theme – 5 climate change and an increasing protein deficit: why europe needs to exploit genetic...

www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto

Climate change and an

increasing protein deficit: Why

Europe needs to exploit genetic

resources of protein crops now Fred Stoddard

Department of Agricultural Sciences

frederick <dot> stoddard <ät> helsinki <dot> fi

Stoddard @ Rabat 2014 1


Applied mathematics and omics technologies

for discovering biodiversity and genetic

resources for climate change mitigation and

adaptation to sustain agriculture in drylands



• In EU terms, protein crop = faba bean, pea, lupins

• and sometimes dehydrated alfalfa

• Europe has a 70% deficit in plant protein

• Growing grain legumes helps mitigate climate

change in many ways

• Grain legume breeding lags behind cereal & oilseed

breeding for several reasons

• So FIGS for GR of GLs against CC could attract

funding

3 Stoddard @ Rabat 2014

My main points


• Mostly as soya cake

Europe imports 70% of its plant

protein needs


5

European livestock production depends on

imported protein – and crop land outside Europe

Von Witzke & Noleppe 2010

CarbohydrateProtein

FAOstat 2013

EU arable land virtually traded (Million ha)

Arable landexported

Arable landimported

EU soya import quantity and price

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0

10

20

30

40

50

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Price (USD/t)

Net import (million t)

Soya cake imports

Soya bean imports

Soya bean price

Soya cake price


Poultry and pig meat consumption is the major

driver of plant protein imports

13FAOstat 2013.

Growth in poultry and pig meat consumption is the

major driver behind increased plant protein imports

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Million t

Beef Pig meatPoultry meat Grain legume productionNet soya import (bean equivalent) Fertiliser-N consumption

Stoddard @ Rabat 2014 5 FAOstat 2013.


• Pasture grasses with >400 kg/ha of N fertilizer

• Forage maize with >300 kg/ha of N fertilizer

• If N fertilizer is synthetic, manufactured at cost of

(usually) burning natural gas

• Whether synthetic or manure, NO3- leaches into

groundwater, and denitrification releases N2O

• Clovers and other forage legumes could be used


Meanwhile, ruminants are fed on

heavily fertilized grasses


Separation (disconnection) of

crops and livestock


• And in Norway, cropping and livestock farming have

to be on opposite sides of a valley!


• Too much meat consumption

• Too much pollution

• Too much cereal monoculture

• Disconnection between feed producers and feed

consumers

Sustainability is questionable


So European agriculture

contributes to global change


• High fuel prices

• High soya bean prices

• Concern about food and feed security

• Europe wants to grow its own protein

• but it has forgotten how

• Europe is (I think) more aware of global change than

the USA is


A new scenario has emerged


• and has declined from

4.6% of EU-27 arable

land in 1961 to 1.8% now

The proportion of EU cropland

used for protein crops is low

EUROSTAT 2013



Cereals have a competitive

advantage, especially in NW Europe

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service 2013, and EUROSTAT 2013

1414

Agronomic challenges

• Cereal crops (e.g. wheat) have a comparative advantage

• Protein crop yields are variable

• But fertiliser and soya bean prices are increasingUSDA National Agricultural Statistics Service 2013, and EUROSTAT 2013

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Yield (t/ha)

USA wheat

USA soya bean

France wheat

France soya bean

European wheat has a 3-fold yield advantage

US and French soya bean and US wheat yields

are similar



• (“thanks” to Mrs Thatcher and followers)

• Removed public funding from crops associated with

public goods

• Little private breeding of minor crops

• Yield increases and stress tolerances of minor crops

like grain legumes lag behind those of cereals

• Europe is good at growing starch

• Farmers not interested in “demanding crops”

• Common Agricultural Policy CAP flip-flopped many

times on support for protein crops


Privatization of plant breeding

and other impediments


0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Common bean

Faba bean and other legumes

Chickpea, lentil & vetches

Pea

Lupins

Soya bean

Area (million ha)

