Connecting Agriculture, Public Gardens and Science
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In the field, beetles and caterpillars chew on the leaves and roots of the plants, weeds compete with them for light and nutrients and fungi attack them with diseases. “And those are not the only challenges that crops face,” says Dumain. “Drought, heat, frost and lack of nutrients are other factors affecting plant health, and thus yields as well.” Take wheat, for example: an average temperature increase of just one degree equates to harvest losses of some 10 percent in developing countries. In order to combat these losses, plant researchers worldwide are working to breed more robust and productive varieties and develop new crop protection agents in what has become a race against time. The world’s population is growing constantly, but the available farmland cannot be continually expanded to accommodate it. In 1950, the amount of cropland per person was nearly as large as a soccer field. Now it has shrunk to the size of an ice hockey rink – and is continuing to decrease.
The Global Amount of Arable Land Available Per Head Continues to Shrink
“The crops of the future will have to deliver top performance if we want to be able to continue feeding the world’s population,” says Dumain. This is why researchers at Bayer CropScience are using a variety of strategies to optimize crops for greater yields and better resilience. “The goal is to strengthen the plants so that they can better utilize nutrients and successfully cope not only with pests, but also with unfavorable environmental conditions such as drought,” explains Dumain. Bayer scientists are therefore developing solutions that enhance the genetic potential of the crops, reduce negative environmental influences such as drought stress and improve conversion of natural resources into harvests – for example through better utilization of nutrients. “First, however, we have to understand the plants and their metabolic processes, and discover where we can intervene,” says Dumain, who maintains an overview of all cross-departmental research projects run by his colleagues worldwide.
The Researchers Aim to Strengthen Crops’ Ability to Withstand Weather and Pests
His fellow researchers carefully study how the plants manage their processes to produce grains, and how these can be improved. Accordingly, the Bayer specialists must also closely examine their DNA. “In wheat, for instance, we want to identify and understand which genes are responsible for higher yields,” explains Dr. Marc Bots, Trait Research Head of Crop Efficiency (see also research 28, “The wheat makers”). The focal points of his research include photosynthesis, i.e. how plants metabolize energy. Plants use this process to convert light and air into biomass and sugar, which then flow into the ears of wheat and other parts of the plant. “One of the key molecules involved is the RuBisCO enzyme, which binds carbon dioxide from the air that is then converted into sugar,” explains Bots.
250 million tons
of wheat will be needed by 2050 to meet the growing demand.
RuBisCO can also bind oxygen. This reaction is undesirable, because it creates toxic molecules. The detoxification process, referred to as photorespiration, robs the plant of valuable energy. “So we cannot simply suppress photorespiration, as it also serves as a detoxification mechanism for the plant,” says Bots. The Bayer scientists do think they can make it more efficient, though. “Photorespiration is a complex multi-step process. We are trying to insert a shortcut,” explains Bots. His team is collaborating with researchers from the University of Hanover on activating certain genes in wheat and introducing special enzymes that convert an early intermediate product of photorespiration in fewer steps. “This enables the plant to conserve a great deal of energy that can instead be used to build up the fruit and increase the harvest,” explains the biologist. “If we are successful at this in wheat, we can transfer the principle to other crops, such as canola.” Once a technology has been identified, the researchers and breeders will develop an application for the most suitable crop. This is the area of expertise of Breeding & Trait Development, where Colin Cavanagh works for Crop Efficiency as an expert representative.
