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Population breeding for adaptability through diversity and participatory on-farm selection of winter wheat

Project


Project code: 2810OE082
Contract period: 01.07.2011 - 28.02.2014
Budget: 168,698 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research

'Genotype-Environment interactions are more pronounced in organic than in conventional agriculture and will be further enhanced by climate change. Varieties for organic farming systems of the future will have to be highly flexible to deal with evolving pathogens and highly unpredictable climatic conditions. This will require new breeding approaches aiming at producing locally adaptable and highly versatile genetic materials. The aim of the project is to provide high value genetically diverse winter wheat populations that are pre-adapted to various conditions as base material for participatory selection of locally adapted conservation varieties for organic agriculture. The basic materials are 12 composite cross populations (CCPs) that have evolved for six years under organic or conventional conditions at University of Kassel and are in 2011/12 in the F11. These CCPs and three reference varieties will be compared for differences in nutrient uptake efficiency, disease resistance, and baking quality. In addition, two populations that were grown without mechanical weed control for three years will be compared to the same two original populations which had been grown with weed control for their suitability for mixed cropping with a living mulch of white clover under conditions of early sowing. To determine how well such populations can adapt the most diverse CCP will be exposed to natural selection in five different environments on-farm for two years. Selection criteria of the participating farmers will be evaluated jointly. All populations will be compared on-station after one year of growth on-farm to evaluate the quantitative effects of the different environments. Possibilities for the establishment of “conservation varieties” based on EU directive 2008/62/EC under German conditions will be evaluated.'

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