1974: price support for soya bean

1978: price support for

pea, faba bean, lupins

1992: MacSharry reform

2005 - 2006: introduction of

Single Payment Scheme

1989: area

payment for chickpea, lentil, vetches


The CAP (Complicated Agricultural

Policy) and legume areas


Legumes in cropping

systems

what makes them “a good thing”



• Depends on host genotype

• Depends on symbiont genotype

• Efficiency of infection and N fixation

• Right species, right isolate, competitive ability with

existing soil population

• Depends on adaptation to growing conditions

• Salinity, pH, temperature, moisture deficit or excess


Biological Nitrogen Fixation BNF


• Well known: 16 ATP per N2 fixed

• 3-16% of net photosynthate used by nodules

• Does this reduce yield?

• NO in faba bean and soya bean: photosynthesis

increases

• YES in pea: photosynthesis cannot increase enough

• Little data on other species

16

Costs of N fixation

Stoddard @ Rabat 2014


• 40-70% is harvested in grain

• Green manure a different option

• Remainder in roots, straw and rhizodeposition

• Per tonne of faba bean grain,

‒ Calculations done for Legume Futures project

• 81 kg of N in total plant matter

• 62 kg of N is fixed

• 40 kg of N is harvested

• 41 kg of N is left in the field

‒ But this “free fertilizer” is not the most important effect

17

Figures on N fixation



• Increased cereal yield over continuous cereal,

Australia, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland…

• Increased % protein in wheat and barley

• Broken cereal disease and pest cycles

• Improvements in soil porosity:

• Deeper root growth by following crop

• Water-infiltration / water holding capacity

• Nutrient availability (particularly P)

• Changes in soil biology

18

Improvements in following crop

exceed those due to just N



• Variovorax, Flavobacterium, others

• Live near nodule surface

• Fix CO2, increase soil organic carbon content

• Compete with other (plant-pathogenic) soil bacteria

• “Hydrogen production by nitrogenase as a potential

crop rotation benefit”

19

Hydrogen bacteria



• Plant growth-promoting (rhizo-)bacteria: PGPB or

PGPR

• Pseudomonas, Azosporillum, H bacteria

• Endophytic, epiphytic or rhizospheric

• Produce ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate)

deaminase, cleaves ACC, reduces ethylene

production, so root growth continues

• Colonize niches so not available for pathogens

• Others produce auxins that enhance root growth

20

And other beneficial bacteria


www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto 21 Stoddard @ Rabat 2014

Legume roots solubilize

phosphorus

H+ Carboxylates

Fe2+

Mg2+

Ca3(PO4)2

H2PO4-


And finally, beans are also good

for

• Bumblebees

• Honeybees

• Mycorrhizal fungi

• Grey faba bean

pollen is in the

pollen basket



So, why don’t Europeans

grow legumes?



• EIP-AGRI: European Innovation Partnership for

Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability

• Launched by the European Commission “to promote

rapid modernization by stepping up innovation

efforts”

• Focus Group on protein crops set up in 2013, met

Oct 2013 & Jan 2014

• 20 members from 11 countries, including me

• Breeders, feed scientists, feed manufacturers, advisors,

farmers


Analysis of gaps


• Given current prices of protein, starch and oil, how

competitive are the crops?


Part of the task: an economic

exercise


Crop

Current

yield

(t/ha)

Desired

yield

(t/ha)

%

increase

Oil

produced

(Tg)

Starch

produced

(Tg)

Soya 2.7 3.4 30% 3.9 0.0

Rape 3.1 3.1 0% 13.8 0.0

Sunflower 2.2 2.9 31% 20.3 0.0

Lupin 1.0 4.2 334% 1.9 0.0

Pea 2.7 4.8 76% 0.0 15.5

Faba bean 2.7 4.5 69% 0.0 11.1

Alfalfa 22.9 24.8 8% 0.0 0.0


Yield increases needed to match

value of wheat


• Gaps are large but, for faba bean and alfalfa at least, achievable: desired yields already obtained by good farmers in many countries

• Giving incentive to food applications raises the potential value of the grain legume crop (meat and dairy substitutes)

• Concerted action on yield and stress resistances can accelerate reduction of the yield gap

• And will benefit other regions if we go about it right

• So while all crops need adaptation to CC, legumes need it more, and can help moderate it



• SFS-7b-2015: “Management and sustainable use of

genetic resources”: 5-7 M €

• Needs at least partial focus on Europe and climate

change

• Emphasis on sustainability and efficiency

• We have many successes in our FIGS network

• Third countries welcome

• Faba bean fits the remit, so does alfalfa

• Drought, waterlogging, heat stress


Opportunity next year?


