NUE Rice Field Trials Show Increased Productivity and Reduced Fetilizer Dependence

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) announced that the two-year field trials of Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE) rice at CIAT's fields in Colombia have been completed. During the trials, African NERICA rice with Arcadia's NUE technology produced significant yield increases relative to conventional NERICA rice. With 50 percent applied nitrogen fertilizer, NUE rice lines out-yielded the conventional NERICA control variety by 22 percent in the first year trial, and by 30 percent in the second year trial.

Eric Rey, president and CEO of Arcadia said "There is clear potential for NUE technology to make a major contribution to global food security while also reducing the carbon footprint of rice farming." Arcadia donated key agricultural productivity technologies to the AATF in 2008 for use in African NERICA type rice, where AATF received a cost-free license to Arcadia's NUE, Water Efficiency and Salt Tolerance technologies. The NUE rice field trials at CIAT resulted from years of collaboration between Arcadia and AATF, and served as initial validation and screening of NUE rice lines before the field trials in Africa, which are now underway. These trials are part of the Nitrogen Use Efficient, Water Use Efficient and Salt-Tolerant (NEWEST) rice project to improve the productivity and sustainability of rice production across Sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information about this research, read the news release at http://www.arcadiabio.com/news/press-release/field-trials-new-nitrogen-use-efficient-rice-show-increased-productivity-leading.