A Japan-based team of biology scientists has developed a new rice variety through genetic improvement in an attempt to increase crop yields in a salty paddy field.
The team, led by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, has said it succeeded in finding a gene that determines the angle of root growth, hoping the discovery will lead to more new rice varieties amid the growing risk of salt damage as a result of frequent high tides and typhoons due to global warming.
Salt damage is predicted to affect about half the world's existing arable land by 2050, with coastal areas in Japan and some other countries, including Bangladesh and Vietnam, already facing challenges, according to the team.