Agriculture of cam metabolism varieties for food security in the growing world arid areas

Agriculture of CAM metabolism varieties for food security in the growing world arid areas

Publicado em 14 de abril de 2017 no LinkedIn

Pedro Nahoum CEO Botanica Pop LTDA In

evolution,

different

plant

groups

developed

a

metabolism adaptation to survive with low water in arid and semi-arid conditions: the CAM photosynthesis. The initials CAM come from 'Crassulaceam Acid Metabolism', first studied in a Crassula species (below, C. pyramidalis).

'Acid Metabolism' because these plants store CO2 as fourcarbon acid malate in cell vacuoles at night, when the temperature is lower and the humidity is higher, and the stomata (leaf pores) can open with the lowest water loss, reducing evapotranspiration. During the day, with the high temperature and low humidity, the leaves remain shutted.

Collecting and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the night, during the day the malate is transported to chloroplasts, where it is converted back to CO2, and concentrated around the enzyme RuBisCO, that increases photosynthetic efficiency - all with stomata closed, to do not lose water. This kind of CAM photosynthesis is a carbon fixation pathway that is the most efficient metabolic way to convert water in biomass by plants.

So CAM species are able to survive or take advantages in competition in habitats that other plants can't colonize, like rock surfaces, high branches in the canopy of tropical forests and the sandy, rocky soils of deserts, coastal and semi-arid regions.

Bromeliads and Cacti are some of the most well know CAM plants.

In Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, the giant inselberg rocks, sometimes appearing as sea islands, are colonized by many genera of bromeliaceae and cactaceae families. Part of this species are some of the few plants that can grow in nearby sand, close to the beach, supporting direct sun and strong salty winds.

With Earth's climatic changes, the expansion of arid lands and the severe genetic erosion, BOTANICA POP Ltd. is working to increase the agrobiodiversity and to generate economic activities to dry areas.

Fruits like pineapples, cattle forage like Mandacaru cactus and medicinal plants like Aloes, naturally cultivated, with low water use, generating foods and jobs for poor regions of the planet.

Pedro Nahoum - Botanist and CEO Botanica Pop Ltd. +5521996735855 pedronahoum@gmail.com