Research Results
1. Researchers engineer bulkier wheat grains, boosting yields
In most cereal crops, including wheat, grain weight/ grain size and number per unit area are the primary components of grain yield; those two yield components often show a negative correlation among themselves. In a study led by the Austral University of Chile and the University of York, however, researchers overcame the negative correlation between the size and number: the kernels were larger but just as numerous as in regular wheat plants, meaning, definitively, that the plants were producing more per unit area. This alteration to the makeup of wheat plants made them produce much chunkier grains, which grew in size from between 10% to a striking 33%. Overall, these juicier kernels boosted the production of wheat plants by 12%, a figure that could help to plug a gap in global wheat yields, if applied across vast swathes of cropland.
Most research into wheat yields up to this point has focused on increasing the numbers of grains per head, so this study is unusual in its focus on the individual grain traits. Here, researchers selected one particular type of expansin that’s usually prominent in plant roots, and then created transgenic wheat plants where it was expressed specifically in the cell walls of developing grains, leading to enlarged kernels. It is significant that the discovery was made in the real-world conditions of the field: the results were taken from wheat plants that had been planted at high densities on plots of farmland in Chile.
Access the full paper at https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.17048
2. How plants compete for underground resources
Plants competing for sunlight tend to stretch upwards and outwards, and they could thus block each other’s access to the sun’s rays. Similarly, but out of sight, another type of competition is happening underground; plants change their use of underground resources when they’re planted alongside other plants. “While the above-ground parts of plants have been extensively studied, including how much carbon they can store, we know much less about how below-ground parts, or roots, store carbon,” said Ciro Cabal (first author), a PhD student in Stephen Pacala’s lab at the Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Spain.
Researchers calculated the total biomass of each plant’s root system and the ratio of roots to shoots, to check whether plants changed and how much energy they spent in the process, and to assess how much carbon they deposited into below-ground and above-ground structures when planted alongside neighbours; they counted the number of seeds produced by each plant as a measure of relative fitness. The team discovered that the outcome depends on how close a pair of plants are to each other. When planted very close to each other, plants appear to invest heavily in their root systems to try to outcompete nearby plants for finite underground resources; if they are planted further apart, they will likely invest less in their root systems than a solitary plant would. The authors provide a theoretical foundation for the below-ground allocation of carbon by vegetation that reconciles seemingly contradictory experimental results, such as root segregation and the tragedy of the commons in plant roots.
Access the abstract at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6521/1197
3. The barley pan-genome reveals the hidden legacy of mutation breeding
Genetic diversity is key to crop improvement. Owing to pervasive genomic structural variation, a single reference genome assembly cannot capture the full complement of sequence diversity of a crop species (known as the ‘pan-genome’). Multiple high-quality sequence assemblies are an essential part of a pan-genome infrastructure. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important cereal crop, with a long history of cultivation. An international research team, which included scientists from the James Hutton Institute and the University of Dundee, has reached a milestone on the way to unravelling the species-wide genetic diversity of domesticated barley. They have completed genome sequencing of 20 diverse genotypes, a first step in decoding the genetic information of the entire species, the barley pan-genome.
This first-generation barley pan-genome makes previously hidden genetic variation accessible to genetic studies and breeding. That hidden structural variation has caused major barriers in efforts to manipulate important plant traits in breeding. Ways and means to overcome such barriers need to be investigated, and tools developed. Besides the observation that any two barley varieties could differ substantially in their gene content, the scientists found remarkable differences in the linear order of the genetic information in the chromosomes that are termed structural variants. Future efforts in barley research and breeding would need to account for such structural variation.
For more, see https://www.hutton.ac.uk/news/barley-pan-genome-scientists-unravel-diversity-domesticated-barley
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2947-8
4. How maize makes an antibiotic cocktail
Specialized metabolites constitute key layers of immunity that underlie disease resistance in crops; however, challenges in resolving pathways limit our understanding of the functions and applications of these metabolites. Maize (Zea mays) produces a plethora of antibiotics called zealexins. Even though scientists have identified at least 15 zealexins, they suspect there are even more present. Zealexins are produced in every corn variety, and they protect maize by fending off fungal and microbial infections. Zealexins are almost completely limited to maize. Yezhang Ding and Philipp Weckwerth from the University of California at San Diego, USA, in collaboration with many other researchers, report deciphering the zealexin synthesis pathway, thus making it possible to harness the protective function of zealexins and related compounds for other plants, including those cultivated for bioenergy.
