About this Research Topic
There is no simple solution to sustainably feed a global population as large as 9.6 billion people by 2050. Moreover, the recent strong drifts in global climate change have indicated that the prospect of further environmental deterioration is inevitable. The remarkable progress in crops improvement of the 20th century is attributed to the instrumental role of conventional plant breeding and application of Mendel’s principles that allowed characterization of novel variations required for improving resistance and productivity. Overall, there has been a significant increase in productivity of our major crops by developing improved cultivars with better traits for biomass and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Techniques like molecular cytogenetics, marker assisted selection (MAS), heterosis, wide hybridization and introgression of desirable genes form wild relatives and progenitor species of crops had a mighty impetus on the production of high yielding and resistant cultivars. However, in the face of the mounting population, climate instability, and emergence of new virulent races of plant pathogens, sustaining future food security remains as a serious global challenge.
Therefore, conventional plant breeding efforts that follow paradigm of “cross best with the best and hope for the best” are no longer sufficient to meet our demands and must be integrated with the evolving phenomic, genomic, and other computational tools to address the future challenges of food security, sustainability of ecosystems, and progress to zero hunger. The advances in genetics and epigenetics studies and access to technologies, such as next generation sequencing, high-throughput marker genotyping, and omics have contributed to our understanding of genes and their environmental interactions in the process to maximize yields and tolerance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Nonetheless, it is highly important to highlight these advances and present it in a single platform to provide researchers, decision makers, organizations, and readers with the opportunity to evaluate and analyze these developments to increase the sustainability and resilience of food systems in the face of climate instability.
In the spirit of achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture, Frontiers in Sustainability is launching this Research Topic in line with our Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 ‘Zero Hunger’. As such, this Research Topic will focus not only on crops but also on model and non-model plant species and related approaches that may enhance our understanding to address the issues of sustainable food security and ecosystem resilience in the face of global climate change. Themes may include but are not limited to:
· Ecologically and socially resilient food and agriculture systems;
· Fostering biodiversity for sustainable ecosystem services;
· Food security and progress to zero hunger;
· Climate smart agriculture;
· Phenomic and genomic approaches towards sustainable agriculture;
· Increasing crop productivity while mitigating climate change impacts;
· Low input agriculture and domestication of new/marginal crops as staple food resources; and,
· Wide hybridization and introgression of alien genes for improving resistance.
Therefore, conventional plant breeding efforts that follow paradigm of “cross best with the best and hope for the best” are no longer sufficient to meet our demands and must be integrated with the evolving phenomic, genomic, and other computational tools to address the future challenges of food security, sustainability of ecosystems, and progress to zero hunger. The advances in genetics and epigenetics studies and access to technologies, such as next generation sequencing, high-throughput marker genotyping, and omics have contributed to our understanding of genes and their environmental interactions in the process to maximize yields and tolerance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Nonetheless, it is highly important to highlight these advances and present it in a single platform to provide researchers, decision makers, organizations, and readers with the opportunity to evaluate and analyze these developments to increase the sustainability and resilience of food systems in the face of climate instability.
In the spirit of achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture, Frontiers in Sustainability is launching this Research Topic in line with our Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 ‘Zero Hunger’. As such, this Research Topic will focus not only on crops but also on model and non-model plant species and related approaches that may enhance our understanding to address the issues of sustainable food security and ecosystem resilience in the face of global climate change. Themes may include but are not limited to:
· Ecologically and socially resilient food and agriculture systems;
· Fostering biodiversity for sustainable ecosystem services;
· Food security and progress to zero hunger;
· Climate smart agriculture;
· Phenomic and genomic approaches towards sustainable agriculture;
· Increasing crop productivity while mitigating climate change impacts;
· Low input agriculture and domestication of new/marginal crops as staple food resources; and,
· Wide hybridization and introgression of alien genes for improving resistance.
Keywords: Sustainable agriculture, zero hunger, climate resilient food system, biodiversity, ecosystem services
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
