Developing Cereals Acceptable to Consumers for Production in New and Variable Climates

Abstract

Cereals are key foods providing a significant part of the energy (calories) and protein in human diets globally. Cereals are consumed as intact grain products, such as rice, or as ground ingredients, such as wheat in breads, noodles or pasta. The dominance of cereals in human foods makes nutritional attributes of cereals important to the health of human populations. Functional traits influencing the processing or end use quality attributes of cereal based foods are key to human preferences and consumption. Adaptation of cereal crops to variable or changing climates requires that essential quality attributes are retained. Advances in cereal genomics are delivering insights into the molecular basis of nutritional and functional quality traits in cereals that will be critical to retaining essential quality traits. New genetic resources are emerging within the gene pools of the domesticated species. New species1 adapted to new or different environments may also be options for accelerated domestication to satisfy food demand. Genomic analysis of the diversity of rice genetic resource2 will provide more options for rice adaptation. New insights into the molecular genetic basis of wheat quality3 and the influence of the environment on expression of these traits will support the retention of the essential functional properties of wheat during climate adaptation. New cereals for use as whole grain or ground to flour for other food products may be based upon the traditional species such as rice and wheat but may also include new options exploiting genomics tools to allow accelerated domestication of new species.