They screened panels of hundreds of maize lines for genetic variation in the ability to make zealexins, and harnessed gene expression data from these lines to identify genes associated with zealexin synthesis. The enzymes that were uncovered during this study were found in multiple, semi-redundant clusters on different maize chromosomes. Put together, the results so far demonstrate that the zealexin pathway is a critical biochemical defence in maize, which has been largely overlooked, according to the study’s senior author, Alisa Huffaker, a biologist at the University of California, San Diego. The findings could help scientists produce more robust bioenergy plants in the future.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-maize-antibiotic-cocktail.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-00787-9
5. Maize outpaces soybeans in fighting off fungal invasions
The broad host range of Fusarium virguliforme represents a unique comparative system to identify and define differentially induced responses between an asymptomatic monocot host, maize (Zea mays), and a symptomatic eudicot host, soybean (Glycine max). In soybean, it causes the devastating sudden death syndrome (SDS). This disease afflicts soybean in crop in many countries; for example, it is estimated to cause losses of over US$274 million in the USA alone. Amy Baetsen-Young and colleagues from the Michigan State University, USA, compared how the fungus F. virguliforme, which causes SDS, interacts with both soybean and maize crops, and examined why maize remains healthy despite fungal invasion.
The research team took a big data approach to compare if and how maize and soybean mount their defence responses when facing off against the fungus. Soybean defences ramp up seven days after the onset of the fungal invasion, at which point the fungus has begun serious damage. In contrast, maize defences kick in two days after the invasion, which slows down the growth of the fungus before it turns damaging. The research team also showed that fungal infestation triggers different genetic responses in the two crops. Researchers propose that F. virguliforme conditions an environment within symptomatic hosts, which favours susceptibility through transcriptomic reprogramming and the induction of pathways associated with senescence during the necrotrophic stage of fungal development.
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/plcell/article/33/2/224/6017827
6. Surprising trove of sorghum diversity discovered in Australia—but it’s disappearing fast
Sorghum was domesticated in eastern Africa around 5,000 years ago as a source of grain for human consumption; today, it is grown on every inhabited continent and is the fifth most important cereal crop globally. Sorghum has several wild relatives, which are important for its improvement; especially during these days of climate change, sorghum cultivars adapted to different climatic conditions become very important. Harry Myrans at the Monash University, Australia, in collaboration with several researchers, used cutting-edge technology to show that wild cousins of sorghum are now most concentrated in Australia, despite the crop having been domesticated in Africa.
Of the 24-30 wild sorghum species identified, 17 are found in northern and western Australia and Queensland, more than those found in Africa, where it was domesticated. Increased information on and understanding of the distribution resources (such as for S. bicolor, which allows cross-species hybridization and ex situ germplasm accessions from different regions) by researchers, crop improvement scientists, and farmers would also allow faster progress in sorghum improvement. Isolation of Australian sorghum wild species from domesticated crops makes them a highly valuable system for studying the evolution of adaptive traits, such as tolerance of biotic and abiotic stresses. It is vital to conduct further research, particularly on the physiology of sorghum species and their responses to environmental conditions, to better understand which of these species might be useful in sorghum improvement. In addition, serious attempts must be made to conserve these genetic resources both in ex situ and in situ.
Access the full paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13166
7. The dynamics of nitrogen-based fertilizers in the root zone
Nutrient contamination of groundwater as a result of nitrogen-based fertilizers is a problem in many places in Europe, and in many parts of the world. How much of the nitrogen applied as fertilizer can enter the groundwater and surface water as nitrate, or is denitrified, depends, among other things, on complex processes in the soil. The vulnerability of agricultural land to nitrate leaching has so far been described using static information on land use, soils, and the topography of the landscape, combined with mean precipitation and groundwater levels, without taking into account their temporal variability. A team of researchers, led by Kumar at the UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany, used a dynamic approach to calculate how long the dissolved nitrate could remain in the root zone before it leaches down to deeper levels. They concluded that for at least four months per year, almost 75% of Europe’s agricultural land is vulnerable to nitrate leaching into groundwater and surface waters.
