Matchmaking for sweet potato?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSOME relationships can be complicated. Take the one between sweet potato crops and soil nitrogen, for example. Too little nitrogen and sweet potato plants don’t grow well and have low yields. Too much nitrogen, however, boosts the growth of leaves and branches at the expense of storage roots. That also leads to low yields. “Carefully […]
Corn variety gets nutrients from bacteria, potentially reducing need for fertiliser
Reading Time: 2 minutesIN a new study publishing August 7 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, researchers describe a newly identified corn variety which acquires nitrogen — an essential nutrient for plants — by feeding its sugars to beneficial bacteria, which can in turn take up nitrogen from the air and pass it back to the plant in […]
GM rice that can neutralise HIV
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAN INTERNATIONAL team of researchers from Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom has successfully created a strain of genetically modified (GM) rice that will produce HIV-neutralising proteins. Scientists have been developing possible treatments for people infected with HIV. Their efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus have been unsuccessful, but oral medications […]
Costly delay
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE Philippines is losing as much as PHP33.85 billion (US$634 million) due to delay in commercialising the insect resistant Bt eggplant, according to Dr Cesar Quicoy, an economist from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Quicoy studied the cost of delaying the commercialisation of Bt eggplant in the country in three different adoption rate […]
Because ‘food matters’, here’s food for thought
Reading Time: 2 minutesFOOD MATTERS. It is a basic human need, yet its availability in adequate, safe, nutritious and regular amounts for humans is by no means assured. While land and water for food production are both declining at alarming rates due to natural and human causes, the demand for food is still growing as populations all over […]
A case of man failing technology
Reading Time: 3 minutesSO, Clearfield Rice has failed in Malaysia. For those who are new to Clearfield Rice, here is the background information. It is high-yielding and weed-resistance rice variety developed by BASF and further improved by the Malaysian Agricultural Research & Development Institute (MARDI) to suit local environment. MARDI took seven years to perfect it for local […]
FAO, UNESCO ramp up efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have renewed their partnership to boost efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including the goal of Zero Hunger. FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay today signed a new Memorandum of […]
Scientists use ‘gene knock’ to fight disease resistance in food crops
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA NEW gene editing technique has the potential to confer broad spectrum disease resistance to specific staple crops without affecting other physical traits, according to a scientist from Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Dr Junqi Song, a plant pathologist in AgriLife together with his team of researchers, explores how a “knock-in” gene editing approach might achieve […]
Climate change will make rice less nutritious, putting millions of the world’s poor at risk
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY KRISTIE EBI- Professor of Global Health and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington RICE is the primary food source for more than three billion people around the world. Many are unable to afford a diverse and nutritious diet that includes complete protein, grains, fruits, and vegetables. They rely heavily on more affordable cereal […]
Fall Armyworm keeps spreading and becomes more destructive
Reading Time: 3 minutesFALL Armyworm keeps spreading to larger areas within countries in sub-Saharan Africa and becomes more destructive as it feeds on more crops and different parts of crops, increasingly growing an appetite for sorghum and millet, in addition to maize. The pest could spread to Northern Africa, Southern Europe and the Near East, warned the United […]