Download Utilizing Crop Biodiversity for Future Agriculture: Food for

Utilizing Crop Biodiversity for Future Agriculture:
Food for Thought
Wilhelm Gruissem |
United States of America | North Carolina
$341 per week
(Menzel, 2005)
Mexico
(Menzel, 2005)
$ 189 per week
India
$ 39 per week
(Menzel, 2005)
Ecuador
(Menzel, 2005)
$ 34 per week
Chad
$ 25 per week
(Menzel, 2005)
Sustainable food security is facing a potential bottleneck
• Since the beginning of agriculture, humans have cultivated 7,000 plant species
• Today only 150 plant species (2%) are agriculturally relevant for food and clothing
• Only 10 plant species are cultivated today to provide 95% of food and feed
Cultivated today
95% of food and feed
Total cultivated since
the beginning of agriculture
Total kultiviert
Heute kultiviert
95% der Ernährung
Only three cereal crops deliver nearly
60% of the global calories
Most important crops for food and feed calorie supply
Maize
7%
Rice
26%
Wheat
23%
And in 2013, the challenge of global food security remains
• World's hungry are still
nearly 1 billion people!
• Increasing poverty in
Africa, South Asia and
CWANA
• 75% of the poor live in
rural areas
• Increasing malnutrition
Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
In the next 50 years we have to produce more food
than ever before in the history of humankind
GROWING WORLD POPULATION (B)
9
3000
8
2500
7
6
2000
5
1500
4
3
1000
2
500
1
1981
1999
2015
TRANSITION NATIONS
•
•
•
RISING CEREAL DEMAND (MMT)
2030
1981
DEVELOPED NATIONS
1999
2015
2030
DEVELOPING NATIONS
World population continues to increase
Per capita food consumption continues to rise
Consumers continue to demand improved taste, convenience, and nutrition
Source: FAO, WHO
This has unprecedented growth demands on agricultural
commodities—despite what is claimed by many NGOs
3.000
Million Metric Tons
2.500
+28%
+102%
2.000
Rice
+125%
Cotton
1.500
Soybeans
+40%
Wheat
1.000
Corn
+76%
500
0
2000
2010
2015
2020
2030
Society is in transition—something we often forget
OIL
ECONOMY
BIO
ECONOMY
Implications for land-use, the environment,
rural development, agriculture and the use
of agricultural feedstocks
We need innovative and disruptive technologies and approaches
to address emerging global challenges…
Demand
Food security
Changing diets
Energy
Biofuels
Feedstocks
Soil
Urbanization
Erosion and depletion
Climate change
Abiotic stress and CO2
Unpredictable weather
Water
Ground water
Surface water
Plant diseases
Pathogen populations
More virulent pathogens
…because global crop yield averages are declining
Philip G. Pardey, University of Minnesota
6
1920-1960
Commodity Rate
Maize
0.69%
Wheat
0.99%
Rice
0.49%
5
1960-1990
Commodity
Rate
Maize
1.73%
Wheat
2.57%
Rice
2.19%
1990-2008
Commodity Rate
Maize
1.78%
Wheat
0.97%
Rice
1.07%
Yield (MT/Ha.)
4
Rice
Maize
3
Wheat
2
1
barley
maize
millet
oats
rice
rye
sorghum
soybeans
2005
2000
1995
1990
1985
1980
1975
1970
1965
1960
1955
1950
1945
1940
1935
1930
1925
1920
0
wheat
The increase in crop production between the 1960‘s to
1990‘s was the result of the “Green Revolution”
High-yielding varieties with shorter stems and
improved nitrogen use efficiency resulted in
increased use of fertilizer and pesticides
Breeder and Nobel Laureate
Norman Borlaug 1914-2009
Photos courtesy of S. Harrison, LSU Ag center and The World Food Prize.
The Green Revolution greatly improved crop production
and food security, but also decreased crop diversity
Year
High-yielding
varieties in %
Traditional
varieties in %
Decreasing crop biodiversity and spreading monoculture
are a potential threat to food security
• Rice diversity is decreasing
- in 1986, the single rice variety “IR36” was grown on 11 million hectares in Asia
- in China, all rice F1 hybrids grown on 15 million hectares share the same male sterility genes
- all modern rice varieties have the same dwarfing gene
• Wheat diversity is decreasing
- in 1983, 67% of the wheat fields in Bangladesh were planted to a single variety
- in Ireland, 90% of the total wheat area is planted to six varieties
- in 1949, China used over 10,000 varieties for production, in 1970 on 1,000 remained in use
• Diversity of other crops is decreasing
- in the Netherlands, for example, the three top varieties of nine major crops covered from
81 to 99% of the respective areas planted.
