Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SolACE (Solutions for improving Agroecosystem and Crop Efficiency for water and nutrient use)

Teaser

SolACE\'s overarching goal is to help European agriculture facing the challenge to deal with more frequent combined limitations of water and nutrients in the coming decades, through the design of novel crop genotypes and agroecosystem management innovations to improve water and...

Summary

SolACE\'s overarching goal is to help European agriculture facing the challenge to deal with more frequent combined limitations of water and nutrients in the coming decades, through the design of novel crop genotypes and agroecosystem management innovations to improve water and nutrient (i.e. N and P) use efficiency. To achieve this goal, SolACE will focus its activities on three major European crops - potato, bread and durum wheat - and will identify the (i) optimum combinations of above- and below-ground traits for improving resource use efficiency, (ii) best-performing genotypes under combined water and N or P stresses and (iii) novel practices that make better use of plant-plant and plant-microbe interactions to access water, N and P resources in conventional, organic and conservation agriculture. SolACE will implement a double interactive innovation loop, based on agroecosystem management and breeding strategies, and will imply the engagement of diverse end-users, across the production
chain, from farmers and farm advisors to NGOs, SMEs and larger industries in the agri-business sector, through the SolACE consortium and a range of stakeholders\' events. The tested innovations will include crop genotype mixtures, legume-based crop rotations and cover crops, microbial inoculants, as well as improved decision support systems and hybrids or products from genomic selection and participatory evolutionary breeding schemes. SolACE will implement complementary approaches, from data mining, modelling, phenotyping in high throughput platforms and field conditions, to experiments in research stations and farmers\' networks in contrasted pedo-climatic zones. Through the co-design and co-assessment with the end-users of the selected novel breeding and management strategies to increase the overall system resource use efficiency, the findings of SolACE will be deemed acceptable and readily available for dissemination to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including policy-makers.

Work performed

WP1 developed a “Handbook of protocols and methodology”. It is an harmonized document where all the WPs will report their methodology and data collection. It is linked to the “Data Template” which is a file in which the data will be reported in a standardized format, with same units and same variable names. A document highlighting what combination of stresses were tested in the past was also finalised.

WP2 has generated new experimental datasets on the phenology, yield components and root system architecture of 250 bread wheat, 250 durum wheat and 24 potato genotypes. Subsets of these diverse collections have been selected for detailed physiological analysis of crop responses to combined water and N or P limitations in equiped field conditions and in plant phenotyping platforms. Protocols have been elaborated and samples have been collected to define diagnostic transcriptome signatures of water limitation and to determine rhizosphere fungal and bacterial communities.

In WP3, bacterial and fungal strains, obtained from various partners, were tested individually and in combinations in the greenhouse for their potential to alleviate combined drought and nutrient stress of potato and bread wheat. Three microbial consortia were selected for bread wheat and potato. Currently, the cultivation conditions and formulations for these consortia are being elaborated. Field experiments testing various management practices including the use of the elaborated microbial inoculants have just started.

WP4 work is being timely performed with its steps of data acquisition and analyses to give the final products (strategies, markers, and genetic materials). As main results, bread and durum wheat SolACE Association panels have been built and delivered to the project partners, the first potato genetic markers for drought tolerance traits developed.
Three groups of farmers have been selected and trained for participatory breeding. Potato hybrids have been tested in combined stress conditions.

WP5 established communication channels between task and network leaders, as well as scientists in other WPs. Meetings have been held with interested farmers; in most cases decision on locations for OFEs and innovations to be tested have been reached. A template and process for collection of economic and agronomic data from each OFE farmer participant has been drafted and training delivered.

WP6 has actively engaged stakeholders through the Stakeholder Forum and Stakeholders’ Events, feed¬back documents, and the online discussion forum. The website provides a robust over¬view of the project profile and updates on the project’s progress, which are also shared through the news¬letter and social media. WP6 has also produced three videos, a dissemination plan, a communication manual, and it is planning practice abstracts and further tools.

Final results

SolACE aims at advancing our knowledge of the impact of combined water and N/P limitations on yield and quality of conventionally- or organically-grown potatoes, bread and durum wheat, and at finding solutions to overcome such abiotic stress. Large panels of genotypes are phenotyped in order to identify above- and belowground traits explaining crop performance under such conditions. The inclusion of such novel traits in genomic selection and ideotypes for breeding schemes is part of the solutions for securing food provision with lesser inputs of water and fertilizers in Europe. The potential benefits of hybrids of potato and bread wheat is a novel strategy conducted with breeders to stack traits associated with distinct stress tolerance. In durum wheat, a participatory breeding approach is engaging farmers and other stakeholders to assess an evolutionary population exhibiting a large diversity of traits. On top of these genetic solutions, we assess a range of agroecosystem management innovations, through pilot studies and field trials. We target techniques that are expected to best exploit belowground interactions and biodiversity in order to use soil resources (water and N/P) more efficiently for the purpose of an ecological intensification of European agriculture: microbial inoculants, mixtures of genotypes or rotational legumes. The use of various types of models and their application for improving decision support systems is another ambition of the project. Various combinations of novel genotypes and management innovations are assessed on-farm across Europe with a participatory approach involving a range of end-users. The agronomic, economic and environmental evaluation of these solutions will be instrumental for securing their rapid uptake by stakeholders of the rural industry in both conventional and organic agriculture sectors, including conservation agriculture. Various media are used to engage stakeholders at all steps of the project development, beyond those involved in SolACE consortium.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.solace-eu.net/.