Abscisic acids stressful tactics

for botanists, the hormone abscisic acid is an antihero. Unlike other hormones that promote plant growthnamely auxins, gibberellinsabscisic acid retards growth, prevents buds from blooming and closes the pores through which the plant breathes. But this is not to kill the plant. Rather, it protects the plant during drought, salinity.

Instant rice

soaked in water, the parboiled rice grains expanded, softened and were ready to eat, surprisingly. Sharma had heard about rice that can be eaten without cooking but for the first time he saw it happen in front of his eyes.

Man who authored green revolution dies at 95

Nobel laureate gave the world the high-yield dwarf wheat plant Norman E Borlaug, the agriculture scientist whose seminal contribution saved large parts of the world from hunger deaths, died of cancer at his home in Dallas, USA, on September 12, 2009. He was 95. He was working in the Texas A&M University almost till the end. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for combating world hunger.

The scent that sells

THIS is the variety of rice without which biryani, the royal gastronomical delight, would not feature so prominantly in the history pages on Mughal influence in India. Aromatic, long-grained, nonsticky are the words that describe it. It is the Basmati. India grows 1.6 million tonnes annually. Two-thirds is exported every year. India claims its traditional knowledge of the climate, the soil and the crop

Dial 100

AT ANY time, maize plants are in danger of being dismembered by the vicious western corn rootworm larvae. When under attack, the plants call the emergency service for help. This service is provided by beneficial nematode worms

Deschooling farmers

A new bill in Tamil Nadu puts farmers at the thrall of agriculture university graduates On the last day of its budget session the Tamil Nadu assembly passed 30 bills without any discussion. One of them was without parallel. If the governer signs the bill, writings of Thiruvalluavar, Oovaiyar and many more poets would become unlawful as they have several things to say about farming.

News for farmers

Plant growth promoters are naturally produced molecules that increase crop yield. Developing them for commercial use is difficult. The Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) received a US patent in May, this year, for developing a promoter, isolated from a medicinal plant. Anil Kumar Singh, Deputy Director of the chemistry division, spoke to Savvy Soumya Misra An ongoing project

The asexual drive

Scientists make a sexually reproducing plant go asexual asexual reproduction does have certain advantages over sexual reproduction when it comes to plants. It is faster, easier and requires less energy. Production is higher too. Seeds produced asexually are clones of the mother plant and have exactly the same traits. This takes away the need for constant cross-breeding needed to retain the desired traits. But asexual reproduction is rare in plants, and

A moving target

The ninth species of the tomato leaf curl virus in India is found

No more GM in Kolhapur fields

University bans field trials THE Maharashtra agriculture university announced it would no longer allow field trials of GM food crops in its field at Kolhapur. The move came in the wake of a protest in March by hundreds of farmers and citizens against an open-air field test of GM corn seeds, produced by seed major Monsanto. The protest led to the constitution of a committee, which resulted in the decision of the ban. The university's vice chancellor Rajaram Deshmukh said the remains of the GM corn crop would be destroyed.