Ways to Improve Rice

 

 

Broadcast: January 7, 2003
By Mario Ritter

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Rice is the world's most important crop. Much has been done to increase its productivity¹. Modern genetic³ science has tried to change the genes⁴ of rice to improve it. However, traditional methods for growing rice also have been very successful. Today, we show that both methods for improving crops are needed.
Recently, Ray Wu of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and other researchers tried to create a kind of rice that is able to grow in difficult conditions. They discovered genes from the e-coli bacterium1 that help plants make a special sugar called trehalose. The sugar is believed to help organisms remain healthy in difficult or dry conditions.
The Cornell team engineered genes of basmati rice to accept the gene² that helps form the special sugar. The team reported that the genetically⁵ engineered basmati rice was able to survive in salty soil, at low temperatures and during dry periods.
The scientists say the new rice will be able to feed people even during periods of dry weather and in areas with increasingly salty water.
However, not all genetic change is produced by combining genes from very different organisms. Olga Linares of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has shown that traditional agricultural methods remain important. She reported to the National Academy of Sciences that a new rice would have been impossible without traditionally grown African rice.
There are two kinds of rice in the world - Asian rice and African rice. Mizz Linares notes that about eighty percent of the rice grown in Africa is Asian rice. Only fifteen percent is native African rice. However, researchers at the West African Rice Development Association in Ivory⁶ Coast were able to combine African rice with Asian rice to create what is called a hybrid⁷. The new rice plant is called NERICA, or "New Rice for Africa." The new rice is able to survive difficult conditions, like long periods of dry weather.
The plants also produce more rice and can help increase food production. In southern African countries, food production has decreased since the nineteen-sixties. Many experts see NERICA rice as a way to solve that problem. Yet, NERICA would not have been possible if farmers in Senegal had not continued growing their traditional crops.
1． bacterium [bAk5tIErIEm] n. 细菌

1 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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

5 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

6 ivory   

n.象牙，乳白色；adj.象牙制的，乳白色的

参考例句：

• My grandmother has some jewelry made of ivory.我祖母有一些象牙首饰。
• It is carved from ivory.它是用象牙雕成的。

7 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。