Living libraries could save our food

A new study published in Nature Climate Change reveals how plant genebanks, home to millions of genetically diverse plants around the world, can help speed up the process of breeding crops better suited for climate change.

"Climate driven pressures on food crops touch every country on our planet and this technique holds promise for making more use of our global genebanks," said co-author Michael Kantar of the UH Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR).

Living libraries that fight climate change

According to Kantar, plant genebanks are essential for protecting the genetic diversity of food crops. These "living libraries" store seeds and other genetic material, providing a vital resource for plant breeders working to develop new crop varieties that have a range of traits from drought resistance to disease tolerance.

The researchers used sorghum, a grain grown for food, fuel, and livestock feed, to test a new method called environmental genomic selection. It combines DNA data with climate information to predict which plants are best suited for future conditions.

"It can be applied to any crop that has the right data, these include sorghum, barley, cannabis, pepper and dozens of other crops," said Kantar.

The approach also saves time. Instead of testing thousands of plants in the field, scientists use a smaller, diverse "mini-core" group to forecast how crops will perform in different environments. This helps breeders quickly select the best parents for new, climate-resilient varieties.

"This method will help us keep pace with the hotter temperatures and increased risk of flooding from Earth's changing climate and help develop new varieties to ensure food security," Kantar said.

Researchers discovered that nations with high sorghum use may need genetic resources from other countries to effectively adapt to climate change stressing the value of global teamwork in securing the world's food supply.