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COMBINING APPROACHES FOR PHOTOSYNTHETIC IMPROVEMENT TO ALLOW INCREASED SUSTAINABILITY IN EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE

Project information

Grant agreement ID: 862201

Status

Ongoing project

  • Start date

    1 April 2020

  • End date

    30 November 2024

Funded under:

H2020-EU.2.1.4.

  • Overall budget:

    € 8 917 645,75

  • EU contribution

    € 8 573 894,75

Coordinated by:

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY

Netherlands

Objective

There is a need for a ground-breaking technology to radically increase crop yields in Europe and beyond. Improved photosynthesis will be the foundation of these radical yield increases. We are an alliance of European plant breeding companies, a phenotyping technology developer and academic plant scientists. Our project aims to translate major advances in photosynthetic improvement from model plant species into three important crop species. We will capitalize on the three most promising strategies in model plants to identify the genetic resources needed to improve the photosynthetic properties of crop plants: (I) tuning of the Calvin cycle, (II) the kinetics of photosynthetic responses to changes in irradiance, and (III) tuning leaf chlorophyll content, thus providing new tools with which to increase the rate of CO2 fixation. To do so, we aim to discover the genetic basis for natural variation in traits associated with each strategy as well as use gene editing and transgenic engineering to improve photosynthesis in three major European crops: barley, tomato and maize. The findings will be used to build a complete roadmap including the feasibility of each specific technique to improve photosynthetic efficiency. Based on precedent, we expect that improving our targeted traits will result in increases in photosynthesis of 10% or more, and there will be added benefits in sustainability via better resource-use efficiency of water and nitrogen. A public dialogue programme will be used to ensure stakeholder engagement and explore further the societal limits to the acceptability of a range of technologies as potential routes to crop improvement. Looking to the 2030 horizon, this project will develop an adaptable strategy able to achieve 10% improvement in photosynthetic efficiency across a wide range of environments.

Programme(s)

H2020-EU.2.1.4. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology

Topic(s)

BIOTEC-02-2019 - Boosting the efficiency of photosynthesis (RIA)

Call for proposal

H2020-NMBP-BIO-2019-two-stage

See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

RIA - Research and Innovation action

Coordinator

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY

Address

Droevendaalsesteeg 4
6708 Pb Wageningen

Netherlands

Activity type

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments

EU Contribution

€ 1 055 262,50

Website

Contact the organisation

Participants (18)

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 837 587,50

UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 296 002,50

JULIUS KUHN-INSTITUT BUNDESFORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUR KULTURPFLANZEN

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 548 656,25

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARSOF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 743 325,75

STICHTING VU

Netherlands

EU Contribution

€ 426 250

BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV

Israel

EU Contribution

€ 96 250

CERATIUM B.V.

Netherlands

EU Contribution

€ 532 000

SCUOLA SUPERIORE DI STUDI UNIVERSITARI E DI PERFEZIONAMENTO S ANNA

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 349 752,50

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

Israel

EU Contribution

€ 305 895

UNIVERSITAET POTSDAM

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 581 900

THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION OF ISRAEL - THE VOLCANI CENTRE

Israel

EU Contribution

€ 273 322,50

LEIBNIZ - INSTITUT FUER PFLANZENGENETIK UND KULTURPFLANZENFORSCHUNG

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 693 397,50

PSI (PHOTON SYSTEMS INSTRUMENTS), SPOL. SRO

Czechia

EU Contribution

€ 901 250

COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES

France

EU Contribution

€ 554 624

KWS SAAT SE & CO KGAA

Germany

NUNHEMS BV

Netherlands

EU Contribution

€ 244 918,75

AMHARA NATIONAL REGION AGRICULTURALRESEARCH INSTITUTE

Ethiopia

EU Contribution

€ 133 500

LIMAGRAIN NEDERLAND BV

Netherlands

Project information

Grant agreement ID: 862201

Status

Ongoing project

  • Start date

    1 April 2020

  • End date

    30 November 2024

Funded under:

H2020-EU.2.1.4.

  • Overall budget:

    € 8 917 645,75

  • EU contribution

    € 8 573 894,75

Coordinated by:

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY

Netherlands

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Last update: 20 April 2020

Record number: 228757