The rapidly growing world population and rising consumption of biofuels are increasing demand for both food and biofuels. This exaggerates both food and fuel shortages. Using food crops such as corn grain to produce ethanol raises major nutritional and ethical concerns. Nearly 60% of humans in the world are currently malnourished, so the need for grains and other basic foods is critical. Growin...

Global climate change is predicted to increase temperatures, alter geographical patterns of rainfall and increase the frequency of extreme climatic events. Such changes are likely to alter the timing and magnitude of drought stresses experienced by crops. This study used new developments in the classification of crop water stress to first characterize the typology and frequency of drought-stres...

It is rather remarkable that a process as esoteric as the genetic modification of crops would become the subject of a global war of rhetoric. Yet for the past few years Western audiences have been bombarded with deceptive rhetoric, spin, and soundbite science portraying the wonders—or horrors—of the new technology. Books and fullpage newspaper advertisements warn of a wrecked environment and fo...

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important crops worldwide that is a subject of many plant breeding programs in many countries. In addition, climates are changing all over the world and drought becomes one of the most serious problems versus yield of crops. In order to screen drought tolerant genotype in Chickpea, twenty genotypes were tested under rainfed and irrigated...

The potential for wind erosion in South Central Colorado is greatest in the spring, especially after harvesting of crops such as potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) that leave small amounts of crop residue in the surface after harvest. Therefore it is important to implement best management practices that reduce potential wind erosion and that we understand how cropping systems are impacting soil eros...

China has dramatically increased its virtual water import over recent years. Many studies have focused on the quantity of traded virtual water, but very few go into analysing geographic distribution and the properties of China’s virtual water trade network. This paper provides a calculation and analysis of the crop-related virtual water trade network of China based on 27 major primary crops bet...

Gaseous hormone ethylene has diverse effects in various plant processes. These processes include seed germination, plant growth, senescence, fruit ripening, biotic and abiotic stresses responses, and many other aspects. The biosynthesis and signaling of ethylene have been extensively studied in model Arabidopsis in the past two decades. However, knowledge about the ethylene signaling mechanism ...

Introduction Research at CLIMA has indicated that Lathyrus cicera and L. sativus (grasspea) have potential as grain legumes on 100 000 to 300 000 ha of neutral to alkaline soils in low-to-medium rainfall areas of southern Australia. They do not have serious disease problems and are envisaged as low maintenance/low cost crops for the purposes of green manure, managing herbicide resistant weeds, ...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the response of grain yield, phosphorus (P) use efficiency (PUE, g yield g–1 P available) and related root traits of wheat and pea to different P availabilities in a high yielding environment (e.g.: yield higher than 10 Mg ha-1 for wheat). Two experiments were conducted in southern Chile. Treatments consisted of the combination of (i) two crops (spri...

Grain yield in many cereal crops is largely determined by grain size. Here we report the genetic and molecular characterization of GS3, a major quantitative trait locus for grain size. It functions as a negative regulator of grain size and organ size. The wild-type isoform is composed of four putative domains: a plant-specific organ size regulation (OSR) domain in the N terminus, a transmembran...