Innovations for sustainable intensification of agricultural production: knowledge intensive routes to doubling yields and reducing inputs Millennium Address.

Innovations for sustainable intensification of agricultural production: knowledge intensive routes to doubling yields and

reducing inputs

Millennium Address

Professor John A. Pickett CBE, DSc, FRS

Monitoring and Intervention Strategies for Bluetongue Virus Epidemics in Rural India

Haryana Agricultural College (India), Institute of Animal Health, Rothamsted Research, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, University of Oxford

Funding initiative: Combating Infectious Diseases of Livestock for International Development (CIDLID)

Agriculture is vital for the livelihoods of 75% of the world’s poor

Food demand is predicted to increase by 50% by 2030

£13M+ investment from BBSRC and DFID, with contributions from the Scottish Government

India Bluetongue Vector NetworkFunded by DFID, BBSRC and the Scottish GovernmentPart of the All India Network Program on Bluetongue

Dr PADMAJA, P.G. Directorate of Sorghum Research, Hyderabad

Dr JAYANTHI, P.D.KIndian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore

Atherigona soccata

Bactrocera dorsalis

Borlaug said genetic engineering (a term he prefers to GMOs) was the only technology that must be embraced by countries whose food supply is threatened by the inequalities of the world. Citing the examples of China and Brazil where cereal production has gone up more than two-fold making the former the current world's leading cereal producer, he said biotechnology was the surest existing way to ensure food security in Africa and other developing countries. Maize, if given the right push, he noted, will sufficiently feed Sub-Saharan Africa. We need sophisticated scientific technology to boost our production.

Norman Borlaug Blasts GMO DoomsayersJune 7, 2000

(1999)

Rothamsted Research Strategic Theme, 20:20 Wheat

The goal of this theme is to generate the necessary science and technology for the development of wheat germplasm and agronomic practices which are capable of yielding 20 tonnes of wheat per hectare in 20 years time. Wheat currently provides over 20% of the world's calories for human consumption, and further pressure on wheat production and its eventual price as a commodity may also result from demands for bioenergy. The current average farm yield of wheat in the UK is only 8.4 tonnes per ha and since 1980 wheat yields have only increased by about one-third, whereas maize yields have increased by more than 50%. Currently annual incremental gains for wheat are small, just 0.1 tonnes of wheat per hectare per year.

Building on the expertise at Rothamsted Research, this strategic theme will be delivered through four programmes

1. Maximizing yield potential2. Protecting yield potential 3. Determining soil resource interactions 4. Using systems approaches to crop improvement

Winter wheat long-term experiment, 1843 present

Current varieties only take up about 80% of applied N (less at higher N applications), with N harvest indices of 80-90%. Unless these efficiencies can be improved, the N fertiliser requirement for “20 tonne wheat” would be 650-700 kg N per ha. (Peter Shewry, unpub.)

E.g. ‘Possible changes to arable crop yields by 2050’

“By 2050 the CO2 is likely to be 550 ppm and FACE experiments show that this will increase the yields of C3 crops…. but not C4 species”

“The O3 level is likely to increase to 60 ppb…. This will reduce yields….”

Soybean yield change 2050:CO2 +15%, O3 -12%

Wheat yield change 2050:CO2 +15%, O3 -9%

Jaggard et al. (2010)

Smallholders’ agriculture

“The research focus should be to evolve technologies and management options to suit the needs of smallholders’ agriculture…”

Even more important for Africa

Current highly effective pesticides are derived from natural product leads and, for some, are natural products themselves

Insecticide Target Natural product lead

pyrethroid sodium channel/activators pyrethrin I

indoxacarb/ sodium channel/blockers xmetaflumizone

organophosphate/ acetylcholinesterase/inhibitors xcarbamate physostigmine

neonicotinoid nAChR nicotine/epibatidine

spinosad nAChR spinosyns

cyclodiene/ chloride channel/gaba xfiproles

abamectin chloride channel/glutamate avermectins

diamide calcium release channel (muscle) (ryanodine)

tetronic acid acetyl CoA carboxylase/inhibitor x

pyrethroids

Tanacetum cinariifolium

pyrethrin I

biotechnological production synthetic pesticides

from plants by extraction

released directly by plants

pathways transferred to crop plants (GM)

Plant biodiversity lead compounds

new industrial crops

Intrinsic rate of population increase of the cereal aphid Rhopalosiphum padi on diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid wheat (hydroxamic acids, active against aphids and other pests and diseases, are present but only effective in ancestral species)

diploid tetraploid hexaploid

It is time now, in planning the new generation of GMOs for delivery of pest control, to target the natural products that, acting by non-toxic modes of action, affect, in more sophisticated ways, behavioural and developmental processes in the pest organisms. Such natural products are exemplified as insect pheromones and other semiochemicals, i.e. those chemicals that affect development or behaviour of organisms generally (and will include “switching on” genes for the biosynthesis of semiochemicals by means of another set of natural products that act as plant activators).

Aphid alarm pheromone

OPP

H

Beale et al. (2006), PNAS 103: 10509

OPP

H

OPP

H

Aphids are repelled by volatiles from GM wheat

P = 0.010P < 0.001

GM wheat Control wheat GM wheat Control wheat

Parasitoid wasps spend longer foraging on GM wheat

*

GM wheat Control wheat

GM TRIAL TO REDUCE AGROCHEMICALSA field trial of GM potatoes is being planted to test whether genes from wild relatives can successfully protect commercial potato varieties from late blight – the disease that caused the Irish potato famine – without the need to spray fungicides.British farmers spray, on average, 15 times a year to protect against potato late blight.

