rice plant News
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Engineering rice that needs less fertiliser
Genetic modification (GM) of crops is one of the more recent technological advances in agriculture designed to meet increasing demand for food. New research reveals that rice can be modified to use nitrogen more efficiently, thus reducing the need for nitrogen fertilisers while increasing yields. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that food production ...
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Severe damage to agriculture and fisheries after Typhoon Haiyan
FAO is mobilizing support to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, which tore through the country causing severe damage to the fisheries and agriculture sectors in addition to massive loss of life. “I want to express the solidarity of FAO and myself personally with the people and the Government of the Philippines,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said ...
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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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Genetic makeup of thousands of rice varieties placed in global seed data pool
Genome sequences of more than 3,000 rice varieties have been placed with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) by the world's leading rice research institute in a move boosting plans to set up a global data exchange system for crop genetic resources. The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Treaty (ITPGRFA) made ...
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Night warming threatens rice output in Asia
Hotter nights arising from climate change will put a brake on the rise in rice production in Asia over the coming decades, with the effect worsening as the century progresses, scientists said yesterday (9 August). The first study to use 'real-world' data from farmer-managed rice farms has shown that, while hotter days may boost productivity, hotter nights more than compensate by reducing it. ...
By SciDev.Net
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California drought takes bite out of rice harvest
California's deepening drought is shrinking its rice harvest, and that's bad news for farmers, migratory birds and sushi lovers. The $5 billion industry exports rice to more than 100 countries and specializes in premium grains used in risotto, paella and sushi. Nearly all U.S. sushi restaurants use medium-grain rice grown in the Sacramento Valley. The rice harvest is just the latest victim of ...
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150th Harvest from World`s Longest-Running Continuous Rice Experiment
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is marking the 150th harvest of its Long-Term Continuous Cropping Experiment (LTCCE), the world's longest-running rice research project. This living field laboratory offers humanity a firsthand glimpse into the wonders of how rice production can be sustained in a changing climate without adversely affecting the soil and the productivity of a rice ...
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Philippine precision farming gets a mobile upgrade
Rice farmers in the Philippines will be able to dial a specialised service on their mobile phones to obtain tailored advice on fertiliser use when they plant their crops in September. Scientists at the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), officials of the Philippine Department of Agriculture, and local private telecommunications firm Globe, have joined together to ...
By SciDev.Net
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Biohappiness key to future, says Swaminathan
The father of the Green Revolution in Asia and World Food Prize winner, M.S. Swaminathan, has launched a book on 'biohappiness'. In Search of Biohappiness maintains that true, long-term wellbeing can only be achieved by harnessing biodiversity to work for people in sustainable and equitable ways. "Biohappiness arises from the conversion of bioresources into jobs and income in an environmentally ...
By SciDev.Net
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Rice paddies raise methane threat
Directly seeding rice into fields rather than transplanting it into flooded paddies would dramatically reduce methane emissions and slow down climate change, according to scientists studying the staple crop. A number of experiments in Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Japan, show that a change in the way rice is grown would have considerable other benefits in saving water and improving ...
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Weather and political tensions impact food markets but cereal stocks remain adequate
Weather conditions in various countries and political tensions in the Black Sea region have made food markets more volatile, FAO reports in the new Food Outlook. In its first major forecast for 2014, FAO puts cereal production at 2 458 million tonnes (including milled rice), down some 2.4 percent from the 2013 record, though global output is still expected to be the second largest ever. The ...
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IRRI calls for stricter controls on use of pesticides
Governments across Asia need to improve their regulation of way that pesticides are marketed, and should ban certain pesticides from use in rice production completely, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is based in Manila, the Philippines. IRRI released an action plan listing potential strategies for scaling back pesticide use and adopting ecological growing ...
By SciDev.Net
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Rice serves up double measure of biofuel and fodder
Japanese scientists have found a potential answer to the biofuel dilemma that if you grow crops for energy, you have to sacrifice crops for food. They report that they can now ferment rice to deliver ethanol, while making silage for cattle feed –and that it can all be done on the farm without need for any expensive off-site processes. Mitsuo Horita, of the National Institute for ...
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FAO Director-General meets typhoon-stricken farmers in the Philippines
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today witnessed the positive results of FAO's Typhoon Haiyan response programme and committed FAO to supporting the recovery of fishing and farming livelihoods in the longer term. Graziano da Silva travelled together with Secretary Proceso Alcala of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Permanent Representative to FAO, ...
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Rice Farmers in China use Less Fertilizer, Increase Yield
“Rice farmers can decrease their nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide use by around 20%, and increase their yield by 10% by using the ‘three controls technology’ (3CT),” says Dr. Xuhua Zhong, crop physiologist at the Rice Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDRRI). The meaning of “three controls” is controlling the amount of ...
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Typhoon-stricken farmers receive first emergency seeds
One month after Typhoon Haiyan struck a devastating blow to the Philippines, farmers who lost essential crops and supplies are receiving the first wave of emergency seeds, restoring hope for a productive planting season and much-needed food for the coming year. FAO and the Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) have begun delivering the first rice and corn seed allocations to rural ...
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USD 10-million facility for studying climate change effects on plant growth opens at IRRI
On a hot, breezy afternoon on 21 January 2016, an international gathering of agricultural scientists and development officials dedicated the Lloyd T. Evans Plant Growth Facility (PGF) on the campus of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The opening of the USD 10 million state-of-the-art facility manifests IRRI’s commitment to better understand the effects of climate change on ...
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Genetic change could make crops thrive on salty soils
Scientists have genetically modified plants to tolerate high levels of salt — offering a potential solution to growing food in salty soils. The researchers inserted a gene to remove salt — in the form of sodium ions — from water taken up by the plant before it reaches the leaves, where it does most damage. The research was published in The Plant Cell this month (7 July). High salinity reduces ...
By SciDev.Net
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Does Biostimulation Accelerate Algae Growth (Los Alamos Daily Post)
Does Biostimulation Accelerate Algae Growth? Algae and bacteria are the fastest growing organisms on our planet. A single algae cell can produce over one million daughter cells in one day. Is this fast enough? All algae producers are limited by sustainable biomass accumulation. Growth rates impact both capital and operational costs. A 20 percent increase in growth rate could give some growers a ...
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Eucalyptus essential oil as an alternative to chemical pesticides
Controlling pests with natural products can have greater environmental benefits than using chemical pesticides. A recent study reviews the use of eucalyptus essential oil as a natural pesticide and offers recommendations for its future application. Chemical pesticides have played a major role in securing food supplies the world over. However, excessive use has led to increased environmental ...
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