Fungi could protect rice against climate change, researchers say that

A farmer working in a rice field plantation. Photography: Guang Niu/Getty Images

Inoculár are seeds of rice with mushrooms is more tolerant of salt, drought and cold plants, which may become more common as changes in climate, according to researchers.

Researchers obtained two types of fungi is known, that have symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationships with plants. One was coastal dunegrass and the other of a variety of Strawberry that thrives on soils geothermal even in winter below freezing temperatures.

When two varieties of commercial rice seeds were inoculated with the mushrooms, the resulting plants, cultivated in greenhouses, growth and grain production has increased and were more tolerant of drought.

In addition, plant inoculadas fungi of coastal plants thrived under saline conditions and host fungi from wild strawberries grew well at low temperatures, according to research published this (July 5 month) in PLoS One.

"The fungus makes it all work," said Russell j. Rodríguez, co-author of the research and a microbiologist with the geological inspection. "In 24 hours, we have seen the benefits." "[Inoculated] plants grew to five times faster".

Technique does not change the genetic material of plant rice, his DNA, he said. "But changes the expression [switching on and off] genes and the plant now has the ability to resist environmental stress," he told SciDev.Net.

Researchers do not understand the mechanism, but they suggest that fungi could produce a substance that regulates the growth of plants.

In its symbiotic relationship with the plants, fungi confer tolerance to stress by nutrients, a phenomenon known as 'symbiogenics' because a symbiotic partner influences the expression of other genes.

The technique should work for different varieties of rice and other crops, like corn and peas, said Rodriguez, adding that researchers are trying to now make rice plants heat too tolerant.

Glenn Gregory, who studies plants tolerant to stress at the International Institute for research of rice in the Philippines, said the experiment on salt tolerance was "impressive and very promising".

But more experiments are needed to see if the rice thrives under field conditions, he said, because the fungi often require specific habitats, such as geothermal soils, to survive.

"In field conditions, the soil and the overall environment [are] ' contaminated' with other agencies, which can also interact with the plant and, in essence, to compete with the fungus," said Gregory.

RODRIGUEZ said his team has been working with Korean and African scientists to test the findings in the field.

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