depend on will need grow under different conditions – due to climate change. Some weather conditions are easy to control. Scientists can set the temperature in a greenhouse and control how much ...
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Food security depends on sustainable nutrient management of soils
Food security is being threatened by loss of soil nutrients that are essential for the high yield of crops. A recent study outlines strategies to ensure the sustainable production of food through a holistic approach to soil nutrient management. In response to the rising demand for food from an increasing world population, high-yielding crops are being grown with the help of artificial ...
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Maize breeders benefit from using drones
Using drone technology could cut labour and costs spent in collecting data for maize breeding by at least ten per cent, preliminary findings of a project shows. With increased demand for better seeds to adapt to changing climate, breeders have turned to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones for precise gathering of data from the field to enable more efficient maize breeding in ...
By SciDev.Net
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Rest in peace plant breeding innovation in the EU after the ECJ Ruling?
MEP Christopher Fjellner is organising an event entitled "Rest in Peace Plant Breeding Innovation in the EU after the ECJ Ruling?" on Wednesday, 6th of February 2019, from 16h30 to 18h30 at the European Parliament in Brussels. The European Court of Justice Ruling from 25 July includes plants resulting from new mutagenesis methods under GMO regulation. As a result, Europe risks to lack behind ...
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New button mushroom varieties need better protection
A working group has recently been formed to work on a better protection of button mushroom varieties. It’s activities are firstly directed to generate consensus among the spawn/breeding companies to consider using fertile single spore cultures to improve strains as the generation of EDV’s. For this reason the working group has generated a position paper. The group consists of ...
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Getting to the root of plants
A diverse team of researchers from Europe, Asia and the USA have unearthed new information on how roots grow and develop. Specifically, how roots are able to move out sideways out of the central root and into the soil. Their discovery has opened the way to further research that may eventually lead to the creation of new crops with improved root structure, improving their chances of survival in ...
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Join us at Macfrut on the stand JN.27 Hall Sud
Macfrut is a vertical exhibition that represents the entire supply chain, with 11 sectors involved: Seeds, Plant Breeding & Nursery, Crop Technologies, Production, Trading & Retail, Processing Machinery, Packaging Materials, Fresh Cut, Dried Fruit, Logistics and Services. The B2B meetings, specialised conferences, dynamic areas and many other events offer visitors not only business ...
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Turfgrass that wears down and springs back up
Kentucky bluegrass, a turfgrass frequently grown on sports fields, is more tolerant to wear during the spring compared to other seasons, and shows better recovery during spring, according to research from Rutgers University. The study also identified which varieties of bluegrass showed the most wear tolerance. Researchers Bradley Park, T.J. Lawson, Hiranthi Samaranayake, and James A. Murphy, ...
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Climate change to shift global spread and quality of agricultural land
New areas of land suitable for agriculture will open up under climate change’s effects, new research predicts, particularly in far northern regions of the world. However, the overall quality of land for farming will decline and many regions, including Europe, could lose large areas of suitable land. Demand for agricultural products is expected to rise by 70–110% by 2050. This is ...
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Greatest scientific challenge: understanding bioresources
The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) has recently identified key Grand Challenges that our scientific Society faces. As these challenges were developing, I often reflected on the challenges I faced in my job as a state corn extension agronomist and how those challenges related to what other CSSA members were experiencing around the world. My fundamental challenge is understanding ...
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Breeders and soil scientists join training fellowship on sustainable rice production systems in the midst of climate change
IRRI Training Center, in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), conducted a Regional group fellowship on phenotyping and integrated plant mutation breeding with best fit soil and water management practices for climate change adaptation from 01 to 25 July at IRRI Headquarters. The knowledge gained from the fellowship can help rice workers in creating sustainable rice ...
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Predicting disease and improving crops through genetics
Can scientists accurately predict when an individual will develop a disease? What if we could predict how to increase drought resistance in plants? Or offer patients personalized medicine? Researchers are looking for answers to these questions and more using a plant or animal’s obvious traits, called phenotype prediction, a field that will be discussed in a free workshop presented by the ...
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Using genetic mapping to save wheat production
Stem rust disease has the potential to devastate wheat production worldwide. In the 1950s, large epidemics spread across North America and through other parts of the world. Developing a stem rust resistant gene stopped the spread of the disease. In 1999, a new race of stem rust was discovered in Uganda and identified as Ug99. Previously developed stem rust resistant genes are no longer effective ...
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Scientists find four-leaf clover gene
Ending a period of “bad luck” for clover researchers, scientists report finding the gene that turns ordinary three-leaf clovers into the coveted four-leaf types. Masked by the three-leaf gene and strongly influenced by environmental condition, molecular markers now make it possible to detect the presence of the gene for four-leaves and for breeders to work with it. The results of the ...
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International crop breeding programme needed for African farming
Climate change poses a large threat to African agriculture, but there is little research on how to respond. A recent study indicates that traditional adaptation methods are not enough and international collaboration is needed in 'planned adaptation' by collecting and conserving certain crops for the future. A large proportion of the African population - mainly the poor - depend on agriculture ...
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Crop Science Society of America announces the 2010 class of fellows
The CropScience Society of America(CSSA) will continue a time-honored tradition this year with the presentation of the following individuals as 2010 CSSA Fellows at a special Awards Ceremony during their Annual Meeting on Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Long Beach, CA, www.acsmeetings.org. Members of the Society nominate worthy colleagues based on their professional achievements and meritorious service. Only ...
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Can GM crops feed the hungry?
Golden Rice burst into the public imagination a decade ago, in the form of a cover article in Time magazine that claimed the genetically modified (GM) rice could 'save a million kids a year'. The rice gets its golden hue from an excess of beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A that could help half a million children who go blind each year from an often-fatal vitamin A deficiency. But ten ...
By SciDev.Net
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Lima beans domesticated twice
Lima beans were domesticated at least twice, according to a new genetic diversity study by Colombian scientists. Big seeded varieties known as “Big Lima” were domesticated in the Andean Mountains, while small seeded “Sieva” and “Potato” varieties originated in central-western Mexico. The researchers also discovered a “founder effect,” which is a ...
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Cotton’s global genetic resources
A multinational collaborative effort among cotton scientists produced a report on the status of the global cotton genetic resources. According to the report, cotton production relies primarily on two species, with 48 other species catalogued in the various seed collections that have largely been poorly characterized and under-utilized in crop improvement efforts. Based on the findings of this ...
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Genetics not enough to increase wheat production
The deep gene pool that has allowed wheat to achieve ever increasing gains in yield may be draining. Crop scientists estimate that 50% of the gain in wheat production over the past century has been due to breeding. According to a new study, however, that improvement has been slowing since the late 1980s, with little chance that future increases in yield can be met by breeding efforts alone. The ...
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