b'EXTRASSCIENTISTS RELEASE UK ROADMAP FORvance of intercropping for food and feed production. They were MANAGING KEY INGREDIENT BEHIND ALL THEthen able to quantify the differences between intercropping and FOOD WE EAT monocropping, and identify crop combinations and management practices that result in higher grain, calorie and protein yields In launching the UKs first comprehensive national transforma- with intercropping than with monocropping.tion strategy into phosphorus, researchers say they are providingBy reducing the need for farmland and fertilizers, intercrop-a roadmap for how the nation can better manage this importantping can help sustainably meet increasing demands for feed and resource. food as the worlds population expands. The strategy outlines a pressing need for new solutionsSource: INRAE - National Research Institute for and scaling-up of existing phosphorus innovations to preventAgriculture, Food and Environmentfuture damage to aquatic biodiversity and habitat, reduce reli-ance on risky import markets and to unlock new opportunities for agriculture. BROCCOLI LOOKS MORE LIKE CAULIFLOWER IN Crop and livestock production in the UK is almost entirelyA WARMER WORLDdependent on imported phosphorus in feeds and fertilisersthe UK imports around 174,000 tonnes of phosphorus annually.A new study identifies the genetic underpinnings for why broc-Much of these imports derive from phosphate rock from coun- coli heads become abnormal when its hot, providing insight into tries including Russia, Morocco and China. The price of phos- effects of climate-induced warming for all crops and pointing the phate fertiliser quadrupled between mid 2020 and mid 2022 dueway for breeding heat-resistant new varieties.to supply disruptions and market concentration in China. TheBroccoli grows best when planted in cool early spring or ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine is serving to highlight thelate summer, into fall. The researchers found that while broc-food security risks associated with reliance on imports of criticalcoli grows normally at average temperatures of 61 F, its crowns farm inputs like phosphorus. begin to deform at 72 F and it forms dense cauliflower-like heads The UK Phosphorus Transformation Strategya major(called curds) at 82 F.output from the RePhoKUs project, led by Lancaster UniversityThe researchers then applied 5-azacytidine, a chemical and involving the University of Technology Sydney, Universityknown to inhibit a process called DNA methylation, where of Leeds, AFBI, UK CEH and funded under the UKs Global Fooda methyl groupa small moleculegets added to DNA. Security research programmesets out the challenges and keyMethylation is one mechanism for turning genes on and off; in steps needed for the UK to adopt resilient, efficient and sustain- this case it suppresses a cluster of genes required for normal able management of phosphorus. broccoli head production. When 5-azacytidine was administered, For the full report, please visit: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/ normal broccoli heads grew even at 82 F, suggesting that meth-rephokus/publications/ ylation was behind the abnormal growth in the presence of heat. Source: Lancaster University Once we understand the mechanism better, we should be able to devise ways to develop a new biotechnology, a molecu-lar genetics approach to suppress DNA methylation, in order USING INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS FORto breed crops to grow in much warmer temperatures and in SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL AGRICULTURALwider regions, said Susheng Gan, Cornell University professor PRODUCTION in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a co-corre-sponding author of the paper published Dec. 22 in the journal With the increasing food demands of a growing world population,Molecular Horticulture. Liping Chen, a professor of vegetable it is essential to increase agricultural production while reducingscience at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, is the other its environmental footprint. Crop diversification techniques havecorresponding author.often been proposed as agroecological solutions to achieve thisIn the study, the researchers profiled broccoli plants (Brassica goal. Among them, intercroppingthe growth of several cropoleracea) using whole-genome sequencing technologies that iden-species in the same fieldsseems to be particularly promising.tified the plants methylomewhere in the genome methylation This practice has always been uncommon in Europe and, althoughoccurredand its transcriptomewhich identifies which genes it has traditionally been used in countries of the Global South, itare turned on. They found that abnormal flower development in is currently declining due to urbanization and migration of ruralbroccoli was regulated by sets of floral development cessation-as-populations. In a new study, a group of scientists performed asociated genes (FCGs). At 61 F, broccoli heads (its floral bud) quantitative assessment of the performance of intercropping sys- developed normally. At 82 F and to a lesser extent at 72 F, meth-tems by analysing the results of 226 agricultural experiments.ylation of genetic elements that turned on FCGs were suppressed.To objectively assess the performance of intercropping sys- When grown at warmer temperatures, floral development tems under modern conditions, a team of French, Dutch, andbecomes restricted to earlier stages of development. So, at 72 Chinese researchers performed a detailed analysis of a vast data- F, broccoli buds are restricted to a stage where they look like base, which brought together information from 226 agriculturala cross between a broccoli head and cauliflower curd; and experiments conducted worldwide. Based on a meta-analysis,at 82 F, they are even further undeveloped, and resemble a the scientists were able to compare the productivity of monocul- cauliflower-like curd.tures and different intercropping configurations. Source: Cornell UniversityAfter analysing grain yield data, the researchers used data on grain calories and protein concentrations to assess the rele-EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 37'