Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ECOBREED (Increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of organic crop breeding)
Période du rapport: 2021-05-01 au 2022-09-30
Organic production is limited by some agronomic and management requirements but particularly by the lack of organic seeds and varieties bred for organic production. There is an urgent need to develop improved genotyping, phenotyping, and farmer-participatory plant breeding approaches that are more efficient, reduce costs, and/or can be used to target traits suited to an organic production environment.
ECOBREED will contribute to the increased competitiveness of breeding and production for organic and low-input farming. The new organic varieties will improve agronomic performance, increase resistance/tolerance to biotic/abiotic stress and quality of food. Training, demonstration, and dissemination activities within the project will contribute to better use and innovation in organic farming and the spread of knowledge among the scientific community and the general public.
The focus of ECOBREED is to improve the availability of varieties and seed suitable for organic and low-input production. Activities focus on four crop species, wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. durum L.), potato, soybean, and common buckwheat. The project will develop (a) methods, strategies, and infrastructures for organic breeding, (b) varieties with improved stress resistance, resource use efficiency, and quality and (c) improved methods for the production of high-quality organic seed.
ECOBREED partners are working together towards the following objectives:
• Identify genetic and phenotypic variation in morphological, abiotic/biotic tolerance/resistance and nutritional quality traits that can be used in organic breeding
• Evaluate the potential for genetic variation in enhanced nutrient acquisition
• Evaluate the potential for increased weed competitiveness and control
• Optimise seed production/multiplication via improved agronomic and seed treatment protocols.
• Provide farmers with the opportunity to choose and develop varieties in their own environment that best suit their needs and conditions
• Produce elite varieties for improved agronomic performance, biotic/abiotic stress resistance/tolerance, and nutritional quality
• Develop training programs (improved genotyping and phenotyping) to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice
• Ensure optimum and rapid utilisation and exploitation of project deliverables and innovations by relevant industry and other users/stakeholder groups via extensive farm-based demonstration and dissemination activities.
ECOBREED will contribute to the increased competitiveness of breeding and production for organic and low-input farming. The new organic varieties will improve agronomic performance, increase resistance/tolerance to biotic/abiotic stress and quality of food. Training, demonstration, and dissemination activities within the project will contribute to better use and innovation in organic farming and the spread of knowledge among the scientific community and the general public.
The focus of ECOBREED is to improve the availability of varieties and seed suitable for organic and low-input production. Activities focus on four crop species, wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. durum L.), potato, soybean, and common buckwheat. The project will develop (a) methods, strategies, and infrastructures for organic breeding, (b) varieties with improved stress resistance, resource use efficiency, and quality and (c) improved methods for the production of high-quality organic seed.
ECOBREED partners are working together towards the following objectives:
• Identify genetic and phenotypic variation in morphological, abiotic/biotic tolerance/resistance and nutritional quality traits that can be used in organic breeding
• Evaluate the potential for genetic variation in enhanced nutrient acquisition
• Evaluate the potential for increased weed competitiveness and control
• Optimise seed production/multiplication via improved agronomic and seed treatment protocols.
• Provide farmers with the opportunity to choose and develop varieties in their own environment that best suit their needs and conditions
• Produce elite varieties for improved agronomic performance, biotic/abiotic stress resistance/tolerance, and nutritional quality
• Develop training programs (improved genotyping and phenotyping) to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice
• Ensure optimum and rapid utilisation and exploitation of project deliverables and innovations by relevant industry and other users/stakeholder groups via extensive farm-based demonstration and dissemination activities.
During the first period, the project was mainly focused on the identification, selection, evaluation, and multiplication of genotypes and other materials for subsequent evaluation together with initial breeding activities. The inventory is available for the public in the document “Inventory of genetic resources for each target species”.
During the second period, the selected material was multiplied for improvement of the accessibility of genotypes for breeding purposes and FTP field trials. Advanced phenotyping was applied to address weed competitiveness and drought tolerance. New crosses were made to produce new breeding material which will be the basis for new varieties suitable for organic agriculture.
During the third reporting period, we managed to stay on-course with our planned activities despite some issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We started preparing the final database for material being evaluated and used within the project that will be publicly available and published on the ECOBREED website.
For wheat, significant progress was reached as both classical field phenotyping and Advanced Phenotyping as well as all greenhouse and field experiments were finished. A success story in wheat is that several breeding lines of consortium partners included in the test nurseries have been released as cultivars or have been submitted for national (organic) VCU testing.
For potato, all activities with classic phenotyping as well as remote sensing activities are continued as planned. There are still trials that remain to be conducted on improving seed tuber quality and vigour as well as work on protection against wireworm and Colorado potato beetle.
For soybean, all activities were finished according to the plan without any delay. We prepared seeds for trials and collected the phenotyping data, developed new crosses as well as CCPs that are tested in farmers organic plots. Planned work of the partner GEO, that left the project consortium was distributed among two partners.
