Rice, the world's major staple crop, is a poor source of essential micronutrients, including folates (vitamin B9). We report folate biofortification of rice seeds achieved by overexpressing two Arabidopsis thaliana genes of the pterin and para-aminobenzoate branches of the folate biosynthetic pathway from a single locus. We obtained a maximal enhancement as high as 100 times above wild type, with 100 g of polished raw grains containing up to four times the adult daily folate requirement.

The effective air-filled porosity and the gas difRision coefficient are important soil parameters determining the success of soil bioremediation projects such as (bio)venting and (bio)sparging methods in combination with soil vapor extraction. We have developed a new method to sequentially measure the effective air-filled porosity and the soil gas diffusion coefficient of a soil sample. During the purging ofthe sample, a last and accurate measurement ofthe effective air-filled porosity can be obtained. The subsequent diffusion measurement does not require a zero-02 concentration in the soil sample. The procedure further allows the calculation ofthe soil gas diffusion coefficient before an equilibrium O2 concentration has been reached. The results are obtained by combining the data ofthe inlet and outlet compartment in a single equation. A stable reading is reached when the results for die inlet and oudet compartment coincide with the results from the combined equation. The analysis time is reduced by 89 to 96% compared with methods that run until an equilibrium concentration has been reached. Moreover, combining data from inlet and oudet compartments increases the accuracy ofthe diffusivity measurement by a factor of two compared with previous methods.