Boosting photosynthesis opens new opportunities for agriculture sustainability and circular economy : The BEST-CROP research and innovation action
(2025) In Plant Journal 121(3).- Abstract
There is a need for ground-breaking technologies to boost crop yield, both grains and biomass, and their processing into economically competitive materials. Novel cereals with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and ozone, and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing, open a new perspective for the circular economy. Here we describe the vision, strategies, and objectives of BEST-CROP, a Horizon-Europe and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project that relies on an alliance of academic plant scientists teaming up with plant breeding companies and straw processing companies to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley biomass and to... (More)
There is a need for ground-breaking technologies to boost crop yield, both grains and biomass, and their processing into economically competitive materials. Novel cereals with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and ozone, and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing, open a new perspective for the circular economy. Here we describe the vision, strategies, and objectives of BEST-CROP, a Horizon-Europe and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project that relies on an alliance of academic plant scientists teaming up with plant breeding companies and straw processing companies to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley biomass and to exploit the variability of barley straw quality and composition. We adopt the most promising strategies to improve the photosynthetic properties and ozone assimilation capacity of barley: (i) tuning leaf chlorophyll content and modifying canopy architecture; (ii) increasing the kinetics of photosynthetic responses to changes in irradiance; (iii) introducing photorespiration bypasses; (iv) modulating stomatal opening, thus increasing the rate of carbon dioxide fixation and ozone assimilation. We expect that by improving our targeted traits we will achieve increases in aboveground total biomass production without modification of the harvest index, with added benefits in sustainability via better resource-use efficiency of water and nitrogen. In parallel, the resulting barley straw is tailored to: (i) increase straw protein content to make it suitable for the development of alternative biolubricants and feed sources; (ii) control cellulose/lignin contents and lignin properties to develop straw-based construction panels and polymer composites. Overall, by exploiting natural- and induced-genetic variability as well as gene editing and transgenic engineering, BEST-CROP will lead to multi-purpose next generation barley cultivars supporting sustainable agriculture and capable of straw-based applications.
(Less)
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-02
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- barley, biolubricants, canopy photosynthesis, circular bioeconomy, composites, feed, straw quality, straw-based panels
- in
- Plant Journal
- volume
- 121
- issue
- 3
- article number
- e17264
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:39910851
- scopus:85217071145
- ISSN
- 0960-7412
- DOI
- 10.1111/tpj.17264
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a3e03bea-b857-447f-b187-0e7976992f2b
- date added to LUP
- 2025-04-02 11:22:37
- date last changed
- 2025-07-09 19:16:19
@article{a3e03bea-b857-447f-b187-0e7976992f2b,
abstract = {{<p>There is a need for ground-breaking technologies to boost crop yield, both grains and biomass, and their processing into economically competitive materials. Novel cereals with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and ozone, and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing, open a new perspective for the circular economy. Here we describe the vision, strategies, and objectives of BEST-CROP, a Horizon-Europe and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project that relies on an alliance of academic plant scientists teaming up with plant breeding companies and straw processing companies to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley biomass and to exploit the variability of barley straw quality and composition. We adopt the most promising strategies to improve the photosynthetic properties and ozone assimilation capacity of barley: (i) tuning leaf chlorophyll content and modifying canopy architecture; (ii) increasing the kinetics of photosynthetic responses to changes in irradiance; (iii) introducing photorespiration bypasses; (iv) modulating stomatal opening, thus increasing the rate of carbon dioxide fixation and ozone assimilation. We expect that by improving our targeted traits we will achieve increases in aboveground total biomass production without modification of the harvest index, with added benefits in sustainability via better resource-use efficiency of water and nitrogen. In parallel, the resulting barley straw is tailored to: (i) increase straw protein content to make it suitable for the development of alternative biolubricants and feed sources; (ii) control cellulose/lignin contents and lignin properties to develop straw-based construction panels and polymer composites. Overall, by exploiting natural- and induced-genetic variability as well as gene editing and transgenic engineering, BEST-CROP will lead to multi-purpose next generation barley cultivars supporting sustainable agriculture and capable of straw-based applications.</p>}},
author = {{Pesaresi, Paolo and Bono, Pierre and Corn, Stephane and Crosatti, Cristina and Daniotti, Sara and Jensen, Jens Due and Frébort, Ivo and Groli, Eder and Halpin, Claire and Hansson, Mats and Hensel, Goetz and Horner, David S. and Houston, Kelly and Jahoor, Ahmed and Klíma, Miloš and Kollist, Hannes and Lacoste, Clément and Laidoudi, Boubker and Larocca, Susanna and Marè, Caterina and Moigne, Nicolas Le and Mizzotti, Chiara and Morosinotto, Tomas and Oldach, Klaus and Rossini, Laura and Raubach, Sebastian and Sanchez-Garcia, Miguel and Shaw, Paul D. and Sonnier, Rodolphe and Tondelli, Alessandro and Waugh, Robbie and Weber, Andreas P.M. and Yarmolinsky, Dmitry and Zeni, Alessandro and Cattivelli, Luigi}},
issn = {{0960-7412}},
keywords = {{barley; biolubricants; canopy photosynthesis; circular bioeconomy; composites; feed; straw quality; straw-based panels}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Plant Journal}},
title = {{Boosting photosynthesis opens new opportunities for agriculture sustainability and circular economy : The BEST-CROP research and innovation action}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.17264}},
doi = {{10.1111/tpj.17264}},
volume = {{121}},
year = {{2025}},
}