organic plant breeding
DESCRIPTION
Old cereal varieties are broadening the genetic base for organic farming and will increase quality for consumers.Hans Larsson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.TRANSCRIPT
Old cereal varieties are broadening the genetic base for organic farming and will increase
the quality for consumers
Hans LarssonSwedish University of Agricultural
SciencesDepartment of Agriculture
IFOAM standards for organic agriculture• Participatory plant breeding• Quality and health aspects• Plant breeding and climate change• Manifesto on the future of seed*• Farmers rights
*Manifesto on the future of seed:http://www.arsia.toscana.it/petizione/docume
nts/semi/futurosemi_eng.pdf
IFOAM The use of organic seed and plant propagation in organic agriculture
• Organic seeds and plant breeding: more than just organic farm inputs
• The value of seeds in organic farming occupies a unique position. Seeds embody the accumulated history of plant domestication and all the biological and cultural adaptation that has been achieved in the previous millenia
• Traditional varieties contain a greater genetic variability than modern commercial varieties, especially since they are developed under specific local conditions
• Environmental sustainability includes environmental resilience, economic performance, nutrition and consumer satisfaction
IFOAM position paper organic plant breeding:http://www.ifoam.org/press/positions/Seedpostionpapervtobeconsulted.pdf
Desirable variety traits for organic plant breeding
• Optimal adaptation to local climate and nutrient dynamics in the soil• Nutrient use efficiency• Water use efficiency(drought tolerance)• Weed tolerance• Salinity tolerance• Plant health(tolerance and resistance)• Natural reproductive ability ofaccessions including seed health and
vigour• Maintaining the nutritional quality including taste and flavor• Market quality for storage and transport• Good yield and yield stability
Hypotheses for organic plant breeding
• To utilize in the most efficient way each locations specific climat and soil you must find the best adapted varieties
• The genetic biodiversity in our cultural heritage of food plants with a long adaption to different regions conserved in our gene banks is the most valuable resource for organic agriculture
Excellent plant breeding in Sweden 1880-1970
• Local cultivars for different regions• Cultivars for different soil types • Cultivars with ability to resist early summer
droughts• Resistent cultivars against nematodes and
diseases• Very extensive regional testing of cultivars • This means a very valuable national gene bank
that can be used for organic agriculture
Participatory plant breeding
• Varieties from the Nordic Gene Bank• 600 varieties or lines are selected each
year with 10 ears/variety• The varieties are multiplied and distributed
to the farmers for demonstrations 10-15 varieties for each farm
• About 330 farmers have joined the project
Demands on organic varieties
• Long tough straw • Fast spring development• Adapted to the habitat• Resistant to pests and diseases• Ability to grow at low nutrient levels• High quality and taste• Sustainable vitality
Early growth and straw length of different cereals
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
2000-05-04
2000-05-09
2000-05-14
2000-05-19
2000-05-24
2000-05-29
2000-06-03
2000-06-08
2000-06-13
2000-06-18
2000-06-23
cm
Winter wheat Holger 1980Spelt wheatWinter wheat 1938Winter ryeWinter wheat 2000
Wet gluten and glutenstrength in seconds, old winter and spring wheat varieties
0,00
5,00
10,00
15,00
20,00
25,00
30,00
0,00 10,00 20,00 30,00 40,00 50,00 60,00% wet gluten
Glu
ten
stre
ngth
sec
onds
Protein content and specific bread volume, old winter and spring wheat varieties
600,00
700,00
800,00
900,00
1000,00
1100,00
1200,00
1300,00
1400,00
1500,00
8,00 10,00 12,00 14,00 16,00 18,00 20,00protein content %
brea
dvol
ume
kubi
ccm
Weeds in different spring wheat varieties
Ölands lantvete
Kärn
Dragon
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100number weeds/square m
gram
/sqm
Disease occurrence on 138 old winter wheat varieties
Brown rust
Yellow rust
Septoria Mildew
No disease
23 111 2 115
Weak 61 9 35 4
Moderate 50 12 79 11
High 4 6 22 9
Mixtures of species and mixtures of varieties can limit the spread of all diseases having
air dispersal
• Rust• Mildew• Septoria• Dreschlera• Helminthosporium• Rhynchosporium
Värmlandsfilialen höstvete 1922-1949
Kärna kg/ha
Reltal Halm kg/ha
Reltal
Sammet 3936 100 9610 100
