Evaluation of maize and hemp cultivars as bioenergy crop

We are cultivating annual and perennial crops as monoculture and as mixed culture to investigate plant biomass use for production of renewable energy sources in northern latitudes. We have grown different hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and bioenergy maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars in 2007-2009 at Viikki Experimental Farm, University of Helsinki

Screening of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) accessions to acidity and aluminium stresses

Background. Faba bean is an important starch-based protein crop produced worldwide. Soil acidity and aluminium toxicity are major abiotic stresses affecting its production, so in regions where soil acidity is a problem, there is a gap between the potential and actual productivity of the crop. Hence, we set out to evaluate acidity and aluminium tolerance in a range of faba bean germplasm using solution culture and pot experiments. Methods. A set of 30 accessions was collected from regions where acidity and aluminium are or are not problems. The accessions were grown in solution culture and a subset of 10 was grown first in peat and later in perlite potting media. In solution culture, morphological parameters including taproot length, root regrowth and root tolerance index were measured, and in the pot experiments the key measurements were taproot length, plant biomass, chlorophyll concentration and stomatal conductance. Result. Responses to acidity and aluminium were apparently independent. Accessions Dosha and NC 58 were tolerant to both stress. Kassa and GLA 1103 were tolerant to acidity showing less than 3% reduction in taproot length. Aurora and Messay were tolerant to aluminium. Babylon was sensitive to both, with up to 40% reduction in taproot length from acidity and no detectable recovery from Al3+ challenge. Discussion. The apparent independence of the responses to acidity and aluminium is in agreement with the previous research findings, suggesting that crop accessions separately adapt to H+ and Al3+ toxicity as a result of the difference in the nature of soil parent materials where the accession originated. Differences in rankings between experiments were minor and attributable to heterogeneity of seed materials and the specific responses of accessions to the rooting media. Use of perlite as a potting medium offers an ideal combination of throughput, inertness of support medium, access to leaves for detection of their stress responses, and harvest of clean roots for evaluation of their growth.Peer reviewe

Introduction : Perspectives on legume production and use in European agriculture

Grain legumes currently cover less than 2% of European arable area, and estimates of forage legume coverage are little greater. Imported legume protein, however, is an important livestock feed additive. This chapter introduces the varied roles of legumes in cropping systems and in food and feed value chains.Peer reviewe

Genomic-based root plasticity to enhance abiotic stress adaptation and edible yield in grain crops

Phenotypic plasticity refers to changes expressed by a genotype across different environments and is one of the major means by which plants cope with environmental variability. Multi-fold differences in phenotypic plasticity have been noted across crops, with wild ancestors and landraces being more plastic than crops when under stress. Plasticity in response to abiotic stress adaptation, plant architecture, physio-reproductive and quality traits are multi-genic (QTL). Plasticity QTL (pQTL) were either collocated with main effect QTL and QEI (QTL × environment interaction) or located independently from the main effect QTL. For example, variations in root plasticity have been successfully introgressed to enhance abiotic stress adaptation in rice. The independence of genetic control of a trait and of its plasticity suggests that breeders may select for high or low plasticity in combination with high or low performance of economically important traits. Trait plasticity in stressful environments may be harnessed through breeding stress-tolerant crops. There exists a genetic cost associated with plasticity, so a better understanding of the trade-offs between plasticity and productivity is warranted prior to undertaking breeding for plasticity traits together with productivity in stress environments.Phenotypic plasticity refers to changes expressed by a genotype across different environments and is one of the major means by which plants cope with environmental variability. Mull-fold differences in phenotypic plasticity have been noted across crops, with wild ancestors and landraces being more plastic than crops when under stress. Plasticity in response to abiotic stress adaptation, plant architecture, physio-reproductive and quality traits are multi-genic (QTL). Plasticity QTL (pQTL) were either collocated with main effect QTL and QEI (QTL x environment interaction) or located independently from the main effect QTL. For example, variations in root plasticity have been successfully introgressed to enhance abiotic stress adaptation in rice. The independence of genetic control of a trait and of its plasticity suggests that breeders may select for high or low plasticity in combination with high or low performance of economically important traits. Trait plasticity in stressful environments may be harnessed through breeding stress-tolerant crops. There exists a genetic cost associated with plasticity, so a better understanding of the trade-offs between plasticity and productivity is warranted prior to undertaking breeding for plasticity traits together with productivity in stress environments.Peer reviewe

Genetic variability in the physiological responses of Andean lupin to drought stress

Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses that causes significant reductions in crop yield, and thushinders the food security of the growing world population. In consequence, it is urgent to select crops able toresist drought, maintain high yield and have a good nutritive content. The purpose of this project was toevaluate the responses of different accessions of Andean lupin to drought stress, and identify if there aresignificant differences in their physiological responses.To identify germplasm for further investigation, thirty accessions of Lupinus mutabilis Sweet. and oneaccession of L. albococcineus Hort. were screened in two sets, A of 15 and B of 16 accessions. From thesesets, four lines were chosen on the basis of extreme values in the measurements, and this set of four wasinvestigated in depth (set C). Water stress consisted of controlled water loss from the soil (at 2% per day).The screening techniques used were: leaf temperature, stomatal conductance, relative water content, waterpotential, ion membrane leakage, and shoot dry weight were measured and transpiration efficiency wascalculated. In addition, carbon isotope discrimination, root length, root dry matter, proline content andsoluble sugar content were included in only set C.Based on the results from set A and set B, accessions PI 457981, PI 457972, and AC 2792 were consideredas being drought resistant and PI 510572 was considered as drought sensitive. However, the results from setC showed that accession PI 510572 is able to adapt its cell membrane to the drought stress so that its ionleakage is less than in the other accessions, and in addition it has the ability to accumulate higherconcentrations of osmoprotectants.Thus, this survey identified that some accessions of Andean lupin were able to avoid drought stress throughstomatal traits and root traits, and others that were able to tolerate drought through the accumulation ofosmotically active substances. Consequently, there are good prospects for breeding of Andean lupin toimprove its drought resistance

