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MSU鈥檚 Reddy working to 鈥榯ackle鈥 future farming challenges

MSU鈥檚 Reddy working to 鈥榯ackle鈥 future farming challenges

Contact: Meg Henderson

Raja Reddy works with rice plants at a research facility
Raja Reddy works with rice plants at the MAFES Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Research facility. (Photo by Megan Bean)

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 亚洲色吧视频 agronomy professor is examining crops today that anticipate the agricultural needs of tomorrow.

Raja Reddy, research professor in MSU鈥檚 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, has dedicated his career to the dual challenges of feeding a rapidly growing world population and the stresses of climate change on agriculture.

鈥淭oday鈥檚 global population is about 7.78 billion, and it鈥檚 expected to increase to almost 10 billion by 2050,鈥 Reddy said. 鈥淭oday, the average annual rate of increase in food production is 1.2 percent, but in the next 35 years, that increase must grow to an average of 2.4 percent to meet the needs of the additional population. The challenge is being able to increase food production on a fixed amount of land.鈥

Reddy鈥檚 research in the university鈥檚 Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station has shown that the environmental inputs that help plants grow, such as ultraviolet light, temperature and carbon dioxide, become stressors to the plants when these inputs become imbalanced. As climate change is already upsetting the delicate environmental balance and will continue to do so increasingly in the coming years, Reddy is looking at ways to adapt crop production to those changes.

Reddy said one solution to mitigating the climate鈥檚 effects on plant growth is to manipulate the plant鈥檚 environment. The MAFES Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Research facility, which has operated since 1977, allows Reddy to precisely control the growing conditions of his plants.

Kale and mustard plants that have endured multiple stresses.
Kale and mustard plants that have endured multiple stresses.聽(Photo submitted)

We can create a climate, based on projections, of the year 2050 or 2100 and study the effects on the plants,鈥 Reddy said.

The professor and his colleagues鈥 recent study on kale and mustard greens at the SPAR facility also found that by manipulating temperature, water, nutrients and CO2 concentrations to precise levels, plants respond by producing enhanced phytochemical and antioxidant properties, which provide increased health benefits to the consumer.

This research has implications for commercial seed production, including region-specific and 鈥渃limate-ready鈥 seeds, giving growers a better variety of options than they currently have.

鈥淚f you understand the environment in a region, you can create seeds for optimal growth, both for today and for the future,鈥 he said.

Basil in the SPAR unit chambers under various stresses.
Basil in the SPAR unit chambers under various stresses. (Photos submitted)

Reddy advocates for a multi-pronged approach to tackling future farming challenges. 鈥淭here is not a silver bullet that will meet future climate challenges and increasing demand for food,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t takes 5-15 years to develop a new plant variety, so we need to find small gains that come from different sources.鈥

For more on the SPAR unit, visit . For more on the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in MSU鈥檚 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit .

MSU is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .