Tag: agriculture
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Carnegie Institution Adds Four New Crop Databases
The Carnegie Institution of Science says its Plant Metabolic Network, based in Stanford, California, has added online databases on the biochemical pathways controlling the metabolism of corn, soybeans, wine grapes, and cassava. The new additions offer a detailed view of the chemical reactions taking place in the cells of these four commercially important crops. The…
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Process Developed for More Nutritional Supplement Stability
A Purdue University food scientist in West Lafayette, Indiana has develop a method for enveloping nutritional supplements to protect them from degradation. The process devised by Purdue professor Srinivas Janaswamy and former student Susanne Youngren, now at University of Hawaii in Hilo, appeared online earlier this month in the journal Food & Function (paid subscription…
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Study Shows Increased Heat Boosts Biochar as Soil Additive
A research team at Rice University in Houston, Texas has found that heating biochar — charcoal added to topsoil to enhance plant growth — to 450 degrees Celsius increases its ability to deliver water and nutrients to the targeted crops. Their findings appear online this week in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy (paid subscription required).…
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Australian Researchers Develop Salt-Tolerant Wheat Strain
Agricultural researchers at universities and research institutes in Australia have developed a strain of wheat that can thrive in salty soils. Their findings appear today online in journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). The research led by University of Adeliade plant scientist Matthew Gilliham first aimed at understanding in the lab the functioning of salt-tolerant…
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Bridgestone Tire to Study Natural Raw Rubber Alternative
Bridgestone Corporation, a global tire manufacturer in Tokyo, Japan unveiled plans today for a research project in the U.S. to develop a new commercially viable, renewable source of tire-quality natural rubber. The project aims to harness the cultivation of guayule — pronounced why-YOU-lee — as an alternative to hevea trees, the current source of almost…
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Grant to Fund R&D on Oil-Producing Plants for Biofuels
A research team at University of Illinois, with other academic and national lab colleagues, has received a $3.2 million grant to study bioengineering sugar cane and sorghum to produce oil for biofuels. The Department of Energy funding for this project also supports researchers at University of Florida, University of Nebraska, and the Brookhaven National Laboratory,…
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iPhone App Highlights Invasive Plants in Southern Forests
Research funded by the U.S. Forest Service has generated new software to alert foresters and citizens in the southern U.S. to invasive plant species. The app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are available free from Apple’s iTunes Store. The Forest Service is a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The software was…
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Bayer, Texas AgrilLife to Partner on New Wheat Varieties
Bayer CropScience in Monheim, Germany and Texas AgriLife Research in College Station will collaborate on developing improved types of wheat and taking them to market. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Researchers at the two organizations plan to develop wheat lines that offer drought and disease resistance which are important properties for wheat…
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University Genome Research Helping Biofuel Developer
Researchers at University of Georgia in Athens have mapped the genomes of two originator cells of the large perennial grass miscanthus that can help develop this grass as a source of ethanol and bioenergy. A California biofuel feedstock developer is partnering with the university on this project. Miscanthus is a promising candidate for biomass farming,…
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NSF Supporting Research to Reduce Fertilizer Use in Maize
Researchers at three universities, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service have received a $1.3 million grant from National Science Foundation for research on reducing the amount of fertilizer to grow maize. The three-year project is led by the ARS’s Ivan Baxter, who also serves on the Danforth Center’s faculty in…