Preface

Non peer reviewe

Lentil - a new crop for Finland

The 2010 growing season was exceptionally warm and most cultivars performed well, except Sovereign and Sedley that lodged and matured late. There were significant differences in earliness (P<0.001), the earliest cultivar being Rosetown (901 GDD to maturity), and the latest Sedley (1214 GDD). There were no significant differences in yield (P=0.111), the average being 1.49 t/ha. Cultivar Meteor was the highest yielding with 1.86 t/ha but it lodged, whereas cvs Redbow, Redcoat, Rosetown and Milestone yielded between 1.5–1.6 t/ha and showed few problems in cultivation, so further experiments will focus on them. In conclusion, lentil cultivation is feasible in Finland, and further trials will be run in 2011

Diversity in root growth responses to moisture deficit in young faba bean (Vicia faba L.) plants

Background Soil moisture deficiency causes yield reduction and instability in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) production. The extent of sensitivity to drought stress varies across accessions originating from diverse moisture regimes of the world. Hence, we conducted successive greenhouse experiments in pots and rhizotrons to explore diversity in root responses to soil water deficit. Methods A set of 89 accessions from wet and dry growing regions of the world was defined according to the Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy and screened in a perlite-sand medium under well watered conditions in a greenhouse experiment. Stomatal conductance, canopy temperature, chlorophyll concentration, and root and shoot dry weights were recorded during the fifth week of growth. Eight accessions representing the range of responses were selected for further investigation. Starting five days after germination, they were subjected to a root phenotyping experiment using the automated phenotyping platform GROWSCREEN-Rhizo. The rhizotrons were filled with peat-soil under well watered and water limited conditions. Root architectural traits were recorded five, 12, and 19 days after the treatment (DAT) began. Results In the germplasm survey, accessions from dry regions showed significantly higher values of chlorophyll concentration, shoot and root dry weights than those from wet regions. Root and shoot dry weight as well as seed weight, and chlorophyll concentration were positively correlated with each other. Accession DS70622 combined higher values of root and shoot dry weight than the rest. The experiment in GROWSCREEN-Rhizo showed large differences in root response to water deficit. The accession by treatment interactions in taproot and second order lateral root lengths were significant at 12 and 19 DAT, and the taproot length was reduced up to 57% by drought. The longest and deepest root systems under both treatment conditions were recorded by DS70622 and DS11320, and total root length of DS70622 was three times longer than that of WS99501, the shortest rooted accession. The maximum horizontal distribution of a root system and root surface coverage were positively correlated with taproot and total root lengths and root system depth. DS70622 and WS99501 combined maximum and minimum values of these traits, respectively. Thus, roots of DS70622 and DS11320, from dry regions, showed drought-avoidance characteristics whereas those of WS99501 and Melodie/2, from wet regions, showed the opposite. Discussion The combination of the germplasm survey and use of GROWSCREEN-Rhizo allowed exploring of adaptive traits and detection of root phenotypic markers for potential drought avoidance. The greater root system depth and root surface coverage, exemplified by DS70622 and DS11320, can now be tested as new sources of drought tolerance.Peer reviewe

Plant species and growing season weather influence the efficiency of selenium biofortification

Se deficiency is widespread in agricultural soils; hence, agronomic Se biofortification is an important strategy to overcome its deficiency in humans and animals. InFinland, fertilizers have been amended with inorganic Se for over 20years to reverse the negative effects of low Se content in feed and food. Plant species, climatic conditions, other nutrients and soil properties affect the efficiency of Se biofortification. The present twoyears' study compared the ability of oilseed rape, wheat and forage grasses to uptake fertilizer Se applied as sodium selenate in a sub-boreal environment. The effect of foliar N application on Se uptake was tested in thesecond year. Se concentration was determined in plant parts and in soil samples taken at the end of growth season in both years as well as from another plot where Se fertilizer had been used for 20years. Se fertilizer recovery in harvested wheat and oilseed rape was 1-16%, and in forage grasses was 52-64% in the first harvest and 15-19% in the second harvest. Foliar N application improved Se uptake only at the higher Se fertilizer level. The efficiency of biofortification depended on weather conditions, with forage grasses being the most reliable crop. Oilseed rape as a Se semi-accumulator had no advantage in Se biofortification in field conditions due to low translocation to seeds.Peer reviewe

Sustainable bioenergy cropping: growing reed canarygrass in acid suphate soils

The response of reed canary grass to water logging, acidity and dissolved metals will be studied in the field as well as in a controlled environment using large monoliths of undisturbed acid suphate soil taken into PVC tubes