Biotechnological and digital revolution for climate-smart plant breeding

Climate change, associated with global warming, extreme weather events, and increasing incidence of weeds, pests and pathogens, is strongly influencing major cropping systems. In this challenging scenario, miscellaneous strategies are needed to expedite the rate of genetic gains with the purpose of developing novel varieties. Large plant breeding populations, efficient high-throughput technologies, big data management tools, and downstream biotechnology and molecular techniques are the pillars on which next generation breeding is based. In this review, we describe the toolbox the breeder has to face the challenges imposed by climate change, remark on the key role bioinformatics plays in the analysis and interpretation of big “omics„ data, and acknowledge all the benefits that have been introduced into breeding strategies with the biotechnological and digital revolution

Agroecology

Agroecology was chosen by INRAE as one of its interdisciplinary scientific foresight studies designed to identify research fronts in response to major societal challenges. Eighty researchers drew up an assessment and proposed research avenues for agroecology. This book summarizes their main conclusions. Agroecology, as a scientific discipline that puts ecology back at the centre of agricultural system design, is now well established. Diversification of living organisms in agroecosystems is a broad objective that is intended to make these systems more robust and resilient. Research in genetics and landscape ecology must be mobilized so that agroecology can use mechanisms from the field to landscape scales. Progress is being made in modelling agroecological systems to better understand the many biotic and abiotic interactions, to predict them, and to begin to manage some of them. Diversification of living organisms in agricultural production (species, varieties, crop rotations, etc.) leads to more varied products. The consequences will be significant on the commodity chains, and more precisely on agri-food systems, from production methods to product consumption. These changes are long-term. The agroecological transition, which is adaptive, co-constructed with all actors, is in itself a research subject, and will rely on experimental devices, farms, and ‘Territories of innovation’

Understanding evolutionary processes during past Quaternary climatic cycles: Can it be applied to the future?

Climate change affected ecological community make-up during the Quaternary which was probably both the cause of, and was caused by, evolutionary processes such as species evolution, adaptation and extinction of species and populations

Molecular Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology of Crop Plants Breeding

This Special Issue on molecular genetics, genomics, and biotechnology in crop plant breeding seeks to encourage the use of the tools currently available. It features nine research papers that address quality traits, grain yield, and mutations by exploring cytoplasmic male sterility, the delicate control of flowering in rice, the removal of anti-nutritional factors, the use and development of new technologies for non-model species marker technology, site-directed mutagenesis and GMO regulation, genomics selection and genome-wide association studies, how to cope with abiotic stress, and an exploration of fruit trees adapted to harsh environments for breeding purposes. A further four papers review the genetics of pre-harvest spouting, readiness for climate-smart crop development, genomic selection in the breeding of cereal crops, and the large numbers of mutants in straw lignin biosynthesis and deposition

The genomic and evolutionary analysis of floral heteromorphy in Primula

The genetic basis and evolutionary significance of floral heteromorphy in Primula has been debated for over 150 years. Charles Darwin was the first to explain the importance of the two heterostylous floral morphs, pin and thrum, suggesting that their reciprocal anther and stigma heights facilitate cross-pollination, and showing that only between morph crosses are fully compatible. This key innovation is an archetypal example of convergent evolution that serves to physically promote insect-mediated outcrossing, having evolved in over 28 angiosperm families . Darwin’s findings laid the foundation for an extensive number of studies into heterostyly that contributed to the establishment of modern genetic theory. The widely accepted genetic model portrays the Primula S locus, which controls heterostyly and self-incompatibility, as a coadapted group of tightly-linked genes, or supergene. It is predicted that self-fertile homostyle flowers, with anthers and stigma at the same height, arise via rare recombination events between dominant and recessive alleles in heterozygous thrums. These observations have underpinned over 60 years of research into the genetics and evolution of heterostyly. The Primula vulgaris genome assembly and associated transcriptomic and comparative sequence analyses have facilitated the assembly and characterisation of the complete S locus in this species. Here it is revealed that thrums are hemizygous not heterozygous: the S locus contains five thrum-specific genes which are completely absent in pins, which means recombination cannot be the cause of homostyles as previously believed. The studies also reveal candidate genes in Primula veris and other species, and have facilitated an estimation for the assembly of the S locus supergene at 51.7 MYA. These findings challenge established theory, and reveal novel insight into the structure and origin of the Primula S locus, providing the foundation for understanding the evolution and breakdown of insect-mediated outcrossing in Primula and other heterostylous species

Breeding for resilience: a strategy for organic and low-input farming systems?

