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Global agricultural intensification during climate change: a role for genomics

Abberton M 1 , Batley J 2 , Bentley A 3 , Bryant J 4 , Cai H 5 , Cockram J 3 Show all authors , Costa de Oliveira A 6 , Cseke LJ 7 , Dempewolf H 8 , De Pace C 9 , Edwards D 2 , Gepts P 10 , Greenland A 3 , Hall AE 11 , Henry R 12 , Hori K 13 , Howe GT 14 , Hughes S 15 , Humphreys M 16 , Lightfoot D 17 , Marshall A 16 , Mayes S 18 , Nguyen HT 19 , Ogbonnaya FC 20 , Ortiz R 21 , Paterson AH 22 , Tuberosa R 23 , Valliyodan B 19 , Varshney RK 2 , Yano M 24

Affiliations 

  • 1 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 2 School of Plant Biology and Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  • 3 The John Bingham Laboratory, NIAB, Cambridge, UK
  • 4 Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
  • 5 Forage Crop Research Institute, Japan Grassland Agriculture and Forage Seed Association, Nasushiobara, Japan
  • 6 Plant Genomics and Breeding Center, Eliseu Maciel School of Agriculture, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
  • 7 Department of Biological Sciences Huntsville, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, USA
  • 8 Global Crop Diversity Trust, Bonn, Germany
  • 9 Department of Agriculture, Forests, Nature and Energy (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
  • 10 Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
  • 11 University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
  • 12 The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
  • 13 National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
  • 14 Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
  • 15 University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
  • 16 Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK
  • 17 College of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA
  • 18 Biotechnology and Crop Genetics, Crops for the Future, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 19 Division of Plant Sciences and National Center for Soybean Biotechnology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
  • 20 Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Canberra, Australia
  • 21 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 22 Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
  • 23 Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  • 24 National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Institute of Crop Science, Tsukuba, Japan
Plant Biotechnol J, 2016 Apr;14(4):1095-8.
PMID: 26360509 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12467

Abstract

Agriculture is now facing the 'perfect storm' of climate change, increasing costs of fertilizer and rising food demands from a larger and wealthier human population. These factors point to a global food deficit unless the efficiency and resilience of crop production is increased. The intensification of agriculture has focused on improving production under optimized conditions, with significant agronomic inputs. Furthermore, the intensive cultivation of a limited number of crops has drastically narrowed the number of plant species humans rely on. A new agricultural paradigm is required, reducing dependence on high inputs and increasing crop diversity, yield stability and environmental resilience. Genomics offers unprecedented opportunities to increase crop yield, quality and stability of production through advanced breeding strategies, enhancing the resilience of major crops to climate variability, and increasing the productivity and range of minor crops to diversify the food supply. Here we review the state of the art of genomic-assisted breeding for the most important staples that feed the world, and how to use and adapt such genomic tools to accelerate development of both major and minor crops with desired traits that enhance adaptation to, or mitigate the effects of climate change.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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