Signs of hope for higher rice yields – Around 3 billion people eat rice every day
LOS BANOS, 17 August 2010 (IRIN): Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) report signs of progress in their efforts to enhance rice’s photosynthetic efficiency to boost yields (udbytte).
If successful, global yields could rise by as much as 50 percent, avoiding potential rice shortages, or even future famines, specialists say.
According to IRRI, a global population increase of some two billion people by 2050 will require an extra 250 million metric tonnes of rice in Asia alone.
– Fifteen months into the project, things are looking positive, Paul Quick, principal scientist and head of IRRI’s C4 rice project, told IRIN in Los Banos, the Philippines.
– We have identified at least 10 to 15 plant phenotypes that look like the type of plant we are looking for, plants that are starting to show a switch to C4, added he.
C4 plants – such as maize and sorghum (durra) – use a much more efficient photosynthesis process than rice (a C3 plant), produce a higher yield and use 1,5-3 times less water, he said.
With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the first phase of the 15-year project is focusing on the discovery of the genes required for C4 photosynthesis.
– Achieving this goal will be extremely challenging as many of the processes that need to be changed are poorly understood at the genetic level, Quick said.
Plants typically have more than 30.000 genes so it is not easy to identify which genes are necessary to create the C4 engine. At the same time, thousands of plants need to be grown and screened for errors in their photosynthetic engine.
– It is like making a cake. We still do not know the recipe (opskriften), but we now have a better idea of what the ingredients are, Jacqueline Dionora, a senior associate scientist for the project said.
New crop strains needed
According to the UN, food production needs to rise by 50 percent by the year 2030 to meet rising demand, fuelled by population growth, competition for water and increasing use of agricultural products for bio-fuels (bio-brændsel).
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