Is the capacity for anaerobic germination associated with submergence tolerance?
Ongoing climate change is leading to more frequent and severe floods in rice-growing regions worldwide. This necessitates the development of more climate-resilient rice to sustain production and farmers' incomes.
In this regard, a former student at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Lupakisyo Mwakyusa, screened several hundred genotypes of African landraces for their ability to germinate under water, i.e., anaerobic germination. Now, Dina Djurhuus has selected a subset of this material and is testing whether those genotypes that excel in anaerobic germination also show superior tolerance to submergence later in the seedling stage.
Regrettably, not all of the genotypes are germinating. Nevertheless, Dina ends up with about 10 genotypes in the thesis research, and we hope that this will still be enough to test our hypothesis.
In this regard, a former student at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Lupakisyo Mwakyusa, screened several hundred genotypes of African landraces for their ability to germinate under water, i.e., anaerobic germination. Now, Dina Djurhuus has selected a subset of this material and is testing whether those genotypes that excel in anaerobic germination also show superior tolerance to submergence later in the seedling stage.
Regrettably, not all of the genotypes are germinating. Nevertheless, Dina ends up with about 10 genotypes in the thesis research, and we hope that this will still be enough to test our hypothesis.