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Scientists boost plant yield by 40% through ‘genetic hack’

Aerial view of the 2017 field trials where scientists studied how well their plants modified to shortcut photorespiration performed beside unmodified plants in real-world conditions. They found that plants engineered with a synthetic shortcut are about 40 percent more productive. Credit: James Baltz/College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

Professor Arnold Bloom from the University of California at Davis points out that such experiments have been carried out for the past five or six years, without achieving their goals.

He himself has published a study in Nature showing that photorespiration is not a redundant function for plants.

“Are we going to reinvent photosynthesis? I don’t think so,” he said.

More experiments in the fields of Illinois will hold the answer.

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