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Mobilizing Crop Biodiversity

McCouch, Susan; Navabi, Katy; Abberton, Michael; Anglin, Noelle L.; Barbieri, Rosa Lia; Baum, Michael; Bett, Kirsten; Booker, Helen; Brown, Gerald L.; Bryan, Glenn J.; Cattivelli, Luigi; Charest, David; Eversole, Kellye; Freitas, Marcelo; Ghamkhar, Kioumars; Grattapaglia, Dario; Henry, Robert; Valadares Inglis, Maria Cleria; Islam, Tofazzal; Kehel, Zakaria; Kersey, Paul J.; Kresovich, Stephen; Marden, Emily; Mayes, Sean; Ndjiondjop, Marie Noelle; Nguyen, Henry T.; Paiva, Samuel; Papa, Roberto; Phillips, Peter W.B.; Rasheed, Awais; Richards, Christopher; Rouard, Mathieu; Amstalden Sampaio, Maria Jose; Scholz, Uwe; Shaw, Paul D.; Sherman, Brad; Staton, S. Evan; Stein, Nils; Svensson, Jan; Tester, Mark; Montenegro Valls, Jose Francisco; Varshney, Rajeev; Visscher, Stephen; von Wettberg, Eric; Waugh, Robbie; Wenzl, Peter W.B.; Rieseberg, Loren H.

Authors

Susan McCouch

Katy Navabi

Michael Abberton

Noelle L. Anglin

Rosa Lia Barbieri

Michael Baum

Kirsten Bett

Helen Booker

Gerald L. Brown

Glenn J. Bryan

Luigi Cattivelli

David Charest

Kellye Eversole

Marcelo Freitas

Kioumars Ghamkhar

Dario Grattapaglia

Robert Henry

Maria Cleria Valadares Inglis

Tofazzal Islam

Zakaria Kehel

Paul J. Kersey

Stephen Kresovich

Emily Marden

SEAN MAYES SEAN.MAYES@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Associate Professor

Marie Noelle Ndjiondjop

Henry T. Nguyen

Samuel Paiva

Roberto Papa

Peter W.B. Phillips

Awais Rasheed

Christopher Richards

Mathieu Rouard

Maria Jose Amstalden Sampaio

Uwe Scholz

Paul D. Shaw

Brad Sherman

S. Evan Staton

Nils Stein

Jan Svensson

Mark Tester

Jose Francisco Montenegro Valls

Rajeev Varshney

Stephen Visscher

Eric von Wettberg

Robbie Waugh

Peter W.B. Wenzl

Loren H. Rieseberg



Abstract

Over the past 70 years, the world has witnessed extraordinary growth in crop productivity, enabled by a suite of technological advances, including higher yielding crop varieties, improved farm management, synthetic agrochemicals, and agricultural mechanization. While this “Green Revolution” intensified crop production, and is credited with reducing famine and malnutrition, its benefits were accompanied by several undesirable collateral effects (Pingali, 2012). These include a narrowing of agricultural biodiversity, stemming from increased monoculture and greater reliance on a smaller number of crops and crop varieties for the majority of our calories. This reduction in diversity has created vulnerabilities to pest and disease epidemics, climate variation, and ultimately to human health (Harlan, 1972).
The value of crop diversity has long been recognized (Vavilov, 1992). A global system of genebanks (e.g., www.genebanks.org/genebanks/) was established in the 1970s to conserve the abundant genetic variation found in traditional “landrace” varieties of crops and in crop wild relatives (Harlan, 1972). While preserving crop variation is a critical first step, the time has come to make use of this variation to breed more resilient crops. The DivSeek International Network (https://divseekintl.org/) is a scientific, not-for-profit organization that aims to accelerate such efforts.

Citation

McCouch, S., Navabi, K., Abberton, M., Anglin, N. L., Barbieri, R. L., Baum, M., …Rieseberg, L. H. (2020). Mobilizing Crop Biodiversity. Molecular Plant, 13(10), 1341-1344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.011

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 19, 2020
Online Publication Date Aug 21, 2020
Publication Date Oct 5, 2020
Deposit Date Aug 26, 2020
Journal Molecular Plant
Print ISSN 1674-2052
Electronic ISSN 1752-9867
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 13
Issue 10
Pages 1341-1344
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.011
Keywords Plant Science; Molecular Biology
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4851958
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674205220302677