Eco-friendly Sprays may Help Plants Survive Drought

A recent study from Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) has revealed the benefit of eco-friendly sprays which can help plants survive drought.

"I think that the work established the methodologies and feasibilities of finding cheap and environmentally benign chemicals for agricultural application to improve the water use efficiency and drought tolerance of crops," said Jian-Kang Zhu, Professor of Botany and Presidential Chair of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside.

Crop News: Drought-tolerant Crops Move Closer to Becoming Reality
A synthetic chemical that mimics a naturally produced stress hormone in plants to help them cope with drought conditions has been discovered by scientists

A plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) works at the molecular level to help plants respond to environmental stresses such as drought and cold.

In the new study, researchers identified several synthetic compounds that fit well with ABA's many receptors, or cellular "docking stations," so that plants can retain water.

By finding compounds that can close these pores, researchers' findings could lead to sprays that use a plant's natural defenses to help it survive harsh environmental conditions.

India Drought Worst Since 1972, Says Met Department
India's meteorological department has said that rainfall this year has been 23 percent below average at the end of the monsoon season, making it the worst drought since 1972 in the country.

"You could spray plants to close the pores only when drought or other harsh conditions threaten the plant," said Karsten Melcher, research scientist in the VARI Laboratory of Structural Biology.

The findings appear in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Recommendations to Overcome 50-Year Treatment Drought for Lupus
Recommendations on ways to overcome the barriers that have obstructed lupus drug development have been issued by the Lewin Group, a national health care consulting firm

Source-ANI

How Fast Climate Warming Could Kill Drought-stressed Trees
Scientists have discovered in experiments that the widespread die-off of drought-stressed trees across the southwestern United States during future droughts will occur at least five