Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change

By Robert J. Redden, Shyam Singh Yadav, Nigel Maxted and Paul Smith

Two major challenges to continued global food security are the ever increasing demand for  food products, and the unprecedented abiotic stresses that crops face due to climate change.Wild relatives of domesticated crops serve as a reservoir of genetic material, with the potential to be used to develop new, improved varieties of crops. Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change integrates crop evolution, breeding technologies and biotechnologies, improved practices and sustainable approaches while exploring the role wild relatives could play in increasing agricultural output.

Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change begins with overviews of the impacts of climate change on growing environments and the challenges that agricultural production face in coming years and decades. Chapters then explore crop evolution and the potential for crop wild relatives to contribute novel genetic resources to the breeding of more resilient and productive crops. Breeding technologies and biotechnological advances that are being used to incorporate key genetic traits of wild relatives into crop varieties are also covered. There is also a valuable discussion on the importance of conserving genetic resources to ensure continued successful crop production. 

A timely resource, Crop Wild Relative and Climate Change will be an invaluable resource for the crop science community for years to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jul 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781118854273

Book preview

Tribute in the Memory of Manav Yadav

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Manav was born on 5 January 1981, in the family of Dr. Shyam Singh and Suvidya Yadav, Agriculture Scientist, Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.

Manav Yadav went for Business Management studies to Dallas, Texas, USA, in 2005, at age 24, after completing an E-commerce degree from Indraprestha University, Delhi, India. After beginning his studies USA, he developed a unique taste in assisting with international professional publications. Thus, he motivated his father Dr. Yadav to develop a proposal for the book Chickpea Breeding and Management. Manav played a key role as coordinator to bring out the publication of this book, which was published by CABI, UK, in 2007. Simultaneously, another book proposal on Lentil: An Ancient Crop for Modern Times was developed and coordinated by Manav, which was published by Springer, The Netherlands, in 2007. In the United States, he became interested in climate change and helped develop an important book proposal on Climate Change and Management of Cool Season Grain Legume Crops. Manav managed communication with the lead authors of various chapters and coordinated the entire project from the start to the final stage of publication. Thus, the proposed book was published by Springer, The Netherlands, in 2010.

Later on, with a strong team of international editors, Manav helped to develop another book proposal on Crop Adaptation to Climate Change. This entailed the formulation of 29 chapters on 40 field crops covering climatic changes in all the continents. Manav managed and coordinated this project at each stage of development and completion, which was published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA, in 2011.

The conceptual idea on the present book proposal on Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change was developed with Manav Yadav in 2011. Thus, a competent team of Editors of International Professionals was identified to work on this book with the active management and coordination by Manav Yadav. The final proposal on this book was submitted for publisher approval by Manav Yadav in the month of February 2012.

Unfortunately, we lost Manav Yadav, a talented, dynamic, innovative, committed, and devoted young leader at the age of 31 years on 17 July 2012 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Thus, the work on this book proposal was completely halted for a year due to the untimely and sudden loss of Manav. His father, Dr. Yadav, was completely unable to take up any work for a year due to the loss of his only child Manav.

The pending work, which was difficult to complete for Dr. Yadav, was vigorously resumed by the editing team in mid-2013 and completed by March 2014. The entire team involved in the completion of this book is commemorating the memory of Manav Yadav, who was an inspiration to all of us. The international scientific community is in debt to Manav who will be remembered as an innovative, visionary, and dynamic young intellectual, a unique gift of God.

Dr. Robert J. Redden, Horsham, Victoria, Australia

Dr. Shyam S. Yadav, New Delhi, India

Dr. Nigel Maxted, Birmingham, UK

Dr. M. Ehsan Dulloo, Rome, Italy

Dr. Luigi Guarino, Bonn, Germany

Dr. Paul Smith, Kew, UK

About the Editors

Guest editor

Prof. Cary Fowler, Ph.D.

Before joining the Global Crop Diversity Trust as its Executive Director in 2005, Dr. Cary Fowler was Professor and Director of Research in the Department of International Environment and Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Prof. Fowler retired as Executive Director of the Trust in October 2012, and currently serves as a Special Advisor to the organization.

Dr. Cary's career in the conservation of crop diversity spans four decades. In the 1990s, at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, he headed the team that produced the UN's first global assessment of the state of the world's plant genetic resources. He drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO's Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted by 150 countries in 1996. In same year, he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit.

In 2004, he headed the International Committee that proposed and designed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Today, he chairs the Vault's International Advisory Council.

Dr. Cary is a past member of the US National Plant Genetic Resources Board and of the Board of Trustees of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico and past chair of the Board of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Currently, he serves on the Board of the NY Botanical Garden Corporation.

Dr. Cary has been profiled by CBS 60 Minutes and The New Yorker. He is the author of several books on the subject of crop diversity and more than 100 articles in agriculture, law, and development journals. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Uppsala (Sweden). He has an honorary doctorate of laws from Simon Fraser University (Canada) and an honorary doctorate of science from Rhodes College (Tennessee). In 2010, he received the 2010 Heinz Award for his vision and efforts in the preservation of the world's food supply, and the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences awarded him the Vavilov Medal for his exceptional contribution to the cause of conserving plant genetic resources for present and future generations. He was subsequently elected to the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 2013, a documentary film centering on his life and work – Seeds of Time – premiered at the Copenhagen Film Festival.

Team of editors

Robert J. Redden, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert Redden completed his B.Sc. Ag. (Hons) degree at the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 1965, majoring in genetics and plant breeding, and then an M.Sc. Ag. degree in agronomy and plant breeding at the same university in 1969. He completed his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University, USA, in 1972. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the CIMMYT wheat breeding program from 1972 to 1974 with responsibility for introgression of spring wheat traits into winter wheat. He was a wheat specialist with IITA, Nigeria, 1975–1977, to assist with the introduction of Mexican wheat into the national wheat program.

Dr. Redden transferred to the grain legume program at IITA, Ibadan, 1077–1981, with the responsibility for conducting the international cowpea breeding program. In addition, he assisted with the program for international trainees and supervised graduate students from external universities.

From 1982 to 2000, Dr. Redden was a breeder of Phaseolus for grains in Australia, mainly for small white navy beans to be processed as baked beans in tomato sauce and also for lima and for (Vigna angularis) adzuki beans.