Why faba bean?



• Only faba bean and pea can be grown in all 4 major

climatic zones of Europe (Mediterranean, Oceanic,

Continental and Boreal)

• and is also well adapted to the dry areas

• Faba bean > pea:

• biomass

• protein content

• nitrogen fixation

• And we have the demonstrated successes in FIGS

on faba bean


31

Oceanic zone:

autumn sowing,

very long season;

spring sowing,

medium season

Mediterranean zone:

autumn sowing,

medium season

Boreal zone:

spring sowing,

very short season

Continental zone:

spring sowing,

medium season

Metzger et al 2007



• Proposals should implement comprehensive actions to improve the status and use of (in particular European) ex-situ and in-situ genetic collections.

• More specifically, they should support acquisition, conservation, characterization/evaluation and especially the use of specific genetic resources in breeding, farming and forestry activities.

• Proposals should undertake broader dissemination and awareness raising activities. They should closely liaise with relevant initiatives seeking to harmonize, rationalize and improve management of existing collections and databases[1].

• Proposals are encouraged to include participants established in third countries[2]. This action allows for the provision of financial support to third parties in line with conditions set out in Part K of the General Annexes.

• Proposals should address crop, forest and/or livestock genetic resources.


Key paragraph of the call


• improved in-situ/on-farm management and evaluation of genetic resources by the farming sector

• productivity and economic gains in specialized farming systems

• promotion of traditional and/or under-utilized crops

• increased availability of diverse, high quality products, e.g. with enhanced health benefits

• economic benefits for farmers, other types of SMEs and regional economies through the expansion or creation of new products and markets

• broader adaption of crops to limiting or changing agro-climatic conditions, e.g. by the use of adaptive traits from landraces

• enhanced quality and scope of European ex-situ and in-situ collections

• enhanced methodologies for management, conservation, characterization and evaluation of genetic resources

• increased transfer of genetic material into breeding programmes

• increased awareness of the value of genetic resources, engagement of end-users and contribution to implementation of international commitments in the area

• more extensive use of genetic resources in agriculture

• overall contribution to food security by supporting innovations in breeding and farming


Desired impacts include

FIGS

Faba

FIGS

FIGS

Faba

Faba

FIGS


• to fix major problems of a key crop,

• to adapt it to current and future (CC) stresses

• and increase yield and yield stability,

• we can mitigate climate change,

• reduce the protein deficit,

• improve feed and food security,

• make better use of genetic resources,

• provide farmers with a desirable crop,

• and consumers with desirable food options.

• A win – win – win situation!


Our message: By using FIGS to

mine genetic resources


• Germplasm managers (ICARDA and …)

• Mathematicians and statisticians (Concordia,

Helsinki, Oulu and …)

• Genomicists, geneticists and breeders (Helsinki and

…)

• Plant scientists


People we need


• Continue the maths & stats & GIS to get more out of

the GR system

• Test the outputs by focusing on some traits of some

crops

• e.g., need to do roots of the faba wet set & dry set

• waterlogging, heat, acid soil tolerance

• what other crops/traits? Not too many because of cost,

but enough to be attractive; need at least one biotic

stress


Tasks


• The EU needs FIGS for GR of GLs to mitigate and

adapt to CC

• Shall we seek EU money to optimize FIGS?


Conclusion

theme – 5 climate change and an increasing protein deficit: why europe needs to exploit genetic...

Science

livestock stoddard

french soya bean

similar stoddard

drylands stoddard

common bean faba bean

soya cake europe imports

good thing stoddard

increasing protein deficit