Curious has any attempt been made to modify rice plants to be less water reliant?

[elgordo38]

Curious has any attempt been made to modify rice plants to be less water reliant? As we are in the middle or past that of a severe drought has any attempt been made to breed new rice species and other crops that are less reliant on water and more pest resistant? Surely something is being done to save the farmers apart from throwing money at the problem which is only a band aid solution.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Suggest you do a Google for: drought resistant rice

Lots of hits. One of them is for efforts at IRRI, the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, a long standing organization.

Mac

[tso310]

Give this a read

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/thai-govt-study-genetically-modified-crops-despite-opposition

[elgordo38]

Suggest you do a Google for: drought resistant rice

Lots of hits. One of them is for efforts at IRRI, the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, a long standing organization.

Mac

Thanks Mac are they researching any other crops to your knowledge?

[gerry123]

yes, and very much ongoing its the farmers need the modifying

[KhunBENQ]

I am not an expert to the field. but a lot must have changed here already.

In past times I always saw peasants planting shoots in flooded fields.

A picture that has completely gone.

Today they seed the rice before significant rain has fallen.

[Tywais]

Our research facility has been doing ION beam induced mutation (genetic modification) of rice for many years now. Our focus has been on photo period insensitive growth and short stalks (referred to as short in stature in the literature). There are other Thai based research facilities who have been doing drought resistant rice species for several years using most likely the same type of technology.

This is one of our ION beam implantors that does rice mutation and another one that does flower mutation, change the colors. There is another one to the left of it but it now does gem stone modification as is the first machine, change in focus.

[elgordo38]

Give this a read

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/thai-govt-study-genetically-modified-crops-despite-opposition

This was an interesting read. It seems that Thai farmers are afraid of GM products. Must be like GM corn in the states where the patent controllers of GM corn can sue you if it blows from one of their fields onto yours and starts growing. I think Monsanto is the boy there wielding a large club over farmers heads.

[CaptHaddock]

Not all rice is paddy grown, i.e. flooded. None of the American rice crop is flooded or transplanted, although the quality is also inferior. As I understand it, the purpose of the flooding is just to kill the weeds, not that the rice plant actually needs all that water. In addition to dry field rice varieties, Thais could switch, for instance, to potatos which yield more calories per hectare and can be grown pretty much anywhere. Not so easy to change the nation diet, of course, but substantial changes of some kind may be necessary in the future.

Research has been going on at Cornell U. for some time on a method of rice cultivation, SRI, that still uses transplanting, but not flooding.

The benefits of SRI have been demonstrated in over 50 countries (see map). They include: 20%-100% or more increased yields, up to a 90% reduction in required seed, and up to 50% water savings. SRI principles and practices have been adapted for rainfed rice as well as for other crops (such as wheat, sugarcane and teff, among others), with yield increases and associated economic benefits.

http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/

[gerry123]

Must be like GM corn in the states !!!!!! nothing like it whatsoever

[kickstart]

Not all rice is paddy grown, i.e. flooded. None of the American rice crop is flooded or transplanted, although the quality is also inferior. As I understand it, the purpose of the flooding is just to kill the weeds, not that the rice plant actually needs all that water. In addition to dry field rice varieties, Thais could switch, for instance, to potatoes which yield more calories per hectare and can be grown pretty much anywhere. Not so easy to change the nation diet, of course, but substantial changes of some kind may be necessary in the future.

Research has been going on at Cornell U. for some time on a method of rice cultivation, SRI, that still uses transplanting, but not flooding.

The benefits of SRI have been demonstrated in over 50 countries (see map). They include: 20%-100% or more increased yields, up to a 90% reduction in required seed, and up to 50% water savings. SRI principles and practices have been adapted for rainfed rice as well as for other crops (such as wheat, sugarcane and teff, among others), with yield increases and associated economic benefits.

http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/

The op whants to look at TV's garden section ,members trying to grow spuds in LOS very difficult ,they suffer from so many diseases, commercial they are grown in the north of Thailand, a bit cooler .when we did potatoes at agricultre collage ,we where amazed that they could grow at all ,and that was at in the uk . I have tryed 2-3 times ,they never even got to sprout.

You are right to change a national diet not easy ,in the LOS almost impossible,Thai's far to set in they way's .

Talking to the missus ,who has experience at rice farming,says in dry years dry land rice is more difficult to manage,than wet land rice,and she says weeds are more of a problem,there, I think the jury is out , but as I said the biggest problem is the thais themselves,reluctant to change.

[cooked]

Apart from the fact that farmers are by nature conservative it can't be forgotten that in many rice growing area rice is the only thing you can cultivate. Up here, the 'soil' bakes as hard as concrete for 8 months a year, the other few months it is flooded. We get one rice harvest a year and that's it. There is some small scale vegetable gardening that goes on in places that have been looked after (soil improvement, available irrigation).

