A barley gene called HVA1 was put into rice plants to see if it could help them handle lack of water and salt stress better. The gene made a special protein that helped the transgenic rice plants grow better under stress. These plants showed less damage from stress and recovered faster when the stress was removed. The more of the HVA1 protein the plants had, the better they coped with stress. This study shows that genes like HVA1 could be useful for making crops more resistant to tough conditions like drought and salt.