DROUGHT TOLERANCE

Jan 19 2025SCIENCE

Grasses' Adaptation: Is Drought Tolerance the Start of Frost Resilience?

Imagine you're a grass trying to survive in harsh conditions. You might think that learning to handle drought would also help you deal with cold winters. Scientists are exploring if this is true or not. They studied different types of grasses and how they adapt to different climates. Some grasses that cope well with drought do okay in cold, but others aren't so lucky...

reading time less than a minute
Jan 06 2025SCIENCE

The Power of AtbZIP69: Enhancing Wheat's Stress Tolerance

Scientists have turned to a tiny gene, AtbZIP69, to create tougher wheat plants. By inserting this gene into a specific wheat variety, they’ve made these plants much better at handling low nitrogen and drought conditions. When faced with stress, these genetically altered wheat plants showed increased activity in their antioxidants and adjustments in how they use and ...

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Dec 31 2024SCIENCE

Boosting Cassava's Drought Tolerance: A Genomic Approach

Selecting cassava plants that can withstand drought is tough because it depends on many factors. This study tried to find the best way to pick drought-tolerant cassava clones using genomic selection. They used different methods like Best Linear Unbiased Predictions (BLUPs), Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs), and Genomic Estimated Genotypic Values (GETGVs). Th...

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Dec 27 2024SCIENCE

Wheat Gets a Boost: Discovering a Powerful Grass' Secret to Stress Resistance

Scientists have found a hidden superpower in a type of grass called Thinopyrum. This grass can help wheat plants tough it out against rust diseases, drought, and still keep their yields steady. The key is a special swap between two parts of the grass' DNA. This swap, called a chromosome translocation, is what gives the grass its super strength. The grass, Agropyron ...

reading time about 1 minute
Dec 08 2024SCIENCE

Boosting Plant Survival: How Rice Genes Help Plants Beat Salty and Dry Conditions

You know how rice is often grown on farms? Well, it faces a lot of tough conditions, like drought and too much salt. These problems can really hurt crop production. Scientists have found that a special gene in rice, called OsHKT1;5, can help plants deal with these bad conditions better. When this gene is overexpressed in a plant called Arabidopsis, it gets stronger a...

reading time about 1 minute