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Elections 2024

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

sona.co.za

Elections 2024

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

sona.co.za

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    New wheat breeding programme cuts a decade off new varieties

    NASA experiments to grow wheat in space have inspired Australian scientists to develop a world-first speed-breeding programme that cuts a decade off the time it takes to deliver new varieties.
    BjoernSchrempp via
    BjoernSchrempp via pixabay

    New varieties are critical to fighting disease or improving yield, but it can take between 10 and 20 years to breed resistant or productive traits into crops.

    But when Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) senior research fellow, Dr Lee Hickey, saw NASA astronauts using continuous light to trick plants into growing faster in space, he saw a method that could be manipulated to speed up the development of new plant breeds.

    “We can go from seed to seed in just six weeks for wheat barley, and it works for a whole bunch of other crops that we grow on a big scale in Australia and other countries around the world, such as chickpea or canola,” he says.

    “Our experiments showed that the quality and yield of the plants grown under controlled climate and extended daylight conditions were as good, or sometimes better, than those grown in regular glasshouses.”

    Click here to read the full article.

    Source: AgriOrbit

    AgriOrbit is a product of Centurion-based agricultural magazine publisher Plaas Media. Plaas Media is an independent agricultural media house. It is the only South African agricultural media house to offer a true 360-degree media offering to role-players in agriculture. Its entire portfolio is based on sound content of a scientific and semi-scientific nature.

    Go to: http://agriorbit.com/
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