From 2001 to 2013, Dr. Redden was curator of the Australian Temperate Field Crops Collection based in Horsham, Victoria, with the responsibility of temperate pulse and temperate oilseed collections across many species and minor crops. This gene bank along with two others for winter cereals and for tropical crops were amalgamated into the Australian Grains Genebank based in Horsham, where Dr Redden continues to be a curator.

In 2013, Dr. Redden was Chairman of the ICRISAT Center Commissioned External Review for its Sub-Saharan Africa research and development program. This committee reviewed the ICRISAT research settings for subtropical semiarid cereal and legume crops in both East and West Africa.

Dr. Redden has been an author for over 50 refereed articles on topics ranging from plant breeding to biometrics, genetics, plant pathology, entomology, food sciences, and genetic resources. Along with Dr. Yadav, he has been a coeditor of books on chickpea, cool season crops and climate change, and adaptation of the world's major crops to climate change, and assisted with the production of the current book Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change. Dr. Redden has also contributed to chapters on lentil, pea, and faba bean genetic resources in various other books and special publications.

In 2008, Dr. Redden received the Yunnan Friendship Award for his leadership in two ACIAR legume projects in China.

Dr. Redden was a guest speaker at legume/ climate change workshops with CIAT in both Tanzania and Cali, Colombia, in 2011. In 2012, he hosted the Chinese recipient of the Vavilov–Frankel scholarship for young scientists training in genetic resources.

Shyam S. Yadav, Ph.D.

Dr. Shyam S. Yadav completed his Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture at the University of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1964, and a Master's Degree in Agriculture Botany (Genetics and Plant Breeding) from University of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1967. He completed his Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Breeding at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, in 1987.

Dr. Yadav is currently working as a Freelance International Agriculture Consultant for Manav Foundation at Manav Yadav Memorial Trust, Vikaspuri, New Delhi, India. Simultaneously, he is engaged and assigned as International Research Advisor in Agriculture on Capacity Development at Agriculture Research Institute of Afghanistan, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dr. Yadav started his professional career as Research Associate/Assistant Breeder with the main responsibility for introgression of the Mexican dwarf wheat varieties and tall Indian wheat varieties, development of new high-yielding semidwarf cultivars in the wheat breeding program at Division of Genetics, India Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India, from 1969 to 1974. He then worked as an agriculture specialist with the Government of Iraq from 1974 to 1979 to assist in the development and dissemination of crop production and management technology program. On returning back to India in 1979, Dr. Yadav joined the Chickpea Breeding Program at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, with the responsibility of developing and focusing the program on wide hybridization and introgression in chickpea to develop high-yielding, widely adapted, multiresistant and quality cultivars.

Under Dr. Yadav's leadership, the chickpea breeding team developed excellent new material of both Kabuli and Desi types. As a Program Leader of the chickpea breeding team at IARI, he was successful in developing and releasing more than 20 high-yielding, widely adapted, commercial chickpea varieties for different planting environments of India from 1988 to 2006. Some of India's pioneering and foremost chickpea varieties, namely, Pusa Kabuli 1053, 1088, 1108, 2024, and 1105 and Pusa Desi 362, 372, and 1103 were developed and released by him. Simultaneously, he also developed many unique germplasm lines that are being used in various national crop improvement programs by various chickpea breeders nationally and internationally. Dr. Yadav has also guided postgraduate students in the discipline of plant breeding on breeding approaches, methodologies, and techniques from 1990 to 2008.

Dr. Yadav served as Principal Investigator for various national and international research projects with Indian, Australian, and American research organizations during 1998–2006. In 2002, he worked as International Legumes Consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations in Myanmar. In 2007, he worked as International Technical Expert on standardization of quality products of fruit and vegetable crops for international marketing with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Sana'a, Yemen. Later on, in the same year, he was employed as Chief Scientist by Krishidhan Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Maharashtra, India. In 2008, he was employed as Chief Scientist and, later on, as Program Leader of Rice & Grains Program at National Agricultural Research Institute, Lae, Papua New Guinea.

Thus, Dr. Yadav has vast working experience as an agriculture scientist, consultant, and expert in different countries across the continents ranging from Australia, United States, Asia, and the Pacific Region. His primary interest of research has been focused on plant breeding, development of integrated crop production and management technologies and their dissemination among farming communities at village levels in diversified ecologies, mentoring and coaching of graduate and postgraduate students, agricultural personnel, NGOs, and different stakeholders.

In his current position, Dr. Yadav is responsible for capacity development in the agricultural research sector on issues of infrastructure development, administration and management of project planning, management- and implementation-related issues, and development and dissemination of production technologies. He is also responsible for training agricultural workers on various technological aspects, including scientists, extensionists, trainers, farmers, and stakeholders under conflicting environments. He has published more than 125 research articles in various national and international journals.

He is a Fellow of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development, and The Linnean Society of London, UK. His current book on Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change is his fifth book as Editor. Before this, he worked as Chief Editor for books on Crop Adaptation to Climate Change, Wiley-Blackwell, A John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Publication, USA, 2011; Climate Change and Management of Cool Season Grain Legume Crops, Springer, The Netherlands, 2010; Chickpea Breeding and Management, CABI, UK, 2007; and Lentils: An Ancient Crop of Modern Times, Springer, The Netherlands, 2007.

Nigel Maxted, Ph.D.

Nigel Maxted OND (Agric.), B.Sc. (C.N.A.A.), M.Phil. (SOTON), Ph.D. (SOTON), F.L.S., is a senior lecturer and consultant in Genetic Conservation at the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. Dr. Nigel's research interests are in plant conservation and broader biodiversity conservation and use, with specific expertise in: field conservation, taxonomy, ecogeography, GIS, reserve management, on-farm conservation, gene flow, and genetic diversity studies of various plant groups. He has work experience on conservation throughout Africa, the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia, and Europe.

