Crop Scientists Research Articles

GENE EDITING: OPERATING WITHIN THE PRECINCTS OF THE LAW AND ETHICS

Gene editing is the alteration of the genetic material of a living organism by inserting, replacing, or deleting a DNA sequence, typically to improve some characteristic of crop or farm animals or correct a genetic disorder. CRISPR, a biological system for altering DNA was discovered in 2012 by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuella Charpentier. This groundbreaking discovery of CRISPR-CAS9 in 2012 earned these two researchers the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.CRISPR-CAS9 is preferred to other gene editing tools like Zinc finger nucleases, and TALENS because it has precise and site–specific gene editing capabilities. It is also relatively cheap and easy to use\. CRISPR/CAS9 is so efficient in cutting and adding genes that many researchers across the globe have adopted it. A program organized by the faculty of Law University of Ibadan and the WELLCOME TRUST UK ‘’An International Workshop on Genome Editing’’ on the 17th and 18th of April,2023 further crystalised the serious legal implication of gene editing. The announcement of gene-edited babies by a Chinese Scientist, He Jiankui sparked widespread controversy and condemnation from the global scientifi community and bioethicists. Many raised concerns about the ethical implications of such an experiment, as well as the potential unknown risks and long-term consequences for the children involved. Bioethicists, Lawyers, Doctors, Geneticists, Animal Scientists, Botanists, Crop Scientists, Veterinarians, policymakers and many other stakeholders have to bring their little bits to the table to ensure that humanity maximally harnesses the great benefits accruable from Gene editing.

Crops: A Growing Global Community of Crop Scientists

It has been two years since the inaugural issue of Crops was published [...]

Strategies for delivery of CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing to obtain edited plants directly without transgene integration.

Increased understanding of plant genetics and the development of powerful and easier-to-use gene editing tools over the past century have revolutionized humankind's ability to deliver precise genotypes in crops. Plant transformation techniques are well developed for making transgenic varieties in certain crops and model organisms, yet reagent delivery and plant regeneration remain key bottlenecks to applying the technology of gene editing to most crops. Typical plant transformation protocols to produce transgenic, genetically modified (GM) varieties rely on transgenes, chemical selection, and tissue culture. Typical protocols to make gene edited (GE) varieties also use transgenes, even though these may be undesirable in the final crop product. In some crops, the transgenes are routinely segregated away during meiosis by performing crosses, and thus only a minor concern. In other crops, particularly those propagated vegetatively, complex hybrids, or crops with long generation times, such crosses are impractical or impossible. This review highlights diverse strategies to deliver CRISPR/Cas gene editing reagents to regenerable plant cells and to recover edited plants without unwanted integration of transgenes. Some examples include delivering DNA-free gene editing reagents such as ribonucleoproteins or mRNA, relying on reagent expression from non-integrated DNA, using novel delivery mechanisms such as viruses or nanoparticles, using unconventional selection methods to avoid integration of transgenes, and/or avoiding tissue culture altogether. These methods are advancing rapidly and already enabling crop scientists to make use of the precision of CRISPR gene editing tools.