If the static approach is used, this proportion is only 42%. “Because the spatial-temporal dynamics of water transport have not been taken into account in the vulnerability assessment of delimiting nitrate vulnerable zones, the spatial extent of nitrate vulnerable areas is grossly underestimated,” concludes co-author and UFZ hydrogeologist Andreas Musolff, another member of the research team: “Farmers could use the information to more precisely adjust their fertilizer regimes, thereby ensuring that as little nitrate as possible is present in the soil during the particularly critical months.”. Researchers suggest that future vulnerability and risk assessment studies must account for the transient behaviour of nitrogen transport and biogeochemical transformation processes.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19955-8
Potential Crops/Technologies/Concepts
1. Algae superpowers could provide a major boost to food security
The yields of major food crops, such as rice, wheat, and soybean, could be improved by equipping plants with proteins from algae to enhance their growth. Algae could improve their photosynthesis efficiency by using a specialized CO2-concentrating mechanism associated with their chloroplasts—the photosynthesis centres found in both plant and algal cells. Nicky Atkinson and her colleagues at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK, have taken a major step forward in improving the efficiency of photosynthesis, using a strategy that is predicted to significantly boost plant growth.
Similar efforts to boost photosynthesis in the past have required substantial changes to Rubisco, the CO2-assimilating enzyme, which is a difficult and complex enzyme to engineer in plants. Results in the model plant species Arabidopsis revealed that pyrenoid-like structures could be successfully integrated inside chloroplasts, without hindering the plant’s growth. “The pyrenoid is a fascinating liquid-like compartment that helps make photosynthesis in algae very efficient. This year has brought several exciting breakthroughs in our understanding of how pyrenoids assemble and our capacity to build them in plants, which could lead to significant boosts in CO2 capture and growth in crops” said Alistair McCormick, Reader in Plant Molecular Physiology and Synthetic Biology, University of Edinburgh, the corresponding author. This work represents a significant initial step towards enhancing photosynthesis in higher plants by introducing an algal CO2-concentrating mechanism, which is predicted to significantly increase the efficiency of photosynthetic CO2 uptake.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20132-0
2. Cultivating cassava offers multiple benefits
The low-cost root crop cassava, nicknamed ‘Rambo root’ for its rugged appearance and resilient attributes, produces the highest number of calories per hectare in most tropical countries. It can withstand increasing temperatures and thrives in poor soils. Relatively easy to grow, cassava would be ideal for farmers to grow on abandoned agricultural or pasture land. For example, such a system would allow other crops, such as cacao or coffee, to be established afterwards, especially in Colombia’s conflict areas as an alternative to illicit cacao farming, say the authors. Land planted with cassava could help revive soils for farmers to cultivate other income-generating crops like soybean, corn, or legumes. Researchers suspect that cassava could also absorb cadmium, a metal found in the soil, high levels of which prevent some cacao growers in Colombia and other parts of Latin America from exporting their cacao.
Mayesse Da Silva, a soils expert at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and one of the authors of the publication, said, “Studies in Brazil have shown that cassava has high heavy metal content when planted in heavy-metal contaminated areas.” However, this “requires further research,” she added. Researchers suggest that farming cassava offers a nature-based solution that can contribute to achieving numerous sustainable development targets, although a market and demand survey needs to be undertaken before any large-scale expansion could happen. The authors acknowledge that scaling up production of any commodity may bring risks of deforestation and biodiversity loss through clearing forest areas. In the case of increasing cassava production, though, this may not be the case because cassava can be cultivated on land affected by degradation, and this resource is abundant; policies and initiatives exist to mitigate those risks; and the principal goal is to scale up a sustainable land-use system.
Access the full paper at https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.320
3. Chemical compounds in foods can inhibit a key SARS-CoV-2 enzyme
It is well recognized that chemical compounds in foods or beverages help in overcoming several ailments; if there is potentially clear evidence that some plants possess such an attribute, then identifying and using those crop plants becomes important. They presently may not be medicinal plants, but may be plants with products that are consumed every day and hence easy for people to adapt. Proteases are important to the health and viability of cells and viruses, says De-Yu Xie, professor of plant and microbial biology at NC State and the corresponding author of the study. If proteases are inhibited, cells cannot perform many important functions, such as replication, for example.
