Research Results
1. Testing for mycotoxins just got faster:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mycotoxins can cause a variety of adverse health effects and pose a serious health threat to both humans and livestock. A new process developed by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (US) will significantly reduce the amount of time required to detect harmful mycotoxins in grain, including deoxynivalenol or DON. The process, developed by US researchers Lipu Wang and Randy Kutcher, involves a simplified one-step mycotoxin extraction process that uses the chemical solvent acetonitrile. “This method is more accurate and more sensitive, compared to existing measures that are currently being used,” said Wang, a research officer with the university’s Crop Development Centre (CDC).
The new method is being used exclusively by academics, but it could eventually be used by grain companies to manage grain quality. In recent years, grain-borne mycotoxins (including DON) have become a common concern among Canadian farmers (and farmers elsewhere), grain buyers, and processors; in a worst case scenario, grain with high levels of mycotoxins makes it unfit for consumption and can reduce the market value of a crop to zero.
(Note by the Editor: The Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that 25% of the world’s crops are affected by mycotoxins each year, with annual losses of around 1 billion tonnes of foods and food products.)
For more, see https://www.producer.com/2020/04/testing-for-mycotoxins-just-got-faster/
2. Protective gene in Wild Wheatgrass could stop Fusarium Head Blight in wheat and barley:
Fusarium head blight, caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a growing concern among wheat and barley growers around the world; also known as wheat scab, the fungus eats the grain in such plants, reducing yields. A team of researchers from several institutions in China, one in the U.S., and one in Israel, has found a protective gene in wild wheatgrass (Thinopyrumelongatum) that shows promise in stopping fusarium head blight in wheat and barley crops. In this new effort, the researchers have found a gene in wild grass that is resistant to F. graminearum, which appears to confer stronger resistance to infections.
One approach that has met some degree of success is genetically engineering certain wheat types to express a gene that has been found to confer some degree of resistance in a Chinese heirloom—but it has thus far proven to provide only modest protection. Sequence homologies between fungal and plant Fhb7 suggested that horizontal gene transfer may help to shape plant genomes.
Access the full article at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/eaba5435/tab-pdf
3. Weedy rice may just be feral rice:
Weedy rice is a de-domesticated form of rice that infests paddies worldwide and aggressively outcompetes cultivated varieties. For rice and many other crops, development of new cultivars involved hybridizing traditional varieties to combine their best traits. According to Kenneth M. Olsen, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, developing rice cultivars through cross-breeding is very different from traditional rice farming, where varieties were not cross-bred and farmers replanted seed saved from their own harvests. Cross-bred rice tends to get de-domesticated.
Olsen and his collaborators used whole genome sequencing to examine the origin and adaptation of 524 global weedy rice samples representing all major regions of rice cultivation. Their genomic analysis shows relationships among weedy rice strains, and it demonstrates the extent to which the same genes are involved each time a new weed strain evolves.
For weedy rice, it was inferred that a lot of the weed strains that are now widespread in Asia were very closely related to rice cultivars that were developed during 1960s and early 1970s. The authors conclude, however, that weedy rice has probably been emerging repeatedly throughout the 10,000-year history of rice cultivation.
Access the full article at https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13059-020-01980-x
4. Scientists use bacteria to help plants grow in salty soil:
A new study by a research team, led by Brent Nielsen, a professor at Brigham Young University, has shown that salt-tolerant bacteria can be used to enhance salt tolerance in various types of plants. The study compared noninoculated plants grown in the absence of salt, plants inoculated with strain B2 and grown in the presence of salt, and noninoculated plants in the presence of salt.
“We’ve found that salt tolerance can be transferred to many plant types,” said Ashley Miller, a graduate student working with Prof Nielsen. He added that initial studies with Kentucky Bluegrass have been particularly successful. The researchers found that Kentucky Bluegrass grown in salty soil after inoculation with a Bacillus strain yielded 8.4 times in dry weight, compared with control plants grown in the same soil without the bacterial inoculation. The researchers continue to test whether salt tolerance can be conferred to additional plant varieties, with promising initial results.
