Special Issue "Plant Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture"

Guest Editor
Dr. Kevin Murphy
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, 257W Johnson Hall, PO Box 646420, Pullman WA 99164, USA
Website: http://css.wsu.edu/people/faculty/crops/Murphy.htm
E-Mail: kmurphy2@wsu.edu
Interests: farmer participatory research of organic hop cropping systems in the Yakima Valley; organic wheat breeding; perennial wheat breeding and agronomy

Dear Colleagues,

The science of plant breeding has played a profound role in defining and improving agricultural systems productivity worldwide. The earliest plant breeders
- farmers - domesticated countless wild species and improved these crops through recurrent selection. In the 1960's and 70's, the 'Green Revolution' increased global grain yields of cereal crops to unprecedented levels, primarily through the innovations contributed through the complementary synergistic interactions of plant breeding and agronomy. Though increases in productivity remain paramount, the challenges we face today as an agricultural community reach far beyond improvements in yield.  These challenges include developing varieties with the capacity to achieve high yields in reduced chemical-input systems and with the genetic diversity needed to maintain yield stability in fluctuating climatic conditions. Relatively novel traits that should be targeted to benefit a truly sustainable agriculture include improving weed suppression ability, enhancement of nutritional value, and optimization of plant interactions with microbial communities in the soil, among others.  Farmer participatory breeding strategies in de-centralized and diverse selection environments also have the potential to encourage more renewable and resilient agricultural systems.  This special issue will focus on the contribution of plant breeding to a more sustainable global agriculture through the collaborative lens of a diverse group of economists, sociologists and plant breeders worldwide.

Dr. Kevin Murphy
Guest Editor

Submission

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• renewable agriculture
• farming
• plant breeding
• participatory breeding
• nutritional value
• climate change
• genetic diversity
• soil
• ecology
• yield stability
• organic agriculture

