Abstract
Food security and the protection of the environment are urgent issues for global society, particularly with the uncertainties of climate change. Changing climate is predicted to have a wide range of negative impacts on plant physiology metabolism, soil fertility and carbon sequestration, microbial activity and diversity that will limit plant growth and productivity, and ultimately food production. Ensuring global food security and food safety will require an intensive research effort across the food chain, starting with crop production and the nutritional quality of the food products. Much uncertainty remains concerning the resilience of plants, soils, and associated microbes to climate change. Intensive efforts are currently underway to improve crop yields with lower input requirements and enhance the sustainability of yield through improved biotic and abiotic stress tolerance traits. In addition, significant efforts are focused on gaining a better understanding of the root/soil interface and associated microbiomes, as well as enhancing soil properties.
Generated Summary
This editorial article, published in the journal Plant, Cell & Environment, discusses the urgent need to develop climate-resilient crops to ensure global food security and safety, especially in light of climate change uncertainties. It highlights the critical role of agriculture and food production in addressing the challenges posed by climate change, including impacts on plant physiology, soil fertility, and microbial activity. The article emphasizes the necessity of a “next generation Green Revolution” that employs a broad, systems-based approach to agriculture, encompassing environmental, economic, and societal considerations. The research focuses on enhancing crop yields, reducing input requirements, and improving the sustainability of yields through enhanced biotic and abiotic stress tolerance traits, with a better understanding of the root/soil interface and associated microbiomes. The main objective is to accelerate research and development of crops that can withstand various environmental stresses, such as drought, extreme temperatures, and soil salinity, to ensure global food security in a changing climate. The article highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach involving scientists, and society, addressing the urgent requirement to transform agriculture and the food sector to achieve food and nutrition security, ecosystem sustainability, economic growth, and social equity over the coming decades.
Key Findings & Statistics
- Global food demand is predicted to grow by 70-85% by 2050 as the population increases to over 9 billion people (FAO, 2017; Ray, Mueller, West, & Foley, 2013).
- The predicted increased frequency of drought and intense precipitation events, elevated temperatures, as well as increased salt and heavy metals contamination of soils, will often be accompanied by increased infestation by pests, and pathogens are expected to take a major toll on crop yields, leading to enhanced risks of famine.
- The frequency and intensity of extreme temperature events in the tropics are increasing rapidly as a result of climate change.
- The ability of tropical species to withstand such “heat peaks” is poorly understood, particularly with regard to how plants prevent precocious senescence and retain photosynthesis in the leaves during these high temperature (HT) conditions.
- Throughout history, farmers have adopted new crop varieties and adjusted their practices in accordance with changes in the environment.
- Drought stress alone is expected to limit the productivity of more than half of the earth’s arable land in the next 50 years, competition for water between urban and agricultural areas compounding the problem.
- The study described in the paper by Dixit et al. (2017) highlights the role of novel stress-associated proteins (SAPs) in providing tolerance to the multiple abiotic stresses experienced by plants.
- Of the 130 million hectares of land used for rice cultivation, approximately 30% contain levels of salt high enough to affect rice yield.
- Warming over the Indian subcontinent (both land and ocean) has been recorded over first decade of this century (Roxy et al., 2015), and recent studies have warned the increased occurrences of heatwaves over the land (Rohini, Rajeevan, & Srivastava, 2016).
- Temperatures are projected to rise faster in Africa than in the rest of the world, with increases exceeding 2 °C by mid-21st century and 4 °C by the end of 21st century (Niang et al., 2014).
- Temperature increases of 3-4 °C are likely to cause crop yields to fall by 15-35% in Africa and Asia and by 25-35% in the Middle East (Ortiz et al., 2008).
- Parasitic nematodes cause more than $150 billion losses annually to susceptible crops worldwide (Hassan, Pham, Shi, & Zheng, 2013).
Other Important Findings
- The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present an urgent and formidable challenge to scientists and society alike, highlighting the urgent requirement to transform agriculture and the food sector to achieve food and nutrition security, ecosystem sustainability, economic growth, and social equity over the coming decades.
- Climate change has far-reaching implications for global food security and has already substantially impacts agricultural production worldwide through effects on soil fertility and carbon sequestration, microbial activity and diversity, as well as on plant growth and productivity.
- The article highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach involving scientists, and society, addressing the urgent requirement to transform agriculture and the food sector to achieve food and nutrition security, ecosystem sustainability, economic growth, and social equity over the coming decades.
- The papers published in this special issue cover basic and applied research focused on enabling crops to grow under over a wider range of environmental conditions with sustainable and reliable crop yields.
- Particular emphasis is placed on the development of climate-resilient crops that are able to adapt rapidly to changing climatic conditions and on how climate change impacts on the resilience of plant/soil interface and soil microbiomes.
- The manuscripts that comprise this volume address the challenges imposed by the increased frequency of abiotic and biotic stresses with a view developing strategies to minimize the impact of changing climate on agriculture and the environment.
