Wild rice helps solve the lack of food

Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia have found that wild rice in this state may play an important role in dealing with global food shortages.

Professor Robert Henry, director of the Queensland Food and Agriculture Reform Alliance (QAAFI), said there are almost no wild rice varieties in Asia due to the expansion of cultivating purebred rice varieties that have eliminated the presence of wild rice.

Illustration. Source: Internet

At the international level, people have begun using Australia's wild rice varieties to breed the crop, thereby being able to cope with new environmental stresses and help meet security needs. Future food security.

This problem is increasingly attracting the attention of public opinion, especially in Asia and countries with large population but limited ability to produce food.

Professor Henry emphasized that Australia has a diverse agriculture, not only easy to integrate and adapt to its environment, but also with the global environment.

Together with colleagues at the Institute of Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan, Professor Henry and the network of Australian scientists are exploring the links between Australian and Japanese rice varieties.

QAAFI laboratories have used DNA technology to test the ability to breed these rice varieties.

The rice was purebred in Asia about 7,000 years ago, possibly after sea level rise split Australia from Asia. Wild rice in Australia today may be similar to the rice plants that were present in Asia before the purebred process.

Henry said that Australia's wild rice has the potential to be used to supplement the biodiversity of current cultivated rice varieties, thereby increasing drought and pest resistance.