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Climate-smart Crops: Delivering Tolerant Genes Based on Engineered Nanocarriers and CRISPR/Cas Genome-editing System
No full textCrop productivity is seriously threatened by climate changes such as global warming, which causes biotic and abiotic stress in crops. It is important to develop environmentally tolerant crop varieties to mitigate environmental stresses and feed the growing population. This chapter focusses on the combination of CRISPR/Cas technology and nanovehicles in plant breeding to improve agricultural productivity. The chapter begins with a general introduction to gene delivery through various nanocarriers, including liposomal, polymeric, and other nanoparticles, including the mechanism of catalase. The use of this approach is beneficial for several aspects related to CRISPR/Cas-mediated application in crops, such as increased bioavailability, specificity of target genes and controlled release or reduction of toxicity, probably due to the role of nanocarriers. This is illustrated by examples of applications where this convergence can lead to a significant improvement in disease resistance, stress tolerance, and yield. In addition, the chapter deals with the regulation and ethics of genetically modified plants and nanotechnology. This includes the existing regulations, their description, as well as safety and environmental concerns and challenges (such as public perception or ethics). We emphasize the need for a rigorous safety assessment and open, transparent communication between all stakeholders to build trust and promote the integration of these technologies. Finally, the chapter proposes an agenda for further research, including nanocarriers that respond to a specific trigger and targeted components, new types of effective carriers, and the combination of CRISPR/Cas with other strategies such as conventional breeding. In this way, researchers can utilize the incorporation of CRISPR/Cas technology into nanocarriers to address current obstacles in agriculture that will ultimately bring great benefits to global food security and sustainable agricultural practices
Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) Protocols Used in Carbon Trading Applied to Dryland Nations in the Global South for Climate Change Mitigation
No full textClimate change mitigation involves carbon sequestration that can be supported by Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs) and counted as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in national climate change strategies. Integrating these allows for the determination of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration at the national level. The case for Egypt and other nontropical dryland nations is made in this systematic review article through consideration of monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) protocol challenges and initiatives. Improvements are indicated based on the literature, encompassing the academic literature as well as organizational reports and governmental policy documents. Agricultural MRV protocols depending on soil organic carbon (SOC) measurements are specifically considered, delineating the challenges and barriers for SOC MRV methods. Considering the impacts of climate zones affecting soils and providing as much standardization as possible for MRV protocols will improve the accuracy and generalizability of data. Measurements in carbon sequestration monitoring based on SOC MRV protocols need to be informed by soil experts alongside climatologists and policymakers in a multidisciplinary approach
Comparative Performance of Novel Fungicidal Seed Treatments for the Management of Common Bunt in Wheat
No full textThe impact of six seed-treatment fungicides [Celest Extra® (25 g/l fludioxonil + 25 g/l difenoconazole), Switch® (250 g/kg trifloxystrobin + 500 g/kg tebuconazole), Nativo® (cyprodinil 37.5% + fludioxonil 25.0%), and Myclobutanil® (Myclobutanil 22.37%), Vibrance Duo® (25 g/l fludioxonil + 25 g/l sedaxane), and Vibrance Maxx® (fedaxane 4.69% + mefenoxam 3.52% + fludioxonil 2.35%)], was evaluated against common bunt on four wheat varieties under isolation conditions in Terbol Station, Lebanon. The results showed that Celest Extra, Vibrance Duo and Vibrance Maxx provided complete control of common bunt, representing an almost 100% reduction compared to the untreated inoculated control (87.5% intensity). While the products Nativo and Switch reduced the severity of common bunt disease to 45.36% and 49.10%, respectively, these products may not be sufficient as standalone options under severe disease pressure
Homegrown forages: Ethiopia’s newly released Panicum grasses
No full textTwo panicum grass varieties Chano (Panicum maximum Jack) and Gardula (Dichanthelium latifolium) have been released for cultivation in Southern and Central Ethiopia. Chano and Gardula are local landraces, selected from farmer-maintained populations and assessed by Arba Minch Agricultural Research Center in collaboration with the International Canter for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). These indigenous grasses were approved for Release by the Ethiopian Variety Release Standing Committee in May 202
Sharing Local Indicators with Communities A set of Posters (in French and Arabic)
No full textAs part of the co-development of a contextualized set of indicators tailored to landscape stakeholders’ needs, it was proposed to reintroduce locally defined indicators to the communities that had been previously co-conceived and developed with them during the CGIAR Agroecology Initiative (2022–2024). This restitution process aimed to strengthen the link between locally grounded knowledge and more formalized assessment frameworks, while reinforcing community ownership of the indicators. The presentation and discussion of local indicators during community workshops aimed to achieve two main objectives. First, it sought to identify which indicators communities consider essential for monitoring and evaluating changes within their territories, and which ones they would like to continue tracking over the coming years. Attention was paid to understanding the reasons behind these choices, including their relevance to livelihoods, resource management, and long-term community visions. Second, the workshops aimed to gather feedback from facilitators on how participants understood and interpreted the tables, figures, and visual representations used to present the indicators, to assess their accessibility and usability. The community workshops and their primary outcomes have already been documented in previous technical reports. Building on this earlier work, the present report focuses specifically on the posters designed and used during the restitution process. These posters were conceived as practical communication tools to facilitate dialogue, collective reflection, and learning around the indicators. The development of the posters followed a two-step process. The first step consisted of identifying relevant indicators within the HOLPA database in Tunisia that best reflected the indicators