- Although the use of brackish and saline water could help alleviate the world’s water problems, this option is only possible with the development of salt-tolerant crops or management practices that alleviate salt stress.
- Sustainable innovation of the agricultural sector within SDG constraints is urgently required to improve the way that food and animal feed are produced.
- The study by Gupta et al. (2017) reports the generation of rice plants with improved adaptation towards multiple abiotic and biotic stresses with reduced yield penalty through manipulation of the glyoxalase pathway.
- Enhanced rice grain yields, achieved through manipulation of cytokinin homeostasis in the inflorescence meristem, are reported in the paper by Joshi et al. (2017).
- The mechanisms that plants employ for uptake, translocation, detoxification, and accumulation of toxic metals are highlighted in this review, which also provides a comprehensive list of the recent studies undertaken in this field (Fasani et al., 2017).
- The use of phytoremediation to improve contaminated soils and/or water is proposed as a cost-effective and environmental friendly “green-clean” technology.
- The process of protein degradation is therefore proposed as a major target for improving salt tolerance in rice.
- A mechanistic understanding of plant responses to HT, particularly when the stress is imposed at flowering, is crucial for the development of stress tolerant genotypes because plant reproductive organs are very sensitive to HT stress.
- The screening of pearl millet germplasm and identification of HT tolerant lines in this paper will be extremely useful in future breeding programs designed to develop parental lines or hybrids with HT tolerance.
- The role of gas films on leaves as a tolerance mechanisms presented in the paper by Herzog et al. (2017) has relevance for rice crop survival.
- Frost damage was shown to be controlled primality by frost exposure and not the vulnerability of the walnut genotypes to frost damage during the dormant periods (Charrier et al., 2017).
- Such studies emphasize the importance of the mechanisms of perception of frost signals in order to minimize the damage.
- The BR-induced increases in antioxidant capacity that underpin enhanced chilling tolerance were found to be largely dependent on the activation of RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG and associated increases in apoplastic ROS.
- Evidence is presented showing that photorespiration contributes to the basal defense against P. syringae via glycolate-oxidase-derived H2O2 production and hence climate changes associated decreases in photorespiration may impair such defense response (Ahammed et al., 2017).
Limitations Noted in the Document
- The study acknowledges that the ability of tropical species to withstand “heat peaks” is poorly understood, highlighting a need for further research in this area.
- The article mentions that with the expansion of crop cultivation to nonoptimal environments and nonarable lands, development of climate-resilient crops is becoming increasingly important for ensuring food security, but it does not delve into specific limitations related to these challenges.
- The review does not fully explore the potential limitations of using brackish and saline water for salt tolerance.
- The editorial emphasizes the importance of genetic engineering approaches for improving plant phytoremediation capacity in contaminated soils but does not address the limitations associated with this approach.
- The studies on rice salt tolerance, as reported in the papers by Patishtan et al. (2017) and Oyiga et al. (2017), primarily focus on genetic variations and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and do not delve into specific limitations related to practical applications in breeding programs.
- The article highlights the role of various mechanisms in plant stress tolerance but does not provide a detailed analysis of the limitations.
- The article mentions that the studies presented in the different manuscripts that comprise this special issue increase current knowledge of the genes, processes, and underlying mechanisms of stress tolerance/resistance but it does not delve into the limitations for developing climate-resilient crops.
Conclusion
The editorial emphasizes that ensuring global food security and food safety requires a concerted research effort, particularly focusing on enhancing the resilience of plants, soils, and associated microbes to climate change. The “next generation Green Revolution” requires a broad, systems-based approach, considering environmental, economic, and societal aspects. The article stresses that transformative science is essential to avoid a major crisis in food production. The article highlights that the expansion of crop cultivation to nonoptimal environments and nonarable lands necessitates the development of climate-resilient crops. The increasing frequency of abiotic and biotic stresses, particularly extreme temperatures and water scarcity, requires strategies to minimize the impact of changing climate on agriculture. Moreover, the review highlights a few key findings: The study by Gupta et al. (2017) reports the generation of rice plants with improved adaptation towards multiple abiotic and biotic stresses with reduced yield penalty through manipulation of the glyoxalase pathway; Enhanced rice grain yields, achieved through manipulation of cytokinin homeostasis in the inflorescence meristem, are reported in the paper by Joshi et al. (2017); The role of gas films on leaves as a tolerance mechanisms presented in the paper by Herzog et al. (2017) has relevance for rice crop survival. The need to develop climate-resilient crops is becoming increasingly important for ensuring food security. The article underscores the urgency of addressing climate change impacts on agricultural production. In conclusion, the development of climate-resilient crops is crucial for global food security, requiring innovative research and a holistic approach that considers the complex interactions of climate change, agriculture, and societal needs, with the goal of minimizing the impact of changing climate on agriculture. The article also highlights the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and the importance of understanding the underlying physiological, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms to improve crop resilience.