BASIC READING COMPLETION 9

Improving Corn

In the summer of 2012, little rain fell across the region in the United States known as the “corn belt.” Corn from this region is used in products sold all over the world. Corn, though, doesn’t grow in fields without water. As a result, there was a shortage of corn. Because corn is a key ingredient in many grocery store items, the shortage of corn made food prices around the world go up. No one seemed prepared for the effects this extreme weather brought. 

However, some companies have been working on a solution. They’ve been researching how to alter corn so it can grow in these dry conditions. And these companies have benefited farmers in the past. For example, they engineered corn so that it can survive the pests and other bugs that eat it. In contrast to those changes, making corn survive with little water is much more complicated. For instance, if the dry conditions are at the beginning, middle, or end of a growing season, the corn is affected differently. Responding to all these conditions is difficult. 

One strategy scientists have used is making the pores on the surface of corn leaves smaller. This is important because these pores regulate the water in the plant. This alteration would make it so that corn can survive while absorbing very little water. Although companies don’t expect to achieve the same results that good weather would produce, they do hope to improve the corn crop in times of extreme dryness. In fact, companies have tested the newly altered corn. In one case, the engineered corn produced 7 percent more crop than the corn that hadn’t been altered. This is a small improvement, but with food prices on the rise, a small improvement is better than none.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER in each gap

1. "Corn belt" is a time when ther is not much in the region.

2. Corn cannot develop when there is no .

3. When there is not enough corn, it causes the to increase all over the world.

4. Many companies are looking for a .

5. They try to create a kind of corn that can live in to create something new.

6. In the past, they created a type of corn that can protect it from being eaten by .

7. One way scientists have tried is to turn the on the leaves' surface smaller.

8. These things the water in the plant.

9. Scientists hope to help corn survive in periods.

10. In one test, the result is only a , but it is better than none.

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