initially expressed and co conceived by the communities. Care was taken to ensure coherence between these indicators and the communities’ long-term vision for their landscapes over the next ten years. This step enabled the translation of locally articulated priorities into a structured metric framework while preserving their original meaning. The second step involved selecting two to three additional indicators per community and presenting their results in a simple and visually accessible format. These complementary indicators were chosen to enrich the analysis, highlight key trends, and stimulate discussion on emerging challenges and opportunities. Presenting concrete results for each community helped make abstract concepts more tangible and supported collective interpretation of changes at the local level. Overall, this restitution process highlighted the importance of iterative feedback loops between communities, facilitators, and researchers. It demonstrated that indicators are not only measurement tools, but also boundary objects that can foster dialogue, shared understanding, and collective decision-making. The approach also revealed the need to balance scientific robustness with clarity and simplicity, ensuring that indicators remain meaningful, usable, and actionable for local stakeholders over time
Advantages of marketable habitat enhancement plants for pollinator protection notably in low-and middle-income countries
No full textThe decline of pollinators is reported worldwide. The most widely promoted protection approach, wildflower strips, is disliked by farmers and therefore often supported by agroecological schemes. They can neither bend pollinator decline in the European Union nor is this approach affordable for the Global South. Wildflower strips address pollinator decline at the level of plant-pollinator networks, while in the Anthropocene, humans are the crucial factor. Therefore, we tested an alternative approach, Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP), which focusses on humans' interests, e.g. productivity, income, and pest control as farmers’ interests. Based on 31 trials in 233 smallholder fields in four very different agroecosystems with seven main crops and 27 marketable habitat enhancement plants (MHEP) and an ex-post farmer survey in Morocco, we analyzed the potential of MHEP to sustain diverse flower visitors, promote pest control and adoption by farmers. The four agroecosystems are common across the Mediterranean region. MHEP attracted higher diversity and abundance of flower visitors and natural enemies over a prolonged flowering period. MHEP supported pest control by push-pull effects. 68 % of FAP farmers adopted their use. Some MHEP have been identified as best performing both by scientists and farmers, so that in Morocco, the antagonism between scientists requesting pollinator protection and farmers insisting on business requirements has been minimized. We recommend similar multidisciplinary studies for more regions to clarify whether, in the long-term and globally, MHEP and the FAP approach could promote pollinator protection more economically and effectively than wildflower strips and agroecological schemes
Predictions of Genes Conferring Resistance to Puccinia hordei in an International Barley Panel Using Gene-for-Gene-Based Postulations and Linked Molecular Markers
No full textDeployment of resistant barley cultivars is the most cost-effective and environmentally responsible strategy to manage barley leaf rust caused by Puccinia hordei. Gene predictions based on screening of germplasm with an array of well-characterised pathotypes and application of molecular markers serve as a pivotal step for identification, characterisation, and deploying resistance in breeding programmes. We evaluated 77 barley genotypes from 17 countries using an array of diverse P. hordei pathotypes and molecular markers to predict resistance gene identities. Evaluation and resistance analysis of the panel determined four known all-stage resistance (ASR) genes—Rph2, Rph3, Rph9.am, and Rph25 present individually or in combination, with Rph3 being the most common (33% of entries) and Rph2 the second most frequent (9%). Three entries, CG55, CG56, and CG57, exhibited low infection to all tested pathotypes and were negative for markers associated with Rph7, Rph15, and Rph28, potentially carrying novel uncharacterised resistance. In addition to ASR, our studies demonstrated that the core panel had a high prevalence of adult plant resistance (APR) to P. hordei, occurring in ~83% of entries. By employing markers linked to APR, we were able to partition known APR with Rph24 found in the most lines (60%), followed by Rph23 (17%), Rph20 (14%), and uncharacterised (9%) either individually or in combination. The resistance sources identified in this study can be effectively utilised and combined by breeding programmes to diversify their resistance gene pool. Our study also revealed the virulence and avirulence profiles of 12 Australian P. hordei pts to catalogued Rph genes, providing pathologists and breeders with insights into combining genes relevant to their breeding regions and pathogen shifts
D7.2.2 The major retailers participate in “open days” to learn more about the food products
No full textThe MountainHER Project (Empowering women associations as drivers for agroecological
transformation to generate income for Mountain farming communities) aims to empower women's
associations in mountain communities and promote agroecological transformation through the
development and commercialization of products made from locally grown cereals.
The series of "Open Days" events were strategically organized across Croatia, Italy, Tunisia, and
Morocc
D4.4.1 Training of rural cooperatives in business strategies and spirit
No full textThis report outlines the completed training activities and workshops in Morocco and
Croatia, as well as the identified needs and planned trainings in Italy, as part of
strengthening the marketing strategies and entrepreneurial spirit of women's agricultural
cooperatives. The activity aims to encourage sustainable economic development in rural
communities by empowering rural cooperatives
Assessment of the adoption potential of different No-Till Seeders for small-holder farmers in rainfed drylands of Morocco
No full textConservation agriculture is still an emerging technology in Morocco and until now it is limited to less than 1% of cereal-based system lands of the country. Custom hiring is very useful method of having access to agricultural machinery, especially by small and medium-sized farms. This study aimed to calculate the true economic cost of direct seeding for a service provider using different types of direct seeders available in the country. These calculations will help to determine the reasonable hiring cost of direct seeders in Morocco. Financial analysis of reconvention to direct seeding services shows that the investment in Moroccan seeder is the more profitable option for service providers and guaranties a reasonable hiring cost per hectare (24.7US$ equivalent to 210MAD) for small holders