Diversifying world agriculture - a common framework for crop data comparison

世界依赖于少数作物，水稻，玉米和小麦占全球植物卡路里的60%。气候变化和人口增长是未来粮食和营养安全的主要威胁，需要在同一片土地上生产更多营养密集型食物，减少投入以减少气候变化气体的排放。在高投入条件下为产量而培育的主要作物往往失去了适应性基因，因此评估具有适应性特征（干旱，高温，盐碱，害虫抗性等）的次要和未充分利用的作物是一种选择。然而，新作物往往缺乏数据，从基因组学到农学、增值产品和消费者需求。增加次要作物利用的一个简单步骤是通过调整现有产品的配方，这可以改善国家粮食安全并缩短供应链。为了能够使用这种方法，重要的是要有数据，允许小作物和相当的主要作物（或它们的组成成分）之间的现实比较，并确保在性状比较是在不同的作物“相同的语言”，以便有可能进行现实的比较。 探索方法，使和验证有意义的比较，以告知未来的粮食生产是这个博士的一个主要重点，利用欧盟H2020辐射项目的研究活动，为未充分利用的作物开发动态价值链。CropStore数据库由Rothamsted Research的Graham King教授开发，用于芸苔属信息门户（Earlham Institute），可以整合从基因组学到成分和产品价值的数据。在搬到布里斯班附近的南十字星大学后，他继续开发数据库，并使其多样化，包括来自澳大利亚未充分利用的作物的数据，以及与CFF合作的班巴拉花生。

The world is dependent on a small number of crops, with rice, maize and wheat 60% of plant-based calories world-wide. Climate change and population growth are major threats for future food and nutritional security, with more nutrient-dense food required, on the same land, with reduced inputs to decrease release of climate change gases. Major crops which have been bred for yield under high input conditions have often lost genes for resilience, so evaluation of minor and underutilised crops with resilience traits (drought, heat, salinity, pest resistance etc) is one option. However, new crops often lack data, from genomics, through agronomy, value added products and to consumer demand. One simple step for increasing the use of minor crops is through reformulation of existing products, which can improve national food security and decrease the length of supply chains. To be able to use this approach, it is important to have data that allows realistic comparisons between the minor crop and the equivalent major crop (or compositional components of them) and to ensure that in the trait comparisons are in the 'same language' in the different crops, so that it possible to make a realistic comparison. Exploring approaches to make and validate meaningful comparisons to inform future food production is a major focus of this PhD, taking advantage of research activity in the EU H2020 RADIANT project on developing dynamic value chains for underutilised crops. The CropStore database was developed by Prof Graham King at Rothamsted Research and is used in the Brassica Information Portal (at Earlham Institute) and can integrate data ranging from genomics through to composition and product value. After moving to Southern Cross University close to Brisbane, he continued the development of the database and diversified it to include data from Australian underutilised crops and, with CFF, Bambara groundnut.