Climate warming is reducing rice quality in East Asia, research reveals
Research published in Geophysical Research Letters, has highlighted a decline in rice quality in East Asia, coincident with changing temperatures.
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Ultimately, the scientists determined that overnight temperatures are the main driver of reduced rice quality. In particular, as nighttime temperatures become warmer, a critical threshold for decline begins at 12 °C and 18 °C for Japan and China respectively. When flowering and grain growth occur in such conditions, rates of photosynthesis and starch accumulation in the grain decrease, leading to lower rice quality as more grains are susceptible to breakage.
Following this, daily solar radiation was the second most important factor contributing to rice quality changes (higher solar radiation leading to lower HRR), then daily precipitation (less precipitation corresponding to lower HRR) and lastly daytime vapor pressure deficit (beyond a threshold of 0.5-1 kPa, HRR declines).
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In this study, HRR decreased by 0.5% and 1.5% for Japan and China respectively in projections between 2020 and 2100 for lower emissions scenarios. However, as modeled emissions increase, HRR is projected to decrease more prominently after 2050, potentially exceeding 5% in China by 2100.
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