Staples such as cassava on which millions of people depend become more toxic and produce much smaller yields in a world with higher carbon dioxide levels and more droughts, Australian scientists say. The findings underscored the need to develop climate-change-resistant cultivars to feed rapidly growing human populations, said Ros Gleadow of the Monash University in Melbourne. Gleadow’s team tested cassava and sorghum under a series belong to a group of plants that produce chemicals called cyanogenic glycosides, which break down to release poisonous cyanide gas if the leaves are crushed or chewed. “What we found was the amount of cyanide relative to the amount of protein increases,” Gleadow said.
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