scholarly journals A Dual Strategy of Breeding for Drought Tolerance and Introducing Drought-Tolerant, Underutilized Crops into Production Systems to Enhance Their Resilience to Water Deficiency

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amparo Rosero ◽  
Leiter Granda ◽  
Jhon A. Berdugo-Cely ◽  
Olga Šamajová ◽  
Jozef Šamaj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Water Deficiency ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Neglected And Underutilized Species ◽  
Underutilized Species ◽  
Staple Crops

Water scarcity is the primary constraint on crop productivity in arid and semiarid tropical areas suffering from climate alterations; in accordance, agricultural systems have to be optimized. Several concepts and strategies should be considered to improve crop yield and quality, particularly in vulnerable regions where such environmental changes cause a risk of food insecurity. In this work, we review two strategies aiming to increase drought stress tolerance: (i) the use of natural genes that have evolved over time and are preserved in crop wild relatives and landraces for drought tolerance breeding using conventional and molecular methods and (ii) exploiting the reservoir of neglected and underutilized species to identify those that are known to be more drought-tolerant than conventional staple crops while possessing other desired agronomic and nutritive characteristics, as well as introducing them into existing cropping systems to make them more resilient to water deficiency conditions. In the past, the existence of drought tolerance genes in crop wild relatives and landraces was either unknown or difficult to exploit using traditional breeding techniques to secure potential long-term solutions. Today, with the advances in genomics and phenomics, there are a number of new tools available that facilitate the discovery of drought resistance genes in crop wild relatives and landraces and their relatively easy transfer into advanced breeding lines, thus accelerating breeding progress and creating resilient varieties that can withstand prolonged drought periods. Among those tools are marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection (GS), and targeted gene editing (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) technology). The integration of these two major strategies, the advances in conventional and molecular breeding for the drought tolerance of conventional staple crops, and the introduction of drought-tolerant neglected and underutilized species into existing production systems has the potential to enhance the resilience of agricultural production under conditions of water scarcity.

scholarly journals The Role of Vegetable Genetic Resources in Nutrition Security and Vegetable Breeding

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas W. Ebert
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Fruit And Vegetables ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Nutrition Security ◽  
Farming Community ◽  
Complex Inheritance

Malnutrition, comprising undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overnutrition, is more widespread than hunger per se and affects most nations around the globe. The diversity and the quality of food produced and consumed are decisive factors when addressing the triple burden of malnutrition. In this context, fruit, vegetables, and nuts are increasingly moving into the focus of the nutrition community. Agricultural policies and investments in agriculture are predominantly focused on staple food production, neglecting the economic and nutritional potential of fruit and vegetables. While global vegetables are well represented in genebanks around the globe, this is much less the case for traditional vegetables. Collecting efforts in hotspots of vegetable diversity in Africa and Asia are required to conserve this germplasm before it is being replaced by modern varieties. Home gardens, community seedbanks, and variety introduction through vegetable seed kits are ways how genebanks can link with the farming community to strengthen the informal seed sector. This in turn may result in more diverse production systems and increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. In the formal seed sector, vegetable breeders need access to a wide diversity of genetic resources, predominantly farmers’ varieties, landraces, and crop wild relatives. Genomics-assisted breeding is increasingly facilitating the introgression of favorable genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with complex inheritance patterns from wild species into cultigens. This will lead to wider use of crop wild relatives in the development of resilient cultivars.

Crop wild relatives as a genetic resource for generating low-cyanide, drought-tolerant Sorghum

2020 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 103884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max F. Cowan ◽  
Cecilia K. Blomstedt ◽  
Sally L. Norton ◽  
Robert J. Henry ◽  
Birger Lindberg Møller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resource ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Drought Tolerant

Endosperm and starch granule morphology in wild cereal relatives

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Shapter ◽  
R. J. Henry ◽  
L. S. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Starch Granule ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Protein Digestibility ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
In Planta ◽  
Granule Morphology ◽  
Cultivated Species ◽  
Novel Alleles

Australia's native grass species contain a diverse array of wild cereal relatives which are adapted to a broader range of environmental conditions than current commercial cereals and may contain novel alleles which have utility in commercial production systems. Characterizing the available variation in endosperm morphology is one of the first steps towardsin plantamanipulation of endosperm by either the introgression of novel alleles or bioengineering cereal starch and protein. The endosperm of 19 crop wild relatives (CWR) was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mature caryopses were fixed, dehydrated, critical-point dried and then snap fractured transversely through the grain. Wild relatives exhibited similar types of starch granules to that of their respective cultivated species, though in general the wild species retained a greater proportion of the endosperm cell wall at maturity. The two species examined with no closely related cultivated species exhibited a rice-like endosperm. Wild sorghum relatives exhibited an abundance of endosperm variations described as variations in starch granule size, shape and surface morphology, and the distribution of protein bodies. This is particularly important because the grain ofSorghum bicolorhas inherently low starch and protein digestibility. These variations within the wild relatives of commercial cereals may provide novel sources of genetic diversity for future grain improvement programmes.

