The work of creating 'super trees' supports human life

From fire-resistant forests to bananas to prevent hunger . British scientists are actively studying the power of plants to solve the problems of the 21st century.

Researchers at Kew Botanical Gardens in London (UK) said that there are many ways for people to exploit the capacity of trees.

Super hybrid plants

Veggies who consume everyday are usually cultivated agricultural products. Meanwhile, 'relatives' of these plants in nature have created their own resistance to pests, climate change and soil salinity.

Wild vegetables that are bred with "relatives" on the farm will create new and disease-resistant plants.

Therefore, breeders have started to hybridize naturally grown plants with cultivated varieties to create a healthy generation of plants and high yields.

The BBC (UK) assesses that this breeding program, if possible, is applicable to developing countries, as the world population is increasing with the momentum of 9 billion people.

However, these plants are threatened by human impacts, changing the purpose of land use, Earth warming, pollution, war . Therefore, Seed Bank of the Botanical Garden Kew is shaking hands with partners to implement hybrid breeding programs around the world, preserving these varieties for several years.

When the tree is medicine

Currently more than 28,000 types of plants are recorded for medical use but less than 16% of them are in the management statement. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2012, herbal-based pharmaceuticals are worth about $ 83 billion.

The industry is growing in popularity, as in Germany, about 90% of the population uses plant-derived drugs (garlic, rhododendron .).

A major problem is that managers often want to prevent unsafe or fake products from entering the market. There are cases where the names of the trees are mistakenly causing the patients to consume the wrong medicine or even endanger their lives.

China is one of the countries trying to prevent this. In December 2016, the Chinese government announced that the goal by 2020 is to include more traditional medicines in the health care system and create detailed illustrations and descriptions of herbs to prevent the situation. mistake.

In order for plants to fully realize the potential of human life saving, the researchers have proposed: more effective quality management, providing reliable traceability, taking the supply of medicinal plants from stable place.

Super banana

Enset is a banana plant that has been grown in Ethiopia for thousands of years. The enset tree is also used as a rope, medicine, animal feed, clothes . This banana plant can withstand heavy rain, drought, and flood.

Enset belongs to the banana family.

Scientists have investigated other locations that can grow this plant, especially in countries facing hunger. In the same planted area, an enset can provide more harvest than most cereals and can be processed into soups, porridge, and pastes. The roots of an enset plant when boiled are also similar to potatoes.

Tree against fire

Kew Botanical Garden is studying to identify fire-prone family families as well as plantation sites that can better resist fires. They can be used as white belts to prevent fire and reduce damage caused by forest fires. The types of plants that can tolerate fire often have thick bark, fast germination ability.