From Apples And Pumpkins: News From Microbiome Research
How much the composition of the microbiome of apples and pumpkins depends on the geography of the location and what findings can be derived from this for the breeding, health and shelf life of the fruit is shown in two current publications by researchers at TU Graz.
We refer to the microbiome as the community of microorganisms that exist in or on all organisms, including bacteria and fungi. A team from the Institute for Environmental Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology, headed by institute director Gabriele Berg, has now examined the microbiomes of apples and pumpkins in more detail in two independent studies. The researchers have found that bacteria useful for plants are largely “inherited”, i.e. passed on to the next generation, while the community of fungi in the microbiome is heavily dependent on the respective soil microbiome and thus on the location.
The extent to which the composition of the microbiome of apples and oil pumpkins depends on the geographical location and what insights can be derived from this for breeding, health and shelf life of the fruits is shown in two recent publications by researchers at TU Graz.
Bacteria breakthrough could lead to disease-resistant rice
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A bacterium from a rice plant in China is thought to have good disease-resistance properties.
Scientists from Austria think they have found the key to breeding more disease-resistant rice plants, a breakthrough which could improve the security of one of the world’s most important food sources.
Rice is the staple food of about half the world’s population. The cultivation of the rice plant is very water intensive and, according to the German aid organisation Welthungerhilfe, around 15 percent of rice is grown in areas with a high risk of drought.
Global warming is therefore becoming increasingly problematic for rice cultivation, more often leading to small harvests and hunger crises. Crop failures caused by plant pathogens only serve to further aggravate the situation.
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IMAGE: Rising global warming is problematic for the water-intensive cultivation of rice, the staple food for about half the world s population. view more
Credit: Mengcen Wang
Rice is the staple food of about half the world s population. The cultivation of the rice plant is very water-intensive and, according to the German aid organization Welthungerhilfe, around 15 per cent of rice is grown in areas with a high risk of drought. Global warming is therefore becoming increasingly problematic for rice cultivation, leading more and more often to small harvests and hunger crises. Crop failures caused by plant pathogens further aggravate the situation. Here, conventional agriculture is trying to counteract this with pesticides, which are mostly used as a precautionary measure in rice cultivation. The breeding of resistant plants is the only alternative to these environmentally harmful agents - and currently only moderately successful. If the plants are resistant to on