Wanted: good genes for crops
Climate change forces plants and agricultural crops to cope with increasingly extreme conditions, such as heat, drought, salinization, and waterlogged soils. Experts from Wageningen University & Research investigate how plants arm themselves against these stressful conditions and which genes drive these defence mechanisms. "Their potential to adapt is enormous."
Climate change poses a threat to our food production. Harvests will fail more often due to extreme weather conditions, and that while the world population is expected to continue growing from 8.1 billion today to around 9 billion in 2050. So, the challenge we face is huge. It calls for a myriad of solutions, ranging from more efficient water use and better soil management, to adapting agricultural crops to changing conditions through plant breeding.
Survival mechanisms
Several experts from WUR therefore study the survival mechanisms of various agricultural crops. How do plants cope with extreme heat, drought, salty soils and extreme precipitation and flooding? How does this affect their growth? And which genes play a key role in these processes?
4 experts describe their research
In four short portraits, four WUR researchers talk about their research:
