Week 2 Flashcards
How many people face problems with hunger?
Between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022 – around 9% of the world population
What drives food insecurity?
Major drivers of food insecurity: conflict, climate extremes and rising prices of food, agricultural inputs and energy
How will food insecurity increase?
Exposure to more complex, frequent and intense climate extremes is threatening to erode and reverse gains made in ending hunger and malnutrition
How has global hunger changed overtime as % population undernourished?
2005 to 2009 (12% decrease to 8.6%)
2009 to 2019 (8.6% to 7.9%)
2020 to 2022 (8.9% to 9.2%)
What is the distrubution of the prevalence of undernourishment in 2022?
Global - 9.2%
Africa - 19.7%
Asia - 8.5%
How much water does farming use?
Farming uses 70% of the world’s fresh water
What is the distrubution of the prevalence of undernourishment in 2015?
Global - 7.9%
Africa - 15.8%
Asia - 8%
What are the food challenges of the future?
An expanding population - 7 billion growing to 9 billion by 2050
Climate change/climate extremes/soil erosion/loss of biodiversity
Finite resources - Land availability/fertilisers /energy/water
Conflict
What are the predictions for how climate will change in two different scenarios?
RCP = Representative Concentration Pathway
RCP2.6: radiative forcing 2.6 W m-2 in 2100, CO2 ~400 ppm, 1.5 oC temperature rise
RCP8.5: radiative forcing 8.5 W m-2 in 2100, CO2 >900 ppm, 4.9 C temperature rise
What are the predictions for agricultural requirements?
100% increase in production required by 2050 (based on 2.4% yield increase per year based on data from 1989-2008
What was the past and future needs for cereal production for sustaining human population?
Global cereal production rose from 877 million metric tons in 1961 to 2351 million metric tons in 2007
To meet future demands this will need to rise to 4000 million+ metric tons p.a. by 2050 (70% increase compared to 2007).
What is the observed trend for global preciptation?
Areas like USA and North Europe will see an increase but areas with high farmland will see decrease so new crop varieties will need to be more efficient in their use of water
What is the breakdown of energy demand in agriculture?
29% - Fertilisers
Diesel - 24%
Electricity - 17%
Natural gas - 9%
Pesticide - 9%
Other - 12%
What are 2050 yield predictions based on currently used agricultural land?
Maize – 67%
Rice – 42%
Wheat – 38%
Soybean – 55%
What was the green revolution?
Research technology transfer initiatives in the 1950-1960s that increased agricultural production in parts of the world
What research was included in the green revolution?
High yielding crops, dwarf varieties
Use of fertilizers
Irrigation
mechanisation
What is an overview of wheat yields?
There are many areas with wheat yields as high as 10 metric tons/ha.
But the he majority of land cropped to wheat delivers yields below 3 metric tons/ha.
What areas have the lowest wheat yields?
These larger areas of low-yielding land/low-yielding environments (primarily in developing countries) offer the greatest opportunity for substantial increases in global food production
How will low income areas have substatial increase in food production?
The most gain will come from delivering these technologies in developing countries, but the new technologies will have to be economically accessible and readily disseminated.
What is the predicted wheat production in 2050?
Developing countries - 1750 millon tonnes
Industrial countries - 900 million tonnes
How will RCP 8.5 impact Maize yields?
2050 - global slight decrease averaging around 20%
2090 - Middle east + North Africa 30% increase but deacrease in europe ie France 30%
How will RCP 8.5 impact rice yields?
2050 - Global decrease by 20% eg Russia
2090 - Severe decrease 50% in Russia and europe but India decreasing by 20%
How will RCP 4.5 impact Maize yields?
Both 2050 and 2090 mostly unchanged though slight decrease in europe by 10% though Sahel africa increase by 10%
How will RCP 4.5 impact rice yields?
Both seeing a global decrease of approximately 20%
What is currently requried to maximise crop yields?
NPK fertilisers - require fossil fuels (c.1.5% of global fossil fuel consumption)
Pesticides - consequences for environment, biodiversity and human health
Irrigation (1/3 of crops are produced on irrigated land)
What are the challenged for future crop breeders/growers?
High yielding varieties
Lower fertiliser requirements
Adapted to climate change (abiotic stresses, including drought)
Resistance to pests and diseases
What is an overview of classical breeding?
Classical breeding relies largely on independent assortment and homologous recombination between chromosomes to generate genetic diversity
What techniques are used for classical breeding?
Classical plant breeding may also make use of a number of techniques such as protoplast fusion, embryo rescue or mutagenesis to generate diversity and produce hybrid plants that would not exist naturally.
What is independant assortment of alleles?
The alleles of two (or more) different genes get sorted into gametes independently of one another.
In other words, the allele a gamete receives for one gene does not influence the allele received for another gene
What are the combinations created from independant assortment of alleles?
For a plant with ‘n’ haploid chromosomes the number of possible combinations in gametes, produced by independent assortment alone is 2^n
What is incomplete linkage and crossing over?
Crossing Over is the process of separation of genes between homologous pairs into various gametes
Incomplete linkage occurs when two loci are located on the same chromosome but the loci are far enough apart so that crossovers occur between them during some, but not all, meioses
What is the aim of plant breeding?
Classical plant breeding uses deliberate interbreeding (crossing) of closely or distantly related individuals to produce new crop varieties or lines with desirable properties.
‘Cross the best with the best and hope for the best’
What happens after the breeding of two desired parents?
F2 progeny with desirable combinations of traits from both parents are then selected for further breeding to produce homozygous or pure breeding lines – genetic monoculture
What traditionally drives which crops are further selected for breeding?
Traditionally this would have been dependent upon phenotypic selection
What is the back crossing process?
Recombination occurs in F1
Need to select progeny containing the new gene at each generation. OR can use DNA marker technology to select appropriate progeny. Recombination can occur in each generation reducing the size of the introgressed DNA
At what backcross will the new line be 98% identical to P1?
At BC5-6 the new line should be greater than 98% identical to the original P1
What happens between F1 to F5 generations in the bulk method?
Hybridisation between chosen parents to create an F1
F1 to F5 generations are grown by selfing as bulk populations with no selection
Rationale - genotypes best suited to the environment will produce the most progeny
What happens between F6 to F10 generations in the bulk method?
Progeny showing desirable characters are selected at the F6 generation (nearly homozygous)
Select plants and a single head is sown as a row at F7
Initial yield trials (F8-9), then advanced (F9-10)
What happnes during the Pedigree method?
Selected F2 plants grown in plant/headrows at F3
‘Best’ plants are selected for F4 trials
Repeated until F6 when plants are near homozygous
Yield trials at F6 and beyond
What are the downsides to the Pedigree method?
Labour and resource intensive
Can discard valuable genotypes early in the programme
What is the history of plant breeding?
As a science, plant breeding originated with Sir Rowland Biffen in who identified a single recessive gene (Yr) for resistance to wheat yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis
Breeding linked to developments in Mendelian Genetics
What is a history of the green revolution?
The ‘Green Revolution’ in the first half of the 20th Century was initiated by breeders like Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug
Led to significant improvements in wheat, maize and rice
What traits where selected for in the green revolution?
Higher yield
Improved grain quality
Multiline varieties for resistance to diseases/pests
Tolerance of abiotic stresses
What is an example of a monogenetic trait found in wheat?
The introduction of ‘dwarf’ wheat varieties from Japanese varieties (e.g. Norin 10) increased grain yield. These wheat varieties are less responsive to natural plant growth regulators (Gibberellins).
What were the advantages of dwarf wheat like Norin 10 varients?
The semi-dwarf varieties he bred (half to two-thirds the height of standard varieties) produced more stalks and heads of grain per plant.
Also, larger amounts of assimilate were partitioned into grains, further increasing the yield.
What is an overview of Norin 10/ Brevor hybridisation?
Crossbred the semi-dwarf Norin 10/Brevor cultivar with disease-resistant cultivars to produce varieties that were adapted to tropical and sub-tropical climates.
What is an overview of the gene Rht?
Rht = Reduced height
Wheat dwarfing genes that led impressive yield increases in the Green Revolution. Rht genes encode mutant DELLA proteins that are more active in repressing GA-responsive growth
What is an overview of the yield increase of wheat from 1950 to 2000?
Mexico - 700 kg/Ha to 5000 kg/Ha
India - 600 kg/Ha to 2500 kg/Ha
Pakistan - 900 kg/Ha to 2200 kg/Ha
What is an overview of the major cereal crops?
Wheat, maize and rice - staple diet for much of the world’s population
Rich source of carbohydrate (starch), proteins, fats and nutrients
Grains used in baking, fermented for beverages or biofuel
Wheat and maize - subject to selective breeding for
c.10,000 years
Early domestication selected highly desirable characters
What is an overview of modern domesticated wheat?
Modern domesticated wheat Triticum aestivum is a hexaploid derived by the hybridization of three different diploid parents making its genetics quite complex
Commercial varieties are usually inbred lines
What is an overview of total wheat production?
Wheat is the third most-produced cereal (651 million tons) after maize (844 million tons) and rice (672 million tons)
Wheat is grown on more than 200,000,000 hectares - larger than for any other crop.
World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined.
What are alternative uses of wheat?
Wheat grains are used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads/biscuits etc. and for fermentation to make beer and other alcoholic beverages, or biofuel
Where does wheat originate?
Wheat originated in the Fertile Crescent in the near east
What was the first domestication event for agricultural wheat production?
A hybridization event between Aegilops speltoides (BB) and
Trictum urartu (AA) gave rise to the Emmer Wheat (AABB)
Triticum turgidum ~0.8 MYA