Digging for Drought-Tolerant Root Systems with New Genomic and Imaging Technologies

In 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion from 6.8 billion today. To meet food and fuel demands farmers and researchers must increase crop yields faster than over the last 50 years, as land and water for agriculture declines. An untapped source of productivity gain is improving the growth and efficiencies of the root systems of crops. Roots have received much less research attention than shoots because they are difficult to access. Recent advances in non-invasive imaging, model crops and gene technologies make discoveries about roots and their application to greater agricultural productivity likely this century. We are focused on improving the root systems of wheat- adapting them to farming systems that conserve soil, water and fuel. We select for roots that extend deeper in the soil to extract more water, and roots that form beneficial associations with the soil organisms. First we use non-invasive micro and macro imaging methods to “see” how roots grow and interact with the soil in the field, then apply that knowledge to select for beneficial traits such as greater root vigour, and root chemicals to promote a beneficial soil microflora. Finally we test novel wheat germplasm with beneficial traits in the field to validate for greater productivity. The team consists of geneticists to develop new wheats and identify the genes associated with the traits for molecular breeding, agronomists to conduct field validations, and microscopists and imaging experts help to understand and track roots in field soils. The real challenge for all researchers, however, is translation of research to the farmer’s field. A bottleneck exists between researchers working largely in the laboratory and small field plots, and the farmer who grows the crops for people. This bottleneck can be widened by involving public and private breeders in the selection and validation of crops with beneficial new traits at early stages of research, and linking farmers, breeders and researchers with the most advanced technologies to save soil and water resources at common field sites to test new crops.