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Towards increased crop productivity and quality
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Towards increased crop productivity and quality Editorial overview Dianna Bowles Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203 Available online 4th January 2012 0958-1669/$ – see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. DOI 10.1016/j.copbio.2011.12.014
Dianna Bowles
University of York, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology (Area 8), Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK e-mail: [email protected] Dianna Bowles is a Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biology at the University of York, where she founded and directed the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, a research centre specialising in plant and microbial biology to benefit society. She is interested in how plants adapt to biotic and abiotic challenges, the ways in which cellular homeostasis can be regulated by glycosylation and role of plant natural products and their glycosides as medicinal compounds affecting human and animal health. She also works extensively in international policy and outreach activities that underpin the use of plants to achieve sustainable global development through an increasing transition into a bio-based economy.
At this point in time, the world we live in faces innumerable challenges. Fossil reserves are declining, costs of energy and petrochemicals derived from those reserves are increasing and industrialisation is leading to profound changes in our climate and environment. Significantly, there is also the need to feed a rising world population which has just exceeded 7 billion and is expected to reach 8 billion by 2043. It is within this context of urgency that we made the decision to focus this issue of Current Opinions in Plant Biotechnology on those emerging bio-based technologies that could provide important solutions for increasing crop productivity and quality. In future years, the products of agriculture will have to support multiple industrial sectors, not only those underpinning the provision of human food and animal feed, but also those servicing the many non-food sectors including chemicals and energy. Improvement of crop productivity and quality becomes paramount and the means through which we achieve these improvements need to be sustainable. Similarly, land-use decisions will also affect the ways in which the developed and developing countries address issues of food security whilst also maximising economic returns from their agriculture. Undoubtedly, strategies to maximise returns from crops that could be grown on land that is marginal or unsuited to arable agriculture need to be designed and biotechnology can play an important role in this process. Moving from a global economy driven by fossil resources to a bio-based economy relying on plant production systems will demand a sustainable intensification of farming, in which yields can be increased within a context of decreasing inputs. In the absence of improved sustainability, agricultural practices will continue to damage the environment, continue to contribute to climate change and also become unworkable as groundwater becomes a scarce commodity. The topics addressed in these reviews encompass productivity and quality issues for food and non-food crops. The first three reviews (Offerman, Hibberd, Raines and their co-authors) explore recent advances in our understanding and technologies of photosynthesis and carbon fixation and the means through which we can apply these advances to increase yield. The next two reviews concern tool development for accelerating the development of better crops. Harbinson, and Schur and co-authors explore new measurement and imaging technologies that will lead to rapid screening and new ways of understanding plant function in response to environmental stresses in the laboratory and field. These can directly translate into decision support systems to enable precision farming and thereby target inputs to local cultivation conditions.
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203
www.sciencedirect.com
Editorial overview Bowles 203
Improving efficiency at the crop–soil interface is critical to achieving improved resource use efficiency of water and nutrients, and thereby sustainability. Interactions of roots with microbial populations in the rhizosphere and the ways in which these enhance crop resource efficiency are next reviewed (Dodd). Then, Heard addresses progress in molecular breeding of improved water stress tolerance, succinctly describing the opportunities offered by engineering new traits for productivity and quality into major crops. New transgenic solutions to a major class of pests, nematodes, are also reviewed (Atkinson and co-authors). This review in particular, highlights the fact that the current barrier to realising the improvements on offer is not due to any limitation of the technology but rather lack of public acceptance and the commercial cost of addressing all of the regulatory barriers that have been put in place for release of a transgenic product. Finally, three reviews provide examples of how recent advances in productivity and quality can be applied to a food crop (Sayre), an energy crop (Souza and co-authors) and crops as production systems for bio-active chemicals (Bowles and Lim). These illustrate the range of technologies on offer to not only increase yields, but also the specific qualities required to maximise the utility of the crop, whether in terms of improved nutrition of Cassava, increased biomass of sugarcane, or content and extractability of a high value bioactive from a medicinal plant. Finally, the issue goes in a different direction. Anthony and Ferroni review the opportunities and barriers for uptake of agricultural biotechnology by the many millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world. With increased industrialisation and the vast scale of agriculture in developed countries, it can easily be forgotten that an arable enterprise of 0.5 ha is typical, particularly throughout Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers represent a major category of growers of agricultural crops, yet their needs can be overlooked by modern technologies. The review provides a new and excellent resource of information on how
www.sciencedirect.com
sustainable intensification is beginning to reduce the large yield gaps that currently exist in developing countries. Progress will not only increase global food security but also positively impact on the health and livelihoods of millions of poor communities across the world. Thus, this issue of Current Opinions in Plant Biotechnology is broad-ranging, but the topics have been chosen to illustrate the diversity of strategies under development to address crop productivity and quality. Technologies are becoming increasingly targeted at the problems of intensifying agriculture in a sustainable way. There are many opportunities to achieve the yield increases we need and these range from high-tech solutions involving fast track molecular breeding or genetic modification (GM) all the way through to relatively low-tech solutions, such as choice of the most appropriate plant species for local environmental conditions, soil management and improved agronomy. Often, beneficial technologies have been developed, high yielding seed may be available, but the extension services to enable optimal uptake and cultivation are lacking. It is also an on-going issue for us all, whether we are researchers, producers or consumers that society continues to question the benefits of GM crops. Regulations governing their release have been made so complex and onerous that cost and time to market currently prevent commercialisation of many highly desirable products. As importantly, decisions are being taken not to start the development of new GM applications. The adverse consequences of inaction now may only become fully realised in years to come when severe global food shortages are projected to arise. The authors and editors hope the reviews in this issue will help to inform the ongoing discussions of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different biotechnologies available and the potential they have to provide the solutions we need.
