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Precision plant breeding

and genetic biofortification

By Claudi Nortjé

everal distinguished speakers biofortification of crops in Africa. According mineral accumulation among crops, soil
contributed to the 13th Southern to her, approximately 792,5 million people composition and the location of each crop.”
African Plant Breeding Symposium across the world are malnourished, of which According to Prof Labuschagne,
hosted by the Southern African 780 million live in developing countries. In biofortification through conventional
S Plant Breeders’ Association addition, around two billion people suffer breeding is the most accepted method
(SAPBA) at the University of Pretoria’s from hidden hunger caused by inadequate of biofortification. Nevertheless, there
Future Africa Campus earlier this year. daily intake of essential micronutrients. must be sufficient variation in the
The event looked at how the Fourth Industrial One of the possible solutions to this global traits of interest for it to be feasible.
Revolution is driving digital transformation concern is genetic biofortification of crops.
throughout the agricultural industry, changing “Biofortification is the process during Conventional breeding limitations
the way agriculturalists live and work within which the nutrient density of food crops Since the uptake and accumulation of
the multidisciplinary nature of plant breeding. is increased through conventional plant micronutrients are controlled by polygenes
breeding, improved agronomic practices, and are dependent on genetic diversity
Precision breeding biotechnology or a combination of all for their traits, the conventional breeding-
Richard Fly, head of breeding at Bayer South of these factors, without sacrificing based biofortification approaches have
Africa, discussed precision breeding for plant characteristics preferred by not always been successful in all crops.
the modern farm. “We are going to have an farmers and consumers,” she explains. Transgenic approaches are an alternative
extra 2,2 billion people on earth by 2050, to conventional breeding. “Transgenic
which means we need 50% more food than Fighting hidden hunger technologies improve the genotypes by
we currently consume. There is a massive The biofortification approach involves fixed changing focused metabolic pathways. These
amount of pressure on our ecosystems and one-time costs in developing breeding technologies pave the way for modified
resources, which means we have to start methodologies, breeding nutritional quality proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals
thinking differently about how we do things.” traits into current crop varieties, and adapting and other metabolites,” says Prof Labuschagne.
He says the science of plant breeding these varieties to diverse environments. This “Ample research has been done on
has improved by leaps and bounds over the approach will require minimum recurrent transgenics, but relatively few cultivars have
last 100 years. “If you look at the area it took investments and the benefits can be made been released so far. In contrast, research
to cultivate ten bushels of maize in 1940 available globally, especially to all developing on conventional breeding has been limited
compared to what we are cultivating now, countries. Most importantly, breeding for with a higher number of cultivars available.
we have really made impressive advances. higher trace mineral density in the consumed When looking at the biofortification
However, we need to focus on doing the plant parts will not incur a yield penalty. approaches of agronomics, transgenics and
small things really well and setting new “Biofortification through conventional conventional breeding, you can see that
standards in terms of sustainability to make breeding offers a cost-effective, long-term cereals have benefitted the most, followed
sure we pioneer digital transformation and sustainable approach for fighting by legumes, vegetables, fruit and oilseeds.”
and improve our overall productivity.” hidden hunger. About 300 biofortified crop
According to Richard, enhanced precision varieties have been released for commercial Addressing concerns
translates into better resource allocation, production, with most of these produced The biggest problem is consumer
which will improve any breeding programme. through conventional breeding. At this stage, acceptability, seeing as modified crops
“By considering which type of traits or alleles the crops have mostly been biofortified with may differ physically from normal varieties.
are interacting best in a particular climate minerals such as zinc and iron, or provitamin A. Marketing therefore plays an important
and environment, we can gain insight into “The agronomic approach focuses role prior to commercial release. Regulatory
which type of alleles would be best suited to on optimising the application of mineral processes are also very expensive and time
each country. This will enable us to leverage fertiliser and improving the solubilisation consuming, especially in an African context.
our global germplasm library effectively.” and mobilisation of the mineral elements Many countries do not yet have supporting
in the soil. This is the simplest method legislation in place, causing delays.
Genetic biofortification in Africa among all the biofortification methods,
Prof Maryke Labuschagne of the University but the success rate is highly irregular For more information or references, contact
of the Free State discussed genetic due to differences in mineral mobility, the author at claudi@plaasmedia.co.za.

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