Research by a Dallas-based team of Texas A&M University scientists could have an enormous global impact on food production.
Currently the team is working with researchers across four continents trying to find out why pineapples thrive on so little water.
According to a dallasnews.com report carried by Fresh Plaza, scientists have mapped the pineapple’s genome - its complete DNA blueprint - which contains all the genetic information to produce the tropical delight and help it grow.
Meanwhile, the team at Texas A&M focused on how the pineapple uses sunlight to make food.
If they come up with an answer to that, it could turn barren areas of the world into gardens.
Pineapples share ancestry with rice, wheat, corn and other water-indulging crops. So the research might indicate how to help these and other major crops grow with up to 80% less water.
And this could certainly have global implications if you listen to Qingyi Yu, the professor of plant genomics and molecular biology at Texas A&M and behind the research, when she says that world food production needs to double by 2050 to meet ever-growing demand.
