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Supply chain disruptions, a pandemic, and war in Ukraine have exposed faultlines in a globalised food system that depends on a few staple crops grown in a few exporting regions and transported to consumers around the world. In the UK, just three crops, (wheat, barley, and oilseed rape), account for 75 per cent of the UK's 4.5 million hectares of arable land whilst the country imports around half its food—nearly 40 per cent—from just four EU countries (The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and France). Poor diets contribute to one in seven deaths in the UK, 63 per cent of the population is overweight or obese and health inequality is increasing between the poorest and most affluent regions. The food security and health of the UK population is therefore dependent on a small number of locally grown crops, vulnerable supply chains, and an unhealthy, obesogenic diet. The UK food system must diversify if it is to become food and nutritionally secure, meet its climate and biodiversity goals and have a healthy and active population. Climate-resilient and nutritious underutilised crops can help diversify the UK agrifood system, but research and investment in them is sporadic, piecemeal, and unfocused. In this paper, we compare two approaches to identifying potentially suitable underutilised crops for the UK. The first, based on UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Project CH0224, was delivered through literature and database searches and the expertise of growers, advisers, breeders, seed suppliers, processors, traders, and researchers. The second used the CropBASE digital knowledge base for underutilised crops. The two approaches produced no single crop that was common to both shortlists. We propose that the analytical and predictive tools derived from CropBASE could be combined with local knowledge and expertise from the Defra project to provide a common framework for the identification of underutilised crops that are best suited to local UK circumstances now and in climates of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc] landraces of diverse origin were used to examine the effect of temperature on the rate of leaf appearance (RLA) and to determine the base temperature ([T.sub.b] among landraces. Knowledge of leaf development is required in breeding programs where crop morphological development is considered an important selection criterion. The ability to predict leaf appearance would also facilitate modeling of plant development. Plants were grown in controlled-environment growth rooms under different temperatures (20, 25, 30, 32, and 35°C ± 1). The study to examine the effect of temperature on leaf appearance in bambara groundnut landraces indicated that the base temperature ([T.sub.b] for leaf appearance ranged from 8.1 to 12.0°C. Within the range of temperatures evaluated in this study, the observation of differences in [T.sub.b] values among the landraces suggests that [T.sub.b] values for leaf appearance are landrace dependent. The phyllochron was also variable among landraces ranging from 40.9 to 53.0°C. The RLA ranged from 0.19 to 0.63 leaves [d.sup.-1] depending on temperature and landrace. The landrace variations in relation to leaf appearance may allow selection of landraces for different environments., BAMBARA GROUNDNUT is an indigenous African legume cultivated mainly by subsistence farmers in Africa under traditional low input agricultural systems. The crop provides a rich source of protein and, along [...]

Stands of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L. cv. Kadiri-3) were grown in controlled environment glasshouses at mean atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 375 or 700 μmol mol-1 and daily mean air temperatures of 28 or 32°C on irrigated or drying soil profiles. Leaf water (Ψl) and solute potential (Ψs), relative water content (RWC), stomatal conductance (gl) and net photosynthesis (Pn) were measured at midday for the youngest mature leaf throughout the growing season. Elevated CO2 and temperature had no detectable effect on the water relations of irrigated plants, but higher values of RWC, Ψl and Ψs were maintained for longer under elevated CO2 during progressive drought. Turgor potential (Ψp) reached zero when Ψl declined to -1.6 to -1.8 MPa in all treatments; turgor was lost sooner when droughted plants were grown under ambient CO2. A 4°C increase in mean air temperature had no effect on Ψs in droughted plants, but elicited a small increase in Ψl; midday gl values were lower under elevated than under ambient CO2, and Ψl and gl declined below -1.5 MPa and 0.25 cm s-1, respectively, as the soil dried. Despite the low gl values recorded for droughted plants late in the season, Pn was maintained under elevated CO2, but declined to zero 3 weeks before final harvest under ambient CO2. Concurrent reductions in gl and increases in water use efficiency under elevated CO2 prolonged photosynthetic activity during drought and increased pod yields relative to plants grown under ambient CO2. The implications of future increases in atmospheric CO2 for the productivity of indeterminate C3 crops grown in rainfed subsistence agricultural systems in the semi-arid tropics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]