Cargando…

Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges

Intercropping of two or more species on the same piece of land can enhance biodiversity and resource use efficiency in agriculture. Traditionally, intercropping systems have been developed and improved by empirical methods within a specific local context. To support the development of promising inte...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Weih, Martin, Adam, Eveline, Vico, Giulia, Rubiales, Diego
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8854142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35185972
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.720486
_version_ 1784653382972080128
author Weih, Martin
Adam, Eveline
Vico, Giulia
Rubiales, Diego
author_facet Weih, Martin
Adam, Eveline
Vico, Giulia
Rubiales, Diego
author_sort Weih, Martin
collection PubMed
description Intercropping of two or more species on the same piece of land can enhance biodiversity and resource use efficiency in agriculture. Traditionally, intercropping systems have been developed and improved by empirical methods within a specific local context. To support the development of promising intercropping systems, the individual species that are part of an intercrop can be subjected to breeding. Breeding for intercropping aims at resource foraging traits of the admixed species to maximize niche complementarity, niche facilitation, and intercrop performance. The breeding process can be facilitated by modeling tools that simulate the outcome of the combination of different species’ (or genotypes’) traits for growth and yield development, reducing the need of extensive field testing. Here, we revisit the challenges associated with breeding for intercropping, and give an outlook on applying crop growth models to assist breeding for intercropping. We conclude that crop growth models can assist breeding for intercropping, provided that (i) they incorporate the relevant plant features and mechanisms driving interspecific plant–plant interactions; (ii) they are based on model parameters that are closely linked to the traits that breeders would select for; and (iii) model calibration and validation is done with field data measured in intercrops. Minimalist crop growth models are more likely to incorporate the above elements than comprehensive but parameter-intensive crop growth models. Their lower complexity and reduced parameter requirement facilitate the exploration of mechanisms at play and fulfil the model requirements for calibration of the appropriate crop growth models.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8854142
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-88541422022-02-19 Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges Weih, Martin Adam, Eveline Vico, Giulia Rubiales, Diego Front Plant Sci Plant Science Intercropping of two or more species on the same piece of land can enhance biodiversity and resource use efficiency in agriculture. Traditionally, intercropping systems have been developed and improved by empirical methods within a specific local context. To support the development of promising intercropping systems, the individual species that are part of an intercrop can be subjected to breeding. Breeding for intercropping aims at resource foraging traits of the admixed species to maximize niche complementarity, niche facilitation, and intercrop performance. The breeding process can be facilitated by modeling tools that simulate the outcome of the combination of different species’ (or genotypes’) traits for growth and yield development, reducing the need of extensive field testing. Here, we revisit the challenges associated with breeding for intercropping, and give an outlook on applying crop growth models to assist breeding for intercropping. We conclude that crop growth models can assist breeding for intercropping, provided that (i) they incorporate the relevant plant features and mechanisms driving interspecific plant–plant interactions; (ii) they are based on model parameters that are closely linked to the traits that breeders would select for; and (iii) model calibration and validation is done with field data measured in intercrops. Minimalist crop growth models are more likely to incorporate the above elements than comprehensive but parameter-intensive crop growth models. Their lower complexity and reduced parameter requirement facilitate the exploration of mechanisms at play and fulfil the model requirements for calibration of the appropriate crop growth models. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8854142/ /pubmed/35185972 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.720486 Text en Copyright © 2022 Weih, Adam, Vico and Rubiales. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Weih, Martin
Adam, Eveline
Vico, Giulia
Rubiales, Diego
Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title_full Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title_fullStr Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title_full_unstemmed Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title_short Application of Crop Growth Models to Assist Breeding for Intercropping: Opportunities and Challenges
title_sort application of crop growth models to assist breeding for intercropping: opportunities and challenges
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8854142/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35185972
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.720486
work_keys_str_mv AT weihmartin applicationofcropgrowthmodelstoassistbreedingforintercroppingopportunitiesandchallenges
AT adameveline applicationofcropgrowthmodelstoassistbreedingforintercroppingopportunitiesandchallenges
AT vicogiulia applicationofcropgrowthmodelstoassistbreedingforintercroppingopportunitiesandchallenges
AT rubialesdiego applicationofcropgrowthmodelstoassistbreedingforintercroppingopportunitiesandchallenges