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sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

CORDIS (Service Communautaire d’Information sur la Recherche et le Développement) Commission Européenne

Titre : BarleyMicroBreed Strategies for breeding climate change resilient barley, genetically equipped to optimized root-microbiome interactions — Growing drought-resilient barley varieties

Code du projet : 101060057

Durée : Start date 1 November 2022 // End date 31 October 2028

Descriptif
Barley is an inherently resilient crop. Compared to other cereals, it’s an excellent model for understanding agricultural responses to climate change. In this context, the EU-funded BarleyMicroBreed project will dig deep into the root system of barley. It will build on the paradigm that optimising the capacity of plant roots to interact with the existing soil microbiota improves crop resource use efficiency and stress resilience. The project will advance our mechanistic understanding of interactions between the crop plant genome, root phenotypic traits and the root-associated microbiota to identify innovative breeding strategies that will lead to drought-adaptive barley varieties. Part of the project’s work will be to study drought responses of 600 barley varieties in Austria, Lebanon and Morocco.

Objectifs
BarleyMicroBreed builds on the paradigm that crop resource efficiency and stress resilience can be significantly improved by optimizing the capacity of plant roots to efficiently interact with the existing soil microbiota. We therefore propose to advance our mechanistic understanding of interactions between the crop plant genome, root phenotypic traits, and the root-associated microbiota to identify novel breeding strategies for crops tailored to harness the benefits of the indigenous soil microbial diversity. A holo-omics analysis of functionally annotated barley genomes together with a catalogue of root microbiota assemblages and phenotypic data including drought responses of 600 barley varieties determined in field trials in Austria, Lebanon and Morocco, will enable the identification of barley genome components, microbiota members and root traits important for drought resilience. Barley genome regions putatively important for microbiota assembly and drought resistance will be validated by gene knock-outs and causative effects will be explored using a combination of metabolomics, metagenomics and root phenotyping in pot and rhizobox experiments. To improve root phenotyping, we will develop tools including core break imaging systems, software developments for “gap filling” in rhizobox phenotyping, and models to infer seedling to mature root system architecture. Finally, with the knowledge of the genetic regulation of phenotypic root plasticity of barley lines we will implement strategies to create drought adaptive barley varieties with improved root systems and microbiomes. A selection of lines based on drought responses, microbiome assembly and root systems will be backcrossed into elite European lines and tested in field trials

Participants au projet
Coordinateur : AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Participants : INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS - UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN - KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET - PSI (PHOTON SYSTEMS INSTRUMENTS), SPOL. SRO - LANTMANNEN EKONOMISK FORENING - METASYSX GMBH

Budget
Coût total : € 7 992 742,50
Contribution UE : € 7 992 742,50

CORDIS