Computer simulations showed that the studied chemical compounds from green tea, two varieties of muscadine grapes, cacao powder, and dark chocolate were able to bind to different portions of the so-called “main protease” (Mpro) and successfully inhibited its function. “Mpro has a portion that is like a ‘pocket’ that was ‘filled’ by the chemical compounds,” Xie said. Docking characterization predicted that these compounds are bound to three or four subsites in the binding pocket of Mpro, via different spatial ways and various forms of one to four hydrogen bonds. ”Mpro in SARS-CoV-2 is required for the virus to replicate and assemble itself,” Xie said. “If we can inhibit or deactivate this protease, the virus will die.” These findings indicate that on the one hand, the structural features of flavan-3-ols (note: Flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins (PAs) are two groups of plant flavonoids); on the other hand, the galloylation and oligomeric types of flavan-3-ols are critical in creating the inhibitory activity against the Mpro activity. The authors suggest that flavan-3-ols and PAs are appropriate targets for screening potential anti-SARS-Cov-2 medicines.
For more, see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/574313
Access the full paper at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.601316/full
4. Making green drugs: Tapping into nature without tapping it out-
Successful drugs derived from plants, in addition to aspirin, include the antimalarial
artemisinin, extracted from sweet wormwood, and the cancer drug paclitaxel,
extracted from yew. Such plants are referred to as “medicinal plants”. In addition, as science has progressed to translocating genes and editing genes, it should be possible to coax other ‘normal’ plants to produce the chemicals that can be medicines, which would make large-scale production of medicines common and cheap. That is in the future, but a researcher in Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, USA, Jing-Ke Weng, hopes to discover new drugs in unexplored or underutilized plants, starting with the plants used in traditional medicine to help direct his search.
Harvesting drugs directly from plants eliminates much—though not all—of the energy consumption and pollution linked to producing artificial chemicals in the lab. To address the risk of overharvesting, Weng has developed a pipeline for drug development that allows plant-derived medicines to be mass-produced without harvesting much of a plant at all. These variations may be more effective or safer medications than the original molecules, further expanding the potential array of drugs that could be derived from plants. Protecting the undocumented biodiversity gives researchers a chance to find that drug. At the same time, overtaxing our environment—through both overharvesting and contributing to climate change-driven loss of plant diversity—may mean that the next big medicinal plant disappears unnoticed, taking its chemical secrets with it into extinction. All care must be taken to avoid such a catastrophe.
Tomatoes offer an affordable source of Parkinson’s disease drugs, and scientists have produced a tomato enriched in the Parkinson’s disease drug L-DOPA in what could become a new, affordable source of one of the world’s essential medicines.
Senna tora, a legume, offers the potential to produce anthraquinone; anthraquinones are a class of naturally occurring compounds prized for their medicinal properties, as well as for other applications, including ecologically friendly dyes.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-green-drugs-nature.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter and
Access the full papers at https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(20)31452-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124720314522%3Fshowall%3Dtrue and
5. A wheat map that can boost production
Scientists from around the world contributed to the 10+ Genome Project that sequenced and analysed the genomes of 15 wheat varieties in what has been called the most comprehensive atlas of wheat genome sequences ever documented. Many researchers, along with Curtis Pozniak, of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, generated ten chromosome pseudomolecule and five scaffold assemblies of hexaploid wheat to explore the genomic diversity among wheat lines from global breeding programs. Although these genome assemblies are valuable resources, to fully capture within-species genomic variation that can be used for crop improvement, comparative genome data from multiple individuals is needed.
Although wheat is currently not a hybrid crop, there is substantial interest in Rf genes (involved in the restoration of fertility of pollen) and their potential application in hybrid wheat production systems. It may be for the first time Rf genes have been cloned in wheat, and the present analysis of Rf genes in multiple reference-quality pseudomolecule assemblies (RQAs), as well as the identification of an Rf clade in wheat, is an important step forward in tackling the challenges of hybrid wheat breeding. The study built on the genome-sequence resources available for wheat and related species to produce ten RQAs and five scaffolded assemblies that represent hexaploid wheat lines from different regions, growth habits, and breeding programmes. Equipped with multiple layers of data describing variation in wheat, powerful tools are now available for wheat breeders to increase the rate of wheat improvement to meet future food demands.