Crop wild relatives and their conservation strategies in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 750-757
Author(s):  
Yu Yanbo ◽  
Wang Qunliang ◽  
Kell Shelagh ◽  
Maxted Nigel ◽  
V. Ford-Lloyd Brian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Conservation Strategies

Evaluation of drought tolerance and screening for drought-tolerant indicators in sweetpotato cultivars

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai-Yan ZHANG ◽  
Bei-Tao XIE ◽  
Bao-Qing WANG ◽  
Shun-Xu DONG ◽  
Wen-Xue DUAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Drought Tolerant

scholarly journals Improving Drought Tolerance in Mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek): Morpho-Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Perspectives

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1534
Author(s):  
Chandra Mohan Singh ◽  
Poornima Singh ◽  
Chandrakant Tiwari ◽  
Shalini Purwar ◽  
Mukul Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Whole Genome Sequence ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Breeding Programmes ◽  
The Impact

Drought stress is considered a severe threat to crop production. It adversely affects the morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular functions of the plants, especially in short duration crops like mungbean. In the past few decades, significant progress has been made towards enhancing climate resilience in legumes through classical and next-generation breeding coupled with omics approaches. Various defence mechanisms have been reported as key players in crop adaptation to drought stress. Many researchers have identified potential donors, QTLs/genes and candidate genes associated to drought tolerance-related traits. However, cloning and exploitation of these loci/gene(s) in breeding programmes are still limited. To bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical breeding, we need to reveal the omics-assisted genetic variations associated with drought tolerance in mungbean to tackle this stress. Furthermore, the use of wild relatives in breeding programmes for drought tolerance is also limited and needs to be focused. Even after six years of decoding the whole genome sequence of mungbean, the genome-wide characterization and expression of various gene families and transcriptional factors are still lacking. Due to the complex nature of drought tolerance, it also requires integrating high throughput multi-omics approaches to increase breeding efficiency and genomic selection for rapid genetic gains to develop drought-tolerant mungbean cultivars. This review highlights the impact of drought stress on mungbean and mitigation strategies for breeding high-yielding drought-tolerant mungbean varieties through classical and modern omics technologies.

scholarly journals Status of the Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation of Brazilian Crop Wild Relatives of Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, and Finger Millet: Filling the Gaps of Germplasm Collections

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
Marcelo B. Medeiros ◽  
José F. M. Valls ◽  
Aluana G. Abreu ◽  
Gustavo Heiden ◽  
Suelma Ribeiro-Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Finger Millet ◽  
Ex Situ Conservation ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
In Situ Conservation ◽  
Germplasm Collection ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
The Status

This study presents the status of ex situ and in situ conservation for the crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet in Brazil, and the subsequent germplasm collection expeditions. This research is part of a global initiative entitled “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives” supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Species of the primary, secondary, and tertiary gene pools with occurrences reported in Brazil were included: Oryza alta Swallen, O. grandiglumis (Döll) Prod., O. latifolia Desv., O. glumaepatula Steud., Eleusine tristachya (Lam.) Lam., E. indica (L.) Gaertn., Solanum commersonii Dunal, S. chacoense Bitter, Ipomoea grandifolia (Dammer) O’Donell, I. ramosissima (Poir.) Choisy, I. tiliacea (Willd.) Choisy, I. triloba L., and I. cynanchifolia Meisn. The status of the ex situ and in situ conservation of each taxon was assessed using the gap analysis methodology, and the results were used to plan 16 germplasm collection expeditions. Seeds of the collected material were evaluated for viability, and the protocols for seed germination and cryopreservation were tested. The final conservation score, resulting from the gap analysis and including the average of the ex situ and in situ scores, resulted in a classification of medium priority of conservation for all the species, with the exception of I. grandifolia (high priority). The total accessions collected (174) almost doubled the total accessions of these crop wild relatives incorporated in Embrapa’s ex situ conservation system prior to 2015. In addition, accessions for practically absent species were collected for the ex situ conservation system, such as Ipomoea species, Eleusine indica, and Solanum chacoense. The methods used for dormancy breaking and low temperature conservation for the Oryza, Eleusine, and Ipomoea species were promising for the incorporation of accessions in the respective gene banks. The results show the importance of efforts to collect and conserve ex situ crop wild relatives in Brazil based on previous gap analysis. The complementarity with the in situ strategy also appears to be very promising in the country.

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