Chinese scientists have developed salt-tolerant strains of seawater rice that may be grown in coastal areas where crops are presently tough to cultivate. The news arrives as China works to safeguard local food and energy supplies in the face of geopolitical conflicts.
“China is looking at another method now, to develop grain varieties that can withstand the soil’s saltiness,” Zhang Zhaoxin, a researcher with China's agricultural department, told Bloomberg.
The strains, dubbed "seawater rice" since they are farmed in salty soil near the shore, were developed by over-expressing a gene from chosen wild rice.
Last year, testing farms in Tianjin produced 4.6 metric tons per acre, which was greater than the national average for production of conventional rice varieties.
Since as least the 1950s, China has been researching salt-tolerant rice. The study was prompted by the fact that the country's shoreline waters have risen faster than the global average over the last 40...
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