Sustainable Intensification in Agriculture: Premises and Policies
Clearer understanding is needed of the premises underlying SI and how it relates to food-system priorities.
Abstract
Food security is high on the global policy agenda. Demand for food is increasing as populations grow and gain wealth to purchase more varied and resource-intensive diets. There is increased competition for land, water, energy, and other inputs into food production. Climate change poses challenges to agriculture, particularly in developing countries (1), and many current farming practices damage the environment and are a major source of greenhouse gases (GHG). In an increasingly globalized world, food insecurity in one region can have widespread political and economic ramifications (2).
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References and Notes
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Parry M., et al., Climate Change and Hunger, Responding to the Challenge (World Food Programme, Rome, 2009).
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Collins E. D., Chandrasekaran K., A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? An Analysis of the ‘Sustainable Intensification’ of Agriculture (Friends of the Earth International, Amsterdam, 2012).
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Science
Volume 341 | Issue 6141
5 July 2013
5 July 2013
Copyright
Copyright © 2013, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Published in print: 5 July 2013
Acknowledgments
T.G. and H.C.J.G. acknowledge support from the Oxford Martin School. T.G.B. acknowledges support from the UK Global Food Security Programme. S.J.V. acknowledges support from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Danish International Development Agency, the European Union, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
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Why dry regions contribute to increased sweetness in fruits?
Carbohydrate molecules possess hydroxyl groups and aldehyde groups, which are hydrogen bond donors and acceptors that form hydrogen bonds with water molecules or protons. As desert regions are hot and arid, saccharides build up and help to preserve water molecules for plant survival.
Substantial diurnal temperature amplitude changes also contribute to increased sweetness in fruits. Daytime photosynthesis builds up carbohydrate. Low temperature at night drives a robust Krebs cycle, which generates large amounts of protons that can be absorbed by carbohydrates. Therefore, saccharides build up in plants, and potentially deleterious proton stress is alleviated. This could explain why immature fruits are often sour. The aforementioned theory can be explored and harnessed for the genetic improvement of plants.
Yanchao Zhou, 1,3 Ran He, 1,3 Zi-Wei Ye, 2,3 Qiuyun Liu 1,*
1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Improved Variety Reproduction in Aquatic Economic Animals, Biomedical Center, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
2. School of Biological Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
3. Equal contributions.
*Correspondence author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (Q. Liu)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Manuscript editing by Ms. Yan Shi, and support from Guangdong Science and Technology Program (2016B020204001) and Guangzhou Science and Technology Program are appreciated.
Why are starch-rich grain seeds associated with low lysine content of seed proteins?
Starch harbors oxygen atoms which can form hydrogen bonds with protons. Lysine is positively charged at physiological conditions. Starch-rich and lysine-rich seeds would allow the trapping of protons and chloride ions, leading to the local formation of HCl which damages cells (1-2). The positively charged guanidine group of arginine possesses lone electron pairs and pi electrons, which can attract larger anions than lysine does and render arginine slightly less toxic than lysine. The guanidyl side chain of arginine exhibits a delocalization of the positive charge within the pi-bonded system. Evolutionary selections may have selected grain seeds with poor lysine content to evade stress. Rich-cellulosic material in plants would have somewhat similar effect as starch does since it is also rich in hydrogen bond donors and acceptors.
Shaoping Weng, 1,4 Wei Shi, 2,4 Feng Wang, 3,4 Qiuyun Liu 1,*
1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Improved Variety Reproduction in Aquatic Economic Animals, Biomedical Center, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
2. C334, Medicine Building, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
3. Molecular Model Discovery Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Vic. 3122, Australia.
4. Equal contribution.
*Correspondence author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (Q. Liu)
REFERENCES
1. X. Ma et al. Science, (2017); http://science.sciencemag.org/content/327/5967/818/tab-e-letters
2. M. Tang et al, Med Hyp 98, 42 (2017)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Manuscript editing by Ms. Yan Shi is appreciated.