rice genetic News
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Exploration urged to discover new rice species
More exploration is needed to discover new wild varieties of rice, before they are lost to science forever, heard the 7th International Rice Genetics Symposium held this week (5-8 November) in Manila, the Philippines. There are still many unexplored places and a danger of losing undiscovered rice species that “might be very important for future rice” breakthroughs, said Robert Henry, ...
By SciDev.Net
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GM rice `spreading illegally in China`
Illegal genetically modified (GM) rice seeds have been found in several Chinese provinces by a government investigation, according to an environment ministry official. A joint investigation by four government departments discovered the seeds, attributing their presence to "weak management", according to the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). China has allowed GM crops such as cotton, ...
By SciDev.Net
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28 new rice varieties released in 2014 as scientists ensure responsive breeding for the future
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners released at least twenty-eight new rice varieties to governments of eight countries in Asia and Africa in 2014. These newly-released varieties possess high-yielding and stress-tolerance traits that can help farmers overcome challenges, such as the negative effects of climate change, in their rice growing ecosystems. Some of the ...
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Agricultural biotechnology `should be open source`
Open source biotechnology, through which biotechnology inventions are made freely available for others to use and improve upon, could help developing countries overcome hurdles created by stringent intellectual property rights (IPRs), a study says. The concept is based on open source in software development. To date, open source software's free accessibility, low cost, openness to modification ...
By SciDev.Net
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Upcoming IRRI young rice scientist to present research on association mapping of bacterial blight resistance at IRC2014
Christine Jade Dilla-Ermita of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has been selected as one of the 29 Young Rice Scientists (YRS) awardees who will present their research at the 4th International Rice Congress (IRC2014) in Bangkok, Thailand on 27 October-1 November 2014. “To share my research on the genome-wide association analysis of bacterial blight resistance before an ...
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Fostering closer collaboration across the rice value chain
With increasing challenges in agriculture, and 2015 in particular being a difficult year for farmers in ASEAN, rice farmers need access to technologies to help them increase yields and efficiency. From October 14 to 16, over 100 policymakers and rice experts from across ASEAN countries gathered at the ASEAN Rice Future Forum in Vietnam to discuss how public-private and value chain partnerships ...
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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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Science: what has it done for the millennium development goals?
When the United Nations published the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, with aspirations including the ending of poverty and hunger; the promotion of gender equality and a reduction in child mortality, there was little mention of science. Yet most people involved in working towards the goals accepted that achieving them would rely on the successful application of science. Now, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Carbon credits to be used to fund GM food crops
US biotech firm Arcadia Biosciences has announced a plan to help fund the planting of genetically modified rice with carbon credits. The company will work with the Chinese government to give farmers who plant their crops carbon credits, which they can then sell on the global carbon trading market. Arcadia is touting its GM rice as a greener alternative to the regular crop. The plant has had a ...
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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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As seas rise, saltwater plants offer hope farms will survive
On a sun-scorched wasteland near India's southern tip, an unlikely garden filled with spiky shrubs and spindly greens is growing, seemingly against all odds. The plants are living on saltwater, coping with drought and possibly offering viable farming alternatives for a future in which rising seas have inundated countless coastal farmlands. Sea rise, one of the consequences of climate change, ...
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