Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges
Perennial grain crops could make a valuable addition to sustainable agriculture, potentially even as an alternative to their annual counterparts. The ability of perennials to grow year after year significantly reduces the number of agricultural inputs required, in terms of both planting and weed con...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-07-01
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Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
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Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.898769/full |
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author | Elizabeth A. Chapman Hanne Cecilie Thomsen Sophia Tulloch Pedro M. P. Correia Guangbin Luo Javad Najafi Lee R. DeHaan Timothy E. Crews Lennart Olsson Per-Olof Lundquist Anna Westerbergh Pai Rosager Pedas Søren Knudsen Michael Palmgren |
author_facet | Elizabeth A. Chapman Hanne Cecilie Thomsen Sophia Tulloch Pedro M. P. Correia Guangbin Luo Javad Najafi Lee R. DeHaan Timothy E. Crews Lennart Olsson Per-Olof Lundquist Anna Westerbergh Pai Rosager Pedas Søren Knudsen Michael Palmgren |
author_sort | Elizabeth A. Chapman |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Perennial grain crops could make a valuable addition to sustainable agriculture, potentially even as an alternative to their annual counterparts. The ability of perennials to grow year after year significantly reduces the number of agricultural inputs required, in terms of both planting and weed control, while reduced tillage improves soil health and on-farm biodiversity. Presently, perennial grain crops are not grown at large scale, mainly due to their early stages of domestication and current low yields. Narrowing the yield gap between perennial and annual grain crops will depend on characterizing differences in their life cycles, resource allocation, and reproductive strategies and understanding the trade-offs between annualism, perennialism, and yield. The genetic and biochemical pathways controlling plant growth, physiology, and senescence should be analyzed in perennial crop plants. This information could then be used to facilitate tailored genetic improvement of selected perennial grain crops to improve agronomic traits and enhance yield, while maintaining the benefits associated with perennialism. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:28:48Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-f3f1faffe6cf4b3b93e9da28bd6b502f |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1664-462X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:28:48Z |
publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | Article |
series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
spelling | doaj.art-f3f1faffe6cf4b3b93e9da28bd6b502f2022-12-22T02:05:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2022-07-011310.3389/fpls.2022.898769898769Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and ChallengesElizabeth A. Chapman0Hanne Cecilie Thomsen1Sophia Tulloch2Pedro M. P. Correia3Guangbin Luo4Javad Najafi5Lee R. DeHaan6Timothy E. Crews7Lennart Olsson8Per-Olof Lundquist9Anna Westerbergh10Pai Rosager Pedas11Søren Knudsen12Michael Palmgren13Department of Raw Materials, Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Raw Materials, Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Raw Materials, Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkThe Land Institute, Salina, KS, United StatesThe Land Institute, Salina, KS, United StatesLund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund, SwedenDepartment of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Linnean Centre for Plant Biology in Uppsala, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Linnean Centre for Plant Biology in Uppsala, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Raw Materials, Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Raw Materials, Carlsberg Research Laboratory, Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkPerennial grain crops could make a valuable addition to sustainable agriculture, potentially even as an alternative to their annual counterparts. The ability of perennials to grow year after year significantly reduces the number of agricultural inputs required, in terms of both planting and weed control, while reduced tillage improves soil health and on-farm biodiversity. Presently, perennial grain crops are not grown at large scale, mainly due to their early stages of domestication and current low yields. Narrowing the yield gap between perennial and annual grain crops will depend on characterizing differences in their life cycles, resource allocation, and reproductive strategies and understanding the trade-offs between annualism, perennialism, and yield. The genetic and biochemical pathways controlling plant growth, physiology, and senescence should be analyzed in perennial crop plants. This information could then be used to facilitate tailored genetic improvement of selected perennial grain crops to improve agronomic traits and enhance yield, while maintaining the benefits associated with perennialism.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.898769/fullbreedingdomesticationgenome editinggrain cropsperennialismspecies-wide hybridization |
spellingShingle | Elizabeth A. Chapman Hanne Cecilie Thomsen Sophia Tulloch Pedro M. P. Correia Guangbin Luo Javad Najafi Lee R. DeHaan Timothy E. Crews Lennart Olsson Per-Olof Lundquist Anna Westerbergh Pai Rosager Pedas Søren Knudsen Michael Palmgren Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges Frontiers in Plant Science breeding domestication genome editing grain crops perennialism species-wide hybridization |
title | Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges |
title_full | Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges |
title_fullStr | Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges |
title_full_unstemmed | Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges |
title_short | Perennials as Future Grain Crops: Opportunities and Challenges |
title_sort | perennials as future grain crops opportunities and challenges |
topic | breeding domestication genome editing grain crops perennialism species-wide hybridization |
url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.898769/full |
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