The fascist Green Revolution

Societal Impact StatementThe Green Revolution is commonly understood as the dramatic increase in food production in Mexico and India between the 1940s and 1970s due to the spread of new agricultural technologies, especially high‐yielding seed varieties. Beyond this conventional understanding, however, historians are now revealing the occurrence of—and connections between—various Green Revolutions across space and time. This article identifies a “fascist Green Revolution” through the history of agrarian development and scientific wheat breeding in fascist Italy (1922–1943). Through this case study, the article provides new insights into key themes of discussion around the Green Revolution such as the relationship between plant breeding, the environment, food security, and food self‐sufficiency.Summary In 1925, the fascist regime launched the “Battle of Wheat,” a plan of agrarian development aimed at achieving self‐sufficiency in wheat, Italy's main food crop. Key to this project was the replacement of traditional landraces with “elite” semi‐dwarf and early‐maturing wheat cultivars released by Italy's star plant breeder Nazareno Strampelli. Through the historical analysis of Strampelli's breeding program and of the implementation of the fascist “seed replacement” strategy, this article makes the case for viewing the Battle of Wheat as a “fascist Green Revolution.” The article draws on new methods and perspectives developed by the historiography of the Green Revolution. It is grounded on the historical analysis of fascist‐era publications and archival documents produced by Italian crop scientists and agricultural research institutions. While “elite” cultivars spread rapidly in fertile and wealthy northern Italy, they struggled to take hold in the dry and poor Italian South. The article delineates the environmental, social, and economic reasons underpinning this divergence. Focusing in particular on agrarian scientists' approaches to crop improvement in the Italian South, the article shows how this “marginal” region became a key site for the development of scientific counter‐narratives and concrete alternatives to the official fascist strategy of “seed replacement.” The article reveals the co‐existence of multiple approaches over space and time within fascist‐era agrarian science. Through this case study, it provides new elements to analyze key themes in science and agriculture historiography such as the tension between hyper‐modernization and agroecological concerns, centralized and decentralized research, imported technologies and local resources.

Insect species associated with sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.)

This experiment was conducted in Igboora, southwest Nigeria to identify different insects affecting sweet potatoes in the study area in order to develop suitable control measures for the insect pests. One of the most widely root crops grown in Nigeria is sweet potatoes. It is particularly important in many other countries of the world for consumption. The vine was planted on a plot of 10m by 10m with 6 mounds and replicated 6 times with a spacing of 1m by 1m between each vine on a plot. Data collection on insects that affected the crop commenced five weeks after planting with the aid of a sweep net and hand-picking. All data collected were taken to the laboratory for identification with a hand lens and microscope using insect identification keys and in consultation with the insect collection museum of the Crop Protection and Environmental Biology department, University of Ibadan. The result shows that different insect pests were associated with sweet potatoes at different week intervals, these insects were Orthoptera (Chrotogonus Senegalensis, Dnopherula descampsi) which attacked the leaves, Coleoptera (Lema coelestins, Cheilomenes Lunata, Lunata) also attacked the leaves, Hymenoptera (Crematogaster spp, Pollistes Spilophorus) attacked the vines, while Odynerus spp, componotus spp2, Scapisdepus morginatus were picked on the soil. Farmers and crop scientists should identify insect pests in the field, especially during the cultivation of sweet potatoes, to ascertain the method of control measures to use to improve productivity.

Hydroponic Capital: Socionatural Innovation and the Intensification of Glasshouse Agrifood Production

This article develops the concept of hydroponic capital in order to explain the emergence of socionatural innovations aiming to enhance food security and production efficiencies in glasshouse agrifood production clusters. It does so through an archaeology of the knowledge regimes involved in technology innovations and examines the regionalized and transnational networks of crop scientists, growers, and extension workers involved. How hydroponics resulted in an intensification of the circulation time for capital and a reduction in the scale and costs of labor inputs is explained. In doing so, advances in economic geographic understanding of innovation through an engagement with agrarian political economy and political ecological debates to explain how hydroponic capital developed through the combination of different innovatory knowledges seeking to grapple with plant pathologies and cropping systems across regionalized networks of actors are discussed. Hydroponics was a way for growers to overcome biophysical barriers to production and labor rationalization problems. The article combines an understanding of the dynamics of labor and capital in agrarian systems, since they struggle with crop biophysicality, with the granular processes of knowledge deployment by which innovation takes place to overcome these biophysical barriers in agrifood supply chains. Unlike much existing innovation research focusing on the combination of different knowledge bases, why different forms of innovation knowledge were combined to overcome biophysical barriers in agrifood innovation is explained.