Svea II 112 97
Pärl I 111 91
Thule III 104 95
Ergo 114 85
Gluten 111 89
Björnövete 105
Advantages with old varieties
• High biodiversity• Adapted to organic farming• Varieties with a history• Beautiful varieties, colour and form• Good taste• Functional food
Allkorn a network for marketing of old cultural quality varieties
• Quality varieties• Organic grown• Local production • Fresh food• Good taste• www.allkorn.se
Slow food for the taste
• Local production• Organic production• Fresh food• Food with a cultural history• Good, clean and fair
Wheat
• Triticum monococcum einkorn 11000years old, contains carotenoids• Triticum dicoccum, emmer wheat, high minerals and antioxidants• Triticum spelta, the first hexaploid wheat• Landraces high quality, good taste
Enkornsvete
Aegilops
Svart emmervete Gotland
Speltvete
Kortstråig enkornsvete Långstråig enkornsvete
Rödemmer
Svart emmer
Vit emmer med borst
Lantvete Gotland selektion Lantvete Gotland Genbank
Speltvete Gotland selektion Speltvete Gotland genbank
Öst Burgsdorfer Spelt Schweiz Schwaben Ostro Steiner Roter Tyroler Ostar
Östby Algot Peko 99 Peko vit Diamant vit Apu
Progress Ölands Lantvete Dalarna Lv Dal Lv Gotland Lv Gotl
Dala urval Öland 16 Öland sammet Öland 15 Öland urval Öland 18
Golden Krim Borstvete Gotl Russisk hvede
Barley
• 10000 years old• Contain betaglucanes• Is called the Nordic rice , can be grown up
to the polar circle• Hulless barley(naked) can be consumed
without shelling• Dominating 1750 in Scania
Brun spelt Pansar Holger röd
Naket rött korn
2-rads naket korn 6-rads naket korn Odensåker
Oats
• 4000 year old, first as weed in wheat fields• Contain betaglucanes, soluble fibres
decreasing the risk of food related diseases
• Have antioxidants like vitamine E, phytosterols, and cinnamon acid
• Old black oats rich in antioxidants
Blenda vithavre
Naken havre Jacub
Argus svarthavre
Rye
• 4000 year old, first as weeds in wheat fields
• Rye has antioxidants like lignans, phenols and sterols
• Lignans are used by microorganisms in the intestines and transformed into phyto ostrogens which protect against cancer
Grekisk Satres
Gotlandsråg
Midsommarråg
Schmidtråg
Biodiversity for human health, the seven cereals
• Wheat• Barley• Oats• Rye• Millet• Rice• Maize
Bromus grossus
Regionala produktionsgrupper
• Wästgötarna i Västergötland• Gutekorn på Gotland• Hälsingesäd i Hälsingland• Halland• Bohuslän• Jämtland • Uppland
Decreasing mineral density in wheat grain
• Iron, zinc, copper and magnesium decreasing• Inorganic fertilizers decrease the concentration• Soil depletion• Variety differnces• Organic farming higher concentrations because of farmyard manure
and lower yields
Conclusions from fertility experiments since 1958
• Farmyard manure increases the mineral concentration in wheat grains
• Inorganic fertilizers decreases the mineral concentration in grains
Rothamsted wheat experiment
• Started 1843• Different fertilizers inorganic, farmyard manure• Change of varieties over time• Archived samples since the beginning
Fig. 3. Changes in the total concentrations of Zn (a), Cu (b) and Mg (c) in the soils from three plots of the Broadbalk Experiment. Lines represent regression lines: dashed line for the control, dotted line for N2PKNaMgS, and solid line for FYM.
Cultivar Zn (mg/kg) Fe (mg/kg) Cu (mg/kg) Mg (mg/kg)
Long-straw (1845–1967) 33.2 38.2 5.4 1138
Short-straw (1968–2005) 24.3 29.7 3.9 924
Significance (Pvalue) <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
Squarehead's Master 27.3 41.3 4.5 1099
Brimstone 19.5 32.6 3.4 831
Significance (Pvalue) <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
Table 4. Comparison between the mean mineral concentrations of wheat grain of the ten long-straw cultivars (1845–1967) and the five short-straw cultivars (1968–2005), and between the long-straw cultivar Squarehead's Master and the short-straw cultivar Brimstone, which were grown side-by-side during 1988–1990a
Elementb Radj2 Constant Grain yield HI
Coefficient Significance (P) Coefficient Significan
ce (P)
Zn 0.56 42.7 −1.13 <0.001 −17.9 <0.001
Fe 0.33 46.0 −0.081 0.58 −22.4 <0.001
Cu 0.45 6.5 −0.23 <0.001 −1.97 <0.001
Mg 0.47 1365 −14.3 <0.001 −504 <0.001
Table 3. Multiple regression analysis of Zn, Fe, Cu and Mg concentrations with grain yield and the harvest index (HI)a
a Data included all years and all plots (n=362), except that for Mg the plot 10 data (N only) were excluded (n=313), because in this plot Mg has never been added since 1843.b Concentrations are in mg/kg.
