Humble Pond Plant Duckweed May Help Researchers to Develop Better Crops
Published:22 Aug.2021    Source:Rutgers University

Duckweed, a tiny freshwater floating plant, is an excellent laboratory model for scientists to discover new strategies for growing hardier and more sustainable crops in an age of climate change and global population boom, a Rutgers-led study finds.

 
"There is a need for new models to tackle complex molecular and ecological processes in plant biology using multidisciplinary approaches," said the study's senior author Eric Lam, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "Duckweeds are well suited to play an important role in these endeavors." The study appears in the journal The Plant Cell.