The Grass Problem: Agrostology, Agriculture, and Environmental Transformation in the New South

When the nation emerged from the Civil War, good grass was still at the core of most people’s ideas about good agriculture. The American South’s two extensive systems of agriculture—plantation-based cotton growing and open-range husbandry—thus stood in marked contrast to the grass-based, intensive agriculture of the North and seemingly represented an obstacle to the region’s full economic and cultural reintegration with the rest of the nation. Beginning in the 1880s, crop scientists from the US Department of Agriculture embarked on a decades-long effort to transform the South’s extensive systems of agriculture, which had long been seen as archaic and increasingly came under attack as wasteful and environmentally damaging. Unable to challenge the socioeconomic system undergirded by white supremacy that was generating many of the region’s agricultural problems, scientists in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) framed the issue as a fundamentally ecological one: the South, in their view, had a “grass problem,” a phrase that referred to the difficulty of growing turfgrasses in the region, but served as a synecdoche for a suite of environmental, social, and economic problems related to cotton cultivation and open-range husbandry. Their efforts to facilitate the emergence of a grass-based agriculture by circumventing the ecological constraints of turfgrasses in the South helped legitimize the efforts of the USDA in the region more broadly and provide important context for the development and acceptance of a cooperative research network that helped to transform a regional environment.

Quantifying the impacts of climate change on wheat phenology, yield, and evapotranspiration under irrigated and rainfed conditions

Global climate change associated with increasing temperature and unreliable rainfall events will have consequences for crop production. Therefore, strategizing crop management gained the attention of crop scientists to curtail the adverse impacts of climate change on crop production. However, the projected effects of climate change on wheat may vary in different cropping systems as wheat production is reported to be significantly impacted by future climate change in major cropping systems worldwide. In the present study, ten experiments were conducted under irrigated (2007–2013) and rainfed (2010–2014) cropping systems of Pakistan to quantify the interactive impacts of future climate change (CO2, temperature, and rainfall) on wheat phenology, grain yield, crop evapotranspiration (ETc), and water use efficiency (WUE) using the DSSAT-CERES-Wheat. The DSSAT-CERES-Wheat was executed using 17 Global Climate Models (GCMs) and four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs; 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5) to forecast the climate projections for 2030, 2050, and 2090. The average temperature at both sites will increase by 1.3, 1.9, 1.9, and 2.9 ℃ under RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5. The simulated output varies among GCMs, RCPs, CO2 concentration, and future periods. A general reduction in wheat phenology, grain yield, ETc, and WUE was anticipated. However, higher CO2 concentration and early maturity improved the WUE of wheat under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Nevertheless, this gain in WUE was at the cost of a relatively higher yield loss. Wheat yield is expected to decline by 2–19% and 9–30% under irrigated and rainfed conditions, respectively by aggregating the simulated future climate change impacts across GCMs and RCPs. Adaptation strategies to mitigate the climate change impacts on wheat production in irrigated and rainfed areas will be required. Our findings will serve as a foundation for designing future climate change adaptation strategies to sustain wheat production in Pakistan's irrigated and rainfed cropping systems.

Improving drought tolerance in maize: Tools and techniques.

Drought is an important constraint to agricultural productivity worldwide and is expected to worsen with climate change. To assist farmers, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), to adapt to climate change, continuous generation of stress-tolerant and farmer-preferred crop varieties, and their adoption by farmers, is critical to curb food insecurity. Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in SSA and plays a significant role in food security. The aim of this review is to present an overview of a broad range of tools and techniques used to improve drought tolerance in maize. We also present a summary of progress in breeding for maize drought tolerance, while incorporating research findings from disciplines such as physiology, molecular biology, and systems modeling. The review is expected to complement existing knowledge about breeding maize for climate resilience. Collaborative maize drought tolerance breeding projects in SSA emphasize the value of public-private partnerships in increasing access to genomic techniques and useful transgenes. To sustain the impact of maize drought tolerance projects in SSA, there must be complementary efforts to train the next generation of plant breeders and crop scientists.