Positions held by Dr, Nigel: (1) January 2014 to date: Project partner in an EU ACP Programme project entitled Developing CWR conservation strategies for Southern Africa. (2) January 2012 to date: Project partner in an EU ERA funded project entitled Reinforcing Cooperation between the Royal Botanic Garden of Jordan and European Research Area. (3) March 2011 to date: Project partner in a Norwegian Government grant of US$ 50M for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting, and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives. (4) March 2011 to date: Principle investigator for an EC FP7 Research Novel characterization of crop wild relatives and landraces resources as a basis for improved crop breeding (PGR Secure). (5) June 2009 to date: Principle investigator for an IUCN funded project concerned with IUCN red listing of European crop wild relative diversity. (6) February 2003 to date: Cochair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Crop Wild Relative Specialist Group. (7) January 2003 to date: Principle investigator for a DEFRA funded project concerned with the inventory and conservation of UK's agrobiodiversity and (8) December 1985 to date: Conservation gap and ecogeographic analysis linked to the targeted conservation activities.

Dr. Nigel management Competence was as coordinator/director of national and international research projects addressing in situ and ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources in Europe, Asia, and Africa, for various international agencies (FAO/IPGRI/World Bank/the United Nations). He successfully coordinated three large EC funded projects and regularly works as a consultant for leading international conservation agencies.

Dr. Nigel worked on various programs: as a Senior Scientific Advisor for the GEF/World Bank (Plant Genetic Resources Conservation) in Turkey and the Middle East; Chair of the European Cooperative Programme/Genetic Resources In Situ and On-Farm Network; Chair of Wild Species Conservation in Genetic Reserves WG; Cochair of the IUCN SSC Crop Wild Relative Specialist Group; Chair of the UK Plant Genetic Resources Group; Associate Advisor for the British Council in Biodiversity Conservation, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dr. Nigel has worked on different capacity building programs and has an excellent training experience on extensive teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as vocational and field course training experience in biodiversity conservation, taxonomy, and plant genetic resources management. He has supervised 30 Ph.D., 7 M.Phil., 14 MRes, and more than 100 M.Sc. research projects. Dr. Nigel has published over 100 peer-reviewed research papers, and in the past 10 years, he wrote or edited 18 books on various aspects of biodiversity conservation and use.

Ehsan Dulloo, Ph.D.

Dr. Ehsan Dulloo completed his B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Environmental Biology with Comparative Physiology (1980), Queen Mary College, University of London, and M.Sc. degree in Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources (1990), University of Birmingham, UK. He completed his Ph.D. degree in Conservation biology from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1998.

Dr. Dulloo, born in 1957 (Mauritius), first joined Bioversity International in 1999. He left Bioversity in 2011 to join FAO as Senior Officer and subsequently rejoined Bioversity in November 2012 as Leader of the Conservation and Availability Programme. In his capacity, he provides scientific leadership for in situ conservation of crop wild relatives and on-farm conservation and oversight on the policy and informatics work of Bioversity. Among his major achievements, Dr. Dulloo conceptualized the World Bank 2009 award-winning proposal Seeds for Needs in Ethiopia, on the use of gene bank material in adapting to climate change, which was also implemented in Papua New Guinea. He contributed to the development of the successful UNEP/GEF project on in situ conservation of crop wild relatives and established the CGIAR Crop Genebank Knowledge Base. He has been a lead author for the preparation of FAO's First and Second State of the World Reports on plant genetic resources and the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report. Before joining Bioversity, Dr. Dulloo led two GEF projects to restore degraded islands around Mauritius and developed Mauritius' first National Park. Dr. Dulloo is a member of the Plant Sub-Committee of IUCN/SSC and cochair of the Crop Wild Relative Specialist Group.

Luigi Guarino, Ph. D.

Luigi Guarino, an Italian national, is currently Senior Scientist at the Global Crop Diversity Trust in Bonn, Germany. He served as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) from 1984 to 1987. He then worked full-time for IBPGR from 1987 to 1992, on a number of germplasm collection, characterization, and documentation projects, mainly in support of national programs in North Africa, the Middle East, and the South Pacific. He was subsequently appointed to work on genetic diversity issues in the Sub-Saharan Africa regional office of Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. He transferred to the Bioversity regional office for the Americas in Cali, Colombia, in 1997. From there, he coordinated a global research agenda on measuring, locating, and monitoring genetic diversity, with particular responsibility for the application of geographic information systems (GIS), and also managed work on germplasm use in the region, including research on patterns of use of ex situ collections. He had responsibility for national and regional program development in the Caribbean subregion. He moved on to the position of Plant Genetic Resources Adviser at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Fiji, in 2003. At SPC, he coordinated and managed the Pacific Plant Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN). He also assisted with the development of genetic resources policy at the national and regional levels. In his current position at the Trust, he is involved in the technical implementation of a global program aimed at ensuring the long-term conservation ex situ and sustainable use of crop genetic resources. Luigi has published numerous scientific research papers in different international journals of repute. He has written many book chapters for various books published internationally and has been a part of a number of editing teams. He is an active blogger on agrobiodiversity issues (http://agro.biodiver.se) and has an interest in the use of social networking in conservation.

Paul P. Smith, Ph.D.

Paul Smith is a specialist in plant diversity in southern, central, and eastern Africa. He has vast experience in seed conservation, ecological survey, botanical inventory, vegetation mapping, and environmental monitoring. He has published numerous papers in this field and is the author of two field guides to the plants of south-central Africa. He edited the Ecological Survey of Zambia (2001) and the Vegetation Atlas of Madagascar (2007), both published by Kew.

In August 2005, Dr. Smith was appointed Head of Kew's Seed Conservation Department and leader of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, a network of more than 170 plant science institutions in 80 countries. In October 2009, the Partnership achieved its first milestone of storing seeds from 10% of the world's plant species both in the MSB and in the countries of origin. Over the next 10 years, the Partnership will seek to secure 25% of the world's flora in seed banks and to enable the use of those seeds for human innovation in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and habitat restoration.

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank comanages the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change project with the Global Crop Diversity Trust. This 10-year program aims to collect, store, and characterize seeds from the wild relatives of 29 of the world's major crops. Seed material will be stored, for a long term, against the risk of extinction and made available to plant breeders worldwide.

