Yellow Gold: Innovative systems for sustainable daffodil-derived galanthamine production in the uplands.

患痴呆症的人数很多，而且还在以相当快的速度增长。2010年，全世界有3560多万痴呆患者，每年诊断出460万例。阿尔茨海默病（AD）占这些病例的50%至75%。自1998年以来，加兰他明已被美国食品和药物管理局、英国药品和保健产品监管局和欧洲药品管理局批准用于阿尔茨海默病治疗。加兰他明主要从植物中提取，虽然化学合成是可能的，但难度大且价格昂贵。Galan/th/amine是一种天然植物生物碱，用于生产医药产品Galan/th/amine。它目前是从水仙花/水仙（在中欧和西欧），柳属（在东欧）和石蒜（在中国）中提取的。然而，除水仙花外，其他来源植物均为野生花卉，由于资源和研究的限制，不适合农业开发利用。因此，水仙花是加兰他明在世界范围内唯一经济上可行的来源。目前，加兰他明的全球年消费量受现有生产水平限制在3-4吨/年，但公布的数据预测，潜在的全球市场可能接近40吨/年。独立报告预测，在中期，加兰他明药物的活性药物成分价格将保持在每公斤1.5万至1.8万英镑之间。英国高地的特点是生长条件差，这是由一系列因素造成的，包括：低温；暴露在风中；高降雨量;冬天霜冻;薄的石质土壤；以及主要营养物质的短缺。因此，农业生产一般限于以草原为基础的牛肉和绵羊系统，这些系统目前严重依赖政府的支助支付来维持经济。然而，之前的研究（“天然产品加兰他明的可持续生产”；Defra项目NF0612）证实，与低地条件下生长的水仙花相比，与高地地区相关的环境挑战促使那里种植的水仙花的加兰他明产量高出50%。因此，为生产加兰他明而种植的水仙花为英国高地农民提供了一种新颖的、潜在的高价值作物，可以提供重要的新收入来源，提高他们的经济弹性。然而，为了实现这一目标，需要进行基础研究，以评估和克服将水仙花生产整合到现有牧区农业系统中的任何问题。该项目将设计、测试和评估在长期草地下种植球茎的机械，并有选择地收获后续的绿色水仙花材料。为期4年的田间农艺试验将评估建立率及其受季节变化影响的程度。全面生产试验将量化将水仙花生产纳入放牧牧场对动物生产性能和土地牲畜承载能力的影响。还将确定肥料投入对水仙花的竞争能力和加兰他明产量的影响程度，以便制定方案，使山丘和高地农场同时生产加兰他明和牲畜。以这种方式种植水仙花将确保维持与高地放牧草原相关的生态系统服务。

The number of people suffering from dementia is large and growing at a considerable rate. In 2010, there were over 35.6 million dementia sufferers worldwide and 4.6 million cases are diagnosed each year. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) accounts for between 50 and 75% of these cases. Galantamine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority and the European Medicines Agency as an AD treatment since 1998. Galantamine is mainly produced from plants, and although chemical synthesis is possible, it is difficult and expensive. Galan/th/amine is the natural plant alkaloid used to produce the pharmaceutical product galan/t/amine. It is currently being extracted from daffodils/Narcissus (in central and western Europe), Leucojum (in eastern Europe) and Lycoris (in China). However, with the exception of daffodils the source plants are wild flowers not suitable for agricultural exploitation due to limitations in either resources or research. Thus daffodils are the only economically-viable world-wide source for galantamine. The annual global consumption of galantamine is currently constrained to 3-4 t/yr by existing production levels, but published figures predict the potential global market could be nearer 40 t/yr. Independent reports project the competitive Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient price for galantamine drugs to remain between £15,000 - £18,000/kg in the medium term. The UK uplands are characterised by poor growing conditions brought about by a combination of factors including: low temperatures; exposure to wind; high rainfall; winter frosts; thin, stony soils; and a shortage of major nutrients. Consequently agricultural production is generally limited to grassland-based beef and sheep systems that are currently heavily reliant upon Government support payments to be economic. However, previous research ('Sustainable production of the natural product galanthamine'; Defra project NF0612) established that the environmental challenges associated with upland areas trigger a 50% higher yield of galanthamine in daffodils that are grown there when compared to those grown in lowland conditions. Daffodils grown for galanthamine production therefore offer a novel, potentially high value crop for UK upland farmers that could provide an important new income stream, increasing their economic resilience. However, for this to happen, underpinning research is required to evaluate and overcome any problems associated with integrating daffodil production into existing pastoral based farming systems. This project will design, test and evaluate machinery for planting bulbs under long-term grass leys and selectively harvesting the subsequent green daffodil material. Field-scale agronomy trials over a 4 year period will assess establishment rates and the extent to which these are influenced by seasonal variation. Full-scale production trials will quantify the impact of incorporating daffodil production into grazed pastures on animal performance and the stock carrying capacity of the land. The extent to which fertiliser inputs influence the competitive ability of the daffodils and the yield of galanthamine obtained will also be determined in order to develop protocols which optimise simultaneous production of galanthamine and livestock from hill and upland farms. Growing daffodils in this way will ensure that the ecosystem services associated with grazed grasslands in the uplands are maintained.