Do you know that millions of people are still suffering (遭受) from hunger? That's according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. But there could be a solution. According to a study, scientists have found a way to change a plant's genes (基因) to make better use of sunlight, reported Time for Kids.
Plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) to make their own food. The process is called photosynthesis (光合作用). But this is a very slow process. It can take between 10 minutes and one hour for plants to start and finish the photosynthesis process. When a plant is under the sunlight, it will start the photosynthesis process slowly. But if a cloud happens to cover the sunlight, the process will suddenly stop. When the cloud goes away, the plant will slowly restart the process. This makes it hard for plants to get the right amount of sunlight to create food.
The new study speeds up the process. Plants use less than one percent of the energy available to them. But by changing a plant's genes, the scientists were able to greatly increase the plants' leaf growth. In the test, leaf growth in two plants increased by 20 percent, while leaf growth on a third plant increased by 14 percent. Scientists did the study on tobacco (烟草) plants. And they thought the study would produce the same results in corn and rice. Someday, the process could increase food production around the world.