5. Agricultural economist evaluates research results on food security:
A recent study by the University of Göttingen shows that new plant breeding technologies—such as genetic engineering and gene editing—can help to increase food production while being environmentally friendly. “Cereals are cheap sources of calories, which explains why hunger has been significantly reduced in recent decades,” explains agricultural economist Professor Matin Qaim from the University of Göttingen. “Unfortunately, the Green Revolution was less successful in combating widespread micronutrient deficiency. This requires a more balanced diet and more diversity in agricultural production, with more beans, vegetables, fruit and other locally adapted species.” New molecular breeding technologies can help modify plants to produce higher yields.
The new technologies can also speed up the breeding of new traits, enabling faster adaptation to climate change. The authors suggest that changes to regulatory processes are needed to avoid the overregulation that is particularly observed in Europe. Such overregulation affects not only Europe, but it also affects developing countries in Africa and Asia, which could benefit the most from new plant breeding technologies. Regulatory reforms and a more science‐based public debate are required. This will help to prevent public fears about the use of new technologies in agriculture.
Access the full article at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aepp.13044
Potential Crops/Technologies
1. New genomic tools help improve staple crops around the world:
To boost the availability of plant breeding tools, a global programme centred at Cornell University, USA, called the Genomic Open-source Breeding informatics initiative (GOBii), has been developing better breeding tools and expanding access to genomic databases. GOBii’s goal is to speed up the breeding process for crops that are important in developing regions, in addition to improving yield, nutritional quality, disease resistance, weather resistance, and other desirable traits. The programme’s new software and databases are now starting to be deployed around the world, and early breeding efforts have indicated that they can slice at least a year off a process that can take upwards of five years.
A breeder with the right tools and data can examine seeds or seedlings for desirable molecular markers, and then predict whether or not the full-grown plant will have the ideal characteristics—rather than waiting for observational results at the end of the growing season. “Markers can be very predictive of traits, so you can make breeding decisions much earlier in the breeding cycle, and with more accuracy,” said Liz Jones, Director of GOBii.
For more, see https://cals.cornell.edu/news/new-genomic-tools-help-improve-staple-crops-around-world
2. Sweet potato microbiome research important first step towards improving yield:
Grown around the world, sweet potatoes are an important source of nutrition, particularly in sub-Saharan African and Asian diets. Despite the importance of sweet potato, little is known about the sweet potato microbiome. A study by a team of researchers at the AgBiome Inc., North Carolina, USA characterized the sweet potato microbiome, using modern, next-generation sequencing technology. This was considered as an important first step towards leveraging the microbiome to improve sweet potato yield. “We demonstrated a striking variability in the microorganisms that make up the sweet potato microbiome across a single farm. Despite this variability, we found commonalities in how the microbiome develops across fields within a single sweet potato farm and across two farms in the same region,” says Charles Pepe-Ranney, microbial genomics data scientist and lead author of the paper.
The study suggests that “sweet potato presents a strong ecological challenge to its endophytes (microbes that live inside a plant),” says Pepe-Ranney. “If we are going to develop a sweet potato endophyte that protects sweet potatoes from pests, for example, this sweet potato-beneficial endophyte must be able to withstand the strong ecological pressure from the sweet potato itself” and thus eventually lead to increased production.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-04-sweet-potato-microbiome-important-yield.html
Access the full article at https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PBIOMES-07-19-0038-R
3. Genomes of five cotton species unveiled by Texas-Rich Research Team:
Cotton, we touch it every day. From clothes to medical supplies to animal feed, cotton continues to increase in quality. A multi-institutional research team sequenced five cotton species, including Upland and Pima cotton grown in Texas. They report on the results of this collaboration: high-quality genome-wide sequence assemblies for each of five 52-chromosome species of the cotton genus Gossypium, a member of the Malvaceae family, which also includes okra, kenaf, hibiscus, durian, and cacao. Breeding cotton typically increases economic yield through better productivity, a better quality of products, and improved sustainability, by providing better pest resistance and drought resilience.
