Breeding for Resilient, Efficient and Sustainable Organic Vegetable production

Project Information

BRESOV

Grant agreement ID: 774244

DOI

10.3030/774244

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2018

Start date 1 May 2018

End date 30 April 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 6 989 348,50

EU contribution

€ 5 962 019,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CATANIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BRESOV (Breeding for Resilient, Efficient and Sustainable Organic Vegetable production)

Reporting period: 2021-05-01 to 2023-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

BRESOV addresses the urgent need to provide climate-resilient cultivars for organic vegetable production, such as: i) organic growers and consumers, and their associations; ii) seed, agricultural and food industries; iii) technicians, researchers; iv) public bodies, such as province, regional, and national officers, council members, natural reserve officers. BRESOV’s new set of elite pre-breeding/ breeding lines, and the organic heterogenous materials (OHMs) will provide secure alternatives under current and future scenarios of climate change. BRESOV exploited the genetic variation of brassica, bean and tomato to enhance productivity through new knowledge acquired on genome structure and function. Selection of the pre-breeding/ breeding lines for the three species was undertaken in organic vegetable farming systems. New cultivars, represented by OHMs, were selected for performance increase when grown under drought, high temperature, and low nitrogen stresses, for resistance to some of the key diseases, for desirable product quality traits, such as taste, visual appearance, bioactive compounds, or post-harvest performance. Crop genetic diversity analysed contained several landraces (LRs) and crops’ wild relatives (CWRs) provided by partners for pre-breeding/ breeding. Multi-location on-farm trials showed that good alternative varieties exist, especially for broccoli and beans. Plant traits related to the root-zone and to root-growth, and architecture analyses, such as interaction with organic soil and its microbiome, will benefit organic farming. By adopting the new OHMs provided by BRESOV in combination with the best on-farm management practices, organic farmers can enhance efficiency in resource use and productivity, thus providing high amount and quality of organic seeds. BRESOV will help to increase the production of new seeds for broccoli, snap bean and tomato, and can serve as a model for the enhancement of other crops.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

BRESOV aimed at enhancing organic farming by providing new resilient and efficient pre-breeding/ breeding lines and OHMs, selected for sustainable production and ability to improve agronomic techniques for yield and quality increase of seed production and related products. 274 genotypes/sources of important traits to organic production (85 for brassica oleracea L. crops and their crop wild relatives, 134 for bean and 55 for tomato) were listed for their resistance to specific biotic and abiotic stresses, and their interesting organoleptic and nutraceutical traits. They can now be made to the BRESOV stakeholders or any other organic farming actor. The great diversity of the genotypes/sources of important traits available to organic production allows improving the resistance for biotic (drought, salinity, flooding, dark light senescence, high temperature) and abiotic stresses (several plant diseases), as well as the organoleptic (soluble solid, acidity, firmness, color, aroma) and nutraceutical (antioxidant capacity, polyphenols, glucosinolates, volatile compounds, vitamins) traits of the products. Increasing knowledge of the genome diversity and structure of the three crops for identifying QTLs, genes and molecular markers, including the use of innovative approaches, such as GWAS, facilitated individuating 275 new genetic tools (bean 133, broccoli 84 and tomato 58). We evaluated crop density and nutritional protocols to increase quantity and quality of organic seed production, improving the soil fertility and the plant-soil microbiome interaction. The analysis of available, and improved, pathogen detection methods could be used by the seed industry and by the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPOs). Several molecular qPCR-based methods allowing the identification and quantification of the seed-borne pathogens. Evaluation of beneficial microorganisms (MC) and bioactive natural compounds (NCs), aiming to reduce chemical inputs for plant nutrition and to improve soil microbiome, can increase resilience, as observed for snap bean crop grown under deficient water irrigation regimes. MCs and NCs can be applied to directly protect organic broccoli, tomato and snap bean plants against pathogens but can also induce plant defense responses as was observed with chitosan-based products. Reduction of bacterial and fungal pathogen titter and in disease severity in plants obtained from pathogen inoculated seeds suggest a role in the direct reduction of primary inoculum. The seed biopriming by MCs and NCs in some case reduced disease severity where pathogen and treatment were inoculated in different plant organs. The effectiveness of seed treatment in containing bacterial and fungal tomato diseases, however, does not exclude the optimization of strategies based on the selection of resistant cultivars and the same time aimed in boosting plant refences and reducing secondary inoculum spread.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project’s results help improve the competitiveness of organic broccoli, snap beans and tomato. About 2000 accessions of the BRESOV core collections and breeding sets of the three species, were genotyped and phenotyped. 274 genotypes (pre-breeding/ breeding lines, OHMs) of broccoli, snap bean and tomato were selected and released, some of which are ready to be registered in the EU Catalogue of the organic varieties (EU Reg. 848/2018). For these new materials interaction with the environmental conditions of several European countries evaluated allow the improvement of crop agronomic performances and production quality. BRESOV provided recommendations to breeders, growers and farmers on pre-breeding/ breeding lines and OHMs, adapted locally rather than globally to organic farming. Future organic breeding in the EU countries and abroad will benefit also of 275 new genotyping tools (molecular markers, QTLs and genes) detected, from improved resistance to several biotic (e.g. drought, salinity, high temperature etc.) and abiotic stresses (tomato: Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici, TSWV and ToMV; broccoli: Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, Alternaria spp. and Down mildew; snap bean: Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. phaseolicola and Fusarium solani f.sp phaseoli), and the organoleptic (size, solid soluble, acidity, firmness, chromatic parameters) and nutraceutical (polyphenols, glucosinolates, carotenoids, volatile compounds, antioxidant capacity) quality of the correspondent products. BRESOV released protocols on genotypes, sowing date, crop density, fruit harvesting, bioinoculants, plant nutrition, to increase the amount and quality of the seed production of the three crops, as well as for detecting and protecting seeds against eleven key diseases. BRESOV’s results will increase availability of high-quality organic seeds and strengthen accessibility and confidence in current and future organic agriculture systems within the EU and abroad. BRESOV also thrived to enlarge the adaptability of broccoli, snap bean and tomato crops in organic vegetable farming systems and improve the interaction between the new cultivars and the soil microbiome. BRESOV established useful partnerships among breeders, nurseries, farmers, agriculture and food industries, consumers and researchers (multi-actor approach), with events disseminating the project’s outcomes, boosting competitiveness of brassica, snap bean and tomato crops. BRESOV actively collaborated with H2020 projects LIVESEEDS and ECOBREED.

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