PIF2024 - Characterisation of the adaptation of landraces and modern varieties to climate change to identify genetic resources and traits for bread wheat improvement (PID2023-148311OB-I00)

Global warming is constraining agricultural production worldwide and it is foreseeable a higher incidence of extreme climate events with more frequent and severe periods of drought and heat waves, threatening food security. Wheat is an important source of protein and nutrients for a majority of the world population. Its demand is rising with the growing population, but the genetic advances for yield improvement have slowed down, representing a further limitation to maintain current yields. To overcome wheat productivity and quality constraints, it will be necessary to develop production systems adapted to local agroclimatic conditions, taking advantage of using germplasm of local landraces adapted to those agroecosystems to ensure agricultural sustainability in the frame of climate change. In response to these challenges, the main objective of this research project is to explore the effect of atmospheric CO2 concentration combined with high temperature on the physiological, biochemical and transcriptional response in both flag leaf and ear organs, as well as their association with agronomic and nutritional quality traits, of locally-adapted landraces and modern bread wheat varieties grown under different water availability. The project will help identifying more resilient varieties, novel metabolic biomarkers and/or candidate genes useful to design future breeding programs in the context of climate change. The project matches the Horizon Europe and the Spanish R&D programs.