Next generation of elevated CO2 experiments with crops: a critical investment for feeding the future world

Elizabeth A. Ainsworth (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) , Claus Beier (6) , Carlo Calfapietra (7) , Reinhart Ceulemans (8) , Marie-Hélène Durand Tardif (9) , Graham D Farquhar (10) , Douglas L. Godbold (11) , George R. Hendrey (12) , Thomas Hickler (13) , Joerg Kaduk (14) , David F. Karnosky (15) , Bruce A. Kimball (2) , Christian Koerner (16) , Maarten Koornneef (17) , Tanguy Lafarge (18, 19) , Andrew D. B. Leakey (3, 4) , Keith F. Lewin (20) , Stephen P. Long (3, 4, 5) , Remy Manderscheid (21) , David L. Mcneil (22) , Timothy A. Mies (4) , Franco Miglietta (7) , Jack A Morgan (2) , John Nagy (20) , Richard J Norby (23) , Robert M. Norton (24) , Kevin E. Percy (25) , Alistair Rogers (5, 20) , Jean-François J.-F. Soussana (26) , Mark Stitt (27) , Hans-Joachim Weigel (28) , Jeffrey W. White (2)

1 USDA-ARS : Agricultural Research Service
2 USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
3 Department of Plant Biology
4 Institute for Genomic Biology
5 UIUC - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [Urbana]
6 Risø DTU - Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy
7 CNR - National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
8 Department of Biology
9 GAP - Unité de recherche Génétique et amélioration des plantes
10 ANU - Australian National University
11 Bangor University
12 CUNY - City University of New York [New York]
13 Skane University Hospital [Lund]
14 University of Leicester
15 MTU - Michigan Technological University
16 Unibas - Université de Bâle = University of Basel = Basel Universität
17 MPIPZ - Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
18 Crop and Environmental Sciences Division
19 Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
20 BNL - Brookhaven National Laboratory [Upton, NY]
21 Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries
22 Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research
23 Environmental Sciences Division [Oak Ridge]
24 University of Melbourne
25 Canadian Forest Service – Atlantic Forestry Centre
26 UREP - Unité de recherche sur l'Ecosystème Prairial
27 MPI-MP - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
28 Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institut

A rising global population and demand for protein-rich diets are increasing pressure to maximize agricultural productivity. Rising atmospheric [CO2] is altering global temperature and precipitation patterns, which challenges agricultural productivity. While rising [CO2] provides a unique opportunity to increase the productivity of C-3 crops, average yield stimulation observed to date is well below potential gains. Thus, there is room for improving productivity. However, only a fraction of available germplasm of crops has been tested for CO2 responsiveness. Yield is a complex phenotypic trait determined by the interactions of a genotype with the environment. Selection of promising genotypes and characterization of response mechanisms will only be effective if crop improvement and systems biology approaches are closely linked to production environments, that is, on the farm within major growing regions. Free air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments can provide the platform upon which to conduct genetic screening and elucidate the inheritance and mechanisms that underlie genotypic differences in productivity under elevated [CO2]. We propose a new generation of large-scale, low-cost per unit area FACE experiments to identify the most CO2-responsive genotypes and provide starting lines for future breeding programmes. This is necessary if we are to realize the potential for yield gains in the future.

Mots clés: CLIMATE CHANGE; CROP YIELD; GENETIC VARIATION

Mots clés: FACE; PROJET RECHERCHE

Domaines: Ecologie, Environnement

Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Claus Beier, Carlo Calfapietra, Reinhart Ceulemans, Marie-Hélène Durand Tardif, et al.. Next generation of elevated CO2 experiments with crops: a critical investment for feeding the future world. Plant, Cell and Environment, 2008, 31 (9), pp.1317-1324. ⟨10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01841.x⟩. ⟨hal-02668821⟩