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Research article2023Peer reviewedOpen access

Discussion: Prioritize perennial grain development for sustainable food production and environmental benefits

DeHaan, Lee R.; Anderson, James A.; Bajgain, Prabin; Basche, Andrea; Cattani, Douglas J.; Crain, Jared; Crews, Timothy E.; David, Christophe; Duchene, Olivier; Gutknecht, Jessica; Hayes, Richard C.; Hu, Fengyi; Jungers, Jacob M.; Knudsen, Soren; Kong, Wenqian; Larson, Steve; Lundquist, Per-Olof; Luo, Guangbin; Miller, Allison J.; Nabukalu, Pheonah;
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Abstract

Perennial grains have potential to contribute to ecological intensification of food production by enabling the direct har-vest of human-edible crops without requiring annual cycles of disturbance and replanting. Studies of prototype peren-nial grains and other herbaceous perennials point to the ability of agroecosystems including these crops to protect water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, build soil quality, and sequester soil carbon. However, genetic improvement of perennial grain candidates has been hindered by limited investment due to uncertainty about whether the approach is viable. As efforts to develop perennial grain crops have expanded in past decades, critiques of the approach have arisen. With a recent report of perennial rice producing yields equivalent to those of annual rice over eight consecutive harvests, many theoretical concerns have been alleviated. Some valid questions remain over the timeline for new crop development, but we argue these may be mitigated by implementation of recent technological advances in crop breed-ing and genetics such as low-cost genotyping, genomic selection, and genome editing. With aggressive research invest-ment in the development of new perennial grain crops, they can be developed and deployed to provide atmospheric greenhouse gas reductions.

Keywords

Soil quality; Climate change; Carbon sequestration; Genome editing; Intermediate wheatgrass; Genomic selection

Published in

Science of the Total Environment
2023, Volume: 895, article number: 164975
Publisher: ELSEVIER

      SLU Authors

      • Sustainable Development Goals

      Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
      End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
      Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
      Agricultural Science

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164975

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/123457