Research Results
1. Future-proofing cereals for drought conditions.
Scientists led by Dr. Peter Morris from the Institute of Earth and Life, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh have identified a gene responsible for drought resistance in barley that could help in future-proofing the crop for growing it in dry conditions as climate change gathers pace. The results of their work have been published in the Journal of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. They demonstrated that the gene HvMYB1 controls drought stress tolerance in cereals such as barley. This is the first time that HvMYB1 has been associated with drought resistance. “This is a significant finding that will allow more drought- resistant crops to be bred in the future,” says Dr. Morris. The project focused specifically on barley, which has over 39,000 genes, almost double the number for humans, so characterizing one particular gene which promotes drought resistance posed a considerable challenge. By increasing the expression of that particular gene in test plants and simulating drought conditions, the researchers have been able to prove that plants in which HvMYB1 is more prominently expressed are able to survive prolonged periods of drought.
Genetic variation is essential in plant breeding for resilience, so one can expect that this research will now be used by plant breeders as a marker for drought resistance. It will help focus attention on those barley varieties in which this gene is naturally expressed more prominently.The work thus offers promise of greater variation in the gene pool of crop plants and more drought-resistant crops in future years.
For more, go to https://phys.org/news/2019-09-future-proofing-cereals-climate-drought-conditions.html
and
https://www.hw.ac.uk/news/articles/2019/Barley.htm and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2019.07.014
2. Short corn varieties are expected to fare well in the future.
Bayer Crop Science is developing a short-stature corn (dwarf, 6-8 feet tall, about two-thirds the height of conventional varieties) that could debut early next decade. Such dwarf maize will have more upright leaves and smaller tassels, enabling plants to harvest more sunlight. The main objective of this research is to counter the increasing problem of stalk lodging, losses from which can range from 5% to 30%. Those losses can be reduced by shortening corn height, says Bob Reiter, Bayer Crop Science’s head of research and development. Shorter hybrid height also allows better access to equipment for spraying and fertilizer applications, such as for late-season N application.
Short-stature hybrids also set the stage for thicker planting of corn. Reiter points out that the main reason corn yields have increased over time is the ability of hybrids to withstand thicker densities.
Reduction in stature and other plant architectural features may help to minimize how much land we need to produce food and fuels, and also help in reduction of inputs such as fertilizers and water.
For more, go to https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/short-stature-corn-on-the-way-from-bayer-cropscience
and
3. First pea genome aims to help improve crops of the future.
A global team has assembled the first genome of the field pea, which provides insight into how the legume evolved and will help aid future improvements of the crop. The study, published in Nature Genetics, has important implications for global nutrition and the sustainability of crops, with field peas providing an important plant-based protein source for human food and animal feed. Professors David Edwards and Jacqueline Batley from The University of Western Australia (UWA)’s School of Biological Sciences and UWA’s Institute of Agriculture, co-investigators in the research, said that the field pea had a much larger and more complex genome compared to other legumes.”The pea genome assembly spans about 4.45 thousand million letters,” Professor Edwards said.
“With the pea genome sequenced, we can now start to understand the basis for the variation that has evolved,” Professor Batley said.”Mendel analyzed the inheritance of different pea traits, such as wrinkled peas, and he demonstrated that these traits were passed on from one generation to the next, a foundation for Darwin’s later discoveries in evolution.” “More than 150 years later, we’ve now assembled the pea genome and can start to understand the DNA basis of the inheritance observed by Mendel.”
That development can accelerate our understanding of the molecular basis of agronomically important traits, and thus support crop improvement.
More details at Nature Genetics volume 51, pages1411–1422 (2019)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-019-0480-1.pdf
4. Green manures control weeds, boost biodiversity, and improve crop yields.
New research confirms a number of advantages of green manure crops resembling ryegrass, which can usually increase the sustainability of non-organic farms 
. Use of green manure crops can help provide nutrition to the following crop, improve soil organic matter, help suppress weeds, and enhance soil conditions. In on-farm trails conducted in Ireland, cabbages and onions were sown commercial crops and monitored for weeds, helpful bugs, high crop quality, yield, and harvest dates.
Increased yield and a reduction in weed populations were observed. There was an increase in population of helpful insect-controlling pests as well. When analysed, the plots that had green manure crops showed better populations of helpful soil microorganisms, a vital need for natural farming methods.
(Note from the editor: Green manuring and cover crops were practised over a long time in India. However, with increased fertilizer use at subsidized prices, the use of organic manures, including green manure, has declined substantially. This needs to change if we wish to promote farming with fewer inputs.)
