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Plants for the future

New opportunities for developing more efficient and effective crop systems 1part_

In the new millennium, the agriculture sector is facing different challenges. On one hand, there is a call for sustainable agriculture, high quality and high prod- uctivity. Yet profits are being eroded by an international economic turndown and global competition is at records level.

One solution is offered by the exponential growth in knowledge in parallel with constant advances in the technologies employed to create and manage this knowledge. The twenty-first century began with the announcement that the human genome had been sequenced, and within a few years similar information was obtained from many organisms, including prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes. So far, more than a dozen plant species, including 4 types of fruit tree, have been sequenced successfully.

Here in Trentino, we have directed much of our focus on application of this knowledge, primarily to stimulate research leading to the genetic improvement of the plants of greatest interest to this Region: grapevine, apple, strawberry and raspberry. Between 2007 and 2010 grapevine, apple and strawberry genomes were deposited in international databases with a significant input from the platform of FEM. We are now developing a new paradigm in applied research, particularly with respect to these plant. Our basic genetic knowledge is now a sufficient species for drawing up feasible plans for genetic improvement and for producing new genotypes with high added economic value.

Agriculture is experiencing a period of enormous change. Therefore, while agronomy will maintain its importance for crop management, knowledge of plant genomes will help producers and consumers reach to their most pressing goals in the coming years: e.g. plants that can tolerate and resist pathogens, plants that require less intensive interventions, plants that provide a guaranteed income of their quality, originality and high nutritional content of theit produce.

The experience of growers and producers in the field combined with sophisticated agricultural techniques are now supplemented by new choices based on genetic knowledge, such as land and product characterization and management strategies, that respect the environment, inimaginable only a decade ago.