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INnovations in plant VarIety Testing in Europe to foster the introduction of new varieties better adapted to varying biotic and abiotic conditions and to more sustainable crop management practices

Project description

Innovative methods to predict plant variety performance

The valorisation and introduction of varieties better adaptable to sustainable crop management practices and more resistant to climate change will improve crop production for food and feed purposes. The EU-funded INVITE project aims to improve the efficiency of variety testing in Europe and increase the information delivered to stakeholders on variety performance under a range of production conditions and biotic and abiotic pressures. The project will study 10 selected species that are mainly used for food and feeding uses and represent important breeding activity in the EU. INVITE will identify bioindicators associated with plant resource use productiveness, sustainability and resistance and develop new phenotyping and genotyping tools to measure them.

Objective

The aim of the INVITE project is to improve both efficiency of variety testing and the information available to stakeholders on variety performance under a range of production conditions and biotic and abiotic stresses. This will be exemplified on ten selected species representing the main features of propagation, food and feed uses, and having an important breeding activity at EU level. The ultimate goal is to help the valorisation and the promotion of varieties that are more adapted to sustainable management practices, and more resilient to climate change. The most critical issues to be addressed for each crop have been selected thanks to an internal survey during the building phase of the project taking into account the wide experience and background of the partners of the INVITE consortium.
To reach its overall objective, INVITE will identify bioindicators associated with plant resource use efficiency, sustainability and resilience. It will develop new phenotyping and genotyping tools to measure them. INVITE will implement models and statistical tools allowing to predict variety performance under a range of environments and crop management practices, while considering the economic return for farmers. The tools and methods will be made available for examinations offices (including CPVO) and post registration organisations to improve efficiency and accuracy of DUS and variety performance testing and to integrate sustainability criteria. INVITE will also propose organisational innovations to improve the management of variety testing networks and reference collections. It will propose guidelines to policy makers for including new traits and improving harmonisation of DUS and VCU at EU-level, and for the testing of heterogeneous plant reproductive material. The outputs of the project will be available to all the relevant stakeholders thanks to an active and open dissemination policy; particularly by delivering a Decision Support System for Variety Choice.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

RIA - Research and Innovation action

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) H2020-SFS-2018-2020

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Coordinator

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT
Net EU contribution
€ 1 485 457,50
Address
147 RUE DE L'UNIVERSITE
75007 Paris
France
Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 1 485 457,50

Participants (37)