淹不死的水稻

About half of the world’s population eats rice daily. It’s one of the globe’s most important food staples, said plant geneticist Pamela Ronald. But, she added, around 25% of that rice is grown in flood-prone regions.

世界上一半左右的人口每天吃米饭。大米是全球最重要的主食之一，植物遗传学家潘梅拉·罗奈尔德如是说。但她同时表示，全球25%的水稻种植在容易发生洪涝的地区。

Pamela Ronald: Rice plants will die if they’re completely submerged for more than 3 days, and this is a big problem in areas of South and Southeast Asia, where farmers rely on the crop to feed their families.

潘梅拉·罗奈尔德：水稻如果完全浸入水中达三天以上就会死亡，这在南亚和东南亚是个大问题。在这些地区，农民依靠种植水稻养家糊口。

Dr Ronald, of the University of California, Davis, has been working for the last 15 years to isolate the gene for flood tolerance in rice. Five years ago she finally found it, and now that gene is being used in new varieties of rice.

罗奈尔德博士来自加州大学戴维斯分校，15年来，她致力于从水稻中分离出抗洪基因。5年前，她终于找到了这种基因。目前该基因已用于培养新品种水稻。

Pamela Ronald: The new varieties of rice can withstand up to about 17 days of flooding.

潘梅拉·罗奈尔德：新品种能耐受洪水浸泡达17天左右。

The rice has the same taste, feel, and harvest schedule as rice typically grown in Asia. Ronald believes that’s one reason why farmers – who themselves did extensive field tests of the rice in India and Bangladesh – are now using it.

新品种与亚洲常见水稻有着相同的口味、口感和成长期。罗奈尔德认为，正因为如此，印度和孟加拉两国农民已接受并种植该水稻。此前他们已进行了广泛的现场试验。

Pamela Ronald: Something like 2 billion very poor farmers live in these flood prone areas, so even a small change in the quantity of grain that can be harvested can have a huge impact on these families’ lives.

潘梅拉·罗奈尔德：大约有两百万贫农居住在洪水频发的地区，因此即使粮食产量小幅上升，对农民一家的生存依然意义非凡。

Ronald added her new rice yields about five-fold more grain under conditions of flooding.

罗奈尔德还表示，洪水条件下，新品水稻的产量将在传统水稻产量的6倍左右。