For more, go to https://headlinezpro.com/green-manures-control-weeds-boost-biodiversity-and-improve-crop-yields/
Potential Crops/Technologies
1. Using biopesticides to save honeybees for the future of food and agriculture:
A natural, sustainable alternative to pesticides that targets specific pests, without harming beneficial pollinators such as honeybees, is being developed with the help of researchers from the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Syngenta. It has been estimated that global crop loss to pests is around $100 billion every year, which amounts to a near 40% loss in global agricultural production.
Honeybees are the world’s most important pollinators of food crops and nonfood crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination, mainly by bees, but also by other insects, birds, and bats. Examples include avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash, sunflowers, cucumbers, citrus, peaches, kiwis, cherries, cranberries and melons, cotton, flax, colverm alfaalfa, etc. Bees also provide beeswax, used in cleaning and beauty products.
The efforts underway aim to develop a pioneering biocontrol method that uses dsRNA-based biocontrols to target plant pests.RNA-based biocontrols exploit a naturally occurring process called RNA interference, in which double-stranded RNA essentially stops the production of a critical protein in the target pest.
There is a significant need for innovative approaches to crop protection, driven by the need for greater food production, pest expansion linked to climate breakdown, and the push for more sustainable farming practices.
For more, go to
and
2. Plant gene discovery could help reduce fertilizer pollution in waterways:
Over the years, over-fertilization of agricultural fields has become a huge environmental problem. For example, excess phosphorus from fertilized cropland frequently finds its way into nearby rivers and lakes. A resulting boom of aquatic plant growth can cause oxygen levels in the water to plunge, leading to fish die-offs and other
harmful effects. Leaching of nitrogen can increase nitrites in drinking water, which is harmful to humans and animals. Researchers from Boyce Thompson Institute have uncovered the function of a pair of plant genes that could help farmers improve phosphate capture, potentially reducing the environmental harm associated with fertilization.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi colonize plant roots, creating an interface where the plant trades fatty acids for phosphate and nitrogen.To discover how plants control the amount of fungal colonization, Harrison and Lena Müller looked at genes that encode short proteins, called CLE peptides, in the plants Medicago truncatula and Brachypodium distachyon.CLE peptides are involved in cellular development and response to stress, and they are present throughout the plant kingdom, from green algae to flowering plants. Another gene, CLE33, reduces colonization rates when there is plenty of phosphate available to the plant. Plant roots exude strigolactone into the soil, and the compound stimulates AM fungi to grow and colonize the root.
“You may want the other beneficial effects of AM fungi, like nitrogen uptake and recovery from drought, as well as further uptake of phosphate . . . You might be able to achieve these benefits by altering the levels of these CLE peptides in the plants,” Harrison said.
For more, go to https://phys.org/news/2019-09-gene-discovery-fertilizer-pollution-waterways.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dail%E2%80%A6
News:
1. The Government of India is setting up high-tech R&D facilities for India Inc to design and test products.
Scientific research and commercial activity are often considered to be different spheres of endeavour. Most developed countries have shown that significant gains can be made by linking new ideas and technology with industry, and by quickly translating these into successful commercial ventures. In India, a few institutes have started, which claim to be incubation centres that link researchers with the commercial sector to turn the ideas and nascent technofixes into saleable products. However, the infrastructure and facilities at many institutions and research agencies are inadequate to do this successfully.
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) is planning to set up 15 centres with high-end science and technology infrastructure. These hubs—Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHIs)—will not just help scientists and students, but also aid start-ups and industries carry out research and development (R&D) activities. SATHIs are expected to allow a company to hire instruments or the facility itself for a “nominal fee”. R&D staff at these centres will help the company research a product to facilitate faster and easier commercialisation. There will be facilities for fabrication work, rapid prototyping, material testing, and new device fabrication, among others. These hubs will have specialised equipment for sectors such as water, energy, and agriculture.
For more, go to The Economic Times – Bangalore, 1 September 2019
2. Global Innovation Index 2019: Key takeaways for India
The 12th report of the Global Innovation Index (GII) was launched in India on 24 July 2019. India has been lauded for the fast pace at which it has been improving its ranking in this index. It climbed 29 places during the last five years and has gone from 81 in 2015 to 52 this year. This makes it
one of the few countries to have consistently improved ranking for nine consecutive years. GII is a collaborative effort between Cornell University, Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD), and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO); it also has the support of knowledge partners such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Such ranking is useful of governments to develop national policies that promote innovation and on issues related to intellectual property. However, relying exclusively on the overall rankings may not always provide the right inputs for policymaking. GII 2019 indicates that for nine years in a row, India is among the four countries to have outperformed on innovation relative to their GDP per capita, although the share of R&D spending declined.