Rice grain yield and quality improvement via CRISPR/Cas9 system: an updated review

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important staple food crop worldwide. To meet the growing nutritional requirements of the increasing population in the face of climate change, qualitative and quantitative traits of rice need to be improved. During recent years, genome editing has played a great role in the development of superior varieties of grain crops. Genome editing and speed breeding have improved the accuracy and pace of rice breeding. New breeding technologies including genome editing have been established in rice, expanding the potential for crop improvement. Over a decade, site-directed mutagenesis tools like Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFN), Transcriptional activator-like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) System were used and have played a great role in rice yield and quality enhancement. In addition, most recently other genome editing techniques like prime editing and base editors have also been used for efficient genome editing in rice. Since rice is an excellent model system for functional studies due to its small genome and close synthetic relationships with other cereal crops, new genome-editing technologies continue to be developed for use in rice. Genomic alteration employing genome editing technologies (GETs) like CRISPR/Cas9 for reverse genetics has opened new avenues in agricultural sciences such as rice yield and grain quality improvement. Currently, CRISPR/Cas9 technology is widely used by researchers for genome editing to achieve the desired biological objectives, because of its simple targeting, easy-to-design, cost-effective, and versatile tool for precise and efficient plant genome editing. Over the past few years many genes related to rice grain quality and yield enhancement have been successfully edited via CRISPR/Cas9 technology method to cater to the growing demand for food worldwide. The effectiveness of these methods is being verified by the researchers and crop scientists worldwide. In this review we focus on genome-editing tools for rice improvement to address the progress made and provide examples of genome editing in rice. We also discuss safety concerns and methods for obtaining transgene-free crops.

Life sciences discovery and technology highlights

Life sciences discovery and technology highlights

Advances in Crop Breeding Through Precision Genome Editing.

The global climate change and unfavourable abiotic and biotic factors are limiting agricultural productivity and therefore intensifying the challenges for crop scientists to meet the rising demand for global food supply. The introduction of applied genetics to agriculture through plant breeding facilitated the development of hybrid varieties with improved crop productivity. However, the development of new varieties with the existing gene pools poses a challenge for crop breeders. Genetic engineering holds the potential to broaden genetic diversity by the introduction of new genes into crops. But the random insertion of foreign DNA into the plant’s nuclear genome often leads to transgene silencing. Recent advances in the field of plant breeding include the development of a new breeding technique called genome editing. Genome editing technologies have emerged as powerful tools to precisely modify the crop genomes at specific sites in the genome, which has been the longstanding goal of plant breeders. The precise modification of the target genome, the absence of foreign DNA in the genome-edited plants, and the faster and cheaper method of genome modification are the remarkable features of the genome-editing technology that have resulted in its widespread application in crop breeding in less than a decade. This review focuses on the advances in crop breeding through precision genome editing. This review includes: an overview of the different breeding approaches for crop improvement; genome editing tools and their mechanism of action and application of the most widely used genome editing technology, CRISPR/Cas9, for crop improvement especially for agronomic traits such as disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, herbicide tolerance, yield and quality improvement, reduction of anti-nutrients, and improved shelf life; and an update on the regulatory approval of the genome-edited crops. This review also throws a light on development of high-yielding climate-resilient crops through precision genome editing.

A wiring diagram to integrate physiological traits of wheat yield potential.

As crop yields are pushed closer to biophysical limits, achieving yield gains becomes increasingly challenging and will require more insight into deterministic pathways to yields. Here, we propose a wiring diagram as a platform to illustrate the interrelationships of the physiological traits that impact wheat yield potential and to serve as a decision support tool for crop scientists. The wiring diagram is based on the premise that crop yield is a function of photosynthesis (source), the investment of assimilates into reproductive organs (sinks) and the underlying processes that enable expression of both. By illustrating these linkages as coded wires, the wiring diagram can show connections among traits that may not have been apparent, and can inform new research hypotheses and guide crosses designed to accumulate beneficial traits and alleles in breeding. The wiring diagram can also serve to create an ever-richer common point of reference for refining crop models in the future.

