Scientists Modified Plant For Better Photosynthesis, Made Crop Yield More Efficient

Photosynthesis is the way plants convert solar energy into a source of nutrients. It’s basically how plants eat. Now, scientists figured out a way to make this process a lot more efficient, thus allowing plants to eat more and grow faster. The potential benefits that this development poses for crop yield and food production are simply astounding.

As AGWeb notes, what the scientists at the University of Illinois basically created a doped up photosynthesis process. The lead author of the study is Professor Stephen Long who specializes in crop technology. According to him, since they now proved that it can be done, it’s just a matter of actually applying the new findings to other plants.

"Now that we know it works, it won't be too difficult to do it with other crops,” Professor Long said. "If you look at crops around the world, it would (increase yield) many million tons of food."

The process works by boosting the levels of three specific proteins in the plants that are used for photosynthesis, Phys.org reports. As a result, productivity actually increased by up to 20 percent when the scientists tested it out in the field. They used tobacco plants for the test as well, which is one of the premier plants sown and harvested around the world.

Right now, the prospect of applying the technology on actual crops for increased yield isn’t a guarantee. However, since photosynthesis is something that pretty much all plant-based food sources share, it does increase the chances of success significantly.

On that note, the technology is still several years away from actually making the kind of impact that Professor Long and his team are hoping for. The soonest on estimate is likely 15 years, according to him. Then again, this development is still worth celebrating because it’s one of the biggest breakthroughs in crop science that will actually allow humans to increase food production several times over.