Building a botanical foundation for perennial agriculture: Global inventory of wild, perennial herbaceous Fabaceae species

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Agroecosystems are constantly evolving to meet the needs of a growing population in a sustainable manner. Concerns about ecological impacts of agriculture, including soil loss, have focused attention on crops that provide both agricultural products and ecological services. Perennial, herbaceous crops that live for multiple years and can be harvested mechanically produce large root systems that may reduce soil loss; however, these species are largely absent from agriculture. The diversity of wild, perennial, herbaceous legume species documented by the Perennial Agriculture Project Global Inventory (PAPGI) increases resources available to breeders of perennial, herbaceous legumes, and raises awareness about untapped wild plant diversity in future crop development. Summary Concerns about soil health and stability are focusing attention on crops that deliver both agricultural products and ecological services. Deep rooted, perennial plants that build soil organic matter, support diverse belowground microbial communities, and produce edible seeds are key components underpinning ecological intensification; however, few perennial, herbaceous crops have been domesticated for food. To facilitate development of edible, perennial, herbaceous crops, including perennial grains, we constructed an online resource of wild, perennial, herbaceous species—the Perennial Agriculture Project Global Inventory (PAPGI; http://www.tropicos.org/Project/PAPGI). The first component of this project focuses on wild, perennial, herbaceous Fabaceae species. We extracted taxonomic names and descriptors from the International Legume Database and Information Service. Names were added to PAPGI, a special project within the botanical database TROPICOS, where they link to specimen records and ethnobotanical and toxicological data. PAPGI includes 6,644 perennial, herbaceous Fabaceae species. We built a searchable database, a framework for the ongoing incorporation of more than 60 agriculturally important traits for perennial, herbaceous legumes. Here we highlight food and forage uses for 314 legume species, and toxicological data for 278 species. The novel contribution of PAPGI is its focus on wild, perennial herbaceous species that generally have not entered the domestication process but that hold promise for development as perennial food crops. By extracting botanical information relevant for agriculture we provide a dynamic resource for breeders and plant scientists working to advance ecological intensification of agriculture, and for conservation managers working to preserve wild species of potential agricultural importance.

Comparative Analysis of Early Life Stage Traits in Annual and Perennial Phaseolus Crops and Their Wild Relatives

“…Nearly all grain and legume crops grown for human consumption are annual plants that complete their life cycle in a single year, or are perennial species cultivated as annuals (Van Tassel et al, 2010). Although thousands of herbaceous perennial species exist within major crop families (e.g., Ciotir et al, 2016;Ciotir et al, 2019), annual plant species were likely selected during the early stages of domestication due to pre-existing agriculturally favorable traits, e.g., high reproductive yield in a single season and accelerated germination and flowering (Van Tassel et al, 2010). Over time, artificial selection has led to exceptional gains in reproductive output in annual crops, particularly in the last century (Mann, 1997); however, cultivation intensity and other agronomic practices have resulted in widespread soil loss (FAO, 2019).…”

“…Here we focus on the legume family (Fabaceae), which includes 19,500+ species of which more than 30% are predominantly herbaceous perennials (Ciotir et al, 2019). Fabaceae is the second most economically important plant family after the grasses (Poaceae), with 41 domesticated species dating back to the first agricultural systems, and 1,000+ species cultivated for various purposes across the world (Harlan, 1992;Lewis et al, 2005;Hammer and Khoshbakht, 2015).…”

New Food Crop Domestication in the Age of Gene Editing: Genetic, Agronomic and Cultural Change Remain Co-evolutionarily Entangled

“…Research may be needed to identify potential candidates for domestication (Ciotir et al, 2019), to rank species or subspecies by predicted breedability (e.g., genome size, ploidy, mating system), to identify barriers to human use (e.g., toxicity), and to prepare wild germplasm for gene-editing (e.g., genomic sequencing, mapping) (DeHaan et al, 2016). The foundation of a domestication program includes obtaining and characterizing the wild germplasm (Schlautman et al, 2020) and ascertaining that additive genetic variation for crop yield and disease resistance are available in the gene pool.…”

Comparative analysis of seed size, germination, and vegetative allocation in annual and herbaceous perennial crops and their wild relatives inLupinusandPhaseolus(Fabaceae)

“…However nearly all grass and herbaceous legume crops grown for human consumption are annual plants that complete their life cycle in a single year, or are perennial species cultivated as annuals (Van Tassel et al, 2010). Although thousands of herbaceous perennial species exist within major crop families (e.g., Ciotir et al, 2016; Ciotir et al, 2019), herbaceous annual plant species were likely initially selected during the early stages of domestication due to pre-existing agriculturally favorable traits, e.g., high reproductive yield in a single season and accelerated germination and flowering (Van Tassel et al, 2010). Over time, artificial selection has led to exceptional gains in seed production in annual crops, particularly in the last century (Mann, 1997); however, cultivation intensity and other agronomic practices have resulted in widespread soil loss (FAO, 2019).…”

“…Here we focus on the legume family (Fabaceae), which includes 19,500+ species of which more than 30% are predominantly herbaceous perennials (Ciotir et al, 2019). Fabaceae is the second most economically important plant family after the grasses (Poaceae), with 41 domesticated species dating back to the first agricultural systems, and 1,000+ species cultivated for various purposes across the world (Harlan, 1992; Lewis et al, 2005; Hammer & Khoshbakht, 2015).…”