Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment: Achievements and Challenges

136 Pages·2015·2.97 MB·English

by  Saad Sulieman

Saad Sulieman · Lam-Son Phan Tran
Editors
Legume Nitrogen
Fixation in
a Changing
Environment
Achievements and Challenges
Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing
Environment

Saad Sulieman (cid:129) Lam-Son Phan Tran
Editors
Legume Nitrogen Fixation
in a Changing Environment
Achievements and Challenges
Editors
Saad Sulieman Lam-Son Phan Tran
Faculty of Agriculture Signaling Pathway Research Unit
Department of Agronomy RIKEN Center for Sustainable
University of Khartoum Resource Science
Khartoum North , Sudan Yokohama , Kanagawa , Japan
ISBN 978-3-319-06211-2 ISBN 978-3-319-06212-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-06212-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937353
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
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Pref ace
C limate change is a topic that increasingly occupies the attention of the world.
The study of plant responses to various environmental stresses has been a central
feature of plant biologists’ efforts to understand how plants function in a changing
environment. In recent years, much progress has been made in understanding how
environmental stresses affect legumes performance. As a consequence, we consid-
ered that it is timely to re-examine the physiological, biochemical, and molecular
responses of plants to a variety of stresses with a view of identifying the major
principles. In this approach, the present volume aims to identify the existing gaps in
scientifi c understanding and fi ll the niche. In particular, we were interested to exam-
ine whether we are now in a position to provide plant breeders with certain useful
strategies for development of elite adapted cultivars through conventional breeding
and sophisticated techniques of genetic engineering.
The “L egume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment — Achievements and
Challenges ” volume brings together the state-of-the-art overview of legume growth
and production as infl uenced by environmentally imposed stresses. As editors, we
favored a collection of specialized chapters rather than a textbook style. The present
volume was edited with contribution from distinguished experts who have worked
diligently in compiling information and knowledge in their respective areas of
research. This volume consisting of fi ve chapters opens with an Introduction and
Overview that sets the scene, outlines essential background, and considers the impact
of different stresses as limiting factors for legume production in the context of a
changing global environment. The chapters assembled here provide an up-to- date
account of our knowledge about the responses of N -fi xing leguminous symbioses to
2
drought (Chap. 2 ) , salinity (Chap. 3 ) , heat stress (Chap. 4 ) , elevated carbon dioxide
concentrations (Chap. 5 ), and soil acidity (Chap. 6 ) as well as discuss the potential
approaches for the improvement of N fi xation under stresses. Categorically, these
2
stresses represent the major environmental factors that are directly related to climate
variability and account for major limitations to legume production worldwide. The
authors have provided latest insights in their research areas. Numerous fi gures and
tables have been supplied to facilitate the comprehension of the presented materials.
v
vi Preface
Thus, “L egume Nitrogen Fixation in a Changing Environment — Achievements
and Challenges ” is a new volume with focus on how symbiotic legumes adapt to
abiotic stress and how molecular and biotechnological approaches could allow us to
mitigate the climate variability on the productivity of legume crops, thereby improv-
ing food supply in a sustainable agricultural system. We hope that this volume will
serve as a major source of information and knowledge to senior undergraduates and
research students seeking an introduction to the area of plant stress physiology and
biological nitrogen fi xation. We also trust that it will be of interest to a wide range
of plant scientists, including agronomists, physiologists, biotechnologists, molecu-
lar biologists, and plant breeders, who have concern about biological nitrogen fi xa-
tion of legume crops under stressful environments.
As editors of this volume, we feel pleasure to extend our heartfelt thanks to all
the invited authors for their efforts and cooperation in bringing out this volume in
time. We are very grateful to the support provided by the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS) and RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science,
Japan, for our academic research. We are indebted to Mr. Kenneth Teng and Mr.
Joseph Quatela, the editorial staff of Springer, New York, who have been of invalu-
able help in the production of this endeavor. Finally, it is a profound pleasure to
thank Springer New York for publishing this volume. We hope that the fi nal result
will be worth the effort and will make a sound contribution to this fascinating
research area.
Khartoum, Sudan Saad Sulieman
Yokohama, Japan Lam-Son Phan Tran
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
Saad Sulieman and Lam-Son Phan Tran
Physiological Responses of N-Fixing Legumes
2
to Water Limitation ........................................................................................ 5
Esther M. González , Estíbaliz Larrainzar , Daniel Marino ,
Stefanie Wienkoop , Erena Gil-Quintana , and César Arrese-Igor
Salinity: Physiological Impacts on Legume Nitrogen Fixation ................... 35
Carmen Lluch Plá and Libertad Cobos-Porras
How Does High Temperature Affect Legume Nodule
Symbiotic Activity? ......................................................................................... 67
Iker Aranjuelo , Joseba Aldasoro , César Arrese-Igor , Gorka Erice ,
and Álvaro Sanz-Sáez
Does Elevated CO Provide Real Benefits
2
for N-Fixing Leguminous Symbioses? ......................................................... 89
2
Saad Sulieman , Nguyen Phuong Thao , and Lam-Son Phan Tran
Physiological Implications of Legume Nodules Associated
with Soil Acidity .............................................................................................. 113
Brett J. Ferguson and Peter M. Gresshoff
