Blossoming treasures of biodiversity: 14. Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). Can a last resort food become a first choice?

This past contribution from our series BLOSSOMING TREASURES OF BIODIVERSITY [Biodiversity 5(4) 2004] has been chosen for presentation in this special issue on Food & Agriculture because it illustrates several important aspects of new crop development. First, it demonstrates the importance of crop research: in this case, millions of people forced by famine to consume a nutritious but toxic food can be spared agonizing paralysis by research aimed at developing new cultivated varieties with low levels of paralytic neurotoxin. Second, it shows that the benefits from crop research are usually not limited to the original target audience: in this case, not only has agriculture in subtropical countries benefitted by the creation of new cultivars useful for humans, but temperate region agriculture has also received new cultivars suitable as forage and fodder for livestock. Third, the cultural difficulties involved in implementing the benefits of non-toxic cultivars reminds us that the popularization of new crops often requires consideration of not only scientific and economic aspects, but also social constraints.