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Project title

Exploiting cereal biodiversity in nutrient use and biological interactions in crop resilience breeding

Primary Funding Agency

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

Lead Organisation

University College Dublin (UCD)

Lead Applicant

Not listed

Project Abstract

conditions of the major EU cereal bread wheat and the regionally important cereals durum wheat and oats. The CerealBio evidence-based hypothesis is that crop resilience and sustainability can be achieved by breeding for traits that allow plants to establish bene?cial synergies within the growing ecosystem, which includes soil resources, the above and below-ground microbiota, and the community of other crop plants. The feasibility of this goal is ensured by the wide genetic diversity for plant traits involved in the plant/ecosystem cross-talk and their importance as determinants of e?ective integration of plants within the growing environments. To this end, CerealBio will target root traits and functions for improved nutrient uptake (mainly N/P, and less extensively N x low water) and synergy with the bene?cial soil microbiome, and a combination of both host genetic resistance and biological control for the management of FHB and STB. CerealBio�s partners will provide wheat and oat germplasm with a large diversity for traits for these plant-to-soil/microbiome/plant interactions. In CerealBio, this genetic variability will be dissected into sub-components through integrated morphological, physiological, transcriptomic and metabolomic phenotyping of the genotype performance, strongly leveraging on wheat and oat pangenome knowledge. This acquired knowledge will be capitalized in innovative solutions. Promising phenotypes and consistent QTL/genes, as well as plant/microbiome associations, will be validated in agronomic contexts relevant to wheat and oat, assessed for the economic sustainability of its practical application, and disseminated to stakeholders. The ?nal aim is to innovate breeding and agronomic strategies with environment-resilient plant ideotypes and e?ective plant/microorganism associations, ultimately contributing to the transition to smart and sustainable agriculture bydecoupling crop production from non-renewable inputs. To sustain its ambition, CerealBio relies ona multidisciplinary team composed of crop geneticists, plant pathologists, agricultural microbiologists, bioinformaticians, agronomists, and bio-economists, and is established on a multi-actor approach.

Grant Approved

�131,320.80

Research Hub

Climate Change

Research Theme

2. Ireland's Future Climate, its Impacts, and Adaptation Options

Start Date

07/01/2025

Initial Projected Completion Date

6/30/2028