Periodic Reporting for period 4 - ECOBREED (Increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of organic crop breeding)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-02-29
Organic production is limited by some agronomic and management requirements but particularly by the lack of organic seeds and varieties bred for organic production.
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, 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 via improved agronomic and seed treatment protocols.
• Provide farmers with the opportunity to choose and develop varieties in their own environment.
• Produce elite varieties for improved agronomic performance, biotic/abiotic stress resistance/tolerance, and nutritional quality.
• Develop training programs to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice.
• Ensure optimum and rapid utilisation and exploitation of project results 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, 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 via improved agronomic and seed treatment protocols.
• Provide farmers with the opportunity to choose and develop varieties in their own environment.
• Produce elite varieties for improved agronomic performance, biotic/abiotic stress resistance/tolerance, and nutritional quality.
• Develop training programs to facilitate rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice.
• Ensure optimum and rapid utilisation and exploitation of project results via extensive farm-based demonstration and dissemination activities.
At the beginning, the project concentrated on identifying, selecting, evaluating and multiplying genotypes and other materials for subsequent evaluation together with initial breeding activities. The selected material was then multiplied to improve accessibility of genotypes for breeding purposes and FTP field trials. Advanced phenotyping and genotyping were applied, and new crosses were made to produce new breeding material which will be the basis for new varieties suitable for organic agriculture. Farmer Participatory Trials, Participatory Plant Breeding and Training activities facilitated rapid technology transfer from the project into commercial practice.
The last period was about finalising work and linking all the results meaningfully. The publicly accessible database (https://ecobreed.eu/outcomes/database/) was published on the ECOBREED website for accessions/varieties of all four crops that are being evaluated and used in the project. Phenotypic variability in many traits was evaluated in multi-environment field trials (2019-2022) and described for four wheat diversity panels. For grain yield, grain protein content and protein yield, statistical analyses of the genotype by environment interaction were carried out, and genotypes with high absolute performance across environments were identified as well as genotypes with a high stability of performance. In vitro bioassays revealed that wheat genotypes had different effects on the germination of two weed species. Protocols for marker-assisted selection (MAS) were developed for disease resistance genes and genes related to end-use quality. New germplasm was developed and distributed among partners for further development. The potato trials were evaluated for yield, quality, utilisation and other post-harvest traits. In addition to conventional phenotyping, RGB and multispectral cameras were used. The cover crop (CC) trials revealed differences in tuber quality. Marker-assisted selection for late blight (LB) and PVY was routinely used and advanced breeding lines carrying multiple R genes were produced. We successfully created new crosses with LB and PVY resistant parents and produced new progeny. We also included new potato candidates from the KIS breeding programme in VCU trials. Six comprehensive tasks for soybean were focused on activities such as phenotyping for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance screening. A marker-assisted selection programme was established to identify genes/QTL for organic soybean breeding and organic variety NS ECOB was registered at a national level in Serbia. Buckwheat work was completed with the generation and statistical evaluation of data. Farmer Participatory field trials including production of Bulletins provided a valuable opportunity to assess data, improve its quality and enhance knowledge transfer through additional field days/field visits. We disseminated the results at European and international levels, targeting scientific audiences, policy makers and the general public. In January 2024, we organised an international scientific conference, the ECOBREED Organic Breeding Conference in Ljubljana (Slovenia). In exploitation, ECOBREED project partners and the IP sub-committee focused on the following areas: negotiating and signing the IPR agreements, creating a table of IP property management, developing a business case questionnaire, and preparing individual plans of exploitation new organic varieties.
