Toward a "Green Revolution" for Crop Breeding
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 22759
Special Issue Editors
Interests: epigenetics and abiotic/biotic stresses; plant breeding under abiotic and biotic stresses; breeding for weed management; relationships between wild relatives and cultivated species
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: fodder crops; plant breeding; plant genetics; biotic stresses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the history of agriculture, desirable traits beneficial for farming rather than natural growth have been artificially selected through breeding of elite varieties. Each successful step in crop breeding, e.g. wild plant domestication, crop introduction and the ‘Green Revolution’, led to a period of rapid population growth (Yu and Li, 2021). The "green revolution" is generally referred to as a breakthrough in the international agricultural movement. The introduction of new varieties of wheat and rice, along with applicated fertilizers, pesticides, and mechanized farm equipment has produced an impressive increase in world food production (Wolf, 1986). Because of this movement, agriculture has met the food needs of most of the world’s population even as the population increased dramatically during the past decades. But there has been a price to pay, and it includes among others, contamination of groundwaters, release of greenhouse gases, loss of crop genetic diversity and eutrophication of rivers and lakes. It is yet to be discovered whether high-intensity agriculture can be sustained, because of the loss of soil fertility, the erosion of soil, the increased incidence of crop diseases, and the high energy and chemical inputs associated with it (Tilman, 1998). This situation is alarming to agriculturalists worldwide because it was recognized that ultimately, it would be impossible to continue increasing the amounts of fertilizers and pesticides applied to these grain crops (Pimentel, 1996). Furthermore, growing energy shortages and increasing costs of agricultural chemicals are expected to constrain the worldwide use of fertilizers and pesticides. Because the demand of producing more food with fewer inputs never ends, the search is on for practices that can provide sustainable yields via low-intensity agriculture, preferably comparable to those of high-intensity agriculture but with fewer environmental costs. Although the Green Revolution has greatly increased crop yields and contributed to food security, the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides has caused serious public health and environmental problems (Bull, 1982; WHO/UNEP, 1989; Pimentel, 1989; El Sebae, 1989; Dinham, 1993; WRI, 1992, Pingali, 2012, Liu et al., 2020). Therefore, to develop new Green Revolution, sustainable crops with high yield and low nitrogen demands has become a new challenge for crop breeders. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- Breeding and sustainable agriculture
- Low-intensity agriculture
- Participatory breeding
- Organic breeding
Dr. Eleni Tani
Dr. Eleni Abraham
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Green Revolution
- sustainable crop
- crop breeding
- low-intensity agriculture
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