Researchers Discover Way to Double Rice Yield in Drought-Stricken Areas

Scientists from University of Alberta, Canada have found a group of genes in rice that they say enables a yield of up to 100 percent more in severe drought conditions. Jerome Bernier, in collaboration with scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Central Rainfed Upland Rice Research Station in India, measured the effect of a previously reported, large-effect quantitative trait locus (QTL) on grain yield and associated traits in 21 field trials. QTLs are regions in the DNA that are associated with particular phenotypic traits. The team found that the relative effect of the QTL on grain yield increased with increasing intensity of drought stress, “from having no effect under well-watered conditions to having an additive effect of more than 40 percent of the trial mean in the most severe stress treatments.”

Bernier and colleagues hypothesize that the new genes stimulate the rice plants to develop deeper roots, enabling it to access more of the water stored in the soil. The discovery marks the first time this group of genes in rice has been identified, and could potentially bring relief to farmers in countries like India and Thailand, where rice crops are regularly faced with drought.

Read the full article at http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=9784 The paper published by the journal Euphytica is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10681-008-9826-y