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SUMMARY:High quality and quantity duckweed biomass production & protein\, 
 starch biosynthesis
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261001T070000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261001T071500Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260915T141156Z
UID:indico-contribution-2919@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Hai Zhao (Chengdu Institute of Biology\, Chinese Aca
 demy of Sciences)\nDuckweeds are the smallest and fastest-growing flowerin
 g plants and represent a promising source of high-value aquatic biomass. H
 ere\, we summarize recent progress from our group in duckweed research. Mo
 re than 10 years studies in a 0.33-ha production system in Yunnan demonstr
 ated that duckweed can generate abundant biomass under practical cultivati
 on conditions\, with annual biomass productivity reaching 39.2–55.0 t ha
 ⁻¹. Beyond high yield\, duckweed also showed clear quality advantages o
 ver water hyacinth\, characterized by higher nutritional value and lower l
 ignocellulosic components. These features support its potential as a diges
 tible and nutrient-rich feed ingredient. Consistently\, pig feeding trials
  showed that duckweed supplementation improved growth performance compared
  with the control diet\, with a 46.15% increase in average daily gain and 
 a 43.71% reduction in the feed-to-gain ratio. Improvements in meat quality
  further supported the practical value of duckweed for animal production. 
 Further mechanistic and genetic studies revealed that cultivation optimiza
 tion and physiological induction can promote starch accumulation above 75%
  of dry weight\, associated with altered carbon allocation and reduced lig
 nocellulosic components. In parallel\, high-protein duckweed strains with 
 protein contents exceeding 50% were selected\, and several genes associate
 d with enhanced nitrogen assimilation and protein accumulation were cloned
  and functionally characterized\, providing targets for improving protein 
 production. Efficient genetic transformation systems have also expanded th
 e application of duckweed as a plant bioreactor for recombinant protein pr
 oduction\, including edible vaccines. Together\, these studies establish d
 uckweed as a high-quality biomass resource and a versatile synthetic biolo
 gy platform for future food\, feed\, and plant-based biomanufacturing.\n\n
 https://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2919/
LOCATION:Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Napoli F
 ederico II\, Portici\, Italy Sala Cinese
URL:https://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2919/
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