For more, see https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/52491-a-wheat-map-to-doubling-production
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2961-x
6. Tree microbes could help crops draw phosphorous from fertilized soil
Agricultural fertilizers typically contain phosphorous, as it is essential to growing plants. Unfortunately though, it can become “locked” in the soil, and thus not be available to crops. Scientists at the University of Washington, led by Prof. Sharon Doty, previously discovered that root-dwelling microorganisms, known as endophytes, allow wild-growing trees to pull phosphorous from the soil. In a more recent study, conducted in collaboration with Tamas Varga at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the researchers gathered endophytes from the roots of wild poplar trees and added them to the soil in which phosphorous was locked within chemical complexes.
Further testing confirmed that the phosphorous had indeed been taken up by the plants, through their roots. The scientists now hope that commercially grown endophytes could be mixed with the soil amongst young plants, or even used to coat seeds before planting. These findings suggest an important role of endophytes for phosphorus acquisition, and thus provide a deeper understanding of the critical symbiotic associations between poplar and the endophytic bacteria. Not only could the microorganisms then keep freshly applied phosphorous available to the crops, but they could also free up phosphorous that was already locked in the soil from previous growing seasons.
Access the full paper at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.567918/full
News:
1. Modelling shows ecosystems can survive environmental change, but only up to a point
The adaptation and survival of an ecosystem exposed to changing climatic conditions has been an important question faced by ecologists and nature conservationists. Evegiina Alekseeva of Skoltech, Moscow, and her colleagues from Canada and Chile experimented with mathematical evolutionary models to explore how well ecosystems can keep up with changing environmental conditions—a question all too relevant in our current ecological situation. In general, they observed a reduction in the number of species, population sizes, and phenotypic diversity. The rate of environmental change was found to be crucial for determining whether a community would survive or go extinct. Until some critical rate of environmental changes, species can adapt to the shifting phenotypic optimum of the carrying capacity, and many communities adapt to the changing conditions and converge to new stationary states. When environmental changes stop, such communities gradually restore their initial phenotypic diversity.
Access the full paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6695
2. There’s an ecosystem beneath your feet—and it needs protection, a new report says
A handful of soil may have thousands of different kinds of organisms—microscopic fungi, decomposing plant matter, a whisker-size nematode munching on the fungi, and a predatory, pinhead-sized mite about to pounce on the nematode, etc. One bacterium may fend off another with a potent antibiotic. It’s a whole world of often-overlooked biodiversity. “Depending on how we handle soil, it could become a help or a burden to face the crisis of biodiversity or climate change,” says Francisco Pugnaire, soil and plant ecologist at the Spanish National Research Council’s Experimental Station of Arid Zones. Soil biodiversity hot spots aren’t necessarily in the same place as the biodiversity hot spots that conservationists focus on. While managing above-ground biodiversity, the one underground is being ignored. However, we need to fully recognize that soil is a mix of organic material, minerals, gases, and other components that provide the substrate for plants to grow. “Without soil organisms and the activities they carry out, it would be impossible for other organisms to survive,” says Stephen Wood, a soil ecologist at the Nature Conservancy.
Access the full report at http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/CB1928EN
3. Importance of rights-based conservation in attaining global biodiversity
As the world’s governments advocate and work toward protecting at least 30% of the Earth’s lands by 2030, a new study by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of more than 150 partners and a non-profit, warns against exclusionary conservation strategies and its costs, as well as outlining an inclusive alternative. The RRI report stresses the need to empower indigenous peoples, the local community, and Afro-descendants, who maintain customary rights to at least half of the lands on Earth. Together with Campaign for Nature, the study illustrated that more than 1.65 billion of these peoples live within the world’s most important biodiversity conservation areas. “This report shows that as far as both science and economics are concerned, investing in indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ land and resource rights should be a primary strategy for reaching global biodiversity targets,” said Campaign for Nature director, Brian O’Donnell.
Access the full report at https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/Final_Rights_Conservation_RRI_07-21-2021.pdf
4. Tree genomics program sequences 300 macadamia varieties to improve productivity and profitability for growers
The National Tree Genomics programme of Australia is in the final stages of sequencing over 300 macadamia wild and cultivated varieties. New tools are currently being developed, which will equip Australian plant breeders to deliver new varieties with key productivity and profitability traits. These new tools will also stem from this program for growers to enhance farm productivity. Hort Innovation Research and Development (HIRD) Manager Dr Vino Rajandran said, “Sequencing these diverse wild and cultivated varieties of macadamia trees is extremely important.” HIRD-supported research by Catherine Nock of Southern Cross University, Australia, and her colleagues indicates that the macadamia genome is repetitive and heterozygous. The total repeat content was 55%, and genome-wide heterozygosity was 0.98%, or an average of one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) per 102 bp. This is the first chromosome-scale genome assembly for macadamia and the Proteaceae. It is expected to be a valuable resource for breeding, gene discovery, conservation, and
evolutionary genomics.