List of Contributors

Sarah E. Ashmore

Environmental Futures Research Institute and School of Natural Sciences Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia

Australian Seed Bank Partnership, Australian National Botanic Gardens, GPO Box 1777, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

A. Avagyan

EC Food Security Programme in Armenia, Ministry of Agriculture, Republic Square, Yerevan 375010, Armenia

Gregory J. Baute

Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

Shakeel Bhatti

FAO – PGRFA Treaty, 00153 Rome, Italy

Roland von Bothmer

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen), PO Box 41, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Jan Petter Borring

FAO – PGRFA Treaty, 00153 Rome, Italy

Germán Calberto-Sánchez

Bioversity International-Colombia, Colombia, Cali, Colombia

Sarah Cody

Seed Conservation Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 6TN, UK

Ardeshir Damania

Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Hannes Dempewolf

The Global Crop Diversity Trust, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 7, 53113 Bonn, Germany

M. E. Dulloo

Bioversity International, 00057 Maccarese (Fiumicino), Rome, Italy

Ruth J. Eastwood

Seed Conservation Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 6TN, UK

Andreas W. Ebert

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center, P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199, Taiwan

Eve Emshwiller

Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Graeme Errington

The Australian PlantBank, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, NSW 2567, Australia

Elena Fiorino

Bioversity International, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy

L. Frese

Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI), Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops, D-06484 Quedlinburg, Germany

Gezahegn Girma

Genetic Resource Center, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria

Abdul Basir Habibi

National Research Specialist, Afghanistan Agriculture Input Project (AAIP), Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock, Kabul, Afghanistan

Jerry L. Hatfield

USDA-ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA, USA

Robert Henry

Professor of Innovation in Agriculture and Director of QAAFI, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

Vojtěch Holubec

Gene bank, Crop Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

Nelli A. Hovhannisyan

Faculty of Biology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan 0025, Armenia

Danny Hunter

Global Project Coordinator/Senior Scientist, Bioversity International, Rome, Italy

Adjunct Associate Professor, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Jose M. Iriondo

Departamento de Biologia y Geologia, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal

Shelley Jansky

United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service; and Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Abdullah A. Jaradat

USDA-ARS and Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, 803 Iowa Ave., Morris, MN USA 56267

S. Kell

School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

R. J. Lawn

James Cook University and CSIRO Plant Industry, Australian Tropical Science & Innovation Precinct, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia

J. Magos Brehm

School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Daniele Manzella

Organisation des Nations Unies pour alimentation et l'agriculture, FAO, Bureau B-623Bis, 00153 Rome, Italy

Mario Marino

AGDT, FAO – PGRFA Treaty, 00153 Rome, Italy

Amelia Martyn

The Australian PlantBank, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, NSW 2567, Australia

N. Maxted

School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Jonathan D. Moore

University of Warwick Crop Centre, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF, UK

Mahboob Nang

National Seed Coordinator, Afghanistan Agriculture Input Project (AAIP), Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Eviatar Nevo

Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Israel

Catherine A. Offord

The Australian PlantBank, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, NSW 2567, Australia

Australian Seed Bank Partnership, Australian National Botanic Gardens, GPO Box 1777, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

Rodomiro Ortiz

Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Box 101, SE 23053 Alnarp, Sweden

Frantisek Paprštein

Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology Ltd., Holovousy, Czech Republic

Enrico Porceddu

Professor of Agricultural Genetics, Department of Agricultural Genetics, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

John H. Prueger

USDA-ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA, USA

Robert J. Redden

Curator, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Australian Grains Genebank, Horsham, Victoria 3401, Australia

Vojtech Řezníček

Professor, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

Loren H. Rieseberg

Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

Nicolas Roux

Bioversity International – France, France

Julie Sardos

Bioversity International – France, Montpellier, France

Roland Schafleitner

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center, P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199, Taiwan, Republic of China

A. Singer

Israel Plant Gene Bank, Agricultural Research Organisation, Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel

Tamara Smekalova

N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, St. Petersburg, Russia

Karen Sommerville

The Australian PlantBank, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, NSW 2567, Australia

Charles Staver

Bioversity International – France, France

Lenka Štočková

Gene bank Laboratory, Crop Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

Frederick L. Stoddard

Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Imke Thormann

Bioversity International, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy

Álvaro Toledo

FAO – PGRFA Treaty, 00153 Rome, Italy

Nicholas Tyack

Industrial Economics, Inc., 2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA

Peter G. Walley

University of Warwick Crop Centre, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF, UK

Ola Westengen

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen), Po Box 41, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Devendra Kumar Yadav

Principal Scientist, Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

Shyam S. Yadav

Freelance International Agriculture Consultant, International Peace Foundation, Manav Yadav Memorial Trust, New Delhi 110018, India

International Research Advisor, Afghanistan Agriculture Input Project (AAIP), Agriculture Research Institute of Afghanistan, Badambagh, Kabul, Afghanistan

Aleksandra H. Yesayan

Faculty of Biology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan 0025, Armenia

Foreword by Prof. Geoffrey Hawtin

The forthcoming book entitled Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change addresses a topic that is critically important to future food security. With food demand growing rapidly and rising temperatures decreasing global food production potential, agricultural scientists must work ever harder to stay ahead of the climate change curve. Plant breeding offers a key route to address this challenge through the development of new varieties that are able to withstand the predicted adverse effects of climate change or that can capitalize on its more positive aspects such as CO2 fertilization or higher average temperatures in some temperate zones.

It is well recognized that the wild relatives of our crops could provide a wealth of useful traits for the development of such improved varieties. However, while the potential may be enormous, they remain a greatly underused resource.

This book brings together an impressive array of leading world scientists in this area, under the overall guest editorship of Prof. Cary Fowler. The conservation and use of crop wild relatives are explored from many different angles, and the book will undoubtedly serve as an important information source for many years to come.

Geoffrey Hawtin

Senior Technical Advisor, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Italy

Advisor, Global Crop Diversity Trust, Germany

Member, Board of Trustees, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, UK

Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, (CIAT) Colombia

Foreword by Dr. R S Paroda

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are the species closely related to field crops, including their progenitors, and have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement such as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and to enrich the gene pool, leading to improved yield and stability. CWR are recognized as a critical resource to sustain global food security, and therefore, their systematic collection, characterization, conservation, and use in crop breeding are imperative.

The changing climate is a major threat to agrobiodiversity, ecosystems, and human survival globally. The International Panel on Climate Change, in their 2014 report, predicted that global climate will change radically during the 21st century, which might result in both positive and negative impacts on field crops. Thus, a major task before us is to ensure sustainable food and nutrition security of the world's current population (now nearing 7.5 billion). The current projections suggest that the world's temperatures will rise by 1.8–4.0°C and the population may reach more than 10 billion by 2100, after which it may stabilize.

