One crop breeding cycle from starvation

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uoic-ocb032916.php

Public Release: 29-Mar-2016
One crop breeding cycle from starvation
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

In the race against world hunger, we're running out of time. By 2050, the global population will have grown and urbanized so much that we will need to produce 87 percent more of the four primary food crops - rice, wheat, soy, and maize - than we do today.

At the same time, the climate is projected to change over the next 30 years, with warmer temperatures and more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Crop plants can adapt to change through evolution, but at a much slower rate than the changes we are causing in the atmosphere. Furthermore, the land available for growing crop plants is unlikely to expand to accommodate the predicted rise in demand. In
fact, land suited to food crop production is being lost on a global scale.

"We have to start increasing production now, faster than we ever have. Any innovation we make today won't be ready to go into farmers' fields for at least 20 years, because we'll need time for testing, product development, and approval by government agencies. On that basis, 2050 is not so far off. That's why we say we're one crop breeding cycle away from starvation," says University of Illinois crop scientist Stephen P. Long.
[And with sea level rise, population will be shifted inland, taking even more out of crop production.]

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Under higher levels of CO2, such as those projected for future climates, rubisco becomes much more efficient and photosynthesis rates naturally increase as it makes fewer mistakes. The carbon fixed by rubisco is eventually turned into carbohydrates that the plant can use as an energy source for producing grains, fruits, and vegetative structures.

However, rising temperatures are projected to accompany increased CO2. Unfortunately, rubisco's increased efficiency under high CO2 begins to break down in hot climates. That's why project partners are looking to improve rubisco so that it will operate efficiently in both high temperature and high CO2 conditions.

"Our partners are looking at a wide range of rubiscos from different organisms to see whether they can find one that will make fewer of these mistakes in hot climates," Long says.

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