• Energy Research
• basic medicine close

Legume-derived foods have been shown to have comparatively low greenhouse gas (GHG) intensities whilst providing high amounts of nutrients. However, processing legumes into meat analogues can incur significant energy costs. Here, we undertake a comprehensive life cycle assessment of plant-based and (Brazilian and Irish) beef burger patties. Sixteen impact categories are supplemented with the carbon opportunity cost of land occupation, and benchmarked against nutrient density units (NDU) to provide holistic evidence on the potential contribution of plant-based patties to environmentally-sustainable nutritional density. Plant-based patties have a smaller environmental footprint across most categories, including a 77% smaller climate change burden, but incur 8% more energy use compared with Brazilian beef patties. Normalised scores (person equivalents) were significantly larger (p < 0.05) for the beef products across key categories including land use, acidification, and marine and terrestrial eutrophication. Sensitivity analyses indicated significant variance across impact categories if beef cattle are reared in South Africa, France or the United States, including a 16-fold difference in land occupation. Biophysical allocation of co-products reduced environmental burdens of beef burgers. However, owing to a 68% higher NDU per serving, reflecting higher fibre and essential fatty acid content, plant-based patties are associated with 81–87% less climate change and 92–95% less marine eutrophication per NDU compared with beef burger patties. Accounting for carbon opportunity cost of land further increased the climate change advantage of plant-based patties by 25–44%. A simple extrapolation indicates that switching from beef to vegetable patties in the UK could save between 9.5 and 11 million tonnes CO2e annually, representing up to 2.4% of territorial GHG emissions. peer-reviewed

Legumes have unique mechanisms to respond to nutrient deficiencies that can be considered as important advantages for agricultural purposes. The preponderance of plant-based protein is on the rise, and the market value of protein crops is expected to be worth billions by 2025. To match the global demand for plant-based products, crops productivity must be ensured; however, this might be impaired either by environmental or anthropogenic pressures that lead to soil nutrient disturbance. The responses activated by legumes to nutrient deficiencies and the mechanisms they utilize to adapt to such conditions will be discussed in this chapter. The study of these factors enables breeding programs specific for legumes and crop improvement. Understanding legumes responses also allows for a better management of agricultural practices and the adoption of more sustainable methods. It is important to reflect on the impact of climate change and intensive farming on food quality and on the future of agriculture, and this chapter contributes with important facts about the role of legumes in our current scenario.

Countries and regions around the world face a number of economic, environmental and social challenges. Increased demand for energy, primary resources (agricultural, forestry and fishing), industrial products and services (healthcare in particular) put significant pressure on the sustainability of the ecosystems that support our society. One option to provide a more sustainable base for the economy would be the transition towards bioeconomy in which the importance of biotechnology and biomass- based production to generate economic output is significantly greater than today. Bioeconomy is considered to encompass all economic activity connected with the utilization of renewable biological resources. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of bioeconomy in the management of natural resources in the 21st century, providing many answers to resolve the previous challenges together with environmental preservation. The concept has gained scientific and political attention during the recent years, especially in Europe but also globally. From the review and analysis of the literature, this paper addresses the emerging bioeconomy, definitions and conceptual bases, and its great potential in different sectors of economic activity and development of new products. Special emphasis is placed on the case of the European Union. We present the concerns of European authorities at this level and best practices already in force in two Nordic countries that can be regarded as the beginning of a general transition to bioeconomy.