The natural greenhouse effect makes the temperature regime of some regions more hospitable to life forms especially at high altitudes and high latitudes. However, the progressive rise in the concentration of some atmospheric gases due to human activity poses the danger of excessive global warming. The primary culprit gases emitted are CO2, CH4, and N2O. The accumulation of CO2 has changed from the preindustrial value of 20 parts per million (ppm) to a level approaching 400 ppm — a 40% rise. Unless the emissions of greenhouse gases are curbed significantly, their concentration will continue to rise, leading to irreversible changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables with severe consequences for agriculture around the world.

Humans achieved a revolutionary breakthrough with the first domestication of crops around 11,000 years ago using astute but empirical phenotypic selection. Can we now raise agriculture to a new level, linking the genetic code to phenotypic expressions and the management of responses to new environments? By selecting novel genes from crop wild relatives and using these in developing improved crop varieties, agriculture may be able to combat the threatening challenges of climate change.

This book contains 20 chapters covering various aspects of crop wild relatives including impact of climate change on agriculture, challenges for future agriculture, crop evolution, crop adaptation, importance of crop wild relatives, locating and conserving, research on crop wild relatives in major food and vegetable crops as well as minor fruit crops, hybridization, biotechnology, and genomics, in situ and ex situ conservation including Svalbard conservation, economic value of crop wild relatives and crop wild relatives beyond biodiversity for ecosystem services. The book well integrates all these important aspects and will prove useful in developing strategies to cope with the vagaries of climate change and to meet the production challenges of food for unprecedented population increases.

The significant contribution of well-qualified internationally known professionals in the Editorial Team and also the lead and coauthors of different chapters is highly appreciable, and I congratulate them for their commendable job. The involvement of internationally well-known publishing house Wiley-Blackwell, Inc., USA, also adds value to the quality of publication

I am sure that the book entitled Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change will be immensely useful to researchers, academicians, policy planners, and students.

Raj Paroda

Chairman, TAAS and Haryana Farmers Commission

Executive Secretary, APAARI

Formerly, Secretary DARE, Govt. of India,

Director General, ICAR

Preface

The growing concern over the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on biodiversity and food security, considered along with the growing world population, means that taking action to conserve crop wild relative (CWR) diversity is no longer an option but an urgent priority. CWRs are a key tool for addressing the limits of genetic variation in domestic crops for adapting to climate change. The wild progenitors of crops and their close relatives have the potential to contribute beneficial traits for crop improvement, such as biotic and abiotic resistances especially for tolerance of extreme high temperature and drought stresses, leading to improved yield and stability under climate change. Having already made major contributions to crop improvement in the 20th century, CWRs are recognized as a critical resource to sustain global food security; therefore, their systematic conservation is imperative. However, extension of their conservation and promotion of more systematic exploitation are hindered by the lack of understanding of their current and potential value, their diversity, and practically how they might be conserved.

Climate change is a reality in today's world and, along with the unprecedented increase in the world's population, underlines a looming food security issue. At least 70% more food production will be required by 2050 in a more challenging climate. More severe spikes in heat stress are expected during the reproductive phase of crops as compared to that previously experienced in crop evolution, and targeted exploitation of novel sources of genetic diversity will be a necessity. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in 2006 and the Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 have pushed the scientific and public debates on climate change a decisive step forward. Substantial further changes in climate are likely to occur even with aggressive mitigation efforts.

The human population is projected to increase from the current 7 billion to 10.5 billion within a period of only 70 to 80 years. Meeting the needs of these additional people will require substantial increases in production of agricultural systems using essentially the same area of arable land as is used today, or less due to expansion of cities. Current agricultural systems are to a certain extent adapted to the current climates. Substantial changes in agricultural systems will be needed in the many regions subjected to critical changes in climate, especially if these systems are to have greater productivity. Many of the world's poor live in arid and semiarid zones under environmental conditions that currently are challenging. In addition, these farmers do not have the resources to facilitate adaptation of their cropping systems to changing climates. Most developing countries are highly dependent on agricultural sectors likely to be affected by climate change and have institutions with limited capacity to develop improved cropping systems. Consequently, a collaborative effort by the world's agricultural scientists is needed if the necessary changes to agricultural systems are to be made to achieve sustainable food security.

This book contributes to this collaborative effort by providing reviews by a group of international scientists with expertise in the principal crops grown in tropical and temperate zones. Projections are provided of the extent to which climate change will influence the potential of CWRs and productivity of field crops in different regions of the world. Opportunities for developing improved crop varieties with the intensive utilization of CWR, their conservation, collection, seed biology, economic uses, biotechnological applications, and cropping systems adapted to future climates through plant breeding approaches and changes in crop management are described. The goals of this book are: (i) to provide professional intensive knowledge and skill on the potential for CWR utilization and conservation under changing and warming climates, (ii) to provide a blueprint to breed more resilient crops that can adapt to future climate change and also be more productive in sustainable cropping systems, and (iii) to encourage the political, institutional, and financial support needed for the utilization of CWR in doubling the agricultural production during this century.

The publication of this book will provide an excellent opportunity on various issues of CWR and climate change to the international agricultural community, including scientists, technocrats, students, planners, policy makers, and lead farmers at a global level.

Robert J. Redden, Horsham, Australia

Shyam S. Yadav, New Delhi, India

Nigel Maxted, Birmingham, UK

M. Ehsan Dulloo, Rome, Italy

Luigi Guarino, Bonn, Germany

Paul Smith, Kew, UK

Acknowledgments

The editors express their sincere thanks to the contributors for their valuable professional manuscripts as chapters and for their patience, dedication, and commitment to this book. The editing of multiauthor texts is not always easy. In this case, it was painless, encouraging, and enjoyable. All the lead authors and coauthors responded speedily and effectively to the collective pressure exerted by the project manager/communication coordinator and editors, with the consequences that the manuscripts were delivered without any difficulty. This made the job of the editors easier and the job of collecting the scripts and preparing the final text for the publisher relatively straightforward.

