Strategies, Advances, and Challenges in Breeding Perennial Grain Crops
1
The Land Institute, 2440 E. Water Well Rd., Salina, KS 67401, USA
2
Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, 66 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2192; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072192
Received: 14 June 2018 / Accepted: 16 June 2018 / Published: 27 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies, Advances and Challenges of Breeding Perennial Grain Crops)
The development of new perennial crop species is gaining momentum as a promising approach to change the fundamental nature of ecosystem processes in agriculture. The ecological argument for perennial crops grown in polycultures is strong, but until recently, perennial herbaceous grain crops have been absent from agricultural landscape. This is not because perennial herbaceous species do not exist in nature—there are thousands of perennial grasses, legumes, and other broad leaf plants. Rather, for a variety of reasons, early farmers focused on cultivating and domesticating annuals, and the perennial herbs were largely ignored. Today, we have a tremendous opportunity to explore another agricultural path. Building on contemporary knowledge of plant biology and genetics that early farmers lacked, and using a rapidly expanding toolbox that includes sophisticated genomic and analytical approaches, we can develop viable perennial grain crops. These crops can then be used to assemble diverse agroecosystems that regenerate soils and capture other important ecosystem functions.
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Keywords:
perennial; cereal; legume; pulse; oilseed; crop diversity; plant breeding; genetics; ecosystem services
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MDPI and ACS Style
Crews, T.E.; Cattani, D.J. Strategies, Advances, and Challenges in Breeding Perennial Grain Crops. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2192. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072192
AMA Style
Crews TE, Cattani DJ. Strategies, Advances, and Challenges in Breeding Perennial Grain Crops. Sustainability. 2018; 10(7):2192. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072192
Chicago/Turabian StyleCrews, Timothy E., and Douglas J. Cattani 2018. "Strategies, Advances, and Challenges in Breeding Perennial Grain Crops" Sustainability 10, no. 7: 2192. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072192
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