A Short Review on the Development of Salt Tolerant Cultivars in Rice

Rice is staple food for half of the world. With a population of almost 9.6 billion by the year 2050, there is a dire need of developing techniques to improve the crop plants, not only in terms of better yield but also to withstand harsh environmental conditions and stresses like drought, temperature, flood and salinity. Salinity is second to drought stress and hence it is very important to develop crops tolerant to salinity stress. This review discusses the mechanisms of salt tolerance and the recent developments in understanding the complex tolerance phenomena. One way to address the salinity issue is to develop tolerant rice varieties using conventional and modern breeding techniques for which screening the rice germplasm for the varieties with desired traits is critical. Conventional methods to develop tolerant rice varieties are discussed along with modern biotechnology techniques are also discussed. Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) are promising techniques. In addition to these modern techniques, some recent developments in the fields of transgenic plants, haploid breeding and Somaclonal variations have also been discussed. The limited knowledge about molecular and genetic mechanisms to tolerate abiotic stresses, however is a barrier to efficiently develop tolerant cultivars. A combination of conventional and modern biotechnology techniques could possibly open up the new ways

Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management.

Arthropod pest outbreaks are unpredictable and not uniformly distributed within fields. Early outbreak detection and treatment application are inherent to effective pest management, allowing management decisions to be implemented before pests are well-established and crop losses accrue. Pest monitoring is time-consuming and may be hampered by lack of reliable or cost-effective sampling techniques. Thus, we argue that an important research challenge associated with enhanced sustainability of pest management in modern agriculture is developing and promoting improved crop monitoring procedures. Biotic stress, such as herbivory by arthropod pests, elicits physiological defense responses in plants, leading to changes in leaf reflectance. Advanced imaging technologies can detect such changes, and can, therefore, be used as noninvasive crop monitoring methods. Furthermore, novel methods of treatment precision application are required. Both sensing and actuation technologies can be mounted on equipment moving through fields (e.g., irrigation equipment), on (un)manned driving vehicles, and on small drones. In this review, we focus specifically on use of small unmanned aerial robots, or small drones, in agricultural systems. Acquired and processed canopy reflectance data obtained with sensing drones could potentially be transmitted as a digital map to guide a second type of drone, actuation drones, to deliver solutions to the identified pest hotspots, such as precision releases of natural enemies and/or precision-sprays of pesticides. We emphasize how sustainable pest management in 21st-century agriculture will depend heavily on novel technologies, and how this trend will lead to a growing need for multi-disciplinary research collaborations between agronomists, ecologists, software programmers, and engineers

Earth Observations and Integrative Models in Support of Food and Water Security

Global food production depends upon many factors that Earth observing satellites routinely measure about water, energy, weather, and ecosystems. Increasingly sophisticated, publicly-available satellite data products can improve efficiencies in resource management and provide earlier indication of environmental disruption. Satellite remote sensing provides a consistent, long-term record that can be used effectively to detect large-scale features over time, such as a developing drought. Accuracy and capabilities have increased along with the range of Earth observations and derived products that can support food security decisions with actionable information. This paper highlights major capabilities facilitated by satellite observations and physical models that have been developed and validated using remotely-sensed observations. Although we primarily focus on variables relevant to agriculture, we also include a brief description of the growing use of Earth observations in support of aquaculture and fisheries

An integrated molecular and conventional breeding scheme for enhancing genetic gain in maize in Africa

Open Access Journal; Published online: 06 Nov 2019Maize production in West and Central Africa (WCA) is constrained by a wide range of interacting stresses that keep productivity below potential yields. Among the many problems afflicting maize production in WCA, drought, foliar diseases, and parasitic weeds are the most critical. Several decades of efforts devoted to the genetic improvement of maize have resulted in remarkable genetic gain, leading to increased yields of maize on farmers’ fields. The revolution unfolding in the areas of genomics, bioinformatics, and phenomics is generating innovative tools, resources, and technologies for transforming crop breeding programs. It is envisaged that such tools will be integrated within maize breeding programs, thereby advancing these programs and addressing current and future challenges. Accordingly, the maize improvement program within International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is undergoing a process of modernization through the introduction of innovative tools and new schemes that are expected to enhance genetic gains and impact on smallholder farmers in the region. Genomic tools enable genetic dissections of complex traits and promote an understanding of the physiological basis of key agronomic and nutritional quality traits. Marker-aided selection and genome-wide selection schemes are being implemented to accelerate genetic gain relating to yield, resilience, and nutritional quality. Therefore, strategies that effectively combine genotypic information with data from field phenotyping and laboratory-based analysis are currently being optimized. Molecular breeding, guided by methodically defined product profiles tailored to different agroecological zones and conditions of climate change, supported by state-of-the-art decision-making tools, is pivotal for the advancement of modern, genomics-aided maize improvement programs. Accelerated genetic gain, in turn, catalyzes a faster variety replacement rate. It is critical to forge and strengthen partnerships for enhancing the impacts of breeding products on farmers’ livelihood. IITA has well-established channels for delivering its research products/technologies to partner organizations for further testing, multiplication, and dissemination across various countries within the subregion. Capacity building of national agricultural research system (NARS) will facilitate the smooth transfer of technologies and best practices from IITA and its partners

Advances of nanotechnology in agro-environmental studies

With the increase in the world population and the demand for food, new agricultural practices have been developed to improve food production through the use of more effective pesticides and fertilisers. These technologies can lead to an uncontrolled release of undesired substances into the environment, with the potential to contaminate soil and groundwater. Today, nanotechnology represents a promising approach to improve agricultural production and remediate polluted sites. This paper reviews the recent applications of nanotechnologies in agro-environmental studies with particular attention to the fate of nanomaterials once introduced in water and soil, to the advantages of their use and their possible toxicology. Findings show that the use of nanomaterials can improve the quality of the environment and help detect and remediate polluted sites. Only a small number of nanomaterials demonstrated potential toxic effects. These are discussed in detail

The future of evapotranspiration : global requirements for ecosystem functioning, carbon and climate feedbacks, agricultural management, and water resources

The fate of the terrestrial biosphere is highly uncertain given recent and projected changes in climate. This is especially acute for impacts associated with changes in drought frequency and intensity on the distribution and timing of water availability. The development of effective adaptation strategies for these emerging threats to food and water security are compromised by limitations in our understanding of how natural and managed ecosystems are responding to changing hydrological and climatological regimes. This information gap is exacerbated by insufficient monitoring capabilities from local to global scales. Here, we describe how evapotranspiration (ET) represents the key variable in linking ecosystem functioning, carbon and climate feedbacks, agricultural management, and water resources, and highlight both the outstanding science and applications questions and the actions, especially from a space-based perspective, necessary to advance them