The editors express their sincere thanks to Mr. Manav Yadav, who conceptualized and developed the original idea for the book during his studies in Dallas, Texas, USA, in the month of January, 2011. As a young graduate student who was studying in Dallas, Texas, USA, he foresighted the importance of crop wild relatives under warmer and changing environments. He has been working for this project right from the beginning when it was just an idea under thought until the final stages of the proposal submission to the publisher for approval. He managed the initial communications to identify potential editors, publisher, John Willey, and lead authors. His dynamic innovative leadership and commitment helped the contributors involved to work on this project as a team and finish this daunting task in a timely manner.

We express our deep gratitude to several people who have rendered invaluable assistance in making this publication possible. Robert Redden and Shyam S. Yadav, Senior Editor and Coeditor, respectively, express their appreciation for all the lead authors and coauthors involved in writing various chapters for this book, for their active support and cooperation in completing the manuscript. Last but not least, we express our special thanks to Justin Jeffryes, Senior Executive, and S. Dollan, Executive, at Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA, for providing the technical and administrative support needed for publishing this book.

Dr. Robert J. Redden, Horsham, Australia

Dr. Shyam S. Yadav, New Delhi, India

Dr. Nigel Maxted, Birmingham, UK

Dr. M. Ehsan Dulloo, Rome, Italy

Dr. Luigi Guarino, Bonn, Germany

Dr. Paul Smith, Kew, UK

Chapter 1

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture Production, Food, and Nutritional Security

Shyam S. Yadav, Danny Hunter, Bob Redden, Mahboob Nang, D. K. Yadava and Abdul Basir Habibi

Introduction

During recent years, worldwide heavy rains and floods, fire in forests, occurrences and spread of new diseases, as found in the new strains of different pathogens and viruses, and abnormal bacterial growth, higher incidences of insects pests are all direct indications of drastic environmental changes globally. It is now well established and documented that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the main reason for the climate change at global level. It is also well recognized that agriculture sector is directly affected by changes in temperature, precipitation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere. Thus, early and bold measures are needed to minimize the potentially drastic climate impacts on the production and productivity of various field crops. In most of the developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Asia Pacific regions, about 70% of the population depends directly or indirectly for its livelihood on agriculture sector and most of this population lives in arid or semiarid regions, which are already characterized by highly volatile climate conditions.

Food, from staple cereal grains to high protein legumes and oilseed crops, is central to human development and well-being (Misselhorn et al., 2012); however, the complexity of global food security is becoming challenging and will be made more so under climate change. The world continues to face huge difficulties in securing adequate food that is healthy, safe, and of high nutritional quality for all (Redden et al., 2011, 2014) and in an equitable and environmentally sustainable manner (Pinstrup-Andersen, 2009; Godfray et al., 2010). With the growing demand of an expected 9 billion people by 2050, it remains unclear how our current global food system will cope with an ever-increasing demand for food, and how this supply can be maintained while ensuring minimal environmental impact (Tilman et al., 2011; Foley et al., 2011). Compounded with climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity under stress, ongoing loss of species and of crop genetic diversity, increasing urbanization, social conflict, and extreme poverty, there has never been a more urgent time for collective action to address food security (Hunter and Fanzo, 2013; Dulloo et al., 2014).

Despite considerable achievements to date in feeding a growing population, as of 2011–2013, a total of 842 million people, 1 in 8 worldwide still suffers from chronic hunger, struggling to obtain enough nourishment to lead an active and fulfilling life (FAO, 2013). Furthermore, micronutrient deficiencies, known as hidden hunger, continue to ravish and undermine the growth and development potential, health, and productivity of over 2 billion people worldwide(Micronutrient Initiative, 2009).

Reversing these trends in the context of ongoing global change, especially climate change, and finite available resources poses huge challenges to our current food production and food systems (Smith 2012). The response must permit more agricultural production from the same area of land through sustainable intensification (FAO, 2009a, 2009b, 2011a, 2011b; Garnett et al., 2013). Foremost among the strategies to achieve this are significant efforts to reduce current yield gaps, improve production efficiencies, reduce food waste and sustainable dietary change (Godfray et al., 2012; Foley et al., 2011; Tilman et al., 2011).

The causes of climate change can be linked to the increased impact of human activities on the concentration of greenhouse including aerosols and changes in land use patterns. These effects influence the radiation balance of the earth, evaporation rate from the earth's surface, and patterns of heating and cooling around the globe (IPCC, 2007b). The negative effects of climate change on agriculture is most pronounced in developing countries (de la Peña et al., 2011; IPCC, 2007b; Lobell et al., 2011a, 2011b; Nelson et al., 2009, 2010; Wassmann et al., 2010; Müller et al., 2011).

The impacts of climate change on agriculture are going to be particularly substantial, which also means that those countries still heavily reliant on agriculture will be disproportionately affected. Climate change is set to have significant impacts on crop, livestock, and pasture production including impacts on pest and diseases and water availability (Conway, 2012). Moderate temperature rises alone can significantly reduce yields of major food cereals, with Lobell et al. (2011a, 2011b) indicating that around three-quarters of Africa's maize crop would suffer a 20% yield loss with 1 °C rise in temperature. Climate change is also expected to impact heavily on livestock especially in arid and semiarid regions, especially on pasture species composition and forage quality. Likewise, more frequent and severe pest and disease attacks are anticipated. Bebber et al. (2013) highlight trends since 1960 in pole ward shifts of pests and pathogens to new areas. Further, soil-borne pathogens and diseases are expected to be an increasing problem under increasing temperature (Jaggard et al., 2010).

It is likely that the impact of climate change on food security will be felt most in those parts of the world currently vulnerable to poverty, hunger, and malnutrition (Redden et al., 2014). In a global review of scientific papers on climate change and food security, the authors found that 70% focused on food availability compared to the other dimensions of food security (accessibility, utilization, and stability). Climate change will certainly negatively impact crop and food production, with consequent effects on food prices, incomes, and trade, and sanitation may be affected if access to water is also affected. Climate change is likely to influence the stability of the food system through impacts on market volatility for both production and supply (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). Clearly addressing food security is not just a matter of increasing food production and availability, though this is what concerns us most in this chapter.

