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New Gene Discovery Points Way to Better Alkaline Tolerance in Crops
Chinese scientists have identified a key gene involved in crop alkaline tolerance that may greatly improve crop yield in sodic environments through the use of genetic engineering.
This study, led by Prof. XIE Qi's team from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with seven other institutions, has been published in Science.
Currently, there are more than one billion hectares of saline and alkaline soil in the world, about 60% of which are classified as highly sodic. As a result, the development of saline- and alkaline-resistant crops is an urgent global challenge. However, alkaline tolerance in plants has not been well studied. (More)
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