A Perennial Upland Rice Plant?
A rice plant that would not have to be planted annually could help reduce erosion by providing a permanent ground cover. Perenniality exists in several wild rice species from Southeast Asia, but their yields are low. These species, however, can be crossed with cultivated rice.
The challenge facing scientists is to produce a high-yielding perennial plant adapted to the poor soils of the uplands, and one that is highly responsive to low amounts of purchased inputs, and that resists diseases and insect pests.
It's a challenge IRRI scientists are currently working on. New biotechnology tools will be used to transfer the perennial characters into cultivated rice, and new knowledge of genetic diversity will be applied to develop pest resistance.
See: Developing Perennial Upland Rice I: Field Performance of Oryza sativa/O. rufipogon F1, F4, and BC1F4 Progeny. Crop Sci. 43:120–128
Read more about this topic: Upland Rice
Famous quotes containing the words perennial, upland and/or rice:
“Today, supremely, it behooves us to remember that a nation shall be saved by the power that sleeps in its own bosom; or by none; shall be renewed in hope, in confidence, in strength by waters welling up from its own sweet, perennial springs. Not from above; not by patronage of its aristocrats. The flower does not bear the root, but the root the flower.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“A strange thing surely that my Heart, when love had come unsought
Upon the Norman upland or in that poplar shade,
Should find no burden but itself and yet should be worn out.
It could not bear that burden and therefore it went mad.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“... there has been a very special man in my life for the past year. All I’ll say about him is that he’s kind, warm, mature, someone I can trust—and he’s not a politician.”
—Donna Rice (b. c. 1962)