The concerns and current evidence about climate change impacts support the urgent need for resources and efforts to be directed at mitigation (changing to climate change resilient crops, e.g., low toxin lathyrus) and adaptation (improvement of existing crops), to achieve what is sometimes referred to as climate-smart agriculture or even a climate-smart food system (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). The strategy of most concern in this chapter is the importance of agricultural biodiversity, utilization, and maintenance of plant genetic resources for crop improvement and diversification of agricultural and food systems. Foley et al. (2011) point out important opportunities to improve crop yield and resilience, by improving orphan crops and conserving crop diversity. The important role here for crop wild relatives (CWR) cannot be overstated. CWR represent one of the most critical assets to address climate change, because they hold so much promise for crop improvement now and in the future (Ford-Lloyd et al., 2011). The process of domestication has ensured that the level of genetic diversity in our commonly grown crops is much reduced compared to that available in CWR gene pools, which have novel pest resistances and tolerances to heat, drought, and salinity (Godfray et al., 2010; Hodgkin and Bordoni, 2012). However, CWR are currently under threat from changing climate as well (Jarvis et al., 2008).

Thus, it is important to understand and consider the availability of CWR of various field crops for utilization in regular crop breeding programs for the development of new varieties, which can stand well against the changing environmental conditions with high yields. It is also important to maintain and multiply these CWR under protected environments for creating a diverse gene pool in widely adapted popular cultivars.

This chapter reviews the current global food security context and the need to feed a growing global population with limited access to natural resources in the context of significant climate change. The possible impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of key crops are described, before examining the important roles of conservation and plant breeding and the diversification of farming systems through the better deployment of crop diversity.

Population versus food demand by 2050

The world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to rise by around 1 billion over the next 12 years, reaching a level of 8.1 billion by 2025. Continuing population increase is expected to see this figure reach 9.6 billion by 2050 and 10.9 billion by 2100 (United Nations, 2013).

The earth is undergoing changes unprecedented since the initiation of agriculture 11,000 years ago, with a vastly increased consumption of fossil fuels. The cost, however, of this extraordinary progress is increased levels of atmospheric CO2, methane, sulfur, and aerosols, which have very complex interactions with the global atmosphere and ultimately on climate (IPCC, 2007a). The net result is a continuing increase in global temperature, which is unlikely to be mitigated in the short term as energy conservation measures are overwhelmed by a large increase in the polluting human footprint by 2050 (Redden et al., 2011, 2014).

Temperature will increase globally by 0.8–1.0°C by 2050 and further increase by 2100, accompanied by more severe high temperature spikes during crop growth than previously experienced, severely affecting agricultural production systems and hence food security (Lobell et al., 2011a, 2011b).

Global food production and food security

Considering the nature of this chapter, a brief summary of area, production, and productivity of major field crops is important. Feeding the increasing population is a big challenge especially in the developing countries. Importantly, although there is continuous increase in area, production, and productivity of various crop commodities; the increment is not proportionate to that of increasing global population. The major cereal crops are wheat, rice, maize, barley, sorghum, coarse grains, oats, and rye. Major pulses are chickpea, pigeon pea, dry peas, dry beans, lentil, and cowpeas. Likewise, among the oilseeds, the major crops contributing to global production are soybean, rape seeds canola and mustard, peanut, sunflower, and cotton seed. The production summary of major crops has been presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Worldwide area, production, and productivity of major field crops in major countries during 2011–2012

Source: Foreign Agricultural Services/USDA (2011–2012), www.fas.usda.gov.

* http://faostat.fao.org/ (2012).

Brief production details of major field crops

The present worldwide crucial food security challenges are to sustain the food production globally, sufficient availability of agroproducts in the international markets to meet the consumer demands, nutritional security with quality food products, and development of production technologies under changing climates. These are big challenges for agriculture professionals to meet with the present infrastructure available with them. Thus, extra resources and professional and technical innovations will be needed to accelerate the present production environment productivity so that the food and nutritional security can be sustained globally.

Each person now lives longer, consumes food above the subsistence level for 90% of the population, and is more demanding of both energy sources and manufactured goods. The challenge for agriculture is to at least double food production this century, despite increasing urban competition for land and water (Redden et al., 2011).

The majority of food demand is usually met by local production as only about 5–10% of global staple crop production is traded, although certain countries are major exporters, such as the United States, Australia, and Canada for 50–70% of the wheat production (GIEWS, 2011). The leading countries in wheat production (653 million metric tons (m.mt)) in 2010/2011 were European Union (EU) (132 m.mt), China (126), India (91), and the United States (61) (IGC, 2012).

World rice production in 2010 was estimated at 700 m.mt corresponding to 466 m.mt of milled rice, led by China (200), India (141), Indonesia (66), and Bangladesh (51) (FAO, 2011a, 2011b). About 7.3% of world production is internationally traded, with major exports from Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, and India, and major imports to Bangladesh, Nigeria, Philippines, and Malaysia (FAO, 2011a, 2011b), although distorted by floods in South and Southeast Asia in 2010 and 2011.

Potato production in 2009 was 330 m.mt, mainly in China (75), India (37), Russia (21), and Ukraine (19) (Geohive, 2010). Two-thirds of production is used as food and one-third as animal feed.

Total world maize production was 866 m.mt in 2010/2011 (IGC, 2012, FAO 2012a), with about 11% being traded mainly for feed and industrial consumption including ethanol. The United States is a leading producer and exporter with 350 m.mt, while in China maize production (163 m.mt) for feed now exceeds that of wheat.

World sorghum production was projected at 65 m.mt in 2010, with Nigeria, the United States, and India being major producers with 7.5–10 m.mt (Agro stats, 2009). Sorghum is an important food security crop in the West African Savannah/Sahel, Ethiopia, and Somalia. There is a wide disparity in yield from 0.8 t/ha in Africa to 4 t/ha in North America (FAO and ICRISAT, 1966).

World cassava production was 91 m.mt in 2011, led by Brazil (27), Indonesia (11), Nigeria (10), and Zaire (9) (2.5) (FAO, 2012b). Cassava is a drought-resilient crop, with per capita consumption above 200 kg/year in Africa.

Pulses, with a world production of 56 m.mt in 2007 (Tata Strategic Management Group, 2012), provide an important source of high protein food in developing countries where diets consist mainly of high-carbohydrate staple foods. Ninety-five percent of pulses are cultivated in the developing world. The principal pulses are Phaseolus beans (46%), chickpea (22%), faba bean (10%), and (7%) each for lentil, pigeon pea, and cowpea. Leading producers are India for Phaseolus beans, chickpea, pigeon pea, and lentil, plus Brazil and Myanmar for Phaseolus beans; Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey for chickpea; Myanmar, Kenya, and Malawi for pigeon pea; and Turkey, Iran, Nepal, and Syria for lentil. China is the leading faba bean producer followed by Ethiopia and Morocco. The major cowpea production is in West Africa, led by Niger and Nigeria. Soybean production is rapidly increasing above 240 m.m.t level for 2011-2012 (Table 1.1) notably in Brazil, Argentina and India which with USA are the major producers.

