Project description
Growing drought-resilient barley varieties
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.
Objective
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.
We argue that breeding for crops tailored to harness the benefits of the indigenous soil microbial diversity rather than inoculating crops with plant-beneficial microorganisms will be a much more feasible and long-lasting strategy.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
HORIZON.2.6.3 - Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Areas
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.