Plot Zn (mg/kg) Fe (mg/kg) Cu (mg/kg) Mg (mg/kg)
1845–1967
1968–2005
1845–1967
1968–2005
1845–1967
1968–2005
1845–1967
1968–2005
FYM (plot 22) 37.2 27.4 40.3 30.4 5.4 4.0 1263 1015
N2PKNaMgS (plot 7) 32.2 21.9 38.4 28.2 5.0 3.6 1146 932
N1−4PKNaMgS (plot 9)
32.2 20.8 38.8 32.2 5.0 3.4 1147 913
Significance (P value) <0.001 <0.001 0.48 0.092 0.076 0.009 <0.001 0.137
LSD (P<0.05) 2.3 3.0 3.1 3.6 0.4 0.4 501 108
Table 5. Comparison of the concentrations of Zn, Fe, Cu and Mg in wheat grain between plots receiving inorganic fertilizers or organic manure
Conclusions from Rothamsted
• The concentration of zinc,iron, copper and magnesium remained stable,between 1845 and 1960s but since then have decreased significantly which coincided with the introduction of semi-dwarf, high yielding cultivars
• The concentration in soil have either increased or remained stable• Regression analysis showed that both increasing yield and harvets
index were highly significant factors that explained the downward trend in grain mineral concentration
Mineral analyses old varieties
• Analyses from four places Alnarp, Gotland, Uppsala and Bohuslän• Different groups of wheat primitive wheats, spelt wheat, landraces,
old cultivars (1900-1960), newer cultivars after 1970, selections• Totally 630 analyses
Cu Se Fe Mg Zn
Selektioner 5.27 0,18 35,8 1330 41,6
Gamla sorter 5.1 0,1 39,4 1223 38,1
primitiva 5.75 0,11 32,2 1300 45,7
Spelt 5.5 0,1 38 1277 39,2
Lantsorter 5.33 0,09 38,5 1286 38,1
Sorterefter1970 4.49 0,11 33,4 1245 36,3
Antal analyser Zn Se Mg Cu Cd Fe
Speltvete 25 40 0,09 1279 5,6 0,04 38
Sorter efter 1970 16 36 0,11 1221 4,1 0,05 31
Svenno 11 35 0,09 1211 5,1 0,06 41
Emmer 10 40 0,07 1356 5,6 0,03 32
Lantvete Öland 27 42 0,09 1323 5,4 0,05 47
Lantvete Gotland 20 38 0,1 1280 6,2 0,06 41
Lantvete Dalarna 10 48 0,14 1415 6,3 0,08 52
Lantvete Jacoby 11 38 0,09 1284 4,8 0,05 34
Borstvete Gotland 17 35 0,09 1307 5,6 0,05 31
Enkorn 7 46 0,13 1250 6,5 0,01 30
Fylgia 9 41 0,12 1248 5,8 0,06 47
Hansa 9 40 0,09 1189 4,7 0,05 34
Analyses conventional wheat
• Analyses of four cultivars from 6 places• Fransåker, Hedemora, Järpås, laholm,
Skänninge, Vassmolösa• Akteur, Olivin, Opus, Tulsa
Konventionellt höstvete Ekologisk höstvete %
Cu 3,2 5,1 60
Se 0,016 0,1 625
Fe 28,7 32,5 13
Mg 1000 1252 25
Zn 20,3 38 87
Ca 297 355 24
Mn 21,6 22,5 4
Mo 0,4 1,9 75
P 2850 4266 50
S 1160 1224 6
K 4250 3920 -8
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Mg Fe Zn Cu Se
Lantvete Dalarna
Speltvete
Behov
Konventionellt
old new %
England Zn 33 24 73
England Fe 38 30 80
England Cu 5,4 3,9 70
England Mg 1138 924 80
Sweden Zn 38 20 52
Sweden Fe 33 29 87
Sweden Cu 5,1 3,2 62
Sweden Mg 1252 1000 80
Antioxidants in cereals complete antioxidants in fruit
and vegetablesMostly in bound forms and
are activated by help of microorganismes in the
intestines
Antioxidants
• Carotenoids highest in emmer, enkorn durum landraces
• Tocols highest in emmer, enkorn and landraces of breadwheat
• Landraces of black oats have more antioxidants
• Maize has highest antioxidantactivity of cereals, Carotenoids, antocyans
The health effect of whole meal comes from the combination of all substances in the grain and protects
against many diseases
• Heart and coronary diseases, antioxidants have synergistic effects with fibres
• Cancer, whole meal protects against cancer in stomach and intestines
• Diabetes, whole meal protects against the risk to develop diabetes
Plant breeding and climate change
Ceccarelli et al
Climate change challenges for plant breeding
• Higher temperatures• Increase in CO2
• Increasing frequency of drought• Increase in the areas affected by salinity• Increasing frequency of biotic stress
Biodiversity of cultivated plants
• 250000 plant species• 50000 are edible• 250 are used• 15 provide 90 % of calories in the human diet• 3 wheat,rice and maize provide 60%• Varieties of these three crops are genetically
uniform• Food security is potentially in danger
Biodiversity is the solution• The current industrial agriculture system is
the single most important threat to biodiversity
• A serious consequence of the loss of biodiversity has been the displacement of locally adapted varieties which may hold the secret of adaptation to the future climate
• Landraces and wild relatives are heterogenous populations and evolve and continously generate novel genetic variation
Evolutionary plant breeding• Combining participation and evolution, participatory
evolutionary plant breeding• Outcrossing rates of 2-3% in selfpollinated plants allow
adaptation to stress environments• Natural selection will in bulk breeding of selfpollinated plants
evolve superior genotypes over time• The core feature of the evolutionary plant breeding method
are a broadly diversified germplasm and a prolongedsubjection of the mass of progeny to competitive naturalselection in the area of contemplated use
• A genetically diverse bulk population allows for adaptation to disease through the establishment of a selfregulating plant-pathogen evolutionary system
