Food and Energy Security has now published its latest issue featuring a number of articles focussing on improving global security of energy and food resouces by using agricultural methods. The following articles have been selected by Editor-in-Chief: Martin Parry:
Metallic trace elements in cereal grain – a review: how much metal do we eat?
Tihana Tekli?, Zdenko Lon?ari?, Vlado Kova?evi? and Bal Ram Singh
Summary: This review aimed to give an overview of data regarding metallic trace elements (Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu) content in the grain of globally most important cereals – wheat, rice, and maize. As an important component of human and animal food, cereal grains represent a plant available load of these metals into the food chain.
Avoiding damage and achieving cold tolerance in rice plants
Renata Pereira da Cruz, Raul Antonio Sperotto, Denise Cargnelutti, Janete Mariza Adamski, Tatiana de FreitasTerra and Janette Palma Fett
Summary: Cold temperatures can have negative impacts on rice plants during germination, vegetative growth, and reproductive stages, leading to decreased productivity. Here we review the efforts that have been made to achieve cold tolerance in rice through breeding, the major tools used for evaluating cold tolerance in rice plants, the discovery of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and genes related to this tolerance and the results obtained so far by genetic transformation of rice plants with potential cold-tolerance genes. Possible future approaches are suggested.
Alternate wetting and drying irrigation for rice in Bangladesh: Is it sustainable and has plant breeding something to offer?
Adam H. Price, Gareth J. Norton, David E. Salt, Oliver Ebenhoeh, Andrew A. Meharg, Caroline Meharg, M. Rafiqul Islam, Ramen N. Sarma, Tapash Dasgupta, Abdelbagi M. Ismail, Kenneth L. McNally, Hao Zhang, Ian C. Dodd and William J. Davies
Summary: The article describes the technique of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) which is being promoted in Bangladesh as a water saving technique for dry season rice production. It highlights the unknown aspects of the adoption of the method which relate to its effectiveness in the long term. Finally it reports an innovative multi-disciplinary project which aims to examine sustainability and offer solutions through genomics, soil biogeochemistry, plant physiology and systems biology.
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