For more, go to https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/global-innovation-index-2019-key-takeaways-india-54919/
3. New guidelines proposed to ensure safe use of nanotechnology in agriculture:
India started a national nanotechnology mission more than a decade ago and the technology has found applications in the agriculture sector, the backbone of the Indian economy.The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has come out with draft guidelines to regulate the use of nanotechnology in the agriculture sector.This would encourage commercialisation of the technology in products like nanofertilisers and nanopesticides, for example, while ensuring quality and safety.With the increasing scope to commercialise this technology, the government has now proposed a set of guidelines to regulate and maintain quality and safety of the products and processes.
The guidelines aim at increased quality and efficacy for commercialisation of nanotechnology-based innovations and focus on the issues concerned with safety of the products. Presently, there are no unanimously acceptable international guidelines for nano-agriproducts, although there is some information from OECD.
For more, go to http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=env/jm/mono(2018)10&doclanguage=en).
and
For guidelines: http://dbtindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/DBT_Draft1-Nano-Agri_Input_nd_Nano-Agri_Products.pdf
For more go to: http://www.fao.org/3/CA3129EN/ca3129en.pdf
4. Selection by Stone – participatory research
Although rapid progress is being made in crop improvement using modern biotechnological methods and genome editing technologies, at the end the products from these technologies need to be accepted by farmers for their large-scale adoption. Hence, breeders around the world are listening more to farmers and trying to understand their perceptions. “Participatory varietal selection or client-oriented plant breeding, call it what you like, the goals are the same,” said Ola Westengen, a specialist in farmer-breeder collaboration at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. A generation ago, breeders developed what they thought was in the best interests of farmers and delivered it to them in a process called “technology transfer.” That’s all changed. “It’s now about empowering farmers while at the same time ensuring that the new varieties meet the diverse demands of users.”
For more, go to https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-08-27/selection-by-stone/ and
https://foodtank.com/news/2019/08/selection-by-stone/
5. WRI Proposes ‘Menu of Solutions’ to achieve sustainable food systems.
The latest report by the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization, “Creating a Sustainable Food Future,” calls for major adjustments in food production and consumption patterns and explores a 22-item “menu for a sustainable food future” to close the gaps.
The gaps to be closed are the food gap, the land gap, and the GHG gap. (Editor’s note: WRI says that the first two gaps could be closed by increasing the area planted to food crops. However, this may not be possible and hence the emphasis needs to be on increasing the productivity per unit area). The GHG gap (the difference between the annual greenhouse gas emissions) estimated to be 15 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent, needs to be close to a level that is needed to hold global warming below 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures.
The 22-item “menu” is divided into five “courses” that together could bring the following benefits: (1) reduce growth in demand for food and agricultural products; (2) increase food production without expanding agricultural land; (3) exploit reduced demand on agricultural land to protect and restore forests, savannas, and peatlands; (4) increase fish supply through improved wild fisheries management and aquaculture; and (5) reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production.
(Editor’s note: Unless humans control the greed for high profits and reduce consumption, these cannot be achieved).
For more, go to https://sdg.iisd.org/news/wri-proposes-menu-of-solutions-to-achieve-sustainable-food-systems/
For the full report or an Executive Summary, go to The World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future https://wrr-food.wri.org/ (Publication); or https://wrr-food.wri.org/executive-summary-synthesis (Executive Summary).
Events:
1. NEW FAO e-learning course on water-use efficiency indicator:
The FAO has just launched a new e-learning course on water-use efficiency, as part of a series of e-learning courses on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicators. This course relates to SDG Indicator 6.4.1.
For details, go to http://newsletters.fao.org/q/1mcbOoYnCAKJTSu4jXA1/wv
2. International Conference on Soil, Plant and Water Science, 1-2 Jan 2020, Genoa, Italy:
The conference provides a platform for professionals involved in Soil, Plant, and Water Science to exchange knowledge and gain an insight into the state of the art in the current technology, techniques, and solutions in Soil, Plant, and Water Science as they have been developed and applied in different countries. Participants include a wide variety of stakeholders from research and academia, to industrial sectors as well as government organizations.
For more, go to https://www.allconferencealert.com/event-detail.html?ev_id=280329&eventname=international-conference-on-soil-plant-and-water-science
and http://conferencefora.org/Conference/2469/ICSPWS/
3. 2nd International Conference on Biodiversity and Ecology Restoration, 17-18 Feb 2020, Phuket, Thailand:
The 2nd International Conference on Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration will be held 17-18 February 2020 at Phuket, Thailand. This biodiversity conference will provide a robust and dynamic platform and also aim to promote the restoration of a spectrum of “saving and restoration of species”. The conference invites the global community of environmental professionals that includes researchers, ecologists, students, environmentalists, conservationists, botanists, zoologists, entomologists, and oceanographers who are actively engaged in this field.
For more, go to https://www.meetingsint.com/conferences/biodiversity
Very interesting topic , thankyou for posting .
Hi there, I read your blogs on a regular basis. Your humoristic style is witty, keep it up!