FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A new discovery by scientists could help protect crop production and reduce plant mortality due to drought, which accounts for a quarter of U.S. crop production losses.
Water is essential for plants to grow, reproduce and survive. Drought causes severe stress in plants and can significantly reduce yearly production or kill entire crops. Drought also increases costs for farmers, who must invest in irrigation to keep their crops alive. These impacts and costs result in reduced food supply and higher food prices for consumers.
After years of studying the mechanisms and effects of drought in plants, scientists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Colorado State University identified how plants die during drought and how some of the effects of drought can be reversed. They also discovered a plant species (a wild millet relative) with remarkable resiliency to extreme drought, demonstrating an ability to “resurrect” after acute drought episodes…