A new technique to boost rice production
New Delhi, Dec 04 (India Science Wire): In a major boost to efforts to help meet the growing
need for high quality hybrid rice seeds, a team of Hyderabad-based researchers has
developed a new method to assess the genetic quality of the seeds that are used in their
production.
A hybrid seed is created by crossing two different varieties of the same plant. Hybrid seed is
produced when the egg of female parent is fertilised with the pollen from another plant. In
this process, it is particularly essential to ensure the genetic purity of the female parent.
It is a highly tricky process as the cytoplasmic male sterile line (CMS) used as the female
plant has to be at least 99 percent genetically pure. This is easier said than done. For, they
can't be raised in isolation. They hav...