The northwest Indian Himalayas are often regarded as a biological hotspot for the presence of rich agro-biodiversity harboring locally adapted traditional crop landraces facing utter neglect owing to modern agricultural systems promoting high-yielding varieties. Addressing this challenge requires extricating the potential of such cultivars in terms of agro-morphological and nutritional attributes. In this study, 29 traditional crop landraces of maize (11), paddy (07), finger millet (03), buckwheat (05), and naked barley (03) were characterized and evaluated for target traits of interest. In maize, Chitkanu emerged as an early maturing landrace (107 days) with high concentrations of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and potassium (K), and Safed makki showed the highest 100-seed weight (28.20 g). Similarly, Bamkua dhan exhibited high concentrations of K and phosphorus (P), and Lamgudi dhan showed a high protein content (14.86 g/100 g) among paddy landraces. Ogla-I and Phapra-I showed high contents of protein (14.80 g/100 g) and flavonoids (20.50 mg/g) among buckwheat landraces, respectively, followed by Nei-I, which exhibited the highest protein content (15.66 g/100 g) among naked barley landraces. Most of the target traits varied significantly (p &lt; 0.05) among evaluated samples, except those associated with finger millet landraces. The grouping pattern obtained by principal component analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) was congruent with the geographical relationship among the crop landraces. This study led to the identification of elite crop landraces having useful variations that could be exploited in plant breeding programs and biofortification strategies for future crop improvement. Our endeavor would aid in conserving the depleting Himalayan agro-biodiversity and promoting versatile traditional crops toward mainstream agriculture vis-à-vis future nutritional security.

The interplay between metal contamination and climate change may exacerbate the negative impact on the soil microbiome and, consequently, on soil health and ecosystem services. We assessed the response of the microbial community of a heavy metal-contaminated soil when exposed to short-term (48 h) variations in air temperature, soil humidity or ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the absence and presence of Enchytraeus crypticus (soil invertebrate). Each of the climate scenarios simulated significantly altered at least one of the microbial parameters measured. Irrespective of the presence or absence of invertebrates, the effects were particularly marked upon exposure to increased air temperature and alterations in soil moisture levels (drought and flood scenarios). The observed effects can be partly explained by significant alterations in soil properties such as pH, dissolved organic carbon, and water-extractable heavy metals, which were observed for all scenarios in comparison to standard conditions. The occurrence of invertebrates mitigated some of the impacts observed on the soil microbial community, particularly in bacterial abundance, richness, diversity, and metabolic activity. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering the interplay between climate change, anthropogenic pressures, and soil biotic components to assess the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and to develop and implement effective management strategies.

Global climate is changing more rapidly than ever, threatening plant growth and productivity while exerting considerable direct and indirect effects on the quality and quantity of plant nutrients. This review focuses on the global impact of climate change on the nutritional value of plant foods. It showcases the existing evidence linking the effects of climate change factors on crop nutrition and the concentration of nutrients in edible plant parts. It focuses on the effect of elevated CO2 (eCO2), elevated temperature (eT), salinity, waterlogging and drought stresses, and what is known regarding their direct and indirect influence on nutrient availability. Furthermore, it provides possible strategies to preserve the nutritional composition of plant foods under changing climates. Climate change has an impact on the accumulation of minerals and protein in crop plants, with eCO2 being the underlying factor of most of the reported changes. The effects are clearly dependent on the type, intensity and duration of the imposed stress, plant genotype and developmental stage. Strong interactions (both positive and negative) can be found between individual climatic factors and soil availability of nitrogen (N), potassium (K), iron (Fe) and phosphorous (P). The development of future interventions to ensure that the world's population has access to plentiful, safe and nutritious food may need to rely on breeding for nutrients under the context of climate change, including legumes in cropping systems, better farm management practices and utilization of microbial inoculants that enhance nutrient availability.

Drought is increasingly frequent in the context of climate change and is considered a major constraint for crop yield. Water scarcity can impair growth, disturb plant water relations and reduce water use efficiency. Pea (Pisum sativum) is a temperate grain legume rich in protein, fibre, micronutrients and bioactive compounds that can benefit human health. In reducing pea yield because of drought, the intensity and duration of stress are critical. This review describes several drought resistance mechanisms in pea based on morphology, physiology and biochemical changes during/after the water deficit period. Drought tolerance of pea can be managed by adopting strategies such as screening, breeding and marker-assisted selection. Therefore, various biotechnological approaches have led to the development of drought-tolerant pea cultivars. Finally, the main objective of the current research is to point out some useful traits for drought tolerance in peas and also, mention the methods that can be useful for future studies and breeding programmes.