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Can Undergraduate Student Writing Promote International Sustainable Development in Horticulture?
Authors: N.O. Anderson and J. Kelly
Affiliation: Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, 286 Alderman Hall, 1970 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA;
E-Mail: ander044@umn.edu (N.O.A.)
Abstract: Promotion of undergraduate student thinking and learning in the realm of sustainable production is a new focus for horticulture curricula. In a writing intensive course, Greenhouse Management (Hort 3002W; University of Minnesota), students focused their learning of sustainability by writing peer-reviewed, 3-phase ‘Worldwide Sustainable Horticultural Crop Production Papers’ focused on past, present, and future prospects for sustainability. The U.S.A. was used as an in-class example throughout the semester while each student focused their writing on a specific country of their choosing. Their papers focused on 8 goals for each country across the 3 Phases: I—their choice of a country, definition of sustainability, identification of historical production practices, current production statistics; II—current production practices and integration of historical/current practices (ranked strategies); III—finalized sustainable development strategy, design of a future sustainable, controlled-environment production facility. The last goal provides plant breeders with potential breeding objectives for country-specific cultivar development within a sustainable production framework. Completed papers are web-published for global availability to enable each country’s researchers and policy makers to access sustainable ideas for future development. In 2009-2010, ‘Worldwide Sustainable Horticultural Crop Production Papers were published for 41 countries which were downloaded ~3,000 times in 18 months.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Sustainable Learning: Testing Facets of Sustainably Produced Greenhouse Crops by Undergraduates
Authors: N.O. Anderson, J. Annis, M. Buchholz, J. Cutting, E. Heuring, E. Jankila, M. McCrumb, N. Nelson, M. Pehoski, K. Piepho, V. Price and V. Russell
Affiliation: Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, 286 Alderman Hall, 1970 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA;
E-Mail: ander044@umn.edu (N.O.A.)
Abstract: Modern greenhouse production has been ~100% reliant on fossil fuels for all inputs (glazing, heating, fertilization, lighting, post-harvest). Recent innovations may reduce fossil fuel reliance but their effectiveness may not be thoroughly tested. To promote education in sustainable production, undergraduate students in Greenhouse Management class (Hort 3002W; University of Minnesota) tested the effectiveness of two sustainable soilless media (Sunshine Natural & Organic Growing Mix, Sungro Metro-Mix Special Blend) with a control (Sunshine LC8 Professional) for crop production (height, leaf/flower number, yield) and sensory evaluations (appearance, texture, taste, purchase) of cucumbers (‘Big Burpless Hybrid’, ‘Sweet Burpless Hybrid’), basil (‘Opal Purple’, ‘Redleaf’), parsley (‘Green River’, ‘Extra Curled Dwarf’, ‘Hamburg’), and lettuce (Flying Saucer ‘Green’, ‘Red’). Significant differences between sustainable vs. control soils occurred for plant growth, depending on vegetative or reproductive traits, crops, and cultivars. These differences occasionally disappeared for sensory evaluation of edible components. In most crops, however, cultivars were highly significant factors. Undergraduate research can be used to provide directionality for future vegetable and herb plant breeding to focus on creating cultivars with increased yield and high consumer acceptance when grown in sustainable greenhouse soilless mixes.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency for a Sustainable Agriculture
Authors: Bertrand Hirel ¹, Thierry Tétu ² and Frédéric Dubois ²
Affilations: ¹ Adaptation des Plantes à leur Environnement, Unité de Recherche 511, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Versailles-Grignon, Route de Saint-Cyr, F-78026 Versailles Cedex, France; E-Mail: bertrand.hirel@versailles.inra.fr (B.H.)
² Agrophysiologie, Ecophysiologie et Biologie Intégrative, A3900-AEB, Université de Picardie, 33 rue Saint Leu, F-80039 Amiens, France
Abstract: In this review, we present the recent developments and future prospects of improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crops using various approaches including conventional breeding, molecular genetics as well as alternative farming techniques based on organic nitrogen (N) nutrition. Whatever the mode of N fertilisation, an increased knowledge of the mechanisms controlling plant nitrogen economy is essential for improving NUE and for reducing excessive input of fertilisers, while maintaining an acceptable yield. Current knowledge and prospects for future agronomic development and application for breeding crops adapted to lower N fertiliser input or to alternative farming techniques are explored, taking into account the world economic and environmental constraints in the next century.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Breeding Methodology Responds to the Challenge of Sustainable Agriculture
Authors: Metaxia Koutsika-Sotiriou ¹, Athanasios L. Tsivelikas ^1,2, Charalambos Gogas ¹, Ioannis G. Mylonas ¹, Ilias Avdikos ¹ and Ekaterini Traka-Mavrona ²
Affiliations: ¹ Laboratory of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece;
E-Mail: koutsika@agro.auth.gr (M.K.-S.)
² National Agricultural Research Foundation, Agricultural Research Center of Northern Greece, 570 01 Thermi-Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract: This review consists an openness of plant breeding to sustainable agriculture. This openness is found upon three main routes: First, the enrichment of the source material with landraces and old cultivars. This entrance is also accompanied by a breeding methodology, based mainly on yield components. Second, the screening of cultivars-parents according to their genotypic profile, proved through a series of criteria. Third, the selection applied in segregating generations based on an individual plant performance as a unit of selection and evaluation. This selection procedure succeeds in reducing genotype x environment interaction and increasing heritability. Comparable evaluation of progenies requires concurrent selection among and within progenies and application of high selection pressures. A number of experiments as paradigms all along the text is conducive to better understanding. Finally, the breeding consumptions that are mentioned, access, exploit and incorporate a broader source material, aiming at developing selected cultivars for low input demands. The schedule as a whole, maximize heritability and efficiency in selection and stands to offer a sound solution in sustainable agriculture problems.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Breeding Food Legumes for Resistance to Storage Insect Pests: Potentials and limitations
Authors: Gemechu Keneni ^1,2, Emana Getu ², Muhammad Imtiaz ³, Tebkew Damte ⁴, Endashaw Bekele ² and Kifle Dagne ²
Affiliations: ¹ Holetta Agricultural Research Center, P. O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; E-Mail: gemechukeneni@yahoo.com (G.K.)
² Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
³ International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), P. O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
⁴ Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, P. O. Box 32, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia
Abstract: Storage insects cause significant losses to farmers particularly of food legumes. The most important species of storage insect pests of food legumes include Callosobruchus chinensis, C. maculatus, C. analis, Acanthoscelides obtectus, Bruchus incarnatus, B. rufimanus, B. dentipes, B. quinqueguttatus, B. emarginatus, B. ervi, B. lentis and B. pisorum. Storage insect pest can be controlled through environmental manipulation which can discourage their growth, development, reproduction, and through genetic manipulation of crops for resistance against the pests. Genetic modification of crops to improve resistance to storage insect pests is one way of achieving effective storage insect pest management in an environmentally friendly manner. Here we reviewed the breeding efforts made against storage insect pests of food legumes, the technical limitations associated with the genetic improvement for resistance to storage insect pests as causes of limited breeding success and potential ways out of the technical limitations.
Keywords: food legumes; resistance breeding; resistance source; storage insect pests