The researchers report the sequences of these five species’ genomes. The study confirms that polyploid genomes of cotton are conserved in gene content and synteny, but they have diversified by subgenomic transposon exchanges that equilibrate genome size, evolutionary rate heterogeneities, and positive selection between homoeologs within and among lineages. These differential evolutionary trajectories are accompanied by the gene-family. The study further shows that selection and domestication have driven parallel gene expression similarities in fibres of two cultivated cotton varieties, involving coexpression networks and N6-methyladenosine RNA modifications. Further, polyploidy induces recombination suppression, which correlates with altered epigenetic landscapes and can be overcome by wild introgression. These genomic insights will empower efforts to manipulate genetic recombination and modify epigenetic landscapes and target genes for crop improvement.
For more, see https://seedworld.com/genomes-of-five-cotton-species-unveiled-by-texas-rich-research-team/
Access the full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-020-0614-5
News:
1. Rethinking policies for the global bio-economy:
The global policy that governs access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits derived from them—which is now almost 30 years old—needs to be rethought. Professor Rachel Wynberg, University of Cape Town (UCT), co-author, explains a new approach that bridges access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge with the sharing of benefits (ABS). ABS was created to harness the economic benefits of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge as a way to achieve economic and social justice and to fund biodiversity conservation. The authors point out that although ABS faces many implementation challenges, it is increasingly being adopted as a policy approach within UN processes, ranging from the World Health Organization policy to the regulation of food and agriculture.
For more, see https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2020-03-25-rethinking-policies-for-the-global-bio-economy
Access the abstract at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6483/1200
2. How tech is helping to change the way people think about the food on their plate:
Concerns about the environment and climate change are growing. Many of us are now asking questions about the sustainability and impact of the food on our plate. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Eaternity is a firm aiming to raise people’s awareness of the way food impacts the planet. One business that has used Eaternity’s technology is Tibits, a restaurant chain serving vegan and vegetarian food. “The key challenge today is to move to the most resource-efficient way of producing food, to reduce food losses and waste, and to reduce the environmental impacts of food production and consumption,” says Olivier De Schutter of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).
For more, see https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/how-tech-is-helping-to-change-the-way-we-think-about-food.html
3. Efforts to combat the global climate crisis must continue, despite the COVID-19 threat
The coronavirus pandemic has derailed several major global climate conferences, but experts agree that climate action must continue. Following the postponement of several major global climate conferences due to COVID-19, Conservation International climate experts argue that there are still critical steps that countries can take to tackle the climate crisis in 2020. From engaging local communities to implementing national climate policies, governments can continue to tackle climate change despite lockdown restrictions, said Maggie Comstock, Conservation International’s senior director of climate policy.
4. The shift to a more sustainable food system is inevitable: Here’s how to make it happen:
The current crisis has revealed many fragilities in the way we live today. One of them is our food system. Food insecurity and sustainability are among the most significant global challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, says Professor Anna Davies from Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences. Producing food contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and plays a key role in driving climate change. Hence, eventually, it will be inevitable for humans to learn sustainable systems of food production.
Access the full report at https://www.sapea.info/wp-content/uploads/sustainable-food-system-report.pdf
5. Changes to drylands with future climate change:
A research team led by Washington State University has found that while drylands around the world will expand at an accelerated rate because of future climate change, their average productivity will likely be reduced. Using satellite data of vegetation productivity, measurements of carbon cycling from 13 sites, and datasets from global models of future climate change, the researchers found that productivity of drylands will increase overall by about 12% by 2100, compared to a baseline from about 10 years ago. However, as the increase in drylands replaces more productive ecosystems, overall global productivity may not increase.
