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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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GM cereal crops created to grow in salty water
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/geneticmodification/5770087/GM-cere\
al-crops-created-to-grow-in-salty-water.html
Scientists have found a way of genetically modifying cereal crops to
grow in salty water in a move that could help alleviate hunger in some
of the world's poorest nations.
By Aislinn Simpson
Published: 7:00AM BST 08 Jul 2009

The research saw scientists enhance genes already present in plants
which lock sodium ions into the roots rather than moving up to the
shoot where they can cause long-term damage.

The tests were carried out on a model plant by the University of
Adelaide working in collaboration with the Department of Plant
Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

If cereal crops such as rice, wheat and barley, can be modified in the
same way, a more secure future could be provided for billions of
people around the world threatened with hunger.

Countries which could benefit include Bangladesh, coastal Vietnam and
Burma, where rising sea levels caused by climate change are
threatening some of the most productive land in the world.

Pakistan's agriculture is also heavily reliant on the Indus River,
which is becoming increasingly salty, threatening less food production
in a country with a rapidly growing population.

Professor Mark Tester, from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
at the University of Adelaide, said preliminary tests on rice plants
were "very promising".

"Salinity affects the growth of plants worldwide, particularly in
irrigated land where one third of the world's food is produced. And it
is a problem that is only going to get worse, as pressure to use less
water increases and quality of water decreases," he said.

Dr Giles Oldroyd, of the John Innes Centre, one of the world's leading
plant research centres, said that developing salt-tolerant plants was
key to resolving major concerns about global food production in the
future.

"The research has been undertaken in a model plant and it is important
to show that this also works in crops," he said. "However, this is an
exciting development that should lead the way in engineering crop
plants that can grow on salt damaged soils."

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