Dataset Information

Can increased leaf photosynthesis be converted into higher crop mass production? A simulation study for rice using the crop model GECROS.

ABSTRACT: Various genetic engineering routes to enhance C3 leaf photosynthesis have been proposed to improve crop productivity. However, their potential contribution to crop productivity needs to be assessed under realistic field conditions. Using 31 year weather data, we ran the crop model GECROS for rice in tropical, subtropical, and temperate environments, to evaluate the following routes: (1) improving mesophyll conductance (gm); (2) improving Rubisco specificity (Sc/o); (3) improving both gm and Sc/o; (4) introducing C4 biochemistry; (5) introducing C4 Kranz anatomy that effectively minimizes CO2 leakage; (6) engineering the complete C4 mechanism; (7) engineering cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters; (8) engineering a more elaborate cyanobacterial CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) with the carboxysome in the chloroplast; and (9) a mechanism that combines the low ATP cost of the cyanobacterial CCM and the high photosynthetic capacity per unit leaf nitrogen. All routes improved crop mass production, but benefits from Routes 1, 2, and 7 were ≤10%. Benefits were higher in the presence than in the absence of drought, and under the present climate than for the climate predicted for 2050. Simulated crop mass differences resulted not only from the increased canopy photosynthesis competence but also from changes in traits such as light interception and crop senescence. The route combinations gave larger effects than the sum of the effects of the single routes, but only Route 9 could bring an advantage of ≥50% under any environmental conditions. To supercharge crop productivity, exploring a combination of routes in improving the CCM, photosynthetic capacity, and quantum efficiency is required.

SUBMITTER: Yin X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5447886 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Can increased leaf photosynthesis be converted into higher crop mass production? A simulation study for rice using the crop model GECROS.

Yin Xinyou X Struik Paul C PC

Journal of experimental botany 20170401 9

Various genetic engineering routes to enhance C3 leaf photosynthesis have been proposed to improve crop productivity. However, their potential contribution to crop productivity needs to be assessed under realistic field conditions. Using 31 year weather data, we ran the crop model GECROS for rice in tropical, subtropical, and temperate environments, to evaluate the following routes: (1) improving mesophyll conductance (gm); (2) improving Rubisco specificity (Sc/o); (3) improving both gm and Sc/o ...[more]

PMID: 28379522

Similar Datasets

Project description:Meeting the future food security challenge without further sacrificing environmental integrity requires transformative changes in managing the key biophysical determinants of increasing agronomic productivity and reducing the environmental footprint. Here, we focus on Chinese rice production and quantitatively address this concern by conducting 403 on-farm trials across diverse rice farming systems. Inherent soil productivity, management practices and rice farming type resulted in confounded and interactive effects on yield, yield gaps and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (N2O, CH4 and CO2-equivalent) with both trade-offs and compensating effects. Advances in nitrogen, water and crop management (Best Management Practices-BMPs) helped closing existing yield gaps and resulted in a substantial reduction in CO2-equivalent emission of rice farming despite a tradeoff of increase N2O emission. However, inherent soil properties limited rice yields to a larger extent than previously known. Cultivating inherently better soil also led to lower GHG intensity (GHG emissions per unit yield). Neither adopting BMPs only nor improving soils with low or moderate productivity alone can adequately address the challenge of substantially increasing rice production while reducing the environmental footprint. A combination of both represents the most efficient strategy to harness the combined-benefits of enhanced production and mitigating climate change. Extrapolating from our farm data, this strategy could increase rice production in China by 18%, which would meet the demand for direct human consumption of rice by 2030. It would also reduce fertilizer nitrogen consumption by 22% and decrease CO2-equivalent emissions during the rice growing period by 7% compared with current farming practice continues. Benefits vary by rice-based cropping systems. Single rice systems have the largest food provision benefits due to its wider yield gap and total cultivated area, whereas double-rice system (especially late rice) contributes primarily to reducing GHG emissions. The study therefore provides farm-based evidence for feasible, practical approaches towards achieving realistic food security and environmental quality targets at a national scale.

Dataset Information

Can increased leaf photosynthesis be converted into higher crop mass production? A simulation study for rice using the crop model GECROS.

Publications

Can increased leaf photosynthesis be converted into higher crop mass production? A simulation study for rice using the crop model GECROS.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets