DROUGHT TOLERANCE

Oct 21 2025SCIENCE

Sugarcane Thrives Under Drought Thanks to a Tiny Helper

Drought is a big problem for sugarcane. It makes it hard for the plant to grow and produce sugar. But scientists found a way to help. They used a gene from a small plant called Arabidopsis. This gene, DREB1A, helps sugarcane handle drought better. Scientists put the DREB1A gene into sugarcane using a special method. They checked if the gene worked by looking at the ...

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Jul 11 2025ENVIRONMENT

How Tiny Fungi Help Trees Survive Harsh Conditions

In the world of plants, tiny helpers called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are making a big difference. These fungi team up with trees, like the Casuarina equisetifolia, to help them survive tough conditions. Scientists wanted to see how these fungi help the trees when they are growing in coral sand and facing stress from too much salt or not enough water. They ...

reading time about 1 minute
Jun 25 2025SCIENCE

Plants That Bounce Back: Secrets of Surviving Drought

Some plants have a superpower: they can survive extreme drought. These are called resurrection plants. They can dry out completely and come back to life when water returns. Scientists have been studying these plants for a long time. They want to understand how these plants do this. This knowledge could help other plants, like crops, survive droughts too. The journey...

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May 31 2025SCIENCE

Ancient Wheat's Secret: Surviving Heat and Drought

The ancient Indian dwarf wheat, Triticum sphaerococcum, is getting some serious attention these days. This wheat has been around for ages. It is not like the modern bread wheat that people are used to seeing in stores. It is much smaller and has a unique shape. Scientists have been studying this ancient grain to see how it handles tough conditions. They wanted t...

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May 24 2025SCIENCE

Moringa's Magic: Boosting Tomato Growth in Dry Times

The world is facing big problems with climate change, global warming, and not enough water. These issues make droughts worse and threaten the food we grow. Scientists are looking for new ways to help plants survive these tough conditions. One promising solution comes from Moringa, a plant known for its eco-friendly benefits. Moringa can produce nanoparticles, tiny pa...

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May 03 2025SCIENCE

Pistachio's Secret Weapon Against Drought

Pistachio trees, known for their tasty nuts, face a big challenge: drought. These trees struggle with dry conditions, which can hurt their growth and the quality of their nuts. To tackle this issue, researchers have been looking into ways to make pistachio trees more resilient. They focused on a special group of hybrid pistachio trees. These hybrids are a mix of ...

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Mar 26 2025SCIENCE

Cowpeas and Their Microbial Allies: A Drought Survival Guide

The world of microbes living in the soil around cowpea roots is a bustling ecosystem. These tiny organisms play a big role in how plants handle stress, like drought. But what exactly happens to these microbial communities when the rain stops? This is what a recent investigation set out to find. The study focused on the bacteria that live around cowpea roots, known a...

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Mar 10 2025SCIENCE

Oats and the Drought Dance: How Plants Balance Survival and Growth

Plants face a tough challenge when it comes to dealing with drought. They need to toughen up to survive dry spells, but this can slow down their growth. Scientists have been curious about how plants manage this balancing act. Recently, researchers dug into the genetic makeup of oats to find some answers. They gathered a massive amount of data from 84 different sets ...

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Feb 02 2025SCIENCE

How Are Scientists Solving Drought Issues with Maize?

Drought in sub-Saharan Africa is a huge problem that impacts how maize grows and reduces the harvest. Dealing with drought is complex because many different genes are involved. That's why scientists tried something new. Researchers took 236 different types of corn and tested them in multiple environments. By using seven different GWAS models, they wanted to un...

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Jan 25 2025SCIENCE

Discovering OsSAP17: A Plant's Secret Weapon Against Drought and Salt

Plants face lots of problems due to changes in the weather and how we manage farms. One of these issues is abiotic stress, which is when conditions like drought or too much salt in the soil make it hard for plants to grow. To deal with these problems, plants have special proteins called stress-associated proteins (SAPs). This research looks at one of these proteins, ...

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