Minor crops

Interestingly, vegetable root and tuber crops have been under cultivation since ancient times indifferent continents and still they are essential components in daily dietary system of millions globally. These crops are very important in daily food chain because of their specialty in urban and rural areas worldwide. They hold great promise for vitamins and major and minor essential healthy nutrients and play important role in staple food including the nutritional value (Tekouano 2011). Interestingly, they have three to four times higher yield potential than other field crops and because of short duration, these crops fit well in to diverse and intensive cropping system globally.

Vegetables form a large and very diverse commodity group and include a wide range of genera and species, with a global production above 1 billion ton in 2010 mainly in Asia (FAOSTAT, 2012; Andreas and Roland, 2013). Root and tuber crops, including edible aroids, also are important for food and nutrition security (Rao et al., 2010). Today, in population terms, 4 billion people rely on rice, maize, or wheat as their staple food, while a further 1 billion people rely on roots and tubers. About 100 other root and tuber crop species including sweet potato are significant (Rao et al., 2010).

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) produces more edible energy on marginal agricultural land than any other food crop and has high nutritional quality (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2011). Varieties rich in B-carotene (orange-fleshed sweet potatoes) address vitamin A deficiency in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (Fanzo et al., 2013). It tolerates adverse biotic and abiotic stresses. Production of sweet potato is greater than 82% in Asia, followed by Africa (14%) with global production of 108 m.mt on 8.5 million ha.

Yam (Dioscorea sp.) is a very important food in West and Central Africa where around 60 million people are dependent on it. Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo are responsible for over 90% of the world production of 48 m.mt from 4 million ha (Asiedu and Sartie, 2010).

There are five edible species of aroid that are considered important for food security : giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) Schott); swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii (Hassk.) Schott); cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott); elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst). Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott is an ancient root crop and the most scientifically studied. These edible aroid species play a significant role in marginalized agricultural lands, contributing to crop diversification and resilient farming systems. World production in 2010 was 9.3 m.mt of fresh produce from 1.3 million ha (100,000 ha in India) for the 55 countries as per official statistics (www.fao.org, 2011).

Neglected and underutilized species

Neglected and underutilized species refer to the many hundreds of crops and plants that have the potential to improve people's livelihoods, as well as food security, but are not being fully realized because of their limited competitiveness with commodity crops in mainstream agriculture. Their diversity and the range of adaptive traits represent an important resource for climate change adaptation (Padulosi et al., 2011). They are of significant importance locally, being highly adapted to marginal, complex, and difficult environments, and contribute significantly to diversification and resilience of agroecosystems, for example, the legume bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) originating from West Africa is widely cultivated throughout sub-Saharan Africa and is well known for its drought tolerance and ability to grow in harsh ecosystems. The minor millets, grown mainly in South Asia, combine drought-resistant traits with excellent nutrition, and offer major opportunities for adaptation to water stress.

Remarkable frost tolerance is shown by cañihua (Chenopodium pallidicaule), an underutilized Andean grain, used around lake Titicaca in Bolivia/Peru to help cope with climate change. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), a perennial species naturally distributed from Europe to Central Asia and China, is more tolerant to abiotic stresses like frost and cold than apple and pear, possibly associated with its high levels in ascorbic acid and myo-inositol.

Predicted impacts of climate change on global agriculture, crop production, and livestock

The agricultural sector is directly affected by changes in temperature, precipitation, and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, but it also contributes about one-third to total GHG emissions, mainly through livestock and rice production, nitrogen fertilization, and tropical deforestation. Agriculture currently accounts for 5% of world economic output, employs 22% of the global workforce, and occupies 40% of the total land area. In the developing countries, about 70% of the population lives in rural areas, where agriculture is the largest supporter of livelihoods. This sector accounts for 40% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa and 28% in South Asia. However, in the future, agriculture will have to compete for scarce land and water resources with growing urban areas and industrial production (Hermann Lotze-Campen, 2011).

Creating more options for climate change adaptation and improving the adaptive capacity in the agricultural sector will be crucial for improving food security and preventing an increase in global inequality in living standards in the future (Smith 2012). Droughts and floods have always occurred at the local level, but they are predicted to increase in intensity and frequency over this century. Severe events can devastate agricultural environments, economies, and livelihoods of millions globally. Climate change and disaster risk management are not confined to only some geographic regions.

Wheeler and von Braun (2013) point out that the patterns of models on climate change impacts on crop productivity and production have largely remained consistent over the past 20 years, with crop yields expected to be most negatively affected in tropical and subtropical regions and to overlap with countries that already carry a high burden of malnutrition. Projections for the near term (20–30 years) predict that climate variability and extreme weather events will increase and affect all regions with increasing negative impacts on growth and yield, leading to increased concerns about food security, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (Burney et al., 2010; SREX, 2012).

Major climate change impacts by 2030 are expected for maize with a 30% yield reduction in South Africa, and reductions in China, South, and Southeast Asia (Lobell et al., 2008). Production of wheat, rice, millet, and Brassica crops is predicted to be reduced in these regions, by up to 5% in South Asia, with severe impacts in India because of less food per capita (Population Reference Bureau, 2007, Knox et al., 2012).

The impact of climate change on food production in other regions will be crop specific, with reduced production of wheat, rice and soybean in Brazil, and of cassava and maize in the Andean region. Desert encroachment is expected in the West African Sahel with reduced production of sorghum, although millet and cowpea production may rise. In tropical West Africa, yields of peanuts, yams, and cassava are likely to decline. Central Africa may see reduced production of both sorghum and millet. East Africa may have an increase in yield for barley but a reduction for cowpea (Redden et al., 2014).

In the Pacific Islands and other low-lying island areas, the impacts of erosion, increased contamination of freshwater supplies by saltwater incursion, increased cyclones and storm surges, heat and drought stress are all expected to