Management and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for a Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Despite the dramatic increase in food production thanks to the Green Revolution, hunger is increasing among human populations around the world, affecting one in nine people. The negative environmental and social consequences of industrial monocrop agriculture is becoming evident, particularly in the contexts of greenhouse gas emissions and the increased frequency and impact of zoonotic disease emergence, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Human activity has altered 70–75% of the ice-free Earth’s surface, squeezing nature and wildlife into a corner. To prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide, the UN has launched a Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. In this context, this review describes the origin and diversity of cultivated species, the impact of modern agriculture and other human activities on plant genetic resources, and approaches to conserve and use them to increase food diversity and production with specific examples of the use of crop wild relatives for breeding climate-resilient cultivars that require less chemical and mechanical input. The need to better coordinate in situ conservation efforts with increased funding has been highlighted. We emphasise the need to strengthen the genebank infrastructure, enabling the use of modern biotechnological tools to help in genotyping and characterising accessions plus advanced ex situ conservation methods, identifying gaps in collections, developing core collections, and linking data with international databases. Crop and variety diversification and minimising tillage and other field practices through the development and introduction of herbaceous perennial crops is proposed as an alternative regenerative food system for higher carbon sequestration, sustaining economic benefits for growers, whilst also providing social and environmental benefits.

Identification of DNA Methylation Changes in European Beech Seeds during Desiccation and Storage

“…Conservation of seeds is the primary method of choice when attempting to preserve the gene pool of a plant species [ 20 , 30 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]; therefore, deterioration of seeds during storage has profound influences on agriculture and conservation efforts [ 37 ]. Seed aging processes resulting in viability decline and final decrease of plantlet amount are dependent on storage conditions, which are the temperature and RH that determine seed MC.…”

Editorial: Creation and utilization of crop germplasm resources

“…In contrast, the available area of cultivated land is decreasing every year. Therefore, it is a big challenge for international agriculture to ensure the food security of such a huge population ( Pathirana and Carimi, 2022 ). With the recent COVID-2019 pandemic, global warming, economic slowdowns, poverty, and inequality have increased unemployment, resulted in food insecurity, and affected millions of people globally ( FAO, 2021 ).…”

“…In 1920, a Soviet geneticist named Nicolai Vavilov realized that most crops had lost their diversity, and he created the first gene bank in Petrograd by doing an extensive series of expeditions worldwide ( Janick, 2015 ). Later, several gene banks were developed in the USA, Western Europe, and Australia ( Pathirana and Carimi, 2022 ). In 1991, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) signed an agreement in Rome, Italy, and developed the Crop Genetic Resources Collaboration Network to conserve and utilize germplasm resources.…”

“…In 1991, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) signed an agreement in Rome, Italy, and developed the Crop Genetic Resources Collaboration Network to conserve and utilize germplasm resources. The network could collect ~200,000 accessions from 136 countries ( Pathirana and Carimi, 2022 ). Utilization of these germplasm resources to enrich the cultivated crop varieties is a burning task for current breeding programs.…”

Somatic Mutations in Fruit Trees: Causes, Detection Methods, and Molecular Mechanisms

“…Bud sports, clones, and crosses are all important for plant genetic diversity in horticulture and agriculture [ 13 ]. Clones are created through asexual propagation, where genetically identical plants are produced from a single parent plant through methods such as rooting, cuttings, or grafting.…”