Addressing Research Bottlenecks to Crop Productivity

Matthew Reynolds*, Owen K. Atkin, Malcolm Bennett, Mark Cooper, Ian C. Dodd, M. John Foulkes, Claus Frohberg, Graeme Hammer, Ian R. Henderson, Bingru Huang, Viktor Korzun, Susan R. McCouch, Carlos D. Messina, Barry J. Pogson, Gustavo A. Slafer, Nicolas L. Taylor, Peter E. Wittich

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    86 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Asymmetry of investment in crop research leads to knowledge gaps and lost opportunities to accelerate genetic gain through identifying new sources and combinations of traits and alleles. On the basis of consultation with scientists from most major seed companies, we identified several research areas with three common features: (i) relatively underrepresented in the literature; (ii) high probability of boosting productivity in a wide range of crops and environments; and (iii) could be researched in ‘precompetitive’ space, leveraging previous knowledge, and thereby improving models that guide crop breeding and management decisions. Areas identified included research into hormones, recombination, respiration, roots, and source–sink, which, along with new opportunities in phenomics, genomics, and bioinformatics, make it more feasible to explore crop genetic resources and improve breeding strategies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)607-630
    Number of pages24
    JournalTrends in Plant Science
    Volume26
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Addressing Research Bottlenecks to Crop Productivity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this