June 2019

A 18-post collection

Transform Rice to a Cash Crop through Diversified Use

Rice is the staple food and served as the main meal in Bangladesh. However, each person consumes 367 grams of the staple daily, down by 11 percent from 416gm in 2010, according to a latest report of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES). Globally, rice is being utilized as »

Sharing is Caring!

According to ancient Chinese mythology, the lychee fruit (Litchi chinensis) is a symbol of romance, beauty and good luck. Legend has it that the Chinese emperor Tang Ming Huang of the Tang Dynasty was in love with Yang Guifei, one of the four beauties of the Chinese history. She was »

Tips: Storing Lychee

Storing lychees can be a challenging task if not done correctly. Following are the steps that one can follow to keep lychee fresh: Keep fruit refrigerated at 5°C. To prevent moisture loss, maintain humidity at 90-98%. Keep lychees moist by spraying them with water regularly to maintain skin color. »

Believe it or not!

The lychee tree can grow up to 40 feet high. A little known fact is that lychee seeds contain toxic compounds that can induce unpleasant side effects in the digestive system after consumption. Apart from being eaten fresh, this fruit can also be eaten dried. When eaten dried, the fruit »

Scientists Release Most Accurate Peanut Genome Sequence to Date

Better resistance to pests and improved tolerance to drought are just some of the possible benefits of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) initiative that successfully produced the clearest illustration yet of the complex genomic history of the cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea). The USDA scientists and collaborators conducted the project »

Helping Farmers Boost Production

An international team is using advanced tools to develop crops that give farmers more options for sustainably producing more food on less land. To do this, thousands of plant prototypes must be carefully analyzed to figure out which genetic tweaks work best. On 16 May 2019, in a special issue »

Scientists Report Cereal Crop That Never Dies

Researchers at The Land Institute reported about a crop with very small cereal grains but seems to be immortal, giving hope to the future of agriculture. The crop, known as Kernza, is a hybrid derived from wheatgrass. It was developed by scientists to withstand the drastic effects of climate change. »

Mathematician's Breakthrough on Non-Toxic Pest Control

A University of Sussex mathematician, Dr Konstantin Blyuss, working with biologists at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, has developed a chemical-free way to precisely target a parasitic worm that destroys wheat crops. This breakthrough method of pest control works with the plant's own genes to kill specific microscopic »

Tomato Pan-Genome Reveals 4,873 Undocumented Genes

As tomato breeders focused on traits that improve production such as larger fruits and more fruits per plant, some traits for other qualities (flavor, disease resistance) were lost. Now, scientists from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) have created a pan-genome that captures all »

Scientists Shed New Light on Photosynthetic Supercomplex Structure

Scientists from Arizona State University have determined the structure of a very large photosynthetic supercomplex, PSI-IsiA complex, a common form of photosystem I, one of the two essential engines of photosynthesis. The complex is unique in size, the largest photosynthetic supercomplex with a known molecular structure, and in complexity with »

Plant Stem Cells Require Low Oxygen Levels

Plants function as the green lungs of our planet. Rightfully so, due to the capacity of a large single tree releasing more than 120 kg of oxygen into the Earth's atmosphere every year through a series of sunlight-fuelled reactions in photosynthesis. However, during flood events, plant tissues may experience severe »