Scientists on a Hunt for Traits to Breed Climate-Proof Crops

The Global Crop Diversity Trust is undertaking a major effort to search crop collections in collaboration with 21 agricultural research institutions from developing country collections for traits that will be essential for breeding climate-ready varieties. The Trust gained worldwide recognition for its Arctic Seed Vault, also known as the Doomsday Vault, in Svalbard, Norway. The Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture is a longstanding donor of the Trust, fully supporting its work.

"Our crops must produce more food, on the same amount of land, with less water, and more expensive energy," explained Trust Executive Director Cary Fowler. He noted that the lack of readily available data on key traits severely hinders plant breeders' efforts to identify materials they can use to breed new varieties suited for the climates most countries will experience in the coming decades.

Scientists will be screening chickpea and wheat collections in Pakistan for traits of economic importance for farmers. They will also characterize rare coconuts in Sri Lanka for drought tolerance and resistance to pests and diseases, screen for salinity tolerance in sweet potatoes in Peru, and identify drought-tolerance in bananas from India.

For more information about the Global Crop Diversity Trust go to www.croptrust.org