breeding research News
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Scientists find new defence front against the Potato Blight
In this week 'Nature Plants', scientists from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK, report the identification of a resistance gene that enhances resistance against potato late blight from a South American wild relative of cultivated potatoes. The gene targets elicitin, a conserved protein with an important biological function, making it less likely ...
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Floating vegetative mats may help clean fishery wastewater
The feasibility of using floating vegetation to remove nutrients from fishery wastewater is being tested by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. The researchers' long-term goal is to develop a system to treat the wastewater, return it to ponds for reuse, and use the nutrients to produce biomass or plant material. The floating mats act as filters to remove the nutrients from the water. ...
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World agribusiness R&D controlled by `cosy cartel`
The increasing consolidation of global agribusiness is leaving the world's food production in the hands of a corporate "cartel", warns a new market report from ETC Group, a civil society organization based in Canada. According to the report, six multinational corporations — BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta — control 75 per cent of all private-sector plant breeding ...
By SciDev.Net
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New App Involves Farmers in Investment Decisions in Rice Breeding
Investment Game Application (IGA), a new tablet app, helps farmers in South and Southeast Asia participate in an “investment market” for public rice breeding. By playing IGA, farmers reveal their preferences for the rice breeding products they most urgently need in order to improve their livelihoods. The app also helps them prioritize the traits they want in their rice varieties while ...
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Grafting helps pepper plants deal with drought
Joining a high-yield pepper plant sapling to the roots of a strong and resistant variety could help pepper farmers cope with lower rainfall, a study has found. An experiment using the technique of merging two plants, known as grafting, resulted in higher fruit yield during periods of less rain. Plants also grew much better in salty soil, a by-product of drought, the researchers found. The ...
By SciDev.Net
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Harvest`s hottest hits
Grain growers in the southern cropping region are being kept entertained and informed this harvest while they spend endless hours in the cabin. An audio compact disc featuring some of the hottest cropping topics has been released by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). The Southern Region Driving Agronomy CD comprises 14 tracks to give growers the latest information on a range ...
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Floods wash away Pakistan`s crop research efforts
The recent Pakistan floods have caused substantial damage to the country's crop research, washing away new seed varieties and test crops planted in the fields, and damaging buildings and equipment, leaving the country's research institutes in disrepair. So far, the floods have killed more than 2,000 people and affected a further 21 million, killed 200,000 livestock and destroyed 4.25 million ...
By SciDev.Net
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Ecosystem sentinels sound alarm for the oceans
For a tern in the northern hemisphere, life may be about to take a turn for the worse. For murres or guillemots, as the temperature rises, the chance of survival takes a dive. Many of the world’s seabirds could be in trouble. And for a mix of reasons, the birds of the southern hemisphere could also be heading into difficulties, but at a slower pace. A worldwide team of 40 ornithologists ...
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Farmers fund research to breed gluten-free wheat
Kansas farmers are paying for genetic research to figure out exactly why some people struggle to digest wheat. The hard science is aimed at developing new varieties of wheat at a time when the gluten-free industry is worth nearly a billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone. The Kansas Wheat Commission is spending $200,000 for the first two years of the project, which is meant to identify ...
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Sino-Dutch Dairy Expertise Centre is launched ushering in new era of high-level dairy cooperation
On December 2nd, the First Anniversary Celebration of the Sino-Dutch Dairy Development Centre (SDDDC) & the Launch Ceremony for the Dutch Dairy Expertise Centre was held in Beijing. At the event, a review of the work and achievements made over the past year was conducted. The Dutch Dairy Expertise Centre was also officially launched. This centre marks the further deepening of the Sino-Dutch ...
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Faster and better breeding of sustainable and healthy quinoa
An international team of scientists, including quinoa breeding experts from Wageningen University & Research, published the complete DNA sequence of quinoa – the food crop that is conquering the world from South America – in Nature magazine on 8 February 2017. Quinoa is rich in essential amino acids and nutritional fibres and does not contain gluten. The crop is important to ...
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Wheat Initiative launches its Strategic Research Agenda
To meet the expected 60% raise in demand for wheat by 2050, coordination of research and significant investments are needed to increase wheat sustainable production globally. The Wheat Initiative presented today its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) to the G20 Agricultural Chief Scientists gathered in Turkey. Wheat is a staple food worldwide and provides 20% of all calories and protein, both in ...
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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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Lifeasible Enlarged Its Offerings for Plant Breeding Services
Lifeasible, a biotechnology company specialized in agricultural science, recently enlarged its offers for plant breeding services which now cover a wide range of plant species including major food crops, economic plants, and bio-energy feedstock plants. Plant breeding is the science of creating new varieties by modifying plant genomes, which can accelerate the production of plants with desired ...
By Lifeasible
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The dire need to support ‘orphan crop’ research
In spite of debate over its definition, the term ‘orphan crops’ refers to crops that are under-researched and underfunded due to their limited importance in the global market. These include cereals, legumes, vegetables, root crops, fodder crops, oil crops, fibre crops and medicinal plants that are largely indigenous to Africa, Asia and Latin America. They are characterised by their ...
By SciDev.Net
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New plant protein discoveries could ease global food and fuel demands
New discoveries of the way plants transport important substances across their biological membranes to resist toxic metals and pests, increase salt and drought tolerance, control water loss and store sugar can have profound implications for increasing the supply of food and energy for our rapidly growing global population. That’s the conclusion of 12 leading plant biologists from around the ...
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DAFWA researcher wins Seed of Light award
The winner of the 2014 Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) western region Seed of Light award is Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) research officer Ben Biddulph. The presentation of the award – made annually to someone who makes a significant contribution to communicating the outcomes of grains research – took place today at Perth’s Agribusiness Crop ...
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Crop breeding gets boost from sweet potatoes
In Uganda, the sweet potato is a major staple crop. Behind China and Nigeria, Uganda produces the most sweet potatoes in the world. Nationwide, families grow the crop to feed themselves, their livestock and to use as a source of income. Small scale agricultural operations use a large number of sweet potato varieties in their planting. These varieties are steadily being lost due to weevils, sweet ...
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‘Genebank can save South Asian fish stocks’
As South Asian fish stocks rapidly dwindle through overfishing, experts have suggested the setting up of a regional genebank as a remedy. Other suggestions that came up at a regional consultative workshop on management and dissemination of improved fish breeds to preserve their diversity in South Asia, held in Islamabad last month (March), were the sharing of databases and technologies. The ...
By SciDev.Net
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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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