Genetic approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions : increasing carbon capture and decreasing environmental impact

Parry, Martin A J and Hawkesford, Malcolm J. (2010) Genetic approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions : increasing carbon capture and decreasing environmental impact. In: Climate change and crop production :. CABI Publishing, pp. 139-150. ISBN 9781845936334

Abstract

Genetic improvements aimed at increasing crop performance and decreasing the environmental costs of production are essential to mitigate the impact of climate change. This can be achieved by increasing production efficiency and decreasing losses during storage and processing thus decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gases needed to support production. Progress by conventional approaches may be too small to achieve the necessary progress quickly enough. Biotechnology has the potential to make larger changes more quickly by both identifying and introducing novel variation in key agronomic traits. In this chapter we focus on some specific examples of key targets that could be modified by such directed approaches.