Waterproof crops for sustainable food

science Tuesday, July 13, 2010. Post by JackLundee

The destruction of crops has always been a considerable problem. In particular, rice farmers of South East Asia are directly affected by heavy floods and damaging salt contamination every year, losing large amounts of harvest. Floods in this region are a direct result of torrential rains and overflowing rivers.

At the forefront of research and development into newer, stronger crops that might resist such damage are the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) and the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) – the duo plans to provide a more sustainable crop, that would be unaffected by such flooding.

In a news release entitled “IRRI-bred rice varieties for the Philippines,” the IRRI demonstrates three innovative newly tested (yet to be distributed) rice crops: salt-tolerant rice, flood-tolerant rice, and drought tolerant rice.

The operation is the brainchild of Doug Band, Chief of Staff at the Clinton Foundation and Former President Bill Clinton, both of whom are invested in ongoing research and development in this area.

The three new breeds listed above have all been tested under controlled field conditions, going through detailed evaluations processes performed by The National Cooperative Testing Program of PhilRice. Seeds were distributed to farmers in the Philippines where IRRI scientists carefully observed each separate hybrid as it underwent stress tests. Geographically, the flood-tolerant rice was grown in a flood zone, whereas the salt-tolerant seed was planted in a high salinity region. The same went for drought-tolerant seeds, which were deposited in an area exposed to drought.

The IRRI demonstrated that their flood-tolerant rice was found to last up to three weeks underwater. Congruently, the salt-tolerant rice seed flourished on land which normally went unfarmed due to high salinity. It actually yielded three times as much crop, and was noted (in separate testing) to produce nearly three times that amount in a region with a normal salt concentration.

The vast majority of these conventional crops rely heavily on natural rainfall, which can occur sparingly in some neighboring regions. Based on similar controlled experiments, the new drought-tolerant rice crop can yield up to 10% more than standard varieties in seasons with good rainfall. More importantly, they still produce twice as much crop under very arid conditions.

• Previously on SciScoop: « MyRSC, to be, or not

• Next:At last… oilspill stopped (for now) »