Using gene technology to improve crop morphology for protected environments

There are many benefits associated with indoor CEs: 1) rapid crop development, 2) reduced water/nutrient/pesticide inputs, and 3) reduced food miles. To-date, most commercially-active indoor farms have focused on microgreens or baby leaf salad crops, but there is potential to grow more crop types. Growers are now keen to develop highly controlled environments as an alternative to field grown crops for increased local production.

However, unlike field-grown crop varieties, there has been limited research or breeding efforts to develop crops for such environments. Despite fast, healthy development of many crops in vertical farms, plant structure/architecture is not optimised. Breeders have selected varietal genotypes for field or glasshouse cultivation conditions over many decades. As yet, very little focussed breeding/selection has been undertaken for different indoor cultivation conditions.

Typically, plant factories employ one of two main design styles:

1. Layers of stacked horizontal growing platforms;
2. Vertical units stacked in parallel, with LED lighting between layers.

Horizontal systems limit crop-height, whilst vertical systems better accommodate taller crops. Pilot studies with chillies and cucumbers in aeroponic systems resulted in sub-optimal crop architecture, with inefficient twisted stems and long dropping fruit. Crop cultivation could be significantly improved through use of bushier, dwarf plants.

Breeding or selecting cultivars with dwarf phenotypes is a lengthy process, which has taken decades using conventional breeding approaches. Meeting the challenge of growing crops with alternative structural architecture for protected environments requires rapid innovation via use of modern genetic improvement strategies. The agricultural Green Revolution of the 1950/60s delivered dwarf varieties of our major arable crops, which resulted in increased global crop yields. Genes responsible for dwarfing wheat plants are known and involve production of the plant hormone Gibberellic Acid (GA). To date, application of this knowledge is restricted to the development of field-grown crops, and has never been exploited for commercial horticultural crops (notably tall pepper and cucumber families).

In this programme will exploit state-of-the-art genome editing (GE) techniques to produce dwarf peppers and cucumbers for aeroponic CEs and protected glasshouses.

Project objectives

1. Exploit CRISPR GE technology to knock-out GA genes in pepper and cucumber to produce dwarf plants.
2. Employ grafting approaches to remove CRISPR elements in pepper.
3. Assess the impact of gene manipulation on plant phenotypes.
4. Test selected lines for growth/yield in indoor farms and a commercial glasshouse to evaluate commercial benefits.

Funding

This project is funded by a BBSRC PACE award.

Partners

This project in run in collaboration with Dr Smith and Dr Cockram NIAB, IAD ltd., and Abbey View.