Newly-developed edible cotton seeds are packed with protein – not poison
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCOTTON is a widely-grown crop and its seeds are full of protein, so you might think they’d be a great source of food. Unfortunately, though, they’re toxic to humans. That said, such is not the case with a newly-developed variety of the plant. Ordinarily, cotton plants (including the seeds) contain a toxic organic compound known […]
Research Identifies Protein for Plant Growth
Reading Time: < 1 minuteResearch conducted at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) has identified a protein that controls plant growth. The protein, IRK, was found in the root cells of a plant related to mustard while researchers were looking for clues to the ways plant cells divide or expand. The research shows that turning off the gene […]
Golden Rice moves towards full cultivation
Reading Time: < 1 minuteON BEHALF of the 151 Nobel Prize winners and 13,292 cosigners supporting GMOs, we were delighted to hear of the recent announcement of the approval by the Philippine Department of Agriculture to authorize the direct use of Golden Rice as Food and Feed or for Processing (FFP). This brings the cultivation of Golden Rice in […]
New tomato variety could change urban farming and cultivation
Reading Time: 2 minutesGENE-EDITED tomato plants that can be grown in small areas and potentially even in outer space have been developed by scientists at the New York-based Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, according to a release. These new “urban agriculture tomatoes” grow in compact bunches instead of on long vines and can be harvested in a shorter period […]
Agribiotechnology in a nutshell module
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY JAYASYALINY JAYARAJ LOS BANOS: Twenty-five delegates from eight Asian countries attended the second Asian Short Course on Agribiotechnolgy (ASCA) from Dec 2-6. The event was put together by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) Southeast Asia, the […]
South Australia a step closer to lifting GM ban
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE State Government of South Australia (SA) has introduced a legislation to finally lift the GM crop ban in mainland SA. The ban was supposed to take effect on December 1 but was met with challenges last week causing the delay. Parliament will be working on the Bill this week to make sure that SA […]
Kenya gives nod for Bt cotton
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE Kenyan Cabinet, chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, has approved the commercial planting of Bt cotton after the 5-year field trials showed positive results. The biotech crop is expected to increase the cotton production of Kenyan farmers and thus boost the manufacturing pillar of the Big 4 Agenda where it is stated that Kenya aims […]
ISAAA: Biotech crops fastest adopted crop technology
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBIOTECH CROPS are considered as the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture, according to ISAAA Pocket K 16: Biotech Crop Highlights in 2018. From the initial planting of 1.7 million hectares in 1996 when the first biotech crop was commercialized, the 191.7 million hectares planted in 2018 indicates a ~113-fold increase. […]