Accelerated domestication of new crops - It is all about improving yields

• Published in: Plant and cell physiology 2022-05, Vol.65
• Main Authors: Luo, Guangbin, Najafi, Javad, Correir, Pedro M.P., Trinh, Mai Duy Luu, Chapman, Elizabeth, Osterberg, Jeppe Thulin, Thomsen, Hanne Cecilie, Pedas, Pai Rosager, Larson, Steven Richard, Knudsen, Søren, Dehaan, Lee, Palmgren, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biodiversity; carbon footprint; cell physiology; domestication; mutagenesis; phenotype; stress tolerance; sustainable agriculture
• ISSN: 0032-0781
• DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcac065

Sustainable agriculture in the future will depend on crops that are tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses, require minimal input in the form of water and nutrients, and the cultivation of which results in a minimal carbon footprint. Wild plants that fulfil these requirements abound in nature but are typically low yielding. Thus, replacing current high-yielding crops with less productive but resilient species will require increasing land area under cultivation to produce the same yield. Cultivating more land harms remaining nature, reduces biodiversity and increases the carbon footprint. Conventional breeding programs have been conducted to deliver high yield and consequently many useful traits associated with stress tolerance in plants were overlooked. Generally, crop domestication is associated with loss-of natural function of a few genes, collectively known as domestication genes, that when mutated result in a domestication phenotype. De novo domestication of orphan or crop wild relatives using mutagenesis is considered as an alternative and fast approach to achieve resilient crops with high yield. Development of new precise molecular techniques should make it possible to close the yield gap in a much shorter period of time than ever before in the history of agriculture.