The World Needs More Agronomists, Crop Scientists, and Soil Scientists

CSA NewsVolume 67, Issue 4 p. 22-23 MESSAGE FROM THE SOCIETY PRESIDENTS The World Needs More Agronomists, Crop Scientists, and Soil Scientists Marilyn L. Warburton, Marilyn L. WarburtonSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Clay, David ClaySearch for more papers by this authorRon Turco, Ron TurcoSearch for more papers by this author Marilyn L. Warburton, Marilyn L. WarburtonSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Clay, David ClaySearch for more papers by this authorRon Turco, Ron TurcoSearch for more papers by this author First published: 28 March 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/csan.20702Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume67, Issue4April 2022Pages 22-23 RelatedInformation

MultipleXLab: A high-throughput portable live-imaging root phenotyping platform using deep learning and computer vision

BackgroundProfiling the plant root architecture is vital for selecting resilient crops that can efficiently take up water and nutrients. The high-performance imaging tools available to study root-growth dynamics with the optimal resolution are costly and stationary. In addition, performing nondestructive high-throughput phenotyping to extract the structural and morphological features of roots remains challenging.ResultsWe developed the MultipleXLab: a modular, mobile, and cost-effective setup to tackle these limitations. The system can continuously monitor thousands of seeds from germination to root development based on a conventional camera attached to a motorized multiaxis-rotational stage and custom-built 3D-printed plate holder with integrated light-emitting diode lighting. We also developed an image segmentation model based on deep learning that allows the users to analyze the data automatically. We tested the MultipleXLab to monitor seed germination and root growth of Arabidopsis developmental, cell cycle, and auxin transport mutants non-invasively at high-throughput and showed that the system provides robust data and allows precise evaluation of germination index and hourly growth rate between mutants.ConclusionMultipleXLab provides a flexible and user-friendly root phenotyping platform that is an attractive mobile alternative to high-end imaging platforms and stationary growth chambers. It can be used in numerous applications by plant biologists, the seed industry, crop scientists, and breeding companies.

Does climate impact vary across time horizons? A time–frequency analysis of climate-crop yields in India

Climate change is a major concern the world over more so for a predominantly agrarian country like India. In this paper we analyze the time horizon dynamics of crop and climate variables at the regional level in India. We also analyze the co-movements of crop yields with temperature and rainfall to observe the coherence across heterogenous time horizons. We employ Bai-Perron structural break and Continuous wavelet transform methods on yearly data of seven crop yields and climate variables. Observed variables are analyzed from 1956 to 2010 for the un-divided state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Breakpoint analysis shows an increase of around 1.0° temperature with two observed break points. Rainfall depicts no systematic change with fluctuations being largely random. The framework of wavelets-based time–frequency analysis employed in this study captures climate and crop dynamics at heterogeneous time horizons, allowing one to study the impact of climate and crop yields at both short and longer time-horizons. Wavelet based coherence analysis exhibited significant co-movement between climatic and crop variables. Given shifts in climate patterns and subsequent shifts in co-movements across time horizons at the regional level, policy makers and crop scientists should design time specific and locally viable adaption and mitigation policies to tackle the impact of climate change on crops and livelihoods.

Anthocyanin Biosynthesis Genes as Model Genes for Genome Editing in Plants.

CRISPR/Cas, one of the most rapidly developing technologies in the world, has been applied successfully in plant science. To test new nucleases, gRNA expression systems and other inventions in this field, several plant genes with visible phenotypic effects have been constantly used as targets. Anthocyanin pigmentation is one of the most easily identified traits, that does not require any additional treatment. It is also associated with stress resistance, therefore plants with edited anthocyanin genes might be of interest for agriculture. Phenotypic effect of CRISPR/Cas editing of PAP1 and its homologs, DFR, F3H and F3′H genes have been confirmed in several distinct plant species. DFR appears to be a key structural gene of anthocyanin biosynthesis, controlled by various transcription factors. There are still many promising potential model genes that have not been edited yet. Some of them, such as Delila, MYB60, HAT1, UGT79B2, UGT79B3 and miR156, have been shown to regulate drought tolerance in addition to anthocyanin biosynthesis. Genes, also involved in trichome development, such as TTG1, GLABRA2, MYBL2 and CPC, can provide increased visibility. In this review successful events of CRISPR/Cas editing of anthocyanin genes are summarized, and new model genes are proposed. It can be useful for molecular biologists and genetic engineers, crop scientists, plant genetics and physiologists.

