Researchers discover a novel chemistry to protect our crops from fungal disease

March 30, 2020

Pathogenic fungi pose a huge and growing threat to global food security.

Currently, we protect our crops against fungal disease by spraying them with anti-fungal chemistries, also known as fungicides.

Plant breeders make gains in wheat's resilience to terminal drought

March 23, 2020

As more variable rainfall patterns consolidate into recurring yield drags for the grains industry, researchers are making progress endowing bread wheat with greater resilience to dry terminal conditions.

Scientists optimize prime editing for rice and wheat

March 16, 2020

Recently, a research team led by Prof. Gao Caixia of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the optimization of a prime editing system (PPE system) for creating desired point mutations, insertions and deletions in two major cereal crops, namely, rice and wheat. The main components of a PPE system are a Cas9 nickase-RT fusion protein and a pegRNA.

Nebraska team links wild wheat gene to drought tolerance in cultivated wheat

March 5, 2020

New research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has led to the discovery of a novel gene that improves drought adaptation in wheat — a breakthrough that could contribute to increased world food security.

Genetic diversity improves yield in hybrid crop varieties

March 5, 2020

Researchers from The University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture and University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute have discovered that high levels of genetic diversity and dominant genes in grain crops such as wheat, barley or rice leads to the production of greater yields in hybrid varieties.

Wheat virus is bigger problem in Pacific Northwest than previously thought

March 2, 2020

Wheat soil-borne mosaic disease is a bigger problem in the Pacific Northwest than previously thought, according to a recent study.