Evolutionary plant breedingICARDA
• Barley and wheat in Syria, Jordan, Iran, Eritrea and Algeria• The aim is to increase the probability of recombination within
a population which is constituted to harbour a very largeamount of genetic variation
• Barley mixture of 1600 F2, durum wheat mixture of 700 crosses
• Populations will be left evolving under the pressure of changing climate conditions becoming a unique source of continously better-adapted genetic material directly in the hands of the farmers
• Improved material will be readily available to farmers withoutthe bureacratic and inefficient system of variety release and formal seed production
Manifesto on the future of seed
• International commission with Vandana Shiva
• One of four manifestos from Slow food• Manifestos for the future of food,
adaptation to climate change and on the future of knowledge systems
Diversity of life and cultures under threat
• Industrial productivity strategies are destroying the biodiversity that is the only proven strategy of living beings to cope with abrupt and uncertain changes
• The disappearance of local seeds has gone hand in hand with the disappearance of small farmers and local food cultures. So has the local knowledge about the use of cultivated and wild plant varieties in their different ecological and cultural habits
• Intellectual property rights, seed monopolies and privatisation of seed
A new paradigm for seed• The one dimensional focus on yield has led to a serious
decline in systems productivity, food quality and nutrition. Quantity must give way to quality. Seed production by food communities is based on a holistic concept of foodquality that considers taste, compatibilities with human physiological and cultural conditions, all aspects of nutritional properties, the degree of biodiversity present, the environmental impact of production, as well as the working conditions, processes of participation and valueof retribution to producers.
• This holistic concept should be the first step towardssreinforcing or creating and dispersing seeds for qualityfood systems
The law of seed• Diversity is our highest security. There is an immediate
and urgent need to conserve seed diversity to expandthe number of plants used for human nutrition as well as the number of varieties used in any single plant species.
• Agricultural biodiversity is best conserved when the produce from seeds enters directly into production-consumption circuits that enable farmers to earn a decent income
• Preserving, maintaining and re-expanding the remainingagricultural trditions and culutres of production is an immediate and most urgent challenge to prevent the further erosion of biodiversity and the depletion of global and regional options for the future
Freedom of seed• Freedom of farmers to save seed• Freedom of farmers to breed new varities• Freedom from privatisation and biopiracy• Freedom of farmers to exchange and trade seeds• Freedom to have acess to open source seed• Freedom from genetic contamination and GMOs• Freedom of seed to reproduce
Breeding tomorrows seed• Community based seed conservation and development• Embedding in agricultural eco-systems• Reduce greenhouse gas emission• Eliminate and fase out toxic inputs• Diversity within varities• Breeding for food quality• Women are the protagonists of biodiversity
Farmers' Rights in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
• The realization of Farmers' Rights is a cornerstone in the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, as it is a precondition for the conservation and sustainable use of these vital resources in situ as well as on-farm.
• The Treaty recognizes the enormous contributions made by farmers worldwide in conserving and developing crop genetic resources. This constitutes the basis of Farmers' Rights. According to Article 9, governments are to protect and promote Farmers' Rights, but can choose the measures to do so according to their needs and priorities. Measures may include the protection of traditional knowledge, equitable benefit sharing, participation in decision-making, and the right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds and propagating material
• Farmers' Rights, as they pertain to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, are an issue of central importance in countries where most of the population lives in rural areas, their livelihoods based on farming - and particularly so when farming systems centre on traditional varieties. This is the case in most developing countries. In Northern countries, Farmers' Rights concern a much smaller segment of the population. Although most farmers in the North rely on commercial plant varieties, saving and re-use of propagating material is still practised to some extent, and among eco-farmers there is increasing interest in developing plant breeding based on traditional varieties. Thus, Farmers' Rights related to crop genetic diversity are also important in the North.