About 30 years ago, a young geneticist in Boston did a seemingly simple experiment: she planted seeds and watched how they fared in light or darkness. First, though, she soaked the seeds in a solution with a DNA-damaging chemical. She hoped that a few of the induced flaws might serendipitously land in genes that govern […]
A bright future for sustainable agriculture May 28, 2017 Passionate plant scientist Mark Tester conducts ground-breaking research into plants that could one day help feed the world. Imagine a scenario where crops, such as barley, rice and quinoa, are grown in near-desert conditions, in poor-quality soils or on otherwise barren, marginal lands. These staples, irrigated […]
by Kyaw Aung Looking for an Assistant Professorship, or just thinking about it? Here is an excellent article by someone who was recently on the job hunt and who has also had the chance to look at the hiring process from the other side. The article is full of important tips about what to expect and […]
Setting something to music is a well-known method for supporting learning (think about the alphabet song that you learned as a child). Gregory J. Crowther has assembled a searchable database of science-themed songs, along with lesson plans and suggestions for how to use songs in your teaching. Yes, there are songs about plants too! Check […]
Are you a creative, articulate and web-savvy plant scientist looking to connect with other like-minded folks? We need your help to nurture and grow Plantae, the online community for the global plant science community. We are looking for individuals who are interested in being highly engaged contributors by curating content and facilitating discussions. The benefits […]
Ali et al. describe a rice breeding strategy to improve abiotic stress tolerance as well as to accelerate the speed to achieving homozygosity. The researchers named this particular technique as “Green Super Rice” (GSR) breeding technology. They use a backcross (BC) breeding approach to fix breeding lines which are tolerant of multiple abiotic stresses and […]
In order to address the knowledge gap in the mechanisms of photoperiodic induction of flowering by phytochrome, Pearce et al. studied flowering behavior in wheat grown under short days, with the interruption of the long nights by short pluses of light (night breaks). Their study showed that night breaks accelerate flowering, and also demonstrated that […]
This study by Ramamoorthy et al. showed that survival of plants under drought conditions is not a sufficient goal for breeding. Rather, yield for biomass and food production under water deficit is a better target. Chickpea genotypes having better root growth and higher root density showed better grain filling, and produced good yields in these studies. […]
Podlaski et al. conducted experiments with energy crops like miscanthus, prairie cordgrass, willow, etc, and report that water use efficiency (WUE) is no longer a valid trait for selecting energy crops for drought tolerance. They could not find any significant relationship between WUE and biomass yield. However, they found a positive correlation between soil water […]