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Climate change a mixed blessing for wheat, say experts
Posted by SciDev.Net: Li Jiao on September 7th, 2012
SciDev.Net: Climate change may have a profound effect on the world's ability to produce wheat -- one of its staple crops -- and adaptation efforts must take into account both the positive and negative effects of climate shifts, say wheat experts.
Production in some regions, such as India and Mexico, is predicted to be negatively affected by climate change, according to Thomas Lumpkin, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
But, in other regions, such as northern...
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Chinese scientists identify yield-boosting rice gene
Posted by SciDev.Net: Li Jiao on July 5th, 2012
SciDev.Net: Researchers in China have identified a rice gene that could improve both the quality and yield of the staple crop.
Xiangdong Fu, a geneticist at the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and colleagues first discovered the gene -- known as GW8 -- while studying basmati rice in Pakistan.
Basmati rice is well known for its good grain quality. The researchers found that this feature is influenced by the presence of a gene known as GW8,...