Nagoya University bio-agriculture team tackles innovative approach to increase rice productivity in CSSP Webinar

A team of professors and scientists from Nagoya University, Japan and the Philippines Rice Research Institute headed by Professor Dr. Akira Yamauchi, Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, discussed the importance of strengthening root system function as an approach to improve crop productivity under various environmental stresses during the Webinar via Zoom held on 11 November 2020 on the topic, “Commitment to Meet the Challenges of Crop Value Chain amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.” The webinar was held in celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP).

In their paper titled, “Strengthening Root System Function for Improving Crop Productivity under Various Environmental Stresses,” Dr. Yamauchi, together with co-authors, emphasized that rice crop productivity is negatively affected by soil abiotic stresses. They stressed that as shown by experimental evidences, “a root system of an individual plant is an integration of component roots with dissimilar morphology, anatomy, physiological functions, and in developmental responses to various soil conditions.”  They explained further that phenotypic plasticity is the “ability of the plant to change its morphology as environmental conditions change.” Experiments on phenotyping and genotyping are ongoing to determine the functional roles of root plasticity, to locate genes responsible for root plasticity, and examine the physiological function of such plasticity for plant adaptation and productivity.

Co-authors of Dr. Yamauchi in the paper are Dr. Roel Suralta and Dr. Jonathan Niones, both scientists at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Dr. Mana Kano-Nakata and Dr Yoshiaki Inukai, both scientists of the Nagoya University International Center for Research and Education in Agricultural Sciences, and Dr. Shiro Mitsuya, scientist and professor of the Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences Keynote speaker in the webinar was Dr. William Dar, Secretary of the Philippine Department of Agriculture.  The webinar was also an occasion to elect the new sets of CSSP officers for 2020-2021. Elected as the new CSSP president for 2020-2021 was Dr. Roel Suralta succeeding Dr. Tonette Laude of the University of the Philippines Los Banos  (UPLB) who held the position during the period 2019-2020.

Source:  Dr. Akira Yamauchi