IMPRESA

Improving resilience to abiotic stresses in durum wheat: enhancing knowledge by genetic, physiological and “omics” approaches and increasing Mediterranean germplasm biodiversity by crop wild relatives-based introgressiomics

ABSTRACT

Sustainable production and management of biological resources are key factors in agriculture in a rapidly changing scenario. Agriculture must improve crop performance and address environmental challenges to ensure adequate production while safeguarding the environment. This vision certainly applies to durum wheat (DW), a strategic species for the countries of the Mediterranean basin, including those involved in the IMPRESA project (Italy, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey). IMPRESA aims to integrate experimental trials of genetic resources under natural and induced stress conditions with detailed phenotyping and study of mechanisms/genes that increase DW performance under abiotic stress conditions (heat, drought and salinity) and to create solid bases to exploit the knowledge acquired through breeding. Strategic for IMPRESA is the choice of genetic resources. These consist of DW varieties grown in different environments, but also germplasm derived from wild wheat relatives (WWR), i.e. DW-WWR introgression lines. These, containing portions of WWR genomes that enhance yield-related traits and of potential relevance under stress conditions, will be tested for their positive attributes and then employed as donors of new traits to cultivated DWs. The latter often lack existing or emerging stress-adaptive traits, which can be transferred from WWRs through unconventional breeding strategies (e.g. “chromosome engineering”). All materials will be shared among the Consortium members who, in a joint effort, will contribute to their characterization at plant and molecular levels and to their initial exploitation in breeding.

Identification Code: PRIMA project number 1496

Total project cost: € 962.000,00

Total cost DAFNE: € 454.000,00

DAFNE Role: Project Coordinator
Scientific Supervisor DAFNE: Prof. Carla Ceoloni

Email: ceoloni@unitus,it

Start date: 02/09/2019

End date: 01/09/2023

LINK

http://old.unitus.it/it/dipartimento/impresa

PARTNERNARIATO/PARTNERSHIP

   Your gateway to the EU, News, Highlights | European Union
Discover how the EU functions, its principles, priorities; find out about its history and member countries; learn about its legal basis and your EU rights.
www.europa.eu