EXPLOWHEAT- Exploring durum wheat genotypes to minimize drought stress impact on grain yield and nutritional quality

EU project funded by PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area)

Durum wheat is an important crop in Mediterranean basin, which produces about 60% of world production, and wheat-based foods provide 18% of the daily intake of calories and 20% of proteins for humans.

EXPLOWHEAT aims to identify cultivars, and/or genetic combinations, of durum wheat able to cope with limitation of natural resources by studying the mechanisms that plants face under drought and nutrient deficiency in field and field-like conditions at a multidisciplinary level. Mediterranean durum wheat landraces, including ancient grains, become particularly promising as they represent an invaluable gene pool for a number of characteristics: good adaptation to their particular Mediterranean growing regions, huge genetic diversity, and a documented resilience to abiotic stresses.

EXPLOWHEAT will target the availability of water and nutrients to durum wheat, since these two factors are the most impactful for growth rate on low-resource environments. EXPLOWHEAT aims to the: i) identification of wheat genotypes/genes leading to better capacity of plants to cope with drought stress, ii) identification of wheat genotypes/genes leading to better ion homeostasis under drought stress, iii) a new definition of crop management strategies, minimizing drought stress and maximizing allocation of nutrients to grains for improved nutritional quality, and iv) on-farm validation of promising wheat lines in production systems based on a reduced use of inputs.

To reach this objective, EXPLOWHEAT consortium includes highly-specialized research teams from different Mediterranean countries. EXPLOWHEAT will provide not only strategical concepts, but genetic resources, to deal with the upcoming agronomical challenges of growing world population under a changing climate.

Benefits will include an improved use of Mediterranean natural resources, decreased pollution, reduced energy needs and gas emissions, and increased crop productivity and quality.