Photo by Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis
Photo by Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis

Climate change is coming for kūmara/sweet potatoes

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Global warming is predicted to threaten kūmara (sweet potato) - one of the world’s most important food crops. Peruvian researchers tested nearly 2,000 sweet potato strains, finding just 6.7 per cent are heat-tolerant. They suggest these varieties could be used in breeding programmes to help crops adapt to predicted temperature increases of 1-6°C by 2070.

Journal/conference: Nature Climate Change

Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41558-020-00924-4

Organisation/s: International Potato Center, Peru

Funder: This research was undertaken as part of, and funded by, the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) and supported by CGIAR Fund Donors. We thank all donors who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund: http://www.cgiar.org/about-us/our-funders/. The financial support by the McKnight Foundation to Q.S. is greatly appreciated.

Attachments:

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public

News for:

International

Media contact details for this story are only visible to registered journalists.