LONDON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The British government Wednesday gave the green light to plans to experimentally grow a new crop of genetically modified (GM) wheat plants.
The field trial of the new GM wheat will be carried out on the Rothamsted Farm between 2017 and 2019, the agricultural research firm said.
The GM wheat plants were developed by scientists at Rothamsted, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Essex and Lancaster University.
It can carry out photosynthesis more efficiently, which means better conversion of light energy into plant biomass. The greenhouse yields of the GM wheat can increase by 40 percent.
Wheat is one of the major grain crops worldwide and provides approximately one-fifth of the total calories consumed globally. However, wheat yields have reached a plateau in recent years and predictions are that yield gains will not reach the level required to feed the nine billion population predicted for 2050.
A promising but as yet-unexploited route to increase wheat yields is to improve the efficiency by which energy in the form of light is converted to wheat biomass, according to Rothamsted.
"This trial will be a significant step forward as we will be able to assess in 'real environmental conditions' the potential of these plants to produce more using the same resources and land area as their non-GM counterparts," said Dr Malcolm Hawkesford, who is the lead scientist at Rothamsted for this trial.