For buckwheat, all phenotyping activities were completed. A range of buckwheat genotypes was used to evaluate the allelopathic activity on two weed species (common purslane and annual ryegrass). We continued studies of phosphorus mineralisation in field trials.
We have carried out all the planned Farmer Participatory Trials and Participatory Plant Breeding in 2021 and 2022. We also completed 2 Advanced Genotyping workshops, 7 Advanced Phenotyping workshops as well as 15 Farmers Participatory trials. We developed training programmes in improved genotyping and phenotyping to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice.
We communicated and disseminated our results at European and international levels, targeting scientific audiences, policy makers and the general public with the participation in various conferences, workshops, webinars, and other events. We exploited our IP results by focusing on negotiating and signing the IPR agreements, on IP property management, and the preparation of individual plans of exploitation.
During the second period, the selected material was multiplied for improvement of the accessibility of genotypes for breeding purposes and FTP field trials. Advanced phenotyping was applied to address weed competitiveness and drought tolerance. New crosses were made to produce new breeding material which will be the basis for new varieties suitable for organic agriculture.
During the third reporting period, we managed to stay on-course with our planned activities despite some issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We started preparing the final database for material being evaluated and used within the project that will be publicly available and published on the ECOBREED website.
For wheat, significant progress was reached as both classical field phenotyping and Advanced Phenotyping as well as all greenhouse and field experiments were finished. A success story in wheat is that several breeding lines of consortium partners included in the test nurseries have been released as cultivars or have been submitted for national (organic) VCU testing.
For potato, all activities with classic phenotyping as well as remote sensing activities are continued as planned. There are still trials that remain to be conducted on improving seed tuber quality and vigour as well as work on protection against wireworm and Colorado potato beetle.
For soybean, all activities were finished according to the plan without any delay. We prepared seeds for trials and collected the phenotyping data, developed new crosses as well as CCPs that are tested in farmers organic plots. Planned work of the partner GEO, that left the project consortium was distributed among two partners.
For buckwheat, all phenotyping activities were completed. A range of buckwheat genotypes was used to evaluate the allelopathic activity on two weed species (common purslane and annual ryegrass). We continued studies of phosphorus mineralisation in field trials.
We have carried out all the planned Farmer Participatory Trials and Participatory Plant Breeding in 2021 and 2022. We also completed 2 Advanced Genotyping workshops, 7 Advanced Phenotyping workshops as well as 15 Farmers Participatory trials. We developed training programmes in improved genotyping and phenotyping to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice.
We communicated and disseminated our results at European and international levels, targeting scientific audiences, policy makers and the general public with the participation in various conferences, workshops, webinars, and other events. We exploited our IP results by focusing on negotiating and signing the IPR agreements, on IP property management, and the preparation of individual plans of exploitation.
The results of ECOBREED over the next years will provide increased availability and quality of seeds and varieties suited to the specific conditions of organic and low-input farming. The project provides extensive training, demonstration, dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities to facilitate rapid technology transfer and introduction of innovations from the project into commercial practice, and for the first time, regional organic breeding programmes could, with the help of ECOBREED, be established. The project will increase organic farmers' awareness of organic seeds and organic varieties and the necessity of using them.
Based on the genotypes identified that are best adapted to the regional organic management systems, organic breeding activities will be strengthened and boosted, and the genetic diversity increased. In the long-term, new germplasm better adapted to organic farming will increase the stability of organic production in Europe and help to achieve food security in the face of global warming and associated climate change. Society will benefit from the higher availability of pesticide-free food products, a healthy environment from more sustainable plant production.
So far, we have managed to provide young researchers and scientists with a new blend of applied and fundamental R&D skills in Advanced Genotyping and Phenotyping characterised workshops. We try to increase farmers knowledge in plant breeding and participatory plant breeding with activities focused on the management and evaluation of farmers participatory trials. All the workshops, trials, field days and demonstration events are already bringing more knowledge on CCPs and seed inoculants for farmers and researchers and will also raise awareness on seed quality in the whole value chain and about the organic breeding programmes.
Based on the genotypes identified that are best adapted to the regional organic management systems, organic breeding activities will be strengthened and boosted, and the genetic diversity increased. In the long-term, new germplasm better adapted to organic farming will increase the stability of organic production in Europe and help to achieve food security in the face of global warming and associated climate change. Society will benefit from the higher availability of pesticide-free food products, a healthy environment from more sustainable plant production.
So far, we have managed to provide young researchers and scientists with a new blend of applied and fundamental R&D skills in Advanced Genotyping and Phenotyping characterised workshops. We try to increase farmers knowledge in plant breeding and participatory plant breeding with activities focused on the management and evaluation of farmers participatory trials. All the workshops, trials, field days and demonstration events are already bringing more knowledge on CCPs and seed inoculants for farmers and researchers and will also raise awareness on seed quality in the whole value chain and about the organic breeding programmes.