Everyone is always talking about ways to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to prevent further climate change. Scientists have revealed a new genetically modified rice plant that reduces emissions of methane. Read more at:http://blog.worldweatheronline.com/2015/09/04/rice-answer-decrease-greenhouse-gases/

1. www.worldweatheronline.com
Rice could be the answer to decrease greenhouse gases

2. www.worldweatheronline.com
Everyone is always talking about ways to reduce the levels of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to prevent further climate
change.
Methane is not normally mentioned despite it being a
greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon
dioxide.
However scientists have revealed a new genetically modified
rice plant that reduces emissions of methane.
What’s this about?

3. www.worldweatheronline.com
How does it differ?
The new rice differs from normal rice by only one gene
(stolen from barley) but it produces less methane and
yields 43 percent more grain per plant.
Chuanxin Sun of the Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences says, ‘For three years of field trials it worked
very well. It was especially effective during the
summer, when it cut methane emissions to 0.3%,
compared to 10% of the control rice plants’ emissions.’
‘The new rice reduced emissions less dramatically in
autumn, because of lower temperatures, but still cut
methane emissions in half.’

4. www.worldweatheronline.com
How does it fight Greenhouse gas?
The gene inserted into the rice forces the rice plant to store
more carbon, in the form of starch, in its stems and grains,
and less in its roots.
The scientists believe that since there is less carbon in the
roots, less can leak into the soil. Therefore the microbes in
the soil have less carbon to convert into methane.

5. www.worldweatheronline.com
What is there left to do?
• Larger scale trials need to be performed and more precise
measurements of exact methane emissions and yield of the
genetically modified rice need to be calculated.
• Chuanxin Sun has confirmed the next step is to use traditional
breeding to make a rice variety that’s ‘basically the same
scientifically’ as the genetically modified rice, including the
same gene, in order to avoid any GMO issues.

6. www.worldweatheronline.com
When will it be grown on a large scale?
The rice is about 10 to 20 years away from
being ready for farmers to start growing.

7. www.worldweatheronline.com
To find out more about why not read the whole
article, click the link below:
Rice could be the answer to decrease
greenhouse gases