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/article/10/10/3497/6053545?login=true
5. Bringing together agriculture and biodiversity
Agriculture and biodiversity are currently both in the spotlights, but mostly as opposites. This must change, but how? The problem of declining populations of farmland birds and butterflies, amongst others, lies not so much in a lack of knowledge about measures to restore biodiversity. Farmers can indicate what appeals to them or hampers them to make room for biodiversity. In a project of the European Union (EU), both farmers and volunteers will be encouraged to count butterflies and bees on farmland to provide evidence about farming practices that benefit both farmers and biodiversity. The EU project builds on this initiative and will not only broaden the scope of biodiversity, but also consider impacts on crop yields and financial benefits and costs for the farmer. This approach will provide an example of how farmers, citizen scientists, researchers, public authorities, and other parties can work together to improve biodiversity in the countryside.
For more, see https://www.miragenews.com/bringing-together-agriculture-and-biodiversity/ AND https://www.wur.nl/en/newsarticle/Bringing-together-Agriculture-and-Biodiversity.htm?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news
6. Removing Forest dwellers from areas to protect biodiversity costs more than involving them
More than Rs 50 trillion—–nearly one-fourth of India’s annual gross domestic product—is the cost of resettling tribal people and forest dwellers to areas outside forests, as a measure for biodiversity conservation. This is more than 1750 times the amount, Rs 28.47 billion, that is required for community-based conservation by recognizing their rights over the land and making them partners in the conservation work. Experts argue that India has been following the decades-old practice of developing undisturbed forest areas even as there are enough successful examples of partnering with the local community for preserving forests and wildlife habitats.
7. Mapping global impacts for all vegetable oils key to sustainability
A lack of data on the environmental and social impacts of vegetable oil crops stands in the way of informed discussions about their relative sustainability, according to a new study by members of the International Union for Nature Conservation’s (IUCN) Palm Oil Task Force. The study, led by Erik Minard, indicates that more accurate, high-resolution maps and data on a range of vegetable oils are needed to help decision-makers determine which crops should be grown where to sustainably meet rising global demand.
Results of this study confirm that oil palm plantations have had significant impacts on key species and ecosystems in the tropics, but there is a lack of information on the impacts of other vegetable oils. As the standard of living of more people rises, the demand for cooking oil will increase. To meet global oil demand without oil palm would require switching to less efficient vegetable oil crops. However, the impact of other oil crops on the environment and biodiversity is not known. The new study highlights that, while oil palm is associated with more species listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List than any other oil crop, other vegetable oils also threaten biodiversity. However, oil palm now makes up around 40% of the current global vegetable oil supply, despite occupying only around 5.5% of the total global oil crop area. So, understanding the impact of other oil crops on biodiversity, along with the total area that may be needed to produce enough oil to meet the global demand, is essential to make wise decisions about what oil crops may be grown in the future.
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-00813-w
Events
1. ICPG005: International Conference on Plant Genomics,
25-26 Jan 2022, Paris, France.
For more, see https://waset.org/plant-genomics-conference-in-january-2022-in-paris
2. ICPBSST: International Conference on Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Technology,
11-12 Jan 2022, Singapore, Singapore.
For more, see https://waset.org/plant-breeding-seed-science-and-technology-conference-in-january-2022-in-singapore
3. ICSAHR001: International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Habitat Reconstruction,
14-15 Jan 2022, Bali, Indonesia.
For more, see https://waset.org/sustainable-agriculture-and-habitat-reconstruction-conference-in-january-2022-in-bali
4. ICPBGF001: International Conference on Plant Breeding and Green Farming,
18-19 Jan 2022, Bangkok, Thailand.