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203
Towards increased crop productivity and quality Editorial overview Dianna Bowles Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203 Available online 4th January 2012 0958-1669/$ – see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. DOI 10.1016/j.copbio.2011.12.014
Dianna Bowles
University of York, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology (Area 8), Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK e-mail: [email protected] Dianna Bowles is a Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biology at the University of York, where she founded and directed the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, a research centre specialising in plant and microbial biology to benefit society. She is interested in how plants adapt to biotic and abiotic challenges, the ways in which cellular homeostasis can be regulated by glycosylation and role of plant natural products and their glycosides as medicinal compounds affecting human and animal health. She also works extensively in international policy and outreach activities that underpin the use of plants to achieve sustainable global development through an increasing transition into a bio-based economy.
At this point in time, the world we live in faces innumerable challenges. Fossil reserves are declining, costs of energy and petrochemicals derived from those reserves are increasing and industrialisation is leading to profound changes in our climate and environment. Significantly, there is also the need to feed a rising world population which has just exceeded 7 billion and is expected to reach 8 billion by 2043. It is within this context of urgency that we made the decision to focus this issue of Current Opinions in Plant Biotechnology on those emerging bio-based technologies that could provide important solutions for increasing crop productivity and quality. In future years, the products of agriculture will have to support multiple industrial sectors, not only those underpinning the provision of human food and animal feed, but also those servicing the many non-food sectors including chemicals and energy. Improvement of crop productivity and quality becomes paramount and the means through which we achieve these improvements need to be sustainable. Similarly, land-use decisions will also affect the ways in which the developed and developing countries address issues of food security whilst also maximising economic returns from their agriculture. Undoubtedly, strategies to maximise returns from crops that could be grown on land that is marginal or unsuited to arable agriculture need to be designed and biotechnology can play an important role in this process. Moving from a global economy driven by fossil resources to a bio-based economy relying on plant production systems will demand a sustainable intensification of farming, in which yields can be increased within a context of decreasing inputs. In the absence of improved sustainability, agricultural practices will continue to damage the environment, continue to contribute to climate change and also become unworkable as groundwater becomes a scarce commodity. The topics addressed in these reviews encompass productivity and quality issues for food and non-food crops. The first three reviews (Offerman, Hibberd, Raines and their co-authors) explore recent advances in our understanding and technologies of photosynthesis and carbon fixation and the means through which we can apply these advances to increase yield. The next two reviews concern tool development for accelerating the development of better crops. Harbinson, and Schur and co-authors explore new measurement and imaging technologies that will lead to rapid screening and new ways of understanding plant function in response to environmental stresses in the laboratory and field. These can directly translate into decision support systems to enable precision farming and thereby target inputs to local cultivation conditions.
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203
www.sciencedirect.com
Editorial overview Bowles 203
Improving efficiency at the crop–soil interface is critical to achieving improved resource use efficiency of water and nutrients, and thereby sustainability. Interactions of roots with microbial populations in the rhizosphere and the ways in which these enhance crop resource efficiency are next reviewed (Dodd). Then, Heard addresses progress in molecular breeding of improved water stress tolerance, succinctly describing the opportunities offered by engineering new traits for productivity and quality into major crops. New transgenic solutions to a major class of pests, nematodes, are also reviewed (Atkinson and co-authors). This review in particular, highlights the fact that the current barrier to realising the improvements on offer is not due to any limitation of the technology but rather lack of public acceptance and the commercial cost of addressing all of the regulatory barriers that have been put in place for release of a transgenic product. Finally, three reviews provide examples of how recent advances in productivity and quality can be applied to a food crop (Sayre), an energy crop (Souza and co-authors) and crops as production systems for bio-active chemicals (Bowles and Lim). These illustrate the range of technologies on offer to not only increase yields, but also the specific qualities required to maximise the utility of the crop, whether in terms of improved nutrition of Cassava, increased biomass of sugarcane, or content and extractability of a high value bioactive from a medicinal plant. Finally, the issue goes in a different direction. Anthony and Ferroni review the opportunities and barriers for uptake of agricultural biotechnology by the many millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world. With increased industrialisation and the vast scale of agriculture in developed countries, it can easily be forgotten that an arable enterprise of 0.5 ha is typical, particularly throughout Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers represent a major category of growers of agricultural crops, yet their needs can be overlooked by modern technologies. The review provides a new and excellent resource of information on how
www.sciencedirect.com
sustainable intensification is beginning to reduce the large yield gaps that currently exist in developing countries. Progress will not only increase global food security but also positively impact on the health and livelihoods of millions of poor communities across the world. Thus, this issue of Current Opinions in Plant Biotechnology is broad-ranging, but the topics have been chosen to illustrate the diversity of strategies under development to address crop productivity and quality. Technologies are becoming increasingly targeted at the problems of intensifying agriculture in a sustainable way. There are many opportunities to achieve the yield increases we need and these range from high-tech solutions involving fast track molecular breeding or genetic modification (GM) all the way through to relatively low-tech solutions, such as choice of the most appropriate plant species for local environmental conditions, soil management and improved agronomy. Often, beneficial technologies have been developed, high yielding seed may be available, but the extension services to enable optimal uptake and cultivation are lacking. It is also an on-going issue for us all, whether we are researchers, producers or consumers that society continues to question the benefits of GM crops. Regulations governing their release have been made so complex and onerous that cost and time to market currently prevent commercialisation of many highly desirable products. As importantly, decisions are being taken not to start the development of new GM applications. The adverse consequences of inaction now may only become fully realised in years to come when severe global food shortages are projected to arise. The authors and editors hope the reviews in this issue will help to inform the ongoing discussions of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different biotechnologies available and the potential they have to provide the solutions we need.
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 2012, 23:202–203