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SciDev.Net – September 22, 2008

An international foundation is funding a drive to screen thousands of crops for traits that will be useful in adapting food production to climate change. The Global Crop Diversity Trust is providing around US$300,000 of funding this year for researchers in 21 agricultural institutions in 15 countries across the developing world. Around US$200,000 will be spent next year with a continued commitment in the long term.

Crops from banana to sweet potato will be screened to identify material that plant breeders can use to produce varieties adapted to conditions associated with climate change. Crop diversity is the biological foundation of agriculture, says Cary Fowler, executive director of the trust. "Without it agriculture cannot adapt to anything: pests, disease, climate change, drought, energy constraints … nothing. With crop diversity we can have an agricultural system that -- if we're smart -- is sustainable and productive, can feed people and fuel development."

Researchers will screen the crops by growing them in different stress conditions -- such as high salinity or high temperature -- and assessing how well they grow. Varieties with positive traits will be put into an open access database, says Fowler. Some will also be entered into a 'pre-breeding' programme. Integrating one or two genes from an old or wild variety into a modern variety is costly and difficult, says Fowler, and pre-breeding produces early-stage, new varieties with the desired traits, so that plant breeders can get a 'head start' on producing varieties for farmers' fields.

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