- one cultivar accounted for 94% of the spring barley planted
Source: FAO
Monocultures favor the spread of pathogens
“The new strains of stem rust
UG99,…, are much more
dangerous than those that, 50
years ago, destroyed as much as
20 percent of the American wheat
crop.”
Climate Change – mitigation and adaptation are needed to
sustain agricultural crop production and food security
Source: World Bank World Development Report (2010)
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem change need to be considered
Ecosystem Functions | Genetic Resources | Crop Resilience | Diverse Diets
Increasing plant productivity is needed…
 Plant breeding is a key factor to increase plant productivity
(Swiss REDES Project, 2013)
 High effectiveness
 Sustainable
 To meet the expected global food demand, we will need around
1.5 to 2.5% breeding progress per year (Fischer and Edmeades,
2010, 2013)
 Can not be achieved with current/commercial breeding tools
 Innovative breeding strategies, novel tools (including
gene technology), and new genes/alleles are needed!
Modern breeding and sustainable intensification of agriculture to
meet global challenges are often viewed as being incompatible with
the maintenance of ecosystem services
Economy
 Yield stability
 Quality
 Cost
Ecology
 Low input and organic
farming
 Nutrient use efficiency
 Biodiversity
Agricultural centers of origin developed independently in different
parts of the world and remain valuable resources of genetic diversity
Wheat, Barley, Peas, Grapes
~ 13,000 years ago
Rice, Soybean
~ 9,000 years ago
Sorghum, Millet,
Coffee
Maize, Pumpkin, Bean,
Potato
~ 10,000 years ago
Banana,
Coconut
Ancient or wild crop varieties often contain valuable genes that
were neglected or lost while breeding high-yielding elite varieties
The Kasalath PSTOL1 gene is a good example of genes present in
diverse rice varieties but not in elite mega-varieties
Exploring the potential of Aus-type rice varieties for genes that
make them tolerant to drought and phosphorous deficiency
FR13A
Kasalath
N22
Garris et al Genetics, 2006
Tolerant varieties
Pokkali
- Dular (Aus-type)
- Kasalath (Aus-type) Intolerant varieties
- IR64 (Indica-type)
- Nipponbare (Japonica-type)
The Aus-type varieties Kasalath and Dular have several genes that are
differentially expressed during drought and P-deficiency but that are
not differentially expressed or not present in IR64
Differentially expressed genes in the Austype varieties will be particularly valuable for
irrigated lowland rice production
We need to explore crop biodiversity for water use efficiency (WUE)
genes because water use for agricultural production will continue to rise
Source: UNEP/GRID-Arendal
2002, based on Shiklomanov
and UNESCO 1999
We need to explore crop biodiversity for nutrient use efficiency (NUE)
genes because existing mineral fertilizer resources will not be able to
meet the long-term agricultural needs
• Nitrogen
• Current production plants under construction will meet the increasing
demand for nitrogen fertilizer (about 3% / year)
• Phosphate
• Current rock phosphate resources are estimated to last the next 200 years
• Development of a mining site takes about 5 years
• Potassium
• Current resources similar to phosphate but larger deposits
• Development of a mining site takes about 8 years
Source: www.yarra.com
The International Rice Gene Bank Collection is a rich source of
valuable resistance alleles to fight the devastating rice blast disease
• IRGC-International Rice Genebank
Collection
• World’s largest collection of rice
germplasm
• Over 112,000 registered
accessions
• from 117 source countries
We are using this source of rice
accessions for allele mining
Novel & potent blast resistant
genes/alleles identified.
Introgression into breeding programs
We need to explore crop biodiversity for novel resistance alleles and
genes to intensify agricultural production and assure food security
Seed banks are treasure troves of crop genetic diversity that we must
explore for novel genes from molecular to phenotypic performance
http://www.britannica.com
http://www.theguardian.com
http://www.seedbuzz.com
Courtesy Prof. Achim Walter, ETH Zurich
http://www.britannica.com
http://www.scientificamerican.com
www.fs.fed.us
Storing our global crop diversity in the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault is a step in the right direction, but not peace of mind!
http://www.croptrust.org
The Global Plant Council and the Global Plant Diversity Trust have
joined forces to capture and understand the mechanisms of
biodiversity of our crops present in seed banks around the world
SeedSeq
Passport information for seed banks
around the world
Susan McCouch
Hannes Dempewolf
The Global Crop Diversity Trust
Digital Seed Bank
Exploring the basis of crop biodiversity
and mining for useful genes
Wilhelm Gruissem
The Global Plant Council
Thank you
…and Science for a Better Life for the next 150 Years…
…because global problems demand global solutions
and public-private partnerships for
sustainable agricultural production
Thank you to my colleagues
Navreet Bhullar
Jonghwa Park
Kumar Vasudevan
Susan Heuer (International Rice Resarch Institute)
Casiana Vera Cruz (International Rice Resarch InstituteI)