For subscribers
Training plants to thrive in tough future
NIE researchers seek to help plants adapt to climate change amid its threat to crop yields
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The National Institute of Education's (from left) Associate Professor He Jie, 59, research fellow Qin Lin and student Dominic Koh with the common ice plant, which they experimented with to see if it could grow under purely artificial LED light and in salt water, given Singapore's urban context.
ST PHOTO: KELLY HUI
Timothy Goh
The uncertainties over climate change are prompting researchers here to step up efforts to protect Singapore's food supply, including training plants to thrive in higher temperatures, under artificial lighting and even in sea water.
Such innovation is in response to the looming risk that crop yields could decline by up to a quarter by 2050 due to global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