The last period was about finalising work and linking all the results meaningfully. The publicly accessible database (https://ecobreed.eu/outcomes/database/) was published on the ECOBREED website for accessions/varieties of all four crops that are being evaluated and used in the project. Phenotypic variability in many traits was evaluated in multi-environment field trials (2019-2022) and described for four wheat diversity panels. For grain yield, grain protein content and protein yield, statistical analyses of the genotype by environment interaction were carried out, and genotypes with high absolute performance across environments were identified as well as genotypes with a high stability of performance. In vitro bioassays revealed that wheat genotypes had different effects on the germination of two weed species. Protocols for marker-assisted selection (MAS) were developed for disease resistance genes and genes related to end-use quality. New germplasm was developed and distributed among partners for further development. The potato trials were evaluated for yield, quality, utilisation and other post-harvest traits. In addition to conventional phenotyping, RGB and multispectral cameras were used. The cover crop (CC) trials revealed differences in tuber quality. Marker-assisted selection for late blight (LB) and PVY was routinely used and advanced breeding lines carrying multiple R genes were produced. We successfully created new crosses with LB and PVY resistant parents and produced new progeny. We also included new potato candidates from the KIS breeding programme in VCU trials. Six comprehensive tasks for soybean were focused on activities such as phenotyping for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance screening. A marker-assisted selection programme was established to identify genes/QTL for organic soybean breeding and organic variety NS ECOB was registered at a national level in Serbia. Buckwheat work was completed with the generation and statistical evaluation of data. Farmer Participatory field trials including production of Bulletins provided a valuable opportunity to assess data, improve its quality and enhance knowledge transfer through additional field days/field visits. We disseminated the results at European and international levels, targeting scientific audiences, policy makers and the general public. In January 2024, we organised an international scientific conference, the ECOBREED Organic Breeding Conference in Ljubljana (Slovenia). In exploitation, ECOBREED project partners and the IP sub-committee focused on the following areas: negotiating and signing the IPR agreements, creating a table of IP property management, developing a business case questionnaire, and preparing individual plans of exploitation new organic varieties.
The results of ECOBREED were beneficial in terms of increased availability and quality of seeds and varieties suited to the specific conditions of organic and low-input farming. The project provided extensive training, demonstration, dissemination, exploitation, and communication activities to facilitate rapid technology transfer and introduction of innovations from the project into commercial practice. For the first time, regional organic breeding programmes were established with the help of ECOBREED. The project helped to raise organic farmers' awareness of the importance of organic seeds and varieties, and the need to use them.
Based on the genotypes identified that are best adapted to the regional organic management systems, organic breeding activities were strengthened and boosted, and genetic diversity increased. In the long term, new germplasm better adapted to organic farming will help to increase the stability of organic production in Europe and help to achieve food security in the face of global warming and associated climate change. We believe that society will benefit from the higher availability of pesticide-free food products, as well as a healthier environment thanks to more sustainable plant production.
We have been fortunate to be able to provide young researchers and scientists with a new blend of applied and fundamental R&D skills in Advanced Genotyping and Phenotyping workshops. We have also tried to increase farmers’ knowledge in plant breeding and participatory plant breeding, with activities focused on the management and evaluation of farmers’ participatory trials. We are pleased to report that all the workshops, trials, field days and demonstration events are already contributing to the accumulation of knowledge on CCPs and seed inoculants for farmers and researchers alike. Furthermore, they are helping to raise awareness of seed quality throughout the 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 were strengthened and boosted, and genetic diversity increased. In the long term, new germplasm better adapted to organic farming will help to increase the stability of organic production in Europe and help to achieve food security in the face of global warming and associated climate change. We believe that society will benefit from the higher availability of pesticide-free food products, as well as a healthier environment thanks to more sustainable plant production.
We have been fortunate to be able to provide young researchers and scientists with a new blend of applied and fundamental R&D skills in Advanced Genotyping and Phenotyping workshops. We have also tried to increase farmers’ knowledge in plant breeding and participatory plant breeding, with activities focused on the management and evaluation of farmers’ participatory trials. We are pleased to report that all the workshops, trials, field days and demonstration events are already contributing to the accumulation of knowledge on CCPs and seed inoculants for farmers and researchers alike. Furthermore, they are helping to raise awareness of seed quality throughout the value chain and about the organic breeding programmes.