Researchers Seek Drought-Resistant Crops

Researchers Seek Drought-Resistant Crops
A team sees promise in genetically engineered tobacco, and hopes for similar results with other crops. Transcript of radio broadcast:
02 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

One cause of the current food crisis is drought. Food prices are high in part because of dry weather in places as far distant as Spain and Australia.


Around the world, the amount of land affected by drought has doubled in the past thirty years. So says the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States. And scientists concerned about climate change believe it will cause more drought in many areas in the future.
A lot of research is going into efforts to develop drought-resistant crops. One project involves tobacco plants genetically engineered to keep their leaves during water shortages.

Eduardo Blumwald and Rosa Rivero at the University of California, Davis, led a team from the United States, Japan and Israel. Rosa Rivero says they chose tobacco because it has big leaves. Also, it grows fast and has structural similarities with some other plants.

The researchers did an experiment with two groups of tobacco plants. They worked with a set of normal plants and a set of transgenic plants. These had a gene added to interfere with the biological causes of leaf loss during drought.

The researchers put all the plants in a greenhouse to grow under normal conditions for forty days. Then, for fifteen days after that, the plants did not receive any water.

The normal plants lost their green color. Finally, they lost their leaves. But the researchers say the transgenic plants kept their leaves and their color.

After the fifteen dry days, all the plants were watered again for a week. The transgenic plants returned to normal growth, and their seed production was close to normal. But the other plants all died.

Rosa Rivero says the transgenic plants kept a relatively high water level. They also continued to produce energy during the dry period, although at a reduced level. The amount of seeds they produced was close to normal.

In addition, the researchers found that the plants could survive on only thirty percent of the normal amount of irrigation water. Yield loss was minor, they said.

The findings appeared late last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The University of California has applied for patent protection for the technology.

The researchers expect to move forward with field testing of the transgenic tobacco in late August. They hope for similar results with crops like tomatoes, rice, wheat and cotton.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Steve Ember.

----------------------------Google Translate

研究人员寻求抗旱性作物
一组看到的承诺，在基因改造的烟草，并希望类似的结果与其他作物。全文电台广播：
2008年6月2日

这是美国之音特别英语农业的报告。

原因之一当前的粮食危机是干旱。粮食价格高，部分原因是天气干燥的地方，据遥远的西班牙和澳大利亚。


世界各地的土地数量受旱灾影响了一倍，在过去的三十年。所以说，国家大气研究中心在美国。和科学家关注气候变化相信这将造成更多的干旱，许多地区在未来的。
大量的研究，是进入大力发展抗旱性作物。一个项目涉及到烟草植物基因工程，以保持其叶片在水资源短缺问题。

爱德华多blumwald和罗莎里韦罗在加州大学，戴维斯率领的一队来自美国，日本和以色列。罗莎里韦罗说，他们选择了烟草，因为它的大叶片。此外，它生长快，并已结构的异同与其他一些植物。

研究人员没有一个实验两组烟草植物。他们的工作与一套正常的植物和一套转基因植物。这些基因进行了补充，干预生物的原因，叶的损失在干旱。

研究人员把所有的植物在温室成长在正常情况下为四十天。那么， 15天之后，植物没有收到任何水。

正常的植物失去了绿色的颜色。最后，他们失去了他们的叶片。但研究人员说，转基因植物保持其叶片和他们的颜色。

后15天内干，所有植物浇水，再次为一个星期。转基因植株恢复正常增长，其种子生产是接近正常。但其他植物全部死亡。

罗莎里韦罗说，转基因植物中保持了相对较高的水位。他们还继续生产能源在风高物燥期间，虽然在水平有所降低。金额的种子，他们生产的接近正常。

此外，该研究人员发现，植物可以生存，只有30 ％的正常数量的灌溉用水。产量损失是轻微的，他们说。

结果，出现在去年年底在的Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences上。加州大学已申请专利保护的技术。

研究人员期望向前迈进，与现场试验的转基因烟草在八月下旬。他们希望类似的结果与作物一样，番茄，水稻，小麦和棉花。

这是该美国之音特别英语农业的报告，书面，由jerilyn沃森。我史蒂夫ember 。