For more, see https://waset.org/plant-breeding-and-green-farming-conference-in-january-2022-in-bangkok
5. ICCPA002: International Conference on Crop Protection and Awareness,
21-22 Jan 2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
For more, see https://waset.org/crop-protection-and-awareness-conference-in-january-2022-in-amsterdam
6. ICCAAF001: International Conference on Climate Action in Agriculture and Forestry, 28-29 Jan 2022, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
For more, see https://waset.org/climate-action-in-agriculture-and-forestry-conference-in-january-2022-in-dubai
7. International Conference on Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources,
22-26 Feb 2022, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad, India.
For more, see https://10times.com/gpgr-hyderabad
Other Topics of Interest
(Note to readers: An item listed under this category is not necessarily of lesser consequence, but we need to limit our selection under each of the earlier categories. You can check the links for the items listed here to read those of greater interest to you.)
1. Viewpoint: Despite its ‘social justice pretence’ agroecology promotes poverty in developing countries
2. How can the world of finance help protect biodiversity?
For more, see https://science.thewire.in/environment/how-can-the-world-of-finance-help-protect-biodiversity/
3. Seven myths on farm bills
For more, see https://www.gulte.com/political-news/39596/7-myths-on-farm-bills
4. Scientists find out how plants pass on defects to offspring
For more, see https://theprint.in/science/scientists-find-out-how-plants-pass-on-defects-to-offspring/556715/
Access the full paper at https://elifesciences.org/articles/58533#downloads
5. Latin American researchers use gene editing to develop new crops that benefit farmers and consumers
6. A wheat map to doubling production
For more, see https://www.wibw.com/2020/11/28/wheats-genetic-potential-unlocked-through-global-collaboration-at-k-state/
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2961-x
7. Biodiversity net gain and people’s wellbeing
For more, see https://cieem.net/i-am/current-projects/biodiversity-net-gain-and-peoples-wellbeing/
8. Natural resources governance: Responsibilization of citizens or forcing responsibility on them?
9. Biologists summarize 520 studies and report the best way to fertilize the soil
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-11-biologists-fertilize-soil.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720345320?via%3Dihub
10. Over three-quarters of the world’s largest companies do not report risks from biodiversity loss: KPMG survey
11. Nature conservation requires a more dynamic approach to weather impacts of climate change
For more, see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/567275 and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201208111634.htm
Access the full paper at https://www.pnas.org/content/117/49/30882
12. Global mega-trends impact forest communities, scientists find
For more, see https://forestsnews.cifor.org/69902/global-mega-trends-impact-forest-communities-report-finds?fnl=en
13. Cost of planting, protecting trees to fight climate change could jump
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-trees-climate.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19578-z
14. Tomato’s wild ancestor is a genomic reservoir for plant breeders
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19682-0
15. After 100 years, Cornell University plant pathologists revisit the fire blight hypothesis
16. Making sense of a universe of corn genetics
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-11-universe-corn-genetics.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full paper at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pbi.13420
17. Forum focuses on Oman’s diversified genetic resources
For more, see https://timesofoman.com/article/95997-forum-focuses-on-omans-diversified-genetic-resources
18. Rebooting Economy 51: Where is India’s vision, plan for sustained agriculture growth and farmers’ welfare?
19. Threatened Species Index of Australia shows staggering loss of threatened native plants over 20 years
20. Biological diversity evokes human happiness
Access the full paper at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800920322084?via%3Dihub#f0005
21. How an Advice Hotline is making farmers in India more productive.
For more, see https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/advice-hotline-farmers-india
Access the full paper at https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27192/w27192.pdf
22. Removing forest dwellers from areas to protect biodiversity costs more than involving them
23. Environmental cues control cassava flowering
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-11-environmental-cues-cassava.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11103-020-01057-0
24. High-tech fixes for the food system could have unintended consequences
Access the full paper at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30277-1/fulltext#figures
24. Temporal crop diversity stabilizes agricultural production
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1316-y )
25. Seasonality of diet costs reveals food system performance in East Africa
Access the full paper at https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/49/eabc2162?utm_campaign=toc_advances_2020-12-04&et_rid=411559884&et_cid=358566
26. Pathways to sustainable land use and food systems
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-pathways-sustainable-food.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full report at http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/16896/1/2020%20FABLE%20Report_Full_High_Resolution.pdf
27. New insight on how a plant’s hormonal cues respond to physiological stress
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-uncovered-hormonal-cues.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
28. Immune receptors detect pathogen effectors and trigger a plant’s immune response
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2020-12-immune-receptor-tango.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6521/eabe3069