Neglecting legumes has compromised human health and sustainable food production

Low Temperature Stress Tolerance: An Insight Into the Omics Approaches for Legume Crops

The change in climatic conditions is the major cause for decline in crop production worldwide. Decreasing crop productivity will further lead to increase in global hunger rate. Climate change results in environmental stress which has negative impact on plant-like deficiencies in growth, crop yield, permanent damage, or death if the plant remains in the stress conditions for prolonged period. Cold stress is one of the main abiotic stresses which have already affected the global crop production. Cold stress adversely affects the plants leading to necrosis, chlorosis, and growth retardation. Various physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses under cold stress have revealed that the cold resistance is more complex than perceived which involves multiple pathways. Like other crops, legumes are also affected by cold stress and therefore, an effective technique to mitigate cold-mediated damage is critical for long-term legume production. Earlier, crop improvement for any stress was challenging for scientific community as conventional breeding approaches like inter-specific or inter-generic hybridization had limited success in crop improvement. The availability of genome sequence, transcriptome, and proteome data provides in-depth sight into different complex mechanisms under cold stress. Identification of QTLs, genes, and proteins responsible for cold stress tolerance will help in improving or developing stress-tolerant legume crop. Cold stress can alter gene expression which further leads to increases in stress protecting metabolites to cope up the plant against the temperature fluctuations. Moreover, genetic engineering can help in development of new cold stress-tolerant varieties of legume crop. This paper provides a general insight into the "omics" approaches for cold stress in legume crops.

Integrating Social-Ecological and Political-Ecological Models of Agrobiodiversity With Nutrient Management of Keystone Food Spaces to Support SDG 2

Agrobiodiversity—the biodiversity of food, agriculture, and land use—is essential to U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 2 by providing crucial food and nutritional quality of diets combined with strengthening agroecological sustainability. Focusing on the agrobiodiversity nexus to SDG 2, the current study utilized the interdisciplinary Agrobiodiversity Knowledge Framework (AKF), household-level surveys, and biodiversity sampling of crop fields and home gardens in a case study in Huánuco, Peru, in 2017. Statistical measures estimated agrobiodiversity of crop fields (n = 268 households) and home gardens (n=159 households) based on species richness (3.7 and 10.2 species/household, in fields and gardens, respectively) and evenness (Shannon diversity index; 0.70 and 1.83 in fields and gardens, respectively). Robust results of Poisson and OLS regression models identified several AKF-guided determinants of agrobiodiversity. Estimated species richness and evenness were significantly associated with 12 social-ecological and political-ecological factors from the four AKF thematic axes: farm characteristics and agroecology; diets and nutrition; markets, governance and sociocultural practices; and global change. This study's AKF approach, agrobiodiversity modeling, agroecological characterization, and field-based case study advanced a series of useful research insights, comparisons, and conceptual innovations to address SDG 2. Characterization of nutrient management through soil- and plant-focused cultural practices and livelihood roles distinguished the “keystone agrobiodiversity-and-food space” of multi-species maize fields (maizales) identified in AKF regression and characterization results. This key space furnished crucial food-nutrition and agroecological benefits that can be expanded by overcoming identified barriers. AKF-guided models incorporating key agrobiodiversity-and-food spaces and ecological nutrient management are needed to strengthen SDG 2 strategies.

Integration of Abandoned Lands in Sustainable Agriculture: The Case of Terraced Landscape Re-Cultivation in Mediterranean Island Conditions

Agriculture terraces constitute a significant element of the Mediterranean landscape, enabling crop production on steep slopes while protecting land from desertification. Despite their ecological and historical value, terrace cultivation is threatened by climate change leading to abandonment and further marginalization of arable land imposing serious environmental and community hazards. Re-cultivation of terraced landscapes could be an alternative strategy to mitigate the climate change impacts in areas of high vulnerability encouraging a sustainable agroecosystem to ensure food security, rural development and restrain land desertification. The article presents the case study of abandoned terrace re-cultivation in the Aegean Island of Andros, using a climate smart agriculture system, which involves the establishment of an extensive meteorological network to monitor the local climate and hydrometeorological forecasting. Along with terrace site mapping and soil profiling the perfomance of cereal and legume crops was assessed in a low-input agriculture system. The implementation of a land stewardship (LS) plan was indispensable to overcome mainly land fragmentation issues and to transfer know-how. It was found that climate data are key drivers for crop cultivation and production in the island rainfed farming system. The study revealed that terrace soil quality could be improved through cultivation to support food safety and stall land degradation. In line with global studies this research suggest that cultivation of marginal terraced land is timely through a climate smart agriculture system as a holistic approach to improve land quality and serve as means to combat climate change impacts. The study also discusses land management and policy approaches to address the issue of agricultural land abandonment and the benefits gained through cultivation to the local community, economy and environment protection and sustainability.

Molecular Mechanisms and Biochemical Pathways for Micronutrient Acquisition and Storage in Legumes to Support Biofortification for Nutritional Security

The world faces a grave situation of nutrient deficiency as a consequence of increased uptake of calorie-rich food that threaten nutritional security. More than half the world's population is affected by different forms of malnutrition. Unhealthy diets associated with poor nutrition carry a significant risk of developing non-communicable diseases, leading to a high mortality rate. Although considerable efforts have been made in agriculture to increase nutrient content in cereals, the successes are insufficient. The number of people affected by different forms of malnutrition has not decreased much in the recent past. While legumes are an integral part of the food system and widely grown in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, only limited efforts have been made to increase their nutrient content in these regions. Genetic variation for a majority of nutritional traits that ensure nutritional security in adverse conditions exists in the germplasm pool of legume crops. This diversity can be utilized by selective breeding for increased nutrients in seeds. The targeted identification of precise factors related to nutritional traits and their utilization in a breeding program can help mitigate malnutrition. The principal objective of this review is to present the molecular mechanisms of nutrient acquisition, transport and metabolism to support a biofortification strategy in legume crops to contribute to addressing malnutrition.