In the 1960s, the “Green Revolution” marked by dwarfing breeding gave rice and wheat excellent characteristics of high fertilizer tolerance, lodging resistance, and high yield. However, at the same time, they also had the disadvantage of low nitrogen fertilizer utilization efficiency, and their increased yield was highly dependent on chemical fertilizers. The continuous and large amount of nitrogen fertilizer input not only increases planting costs, but also leads to environmental pollution. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced that the fertilizer utilization rate of China’s three major grain crops in 2019 was 39.2%, far below the world average and even lower than the level of developed agricultural countries such as Europe and America. How to reduce nitrogen fertilizer input in agricultural production and continuously improve crop yield has become a major issue that urgently needs to be solved for the sustainable development of agriculture in China.
Recently, the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a paper entitled “Enhanced sustainable green revolution yield via nitrogen responsive chromogenic modulation in rice“ in Research Article and Science, reporting the research results of the new mechanism of Gibberellic acid signal transduction to improve nitrogen fertilizer utilization efficiency in rice. This discovery not only deepens the understanding of the interaction mechanism between Gibberellic acid signaling and plant nitrogen response, but also finds a new breeding strategy that reduces fertilizer input and environmental pollution while ensuring yield improvement. It lays a theoretical foundation for cultivating green, high-yield and efficient new varieties with “less input, more output, and environmental protection”, and provides valuable genetic resources for breeding applications. This paper was selected as the cover article of the issue by Science magazine for key recommendations.
Post time: Apr-26-2024