Grafting Shows Promise for Boosting Climate-Ready Rice

LOS BAÑOS, LAGUNA (June 18, 2025) — Dr. Pallavi Singh, Associate Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, UK, and her team have developed a successful method for grafting rice—marking a breakthrough for monocot plants, which have long been considered impossible to graft.

Their findings show that grafting in rice is possible by joining the young shoot and root at the root–shoot junction (called the mesocotyl), where the tissues can fuse and form vascular connections.

Grafting is a plant propagation technique that joins the shoot of one plant (the scion) to the root system of another (the rootstock), allowing them to grow as a single, functional plant. While widely used in horticulture, this technique has rarely been applied to monocots like rice due to structural limitations.

“Our time-course studies following grafting in rice reveal that significant cell expansion occurs on days 1 and 3 post-grafting, followed by the onset of cell division and vascular differentiation by day 7,” Dr. Singh explained. The team also found that plant hormones play a role in promoting the formation of vascular connections between grafted tissues, supporting a stable and functional union.

Once established, these grafts can transfer beneficial root traits such as drought tolerance, improved nutrient uptake, and disease resistance. “We’ve also explored whether grafting can be used to influence shoot traits,” added Dr. Singh, referring to experiments with a rice mutant that produces an unusually high number of tillers.