Redesigning Rice Photosynthesis to Increase Yield

P.L. Mitchell (Author), B. Hardy (Author), J.E. Sheehy (Edited by)

9780444506108, Elsevier Science

Hardback, published 7 November 2000

300 pages
24.1 x 15.9 x 2.3 cm, 0.73 kg

S. Rodermel"...I strongly recommend this text as a paradigm of an integrated approach to tackle an important, multi-disciplinary topic in crop science." --Crop ScienceD.W. Lawlor"...This sensible book should be widely read: it provides diligent readers with an excellent summary of current thinking applied to the whole problem of crop production, improvement, especially of photosynthesis, and genetic modifications." --Journal of Agricultural Science

Rice yields need to increase in order to keep pace with the growing population of Asia and to alleviate hunger and poverty. There appears, however, to be a biophysical limit associated with conventional photosynthetic pathways. The research presented in this book aims at understanding how the rice plant's photosynthetic pathway could be redesigned to overcome current yield limits. The factors controlling yield are discussed from the agronomic to the molecular level. Prospects for improving rice photosynthesis include using genetic engineering to convert rice into a C4 plant.

The various chapters in this book deal with photosynthesis; a comparison of C3 and C4 pathways; genes physiology and function, and also discuss this in the broader context of economic consequences of yield improvements for poverty, the molecular genetics of photosynthesis, and ecophysiological and evolutionary perspectives of photosynthesis in wetlands.

Increasing rice yields to keep pace with the growing population is the focus of this work. Factors controlling yield are discussed from the agronomic to the molecular level.

Subject Areas: Cereal crops [TVKC], Agronomy & crop production [TVK], Biotechnology [TCB], Botany & plant sciences [PST], Agriculture & related industries [KNAC]