Experiments with a chemical which enabled food plants to survive and grow under drought conditions which normally would have killed them were described here today by a Weizmann Institute scientist at the First European Symposium on plant growth.
The experiments were described by Dr. Abraham Halevy to scientists and farm experts from the United States, Britain, France, Israel, Austria, Italy, West Germany and the Netherlands. The symposium was devoted largely to the effects on plant life of cycocel, a compound which controls the growth of cereals and other plants.
Dr. Halevy described his glasshouse experiments with the chemical at a press conference given by the American Thysanamide Company which developed and patented the compound. He reported he had experimented first with flowers and then with beans, tomatoes and lemons. He said he had found that treated plants can live three times as long without water as untreated ones and that production can be increased by 30 percent with use of the chemical.
Dr. Halevy noted that the chemical is still in the experimental stage and has not yet been authorized for use with foodstuffs. He said that while he was convinced that the chemical was not toxic, “caution is still essential.”
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