Epigenetics has emerged as an important research field for crop improvement under the on-going climatic changes. Heritable epigenetic changes can arise independently of DNA sequence alterations and have been associated with altered gene expression and transmitted phenotypic variation. By modulating plant development and physiological responses to environmental conditions, epigenetic diversity—naturally, genetically, chemically, or environmentally induced—can help optimise crop traits in an era challenged by global climate change. Beyond DNA sequence variation, the epigenetic modifications may contribute to breeding by providing useful markers and allowing the use of epigenome diversity to predict plant performance and increase final crop production. Given the difficulties in transferring the knowledge of the epigenetic mechanisms from model plants to crops, various strategies have emerged. Among those strategies are modelling frameworks dedicated to predicting epigenetically controlled-adaptive traits, the use of epigenetics for in vitro regeneration to accelerate crop breeding, and changes of specific epigenetic marks that modulate gene expression of traits of interest. The key challenge that agriculture faces in the 21st century is to increase crop production by speeding up the breeding of resilient crop species. Therefore, epigenetics provides fundamental molecular information with potential direct applications in crop enhancement, tolerance, and adaptation within the context of climate change.

Most studies on the effects of climate change have been conducted on grain yield and composition; few have focused on seed germination and storage ability, especially in temperate crops. However, projected higher temperatures at the end of crop cycle are expected to affect not only seed nutritional quality but also seed germination and storage ability. In this study, experiments were conducted on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) in controlled conditions to assess the effects of high maximum daytime temperatures, between 25°C and 35°C, on mother plants during grain filling or only during grain desiccation. Grain composition and seed characteristics related to germination and seed storage were investigated. When the stress occurred during grain filling, seed dry weight decreased, and protein and total fatty acid concentrations increased. Higher contents of vicilins in pea and polyunsaturated fatty acids in both crops were observed. Total starch content decreased in wheat. Sucrose : oligosaccharides ratio decreased, seed conductivity increased and germination was altered in both crops whenever the stress occurred. All of these modifications were mainly detrimental to the seed nutritional and end-use values. Further investigations should be carried out to assess genetic diversity, to characterise other species, and to introduce the impact of high temperatures on these seed characteristics into crop models.

Extreme soils often have mineral nutrient imbalances compared to plant nutritional requirements and co‐occur in open areas where grazers thrive. Thus, plants must respond to both constraints, which can affect nutrient concentrations in all plant organs. Gypsum soil provides an excellent model system to study adaptations to extreme soils under current grazing practices as it harbours two groups of plant species that differ in their tolerance to gypsum soils and foliar composition. However, nutrient concentrations in organs other than leaves, and their individual responses to simulated herbivory, are still unknown in gypsum plants. We studied plant biomass, root mass ratio and nutrient partitioning among different organs (leaves, stems, coarse roots, fine roots) in five gypsum endemics and five generalists cultivated in gypsum and calcareous soils and subjected to different levels of simulated browsing. Gypsum endemics tended to have higher elemental concentration in leaves, stems and coarse roots than generalist species in both soil types, whereas both groups tended to show similar high concentrations in fine roots. This behaviour was especially clear with sulphur (S), which is found in excess in gypsum soils, and which endemics accumulated in leaves as sulphate (>50% of S). Moreover, plants subjected to clipping, regardless of their affinity to gypsum, were unable to compensate for biomass losses and showed similar elemental composition to unclipped plants. The accumulation of excess mineral nutrients by endemic species in aboveground organs may be a constitutive nutritional strategy in extreme soils and is potentially playing an anti‐herbivore role in grazed gypsum outcrops.