A new pest problem for wheat: the orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana

Construct decision support system for monitoring and control

Monitor

Fire-fight with pesticides

Improve monitoring technology

Develop resistant varieties

Control by smart sensing systems

Monitoring numbers of male midges

• Pheromone traps set at crop height

• Two traps per field

• Assess every other day during susceptible period

• Assessments over four seasons and four sites

• Assess midge infestation by dissecting ears

Commercial decision support

Smart sensing systems:for example, smart plants detect pest attack (even egg-laying), repel new pests and call in parasitic wasps to attack eggs and larvae

Smart signal (Small Lipophilic Molecule) transferred from eggs to plant

Induced pest resistance

Tamiru et al. (2011), Ecol. Lett. 14: 1083

Signal SLMs used to switch on defence

For example, in wheat:

OPP

H

OPP

H

Signal SLM

OPP

H

O

Signal SLM

Bruce et al. (2008), PNAS 105: 4553

Matthes et al. (2011), Plant Sig. & Behav. 6: 1

(with M. Borges, C. Moraes & C.B. Hoffman-Campo, EMBRAPA, Brazil)

O

(with E. Santana, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Brazil; E. Bleicher, Universidade Federal de Ceara, Brazil)

O

Smart sensing to optimise farm inputs:sensitive sentinel plants detect problem, not just pests, diseases and weed competition but also drought, depleted or excess nutrients and water, and signal to main crop of smart plants, with natural response to signal SLMs linked to gene expression (by GM) to deal with problem (or opportunity)

Sentinel plantMain crop

Smart sensing to optimise farm inputs:sensitive sentinel plants detect problem, not just pests, diseases and weed competition but also drought, depleted or excess nutrients and water, and signal to main crop of smart plants, with natural response to signal SLMs linked to gene expression (by GM) to deal with problem (or opportunity)

Response to problem

Problem detected

Sentinel plantMain crop

Phakopsora pachyrhizi (soybean rust)(with EMBRAPA, Brazil)

Destruction of global soybean crop?

Broader opportunities: delivery by the seed

• Suppression of methane production by ruminants

• Interference with N20 release from fertilized soils

CH4

CH4

Total maize area in SSA 25,375,000 ha Estimated loss due to stemborers 15% Value of maize in SSA US$ 10b Maize lost due to stemborers US$ 1.5b

Total maize area in SSA 25,375,000 haTotal maize area with striga 6,122,000 ha% SSA area infested with striga 24%Value of maize in SSA US$ 10 bValue of maize lost due to striga US$ 1.2 b

Push-Pull or Stimulo-Deterrent Diversionary Strategy (Vuta Sukuma)

Attract naturalenemies

Moths are pushed away

Attract moths

Trap Crop

Main Crop

Desmodium intercropCook et al. (2007), Ann. Rev. Ent. 52: 375

Bruce et al. (2008), PNAS 105: 4553

Khan et al. (1997), Nature 388: 631

Moraes et al. (2008), Phytochem. 69: 9

Hydroxamic acids

Professor Zeyaur Khan and smallholders

Bruce et al. (2010), Biol. Lett. 6: 314Tamiru et al. (2011), Ecol. Lett. 14: 1083

Effects of nitrogen, shade and Desmodium uncinatum on maize yield (difference a, b, c, d: P < 0.05)

0

100

200

300

400

500

Number of striga plants

MAIZE

MAIZE + SHADING

MAIZE + N

MAIZE + SHADING + N

MAIZE + D. uncinatum

MAIZE + D. uncinatum + N

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Maize Mono Maize + Nitrogen Maize + Shading Maize + Shading + Nitrogen

Maize + Desmodium Maize +Desmodium + Nitrogen

Yie

ld (

tons

/hec

tare

)

aa

b

c

cd

d

a

bab

c

dd

OHO

OH O

OH

OHHO

OH O

OH

OHO

OH O

OHOH

OHO

OH O

OH

naringenin chalcone

naringenin

2-hydroxynaringenin

R3' = H; apigeninR3' = OH; luteolin

R3'

XY

OHO

OH O

OHO

HOOH

HHO

OH

OOH

HOOH D. uncinatum CGT

FLAVONE

CYP450

FLAVANONE

X-Y = CH2CH or CH2COH

OHO

OH O

OHO

HOOH

HHO

OH

OOH

HOOH

The most inhibitory chemistry and proposed biosynthesis by C-glycosylation

(with R. Edwards, Durham University)

Hassanali et al. (2008), Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. B 363: 611

Hooper et al. (2009), Pest Man. Sci. 65: 546Pickett et al. (2010), Ann. Rev. Phytopath. 48: 161Khan et al. (2010), J. Exp. Bot. 61: 4185

Adoption of push-pull technology in western Kenya, 1997-2010

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Years

Num

ber

of p

ush-

pull

farm

ers 40,620 farmers

Khan et al. (2009), Crop Prot. 28: 997Khan et al. (2011), Int. J. Ag. Sus. 9: 162Murage et al. (2011), Crop Prot. 30: 531Murage et al. (2011), Int. J. Pest Man. 57: 133

Allelopathic control of weeds via the rhizosphere

OHO

OH O

OHO

HOOH

HHO

OH

OOH

HOOH

Perennial crops

Perennial wheat

Perennial rice (Oryza sativa/O. longistaminata)

Food Crops Research Institute, Kunming

Beijing Genetics Institute, Shengzhen

Washington State University, Pullman

Smallholders’ agriculture

“The research focus should be to evolve technologies and management options to suit the needs of smallholders’ agriculture…”