In the August 31 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a paper co-authored by JIRCAS, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the University of the Basque Country, and the College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University entitled "Enlisting wild grass genes to combat nitrification in wheat farming: A nature-based solution" was published in PNAS, published online on August 23.
The paper reports the successful development of the world's first biological nitrification inhibition (BNI)-enabled wheat that shows high productivity even with a reduced nitrogen fertilizer environment.
The developed BNI-enabled wheat are high-yielding varieties that have been given BNI capacity through intergeneric crossing with Leymus racemosus, a wild wheat with high BNI capacity. We identified the chromosomal region that regulates the BNI capacity of Leymus racemosus, which enabled us to further introduce BNI capacity by crossbreeding.
In addition, in field tests, it was confirmed that BNI-enabled wheat improves soil ammonium concentration by delaying soil nitrification, thereby increasing wheat productivity even in low nitrogen environments.
By adding BNI capacity derived from Leymus racemosus to various wheat varieties for the world's approximately 225 million hectares of wheat-growing areas, we can expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farmland and water pollution caused by nitrification and mitigate global warming while improving productivity.
The use of BNI-enabled crops is expected to improve both productivity and sustainability as "the development and diffusion of earth-friendly super varieties that reduce greenhouse gases and water pollutants" (Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems, MeaDRI: formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on May 12, 2021).
JIRCAS will continue to promote the development of planet-friendly and highly efficient food systems using BNI-enabled wheat in collaboration with research institutes around the world.