[jvs]

I asked a rice farmer and his response was,what if we plant rice that needs lees water and we get a lot of rain?

Yes it will rot!

Farmers all over the world have always been at the mercy of the weather,but for a farmer there is always next season.

Look at this rainy season,so far not much rain but in a month or two it could be different and it is a big country.some places will flood and some will be dry.

Alot more can be said but the solution is not so easy,less rice could mean a better price?

[srl1]

don't modify them please, i find this GMO disgusting

people don't like them too, that's why Monsanto is so hated

[cooked]

don't modify them please, i find this GMO disgusting

people don't like them too, that's why Monsanto is so hated

Why?

[elgordo38]

don't modify them please, i find this GMO disgusting

people don't like them too, that's why Monsanto is so hated

I think Monsanto is hated for their "Big Gorilla In The Room" attitude. They wield such a huge club and have such pull with government they are an agricultural juggernaut. If their modified seed blows onto an adjoining farmers land and pollenates they sue that farmer for theft or gene disruption or some flim flam charge. We have come to far to fast.

[stoli]

Not all rice is paddy grown, i.e. flooded. None of the American rice crop is flooded or transplanted, although the quality is also inferior. As I understand it, the purpose of the flooding is just to kill the weeds, not that the rice plant actually needs all that water. In addition to dry field rice varieties, Thais could switch, for instance, to potatos which yield more calories per hectare and can be grown pretty much anywhere. Not so easy to change the nation diet, of course, but substantial changes of some kind may be necessary in the future.

Research has been going on at Cornell U. for some time on a method of rice cultivation, SRI, that still uses transplanting, but not flooding.

The benefits of SRI have been demonstrated in over 50 countries (see map). They include: 20%-100% or more increased yields, up to a 90% reduction in required seed, and up to 50% water savings. SRI principles and practices have been adapted for rainfed rice as well as for other crops (such as wheat, sugarcane and teff, among others), with yield increases and associated economic benefits.

http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/

I have to disagree. Having lived my whole life in California, I can say with certainty that the rice paddies just 10 miles west of Sacramento, near the Sacramento River, is used to grow quite a bit of rice in flooded fields. Rice-a-Roni.

[stoli]

don't modify them please, i find this GMO disgusting

people don't like them too, that's why Monsanto is so hated

Like them or hate them, there is one fact. Without the developments by Monsanto, the world would be facing food shortages. It has to be weighed on the scale of your choosing. GMO's or people starving? Not defending Monsanto, but I want enough food for the people of the world. Famine would not be fun.....

[maderaroja]

Read "A One Straw Revolution". Dry land rice growing has been around for many years. The yields are lower than paddy grown, but something beats the hell out of nothing.

[Fullstop]

They could always grow wheat ...

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Thailand don't have a water problem only a water management problem. Most of the drought resistant rice also have lower yields and they aren't Jasmine rice.

[mango66]

Didn't the GVT testing to plant the rotten rice in the andaman sea ?

water 24Hr/365 days ! :-))

[LukKrueng]

There are many different rice varieties. Some are hill/slope grown, not in flooded paddies. Problem is they are usually harder and not as tasty as Jasmine rice which is the most popular. Personally I won;t touch any GMO's as it will take years to know if it really is harmless. Besides, you never know what the "creator" of the GMO really "program" it to do. Apparently there was a test done with corn in India. The corn was designed to reduce male reproduction ability.

Even it it IS safe and no such experiments done, the seeds market will be totally controlled by the seeds manufacturers as SMO's are designed in a way that a farmer won't be able to collect seeds from this year's crop to plant in the next season.

[bil2054]

I think the best result would be achieved with the SRI method. It does have its critics, but what doesn't? A four fold increase in productivity may be atypical, but any increase is to be applauded, and the water savings alone make it worth a trial. The organic feeding is also a great advantage IMO, as it does increase soil fertility and helps maintain the beneficial soil microbial population , which is vital to the nutrient uptake process of plant rootlets.
It is beyond the scope of this forum to really "get into it", but there are a number of studies from Cornell and Yale that address the issues, both generally and specific to rice production.
As the manager of a tree nursery it was gratifying to have some discussion of the general principles with a forestry professor from Yale, who brought a group of students out each year to see where the seedlings came from.
Here is a Wiki article which has some good road signs for the SRI production method.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_Rice_Intensification

[sammygood]

you want some delicious monsanto GMO with it nice pesticide inside, so you will have GI problems in the future and the doctor can tell you later it is a genetic disease ?

[rice555]

Hello All, the pix is some rice that was being tested of NASA at Utah State, the one

on the R/H maxes out at 7".

rice555

[CLW]

They could always grow wheat ...

You can't grow wheat in Thailand