Furthermore, due to expected changes in precipitation and temperatures, the amount of productivity in any one dryland area will decrease. Drylands will experience substantial expansion and degradation in the future due to climate change, wildfire, and human activities, including changes to their ecosystem structures as well as to their productivity, said Heping Liu, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and corresponding author on the paper. The results highlight the vulnerability of dryland subtypes to more frequent and severe climate extremes and suggest that regional variations will require different mitigation strategies.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-04-drylands-future-climate.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15515-2
6. Creating a downstream market for diverse regenerative crops:
In contrast to conventional production, regenerative agriculture is a holistic system of practices and principles that seek to improve, not degrade natural resources. Regenerative agriculture could play a key role in solving the climate crisis, offering a possible avenue to sequester carbon while securing food and water supplies. To unlock those benefits, widespread investment is needed to catalyze the development of regenerative agriculture markets at scale.
A landscape analysis of ongoing efforts to accelerate regenerative markets in the United States was conducted. The investigative team uncovered four main barriers to the widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture: insufficient farmer training programmes, the cost of farmland, nascent markets for regenerative products, and the current crop insurance system. The Regenerative Agriculture Initiative of the Yale Center for Business and Environment has called for applications from students interested in agriculture, who are looking for an exciting opportunity to explore research questions important to them and connecting with innovative practitioners.
and
https://cbey.yale.edu/programs/regenerative-agriculture-initiative
Events
1. ICPNSES 2020: 14th International Conference on Plant Nutrition, Soil, and Environmental Science, 12-13 Nov 2020, Venice, Italy.
For details, see https://waset.org/plant-nutrition-soil-and-environmental-science-conference-in-november-2020-in-venice
2. ICAHES 2020: 14th International Conference on Agriculture, Horticulture, and Environmental Systems, 03-04 Dec 2020, Sydney, Australia.
For details, see https://waset.org/agriculture-horticulture-and-environmental-systems-conference-in-december-2020-in-sydney
3. ICABPPT 2021: 15th International Conference on AgriculturalBiotechnology and Plant Production Technologies, 11-12 Jan 2021, Singapore.
For details, see https://waset.org/agricultural-biotechnology-and-plant-production-technologies-conference-in-january-2021-in-singapore
Other Topics of Interest
1. Safeguarding Biodiversity is Essential to Prevent the Next COVID-19
For more, see https://seedworld.com/safeguarding-biodiversity-is-essential-to-prevent-the-next-covid-19/
2. Why Conserving Biodiversity Is Crucial to Prevent Future Pandemics
For more, see https://science.thewire.in/environment/why-conserving-biodiversity-is-crucial-to-prevent-future-pandemics/
3. Soybean Innovation Lab provides knowledge that assists soybean production in Africa
4. How did an ancient plant from Latin America become Asia’s second-most-important cash crop?
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-04-ancient-latin-america-asia-second-most-important.html
5. Controversial ‘gene drive’ could disarm deadly wheat pathogen
6. Is it safe to spin-dry leafy greens in a washing machine?
7. Gene editing will revolutionize crop breeding in Africa, a new paper predicts
8. Gene-editing protocol for whitefly pest opens door to control
9. Budding Scope In Agriculture Technology
For more, see http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Budding-Scope-In-Agriculture-Technology-/25-04-2020-190187/
10. Ecosystem services are not constrained by borders
For more, see https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/hcfe-esa033020.php
11. Wild tomato resistance to bacterial canker has implications for the commercial tomato industry
12. More diverse croplands harbour more birds
Access the abstract athttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2090-6
13. Less than a third of the World can feed itself from local crops, says study
For more, see https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ki09200d.html
Access the full article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0060-7.pdf?draft=marketing
14. Results of studying wild relatives of the cultivated plants of Russia
For more, see https://biocomm.spbu.ru/article/view/5832
15. Viewpoint: Regenerative agriculture—An oversold sustainability solution to climate change?
For more, see https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/03/30/viewpoint-regenerative-agriculture-an-oversold-solution-to-climate-change/
16. Economic growth is incompatible with biodiversity conservation
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-04-economic-growth-incompatible-biodiversity.html
Access the full article at https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/conl.12713
17. Conservation agriculture key to better income, environment protection
18. Unsustainable food systems: Can we reverse current trends?
Access the article at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231071&type=printable