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Unravelling the potential of the wheat microbiome for the development of healthier, more sustainable and resilient wheat-derived food & feed products

Project description

DEENESFRITPL

New farming practices for wheat crops

Wheat is an important crop in Europe. To keep it growing, scientists are studying soil and plant microbial communities. The EU-funded WHEATBIOME project will bring together academia, industry, food system actors and governmental authorities in six EU countries to carry out two case studies and a lab-scale demonstrator. The project will also study the role of microbial fermentation in food/feed quality and reduce food waste by recirculating wheat by-products. Another aspect of the research will be explaining the interactions between wheat (prebiotics, probiotics, bioactive compounds and immunogenic proteins) and the human/animal microbiota, and their effect on human and animal health. The findings will be used to develop farming practices for resilient and nutritious wheat crops. Specifically, the project will produce a new decision support system.

Objective

Current food production systems face many challenges (climate change, rampant demographic development) and new sustainable approaches are urgent. Wheat is a central crop in Europe and soil and plant microbial communities are of particular interest in wheat crops since (1) they are crucial solutions for restoring soils and protecting the crops and wheat-derived products against pathogens; (2) they play a key role in regulating plant metabolisms and, thus, the quality and properties of crops; and (3) they can be promising producers for a wide range of nutritional and healthy food and feed products. However, more studies on wheat microbiomes are needed as the current data is scarce.
The WHEATBIOME project will contribute in the understanding of the role of the wheat microbiome on sustainable development by undertaking cutting-edge research with strong collaboration between academia, industry, food system actors and governmental authorities distributed along 6 EU countries, and will explore the role of microbiomes in wheat production systems in a broad approach from soil to plate to:
• Understand the effect of biotic/abiotic factors on wheat microbiomes with 2 case studies and a lab-scale demonstrator.
• Unravel the soil-plant microbiome cross-talking on wheat metabolism and nutritional quality, and deliver sustainable farming practices for resilient and nutritious wheat crops via a new decision support system (DSS).
• Discover new fermentation capacities within indigenous wheat microbiomes and develop novel foods and feeds.
• Study the role of microbial fermentations in food/feed quality and reduce food waste by recirculating wheat by-products.
• Determine the interactions between wheat (prebiotics, probiotics, bioactive compounds, immunogenic proteins, etc.) and the human/animal microbiota, and its effect on human and animal health.
• Assess the perception of food system actors and citizens about microbiomes within food systems.

Fields of science

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Programme(s)

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Call for proposal

HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-01

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Funding Scheme

HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

Coordinator

REQUIMTE REDE DE QUIMICA E DE TECNOLOGIA ASSOCIACAO
Net EU contribution
€ 715 190,00
Address
Praca coronel pacheco 15 6 andar
4060-453 Porto
Portugal

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Region
Continente Norte Área Metropolitana do Porto
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Other funding
€ 0,00

Participants (12)

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Last update: 4 May 2023

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101084344

European Union, 2023