Cuban Scientists Engineer New Rice Species
Havana, March 8 (AIN) Cuban scientists are employing biotechnological methods to cultivate rice in adverse weather conditions.
Cuba has around a million of hectares of land affected by salinity due to the incorrect management of soils. This situation has forced specialists to search for more resistant varieties.
Since 2000, the Rice Experimental Center in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio has produced new genotypes resistant to environmental stress, drought, and plagues – such as white mite, very common in the Caribbean.
According to scientist from that institution, one of the genera which has been developed is INCA LP-7, now the most cultivated on the island. This type of rice, created by a scientific team headed by Dr. Maria Caridad Gonzalez, produces four tons of the grain per hectare.
The work of this center also includes the search of species resistant to the Pyricularia grisea fungus, one of the principal agents responsible for vegetal diseases around the world.
This institute has achieved outstanding results in the establishment of sowing cycles which take into account meteorology conditions.
Copyright ©2004 National News Agency CUBA (AIN)
Havana, March 8 (AIN) Cuban scientists are employing biotechnological methods to cultivate rice in adverse weather conditions.
Cuba has around a million of hectares of land affected by salinity due to the incorrect management of soils. This situation has forced specialists to search for more resistant varieties.
Since 2000, the Rice Experimental Center in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio has produced new genotypes resistant to environmental stress, drought, and plagues – such as white mite, very common in the Caribbean.
According to scientist from that institution, one of the genera which has been developed is INCA LP-7, now the most cultivated on the island. This type of rice, created by a scientific team headed by Dr. Maria Caridad Gonzalez, produces four tons of the grain per hectare.
The work of this center also includes the search of species resistant to the Pyricularia grisea fungus, one of the principal agents responsible for vegetal diseases around the world.
This institute has achieved outstanding results in the establishment of sowing cycles which take into account meteorology conditions.
Copyright ©2004 National News Agency CUBA (AIN)