Global change is increasingly affecting agricultural production and threatening food security. Organic and low-input farming systems are less demanding in fossil energy and might thus contribute to moderating global carbon missions. Moreover, under increased uncertainty and variability in environmental conditions, these systems offer solutions for buffering against climatic extremes, disease epidemics, changing nutrient availability, and other stresses that will add to already heterogeneous environmental conditions. 2010 has been designated the Biodiversity Target year by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet, it is clear that biological diversity in agroecosystems, measured as the number and abundance of species as well as genetic diversity within cultivated plants, is still decreasing, largely due to the negative impacts of intensive industrial agriculture. Overall, ecosystem services delivered by biodiversity such as plant disease control, soil fertility and pollination are jeopardized by its decline. These threats present an opportunity for the organic sector to develop original and innovative strategies for biodiversity preservation and increased resilience in the field. The second EUCARPIA meeting of the Section Organic plant breeding and low-input agriculture organised in Paris, France, from the 1st to the 3rd of December 2010, by INRA – UMR Génétique Végétale Le Moulon and ITAB, wishes to take inspiration from the ecological sciences to highlight the use of biodiversity in agriculture while taking advantage of the new tools coming from genomics. Therefore, the symposium will deal with breeding strategies for organic and low-input farming systems with a special emphasis on approaches that allow for more resilience in response to global change. Some 130 participants representing 20 countries will attend the symposium, including students, researchers and other professionals from universities, institutes, breeding companies, governemental institutions, Non Governemental Organizations and farmers. The programme features 30 oral and 37 poster presentations, covering the following areas: · Improving resilience of agro-ecosystems · Utilizing and conserving agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscape · Global change and adaptability · New insights into the mechanisms of adaptation to local conditions and organic farming · Breeding for diverse environments and products · Regional participatory plant breedin

Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies : Nut and Beverage Crops

Peer reviewe

Diversity strategies for organic and low input agricultures and their food systems

This event is the final congress of the SOLIBAM European project (2010-2014) which aimed to develop novel breeding approaches integrated with management practices to improve the performance, quality, sustainability and stability of crops adapted to organic and low-input systems in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Twelve countries and 23 organisations (research and development institutions and seed companies) are involved in the consortium

A Bayesian Network-based Decision Framework for Selecting Project Delivery Methods in Highway Construction

Transportation agencies currently have several options in delivering their highway construction projects. Selecting an appropriate project delivery method (PDM) is a complex decision-making process. Researchers and transportation industry practitioners have been striving to discover the knowledge and methodologies to enhance the project delivery decision. However, through conducting an extensive literature review of existing methodologies, it is found that quantitative approaches, implementing probabilistic comparisons, to project delivery decisions are not fully addressed or understood. To fill this gap, this research aims at developing a decision framework by implementing Bayesian Network (BN), an advanced statistical tool, for selecting an appropriate PDM in highway construction industry. The BN-based decision framework incorporates the decision driving factors such as project attributes, risk profiles, project complexity, cost, and time. In developing the BN-based decision framework, this dissertation employed several research methodologies and techniques, including content analysis, questionnaire, case studies, cluster analysis, ANOVA, correlation and reliability analysis, and cross-validation techniques. The dissertation follows a four-journal paper format. The first paper explores the impact of project size on highway design-bid-build (D-B-B) and design-build (D-B) projects. The second paper identifies and evaluates the risks involved in highway project delivery methods: D-B-B, D-B, and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC). Building upon the findings and results from the first two papers, the third paper determines the probabilistic dependence between the decision factors and develops a theoretical decision framework using BNs for selecting an appropriate PDM. The fourth paper focuses on demonstrating the practical application of the proposed BN-based decision framework using case studies. Also, the final paper presents a k-fold (cross-validation) technique to test and verify the accuracy of the proposed BN-based decision framework. This dissertation contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge by introducing a new quantitative approach using BNs for PDM selection. The findings from this study indicate that implementing BNs facilitate the owner/decision maker in a better understanding of probabilistic comparison and selection of an appropriate PDM for highway construction projects. State transportation agency officials can utilize these findings as a supplemental tool for their project delivery decisions