About the Editors ............................................................................................ 127
Index ................................................................................................................. 129
vii
Introduction
Saad Sulieman and Lam-Son Phan Tran
T here is a strong awareness that the world population will grow more rapidly during
the few coming years. The world population of 6.91 billion in 2010 will increase to
8.43 billion in 2030 and 9.55 billion in 2050, which will be probably stabilized at
around 10–11 billion by the end of the century ( h ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_
population ) . This awareness must be translated into a parallel increase in the agricul-
tural production to secure adequate food for the additional 3–4 billion inhabitants.
If such an increase in production should be realized with current agricultural man-
agement that would similarly require the double use of fossil fuel energy for fertilizer
production. This would cause economic hardship and surpassing damage to the envi-
ronment. The intensive application of chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizers has led to an
unprecedented perturbation of the N cycle, illustrated by the growing accumulation
of nitrates in soils and waters and of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. Sustainable
agriculture has mandated that alternatives to chemical N fertilizers must be urgently
sought. Biological dinitrogen (N ) fi xation, a microbiological process that converts
2
atmospheric N into a plant-usable form, offers this alternative. Among these renew-
2
able sources, N -fi xing legumes offer an economically attractive and ecologically
2
sound means of reducing external inputs and improving internal resources.
Legumes (L eguminosae or F abaceae ) represent the second major crop of agricul-
tural importance worldwide and cover about 14 % of total land under cultivation. In
many regions of the world, legumes contribute a number of function and e cosystem
services with great impact to the sustainability of various agricultural systems.
S. Sulieman (*)
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture , University of Khartoum ,
13314 Shambat , Khartoum North , Sudan
e-mail: [email protected]
L.-S. P. Tran (*)
Signaling Pathway Research Unit , RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) ,
1-7-22, Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi , Yokohama 230-0045 , Japan
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 1
S. Sulieman, L.-S.P. Tran (eds.), Legume Nitrogen Fixation
in a Changing Environment, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-06212-9_1
2 S. Sulieman and L.-S.P. Tran
These plants provide important sources of oils, fi ber, micronutrients, minerals,
and vegetable proteins suitable for livestock feed and human consumption while
supplying N to agro-ecosystems via their unique ability to fi x atmospheric N in
2
symbiosis with the soil rhizobia. Legumes therefore possess great potential for use
in soil stabilization, reforestation, and agricultural practices. The symbiotic rela-
tionship between legumes and their rhizobial partners takes place in the root nod-
ules and provides access to atmospheric N . Nevertheless, the contribution of the
2
symbiotic process to legume production is recognized to be highly sensitive to
adverse environmental conditions, such as edaphic and environmental constraints.
Therefore, understanding how symbiotic N fi xation responds to the surrounding
2
environmental conditions is particularly important for both agriculture and preser-
vation of the ecosystems.
As leguminous plants are inextricably linked to the surrounding environment,
their mere inclusion in various cropping systems does not always ensure the attain-
ment of the estimated optimal levels of symbiotic N fi xation in the fi eld. Day by
2
day, the cycle of climate on earth is changing and according to the predictions of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most climatic scenarios are
expected to be affected by climate change. Expectations of impending climates
specify immense alterations in temperature, rainfall pattern, humidity, and soil
moisture regimes. Changes in climate not only infl uence the entire cropping system
but also affect the performance of cultivars of different fi eld crops, including
legumes. Thus, climate change has become a major concern in agricultural develop-
ment. Several environmental factors, such as drought, elevated temperature, salin-
ity, soil acidity, and rising CO , are known to dramatically affect the symbiotic
2
process and thus play a part in determining the actual amount of N fi xed by a given
legume in the fi eld. Accordingly, environmental stress factors adversely affect
N - fi xing legume growth and pose a growing threat to sustainable agriculture. This
2
has become a hot issue due to concerns about the effects of climate change on plant
resources, biodiversity, and global food security. Understanding the responses of N
2
fi xation and legume performance to global environmental change is crucial for
improving legume production and maintaining agricultural sustainability in the con-
text of global change. In this thoughtful and provocative new volume, we provide
critical information on how current and projected future changes in the environment
will affect legume growth and their symbiotic N -fi xing capabilities.
2
To cope with various abiotic constraints, legumes have evolved a number of strat-
egies at both morphological and physiological levels. With the advances in physio-
logical methodology and molecular biotechnology, diverse arrays of biochemical,
physiological, and molecular mechanisms underlying those adaptive strategies have
been well studied in a broad range of plants, both model and crop species. Some
particular strategies have been observed for the adaptation of nodulated leguminous
plants to drought, elevated temperature, salinity, soil acidity, and rising CO . The
2
application of omic technologies, i.e., transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics,
and comparative genomics, reveals complex internal reactions and acclimations of
plant organs to unfavorable conditions. Signifi cant research efforts in the genomics
of various stresses have shown that many genes regulated in a coordinated fashion