Thai researchers have created a new strain of rice with 12 times as much protein as regular varieties, and aim to promote it worldwide, according to a report Sunday.
Scientists told The Sunday Nation newspaper that the new strain was the most nutritious of the palatable rice strains developed so far.
It was created not by high-tech genetic modification, but through the natural method of cross-pollination.
Khao Hom Nil, or black fragrant rice, sprang from a variety brought from China to Kasetsart’s university Agriculture Engineering and Biotechnology Center. Scientists there discovered a mutant strain of the plant was unusually rich in protein.
The variety was not appetizing, so researchers cross-bred it with fragrant Thai jasmine rice to create the new strain.
"I can say that Khao Hom Nil is the only rice species in the world that contains 12 percent protein ... and tastes good," said Apichart Vanavichit, the head of the team working on the project at Kasetsart University.
Only one other strain of rice, a wild plant native to Saudi Arabia, contains as much protein, but it does not produce high yields and is not appetizing, Apichart said.
The next step will be to alter the color to white, which is far more popular than colored rice in Asia, and to find out which gene is responsible for the high protein content.
Scientists in Asia, where rice is a staple for billions of people, are constantly working to create so-called "super-rice" strains.
Experts at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines have said the region may well have to resort to genetic engineering to boost yields and feed its impoverished millions.
Current world rice output will have to be increased by 50 percent over the next 30 years in view of a forecast world population expansion of up to 40 percent, they say -- BANGKOK (AFP)
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