AGRICULTURE REPORT - Growing Wheat

AGRICULTURE REPORT
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January 15, 2002: Growing Wheat

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.

Studies show that there will be nine-thousand-million people in the world by the year Two -Thousand -Fifty. The
United Nations has warned that many countries will have to increase food production to satisfy their population
demands.

Some agriculture experts say increasing grain production on the world’s richest soils may not be enough. They
note that production of wheat also must be increased on less productive soils.

One concern is the growing amount of harmful metals in farmland soils. The metal
aluminum¹, for example, restricts growth of wheat plants when acid levels in the soil are
high. Aluminum particles are mainly found just below the topsoil.

Aluminum restricts plant growth on more than thirty percent of all farmland worldwide. In
the United States, almost thirty -five -million hectares of farmland are affected².

Adding another substance, lime, is one way to reduce the acidity³ of soils that have too
much aluminum. But lime is costly⁴ to transport long distances. Another method is to
develop plants strong enough to grow in such soils.

J. Perry Gustafson is a genetic⁶ expert with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Agriculture
Department. He is helping⁷ plant growers develop new kinds of wheat plants with genes⁸ that will help the plants
grow in high-aluminum soils.
Mister Gustafson works with the Plant Genetics Research office in Columbia, Missouri. Scientists there have
been studying the genetic structure of wheat. They have identified the area of a gene⁵ that resists aluminum. They
say the aluminum-resistant gene is between two marker genes that are close to each other.

Wheat growers can now choose plants that have these markers. The Department of Agriculture say this process
may reduce by half the time required to develop a new kind of wheat. Currently, ten to fifteen years are
necessary.

The genetic marker was identified in a wheat plant native to Brazil. No other wheat grows as well in high-
aluminum soils.

Mister Gustafson says that borrowing genes from another grain, rye, may be the best hope for wheat to survive in
acidic, high-aluminum soils. He has found genetic markers in rye plants that are closely linked to the aluminum-
resistant genes. He hopes the markers can be used to help move the desirable rye genes into wheat.

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.

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1 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 acidity   

n.酸度，酸性

参考例句：

• This plant prefers alkaline soil,though it will readily tolerate some acidity.这种植物在酸性土壤中也能生存，但硷性土壤更加适宜。
• Gastric acidity would not prevent the organism from passing into the gut.胃的酸度不能防止细菌进入肠道。

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