Addressing Research Bottlenecks to Crop Productivity

Matthew Reynolds; Owen K Atkin; Malcolm Bennett; Mark Cooper; Ian C Dodd; M John Foulkes; Claus Frohberg; Graeme Hammer; Ian R Henderson; Bingru Huang; Viktor Korzun; Susan R McCouch; Carlos D Messina; Barry J Pogson; Gustavo A Slafer; Nicolas L Taylor; Peter E Wittich

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.011

Addressing Research Bottlenecks to Crop Productivity

Trends Plant Sci. 2021 Jun;26(6):607-630. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.011. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Matthew Reynolds¹, Owen K Atkin², Malcolm Bennett³, Mark Cooper⁴, Ian C Dodd⁵, M John Foulkes⁶, Claus Frohberg⁷, Graeme Hammer⁴, Ian R Henderson⁸, Bingru Huang⁹, Viktor Korzun¹⁰, Susan R McCouch¹¹, Carlos D Messina¹², Barry J Pogson¹³, Gustavo A Slafer¹⁴, Nicolas L Taylor¹⁵, Peter E Wittich¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Km. 45, Carretera Mexico, El Batan, Texcoco, Mexico. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University Canberra, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Plant and Crop Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
⁵ The Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.
⁶ Plant and Crop Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK.
⁷ BASF BBC-Innovation Center Gent, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 101, 9052 Gent, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK.
⁹ Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ KWS SAAT, SE & Co. KGaA, 37574 Einbeck, Germany.
¹¹ Plant Breeding & Genetics, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹² Corteva Agriscience, 7250 NW 62nd Avenue, Johnston, IA 50310, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹³ Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University Canberra, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Crop and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, AGROTECNIO, CERCA Center, Av. R. Roure 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain; ICREA, Catalonian Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁵ ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences and Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
¹⁶ Syngenta Seeds B.V., Westeinde 62, 1601 BK, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 33893046
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.011

Abstract

Asymmetry of investment in crop research leads to knowledge gaps and lost opportunities to accelerate genetic gain through identifying new sources and combinations of traits and alleles. On the basis of consultation with scientists from most major seed companies, we identified several research areas with three common features: (i) relatively underrepresented in the literature; (ii) high probability of boosting productivity in a wide range of crops and environments; and (iii) could be researched in 'precompetitive' space, leveraging previous knowledge, and thereby improving models that guide crop breeding and management decisions. Areas identified included research into hormones, recombination, respiration, roots, and source-sink, which, along with new opportunities in phenomics, genomics, and bioinformatics, make it more feasible to explore crop genetic resources and improve breeding strategies.

Keywords: crop growth model; hormones; public-private-partnership; recombination; respiration; roots; source:sink.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Crop Production*
Crops, Agricultural / genetics
Genomics
Phenotype
Plant Breeding*