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Bonfante A, Impagliazzo A, Fiorentino N, Langella G, Mori M, Fagnano M. Supporting local farming communities and crop production resilience to climate change through giant reed (Arundo donax L.) cultivation: An Italian case study. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2017; 601-602:603-613. [PMID: 28575836 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Bioenergy crops are well known for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the soil carbon stock. Although such crops are often held to be in competition with food crops and thus raise the question of current and future food security, at the same time mitigation measures are required to tackle climate change and sustain local farming communities and crop production. However, in some cases the actions envisaged for specific pedo-climatic conditions are not always economically sustainable by farmers. In this frame, energy crops with high environmental adaptability and yields, such as giant reed (Arundo donax L.), may represent an opportunity to improve farm incomes, making marginal areas not suitable for food production once again productive. In so doing, three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations would be met, namely SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, SDG 7 on reliable, sustainable and modern energy, and SDG 13 on action to combat climate change and its impacts. In this work, the response of giant reed in the marginal areas of an agricultural district of southern Italy (Destra Sele) and expected farm incomes under climate change (2021-2050) are evaluated. The normalized water productivity index of giant reed was determined (WP; 30.1gm-2) by means of a SWAP agro-hydrological model, calibrated and validated on two years of a long-term field experiment. The model was used to estimate giant reed response (biomass yield) in marginal areas under climate change, and economic evaluation was performed to determine expected farm incomes (woodchips and chopped forage). The results show that woodchip production represents the most profitable option for farmers, yielding a gross margin 50% lower than ordinary high-input maize cultivation across the study area.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Bonfante
- National Research Council of Italy (CNR), DiSBA-ISAFOM, Ercolano, NA, Italy.
| | - A Impagliazzo
- University of Naples Federico II, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Portici, NA, Italy
| | - N Fiorentino
- University of Naples Federico II, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Portici, NA, Italy
| | - G Langella
- National Research Council of Italy (CNR), DiSBA-ISAFOM, Ercolano, NA, Italy
| | - M Mori
- University of Naples Federico II, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Portici, NA, Italy
| | - M Fagnano
- University of Naples Federico II, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Portici, NA, Italy
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Pigna G, Dhillon T, Dlugosz EM, Yuan JS, Gorman C, Morandini P, Lenaghan SC, Stewart CN. Methods for suspension culture, protoplast extraction, and transformation of high-biomass yielding perennial grass Arundo donax. Biotechnol J 2016; 11:1657-1666. [PMID: 27762502 DOI: 10.1002/biot.201600486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2016] [Revised: 10/13/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Arundo donax L. is a promising biofuel feedstock in the Mediterranean region. Despite considerable interest in its genetic improvement, Arundo tissue culture and transformation remains arduous. The authors developed methodologies for cell- and tissue culture and genetic engineering in Arundo. A media screen was conducted, and a suspension culture was established using callus induced from stem axillary bud explants. DBAP medium, containing 9 µM 2,4-D and 4.4 µM BAP, was found to be the most effective medium among those tested for inducing cell suspension cultures, which resulted in a five-fold increase in tissue mass over 14 days. In contrast, CIM medium containing 13 µM 2,4-D, resulted in just a 1.4-fold increase in mass over the same period. Optimized suspension cultures were superior to previously-described solidified medium-based callus culture methods for tissue mass increase. Suspension cultures proved to be very effective for subsequent protoplast isolation. Protoplast electroporation resulted in a 3.3 ± 1.5% transformation efficiency. A dual fluorescent reporter gene vector enabled the direct comparison of the CAMV 35S promoter with the switchgrass ubi2 promoter in single cells of Arundo. The switchgrass ubi2 promoter resulted in noticeably higher reporter gene expression compared with that conferred by the 35S promoter in Arundo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaia Pigna
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Milano, Italy
| | - Taniya Dhillon
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Elizabeth M Dlugosz
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Joshua S Yuan
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Connor Gorman
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Piero Morandini
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Milano, Italy.,National Research Council, Institute of Biophysics, Milano, Italy
| | - Scott C Lenaghan
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - C Neal Stewart
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
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