Waterproof rice provides flood relief for poor farmers

Time-lapse photography shows the effect of a gene
that enables rice to withstand long-term flooding

The Sub1 gene--identified by IRRI and University of California researchers--allows rice to survive complete submergence for up to 17 days as illustrated by the rice still standing to the left and right of the scientist in the photo at left. Seeing is believing!

Even better than a static photo to show the effect of Sub1 is a time-lapse video, spanning 127 days from 14 June to 16 October 2007 in an IRRI research plot. Prepared by IRRI’s photography and video section, click here to view the 2:39 video. Click here to watch a speeded up 40-second version. The photo at right shows the end-result harvest of the plot on 16 October 2007 (click to enlarge), which yielded the equivalent of 3.8 tons/hectare for IR64+Sub1 and 1.4 tons/hectare for IR64. Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

Click here to learn about the latest progress on this exciting work via a feature that recently aired on the USA's National Public Radio.

Click here for a 2:36 video program about this "invincible rice" on the CNN Web site.

Click here to read a feature story in Rice Today magazine about this work. 

Click here to view an IRRI video on YouTube that shows work on both drought and flood tolerance in rice. Sometimes there is not enough water in rice fields and sometimes there is too much. Click here to view around 35 IRRI videos about various topics on YouTube.

Sub1 Rice News