Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Mineral Nutrient Depletion Affects Plant
Development and Crop Yield
Sarah J. Whitcomb, Elmien Heyneke, Fayezeh Aarabi, Mutsumi Watanabe,
and Rainer Hoefgen
Abstract Optimal plant development depends on the availability of light, water,
favourable temperatures and mineral nutrients. Insufficient availability of plant
mineral nutrients leads to growth impairments and yield depressions. In natural
environments as well as in agricultural systems, mineral nutrient availability is
changing in space and time over the growth season of a plant. Therefore, plants
have developed adaptation strategies to cope with nutrient deficiencies. Fully
understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level is a necessity for breeding
nutrient use efficient crops. Plant systems biology approaches contribute to this
endeavour as agriculture and plant breeding face-increasing challenges to achieve
sustainable and effective agricultural production.
Keywords Nutrient deficiency • Development • Senescence • Omics • Systems
biology • Nitrogen • Phosphorus • Sulfur
Introduction - The Importance of Mineral Nutrient Use
Efficiency for a Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable crop production will be one of the most critical challenges in the next
50 years due to predicted worldwide population growth and increasing meat
consumption, especially in the developing world (Dyson
1999
; Long and Ort
2010
; Tester and Langridge
2010
; Mueller et al.
2012
). Conventional breeding
and improved agronomical practices are currently producing only incremental and
insufficient increases in crop yield potential, and factors such as global climate
change will increasingly compromise the ability to reach this theoretical yield
potential (Jaggard et al.
2010
). With respect to climate change, increasing night
temperatures and altered water availability patterns are particularly problematic
(Semenov and Halford
2009
; Long and Ort
2010
; Dolferus et al.
2011
;