Facilitation and biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships in crop production systems and their role in sustainable farming

Abstract We review the need for increasing agricultural sustainability, how this can in part be delivered by positive biodiversity–ecosystem function (BEF) effects, the role within these of plant–plant facilitation, and how a better understanding of this role may help to deliver sustainable crop (particularly arable) production systems. Major challenges facing intensive arable production include overall declines in biodiversity, poor soil structure and health, nutrient and soil particle run‐off, high greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing costs of synthetic inputs including herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. Biodiversity–ecosystem function effects have the potential to deliver win–wins for arable food production, whereby enhanced biodiversity is associated with ‘good outcomes’ for farming sustainability, albeit sometimes through negative BEF effects for some components of the system. Although it can be difficult to separate explicitly from niche differentiation, evidence indicates facilitation can be a key component of these BEF effects. Explicit recognition of facilitation's role brings benefits to developing sustainable crop systems. First, it allows us to link fundamental ecological studies on the evolution of facilitation to the selection of traits that can enhance functioning in crop mixtures. Second, it provides us with analytical frameworks which can be used to bring structure and testable hypotheses to data derived from multiple (often independent) crop trials. Before concrete guidance can be provided to the agricultural sector as to how facilitation might be enhanced in crop systems, challenges exist with respect to quantifying facilitation, understanding the traits that maximise facilitation and integrating these traits into breeding programmes, components of an approach we suggest could be termed ‘Functional Ecological Selection’. Synthesis. Ultimately, better integration between ecologists and crop scientists will be essential in harnessing the benefits of ecological knowledge for developing more sustainable agriculture. We need to focus on understanding the mechanistic basis of strong facilitative interactions in crop systems and using this information to select and breed for improved combinations of genotypes and species as part of the Functional Ecological Selection approach.

Crops: Bringing Together a Global Community of Crop Scientists

The science behind plants that are grown as crops is essential for confronting many of humankind’s existential challenges [...]

Modulation of Key Physio-Biochemical and Ultrastructural Attributes after Synergistic Application of Zinc and Silicon on Rice under Cadmium Stress.

Excessive industrialization and the usage of pesticides plague the farming soils with heavy metals, reducing the quality of arable land. Assessing phytoavailability of cadmium (Cd) from growth medium to plant system is crucial and necessitates precise and timely monitoring of Cd to ensure food safety. Zinc (Zn) and silicon (Si) have singularly demonstrated the potential to ameliorate Cd toxicity and are important for agricultural production, human health, and environment in general. However, Zn-Si interaction on Cd toxicity alleviation, their effects and underlying mechanisms are still fragmentarily understood. Seven treatments were devised besides control to evaluate the single and combined effects of Zn and Si on the physio-biochemical attributes and ultrastructural fingerprints of Cd-treated rice genotypes, i.e., Cd tolerant “Xiushui-110” and Cd sensitive “HIPJ-1”. Supplementation of both Zn and Si promoted plant biomass, photosynthetic parameters, ionic balance, and improved chloroplast ultrastructure with minimized Cd uptake and malondialdehyde (MDA) content due to the activation of antioxidant enzymes in Cd stressed plants. The combined effects of 10 μM Zn and 15 μM Si on 15 μM Cd displayed a greater reduction in Cd uptake and root-leaf MDA content, while enhancing photosynthetic activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and root-leaf ultrastructure particularly in HIPJ-1, whilst Xiushui-110 had an overall higher leaf catalase (CAT) activity and a higher root length and shoot height was observed in both genotypes compared to the Cd 15 µM treatment. Alone and combined Zn and Si alleviation treatments reduced Cd translocation from the root to the stem for HIPJ-1 but not for Xiushui-110. Our results confer that Zn and Si singularly and in combination are highly effective in reducing tissue Cd content in both genotypes, the mechanism behind which could be the dilution effect of Cd due to improved biomass and competitive nature of Zn and Si, culminating in Cd toxicity alleviation. This study could open new avenues for characterizing interactive effects of simultaneously augmented nutrients in crops and provide a bench mark for crop scientists and farmers to improve Cd tolerance in rice.