Sustainable agriculture and plant breeding

Abstract

World population is expected to increase from the current 6.7 billion to more than 10 billion people by the year 2050. This 45 % increase in the current world population will create demand for increased food and other raw materials. At present the supply of fossil fuel, fertilizers, water and chemicals such as insecticides, pesticides and fungicides are at their peak; but this situation will not remain linear in the future. Modern agriculture is essentially based on varieties bred for high performance under high-input systems which generally do not perform well under low-input conditions. Excessive uses of these inputs are posing serious threats to ecology, environment, soil health and ground water. Furthermore, the amount of arable land for crop cultivation is limited and decreasing due to urbanization, salinization, desertification and environmental degradation. With respect to global warming, yields of important food, feed and fiber crops will decline. In addition to these environmental factors, abiotic and biotic stresses also cause losses to crop production. Thus, the challenge before agriculture scientists is to improve the genetic architecture of agricultural crops to perform well against threats and stresses; this will require diverse approaches to enhance the sustainability of agriculture farms. This proposed shift in plant breeding goals, from high energy input and high performance of agriculture, entails an improved rationalization between yield and energy coupled with high quality food as global resources. Sustainable crop production is a way of growing food in an ecologically and ethically responsible manner that does not harm the environment and sustains communities.