202 research outputs found
Project ID: 727929 Finanziato nell'ambito di: H2020-EU.3.2.1.1. - Increasing production efficiency and coping with climate change, while ensuring sustainability and resilience - RESPONSABILE UO (WP) WP5 –On-farm co-innovation and exploitation
No full textTomato is a main EU agricultural commodity, cultivated all over Europe in open and protected field and in glasshouses, representing a biological and agronomical model crop. Combined water and nutrient stress is a major problem for tomato farmers and solutions are needed to safeguard yields, while preserving the environment.
TOMRES will select, among over 10,000 available accessions, rootstocks and scions tolerating combined stress, while retaining fruit quality and yield, taking advantage of innovative screening approaches. Novel traits, in particular belowground, to be exploited in breeding, will be identified. The role of selected hormones (strigolactones and brassinosteroids) will be studied to identify further resilience traits.
TOMRES will test and optimize sustainable crop management strategies such as legume intercropping, precision fertilization and irrigation techniques, manipulation of symbiotic microorganisms, and the use of rootstocks more suited to water and nutrient uptake from the soil.
Novel genotypes X management strategies will be developed with the goal of reducing N and P application by at least 20%, water input by 40%, while granting environmental sustainability and economic viability of the solutions proposed.
Testing will be integrated with analysis of environmental (greenhouse emissions, water quality), and of socio-economic impact. Agronomical, environmental, and economical data will be processed to construction of models and of a Decision Support System.
Demonstration and dissemination activities will follow the whole course of the project, and will transfer the results to different environments and other cropping systems, thus ensuring the widest impact of the gained knowledge on the EU economy. Trans-disciplinary knowledge transfer among farmers, breeders, industries, associations and scientists will be granted by a solid multi-actor approach since the planning stage
H2020 - TOMRES- WP5 - On-farm co-innovation and exploitation
No full textThe project “A NOVEL AND INTEGRATED APPROACH TO INCREASE MULTIPLE AND COMBINED STRESS TOLERANCE IN PLANTS USING TOMATO AS A MODEL”, in short TOMRES, is co-funded by the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union. The overall goal of TOMRES is to enhance resilience to combined water and nutrient stress in tomato and to maximize water (WUE) and nutrient use efficiency (NUE) by designing and testing in the field (open and protected) novel combinations of genotypes and management practices reducing the environmental impact of agricultural activities. To this aim, novel below-ground traits will be identified and rootstocks and scions displaying increased WUE and NUE, while retaining fruit quality and yield, will be selected. A range of crop management strategies will be optimized, environmental (including water quality) and socio-economic impact will be assessed, and a Decision Support System built on resource efficiency analysis data will assist field testing of genotype x management practices, and transfer to farmers.
Multi-actor approach will be granted by farmers, advisors and farmer associations, private companies and public institutions providing complementary types of knowledge as project partners. In addition, scientific experts, companies, national farmers’ organisations and citizens interested in the topic will be engaged from the start through a Stakeholder Group, thus enabling environment for implementation and market uptake of project results
On the interactions among tropospheric ozone levels and typical environmental stresses challenging Mediterranean crops
No full textThe main environmental stresses of Italian croplands are discussed in relation to their interactions with ozone effects on crops. Water deficit and salinization are frequent in Mediterranean environments during spring-summer causing a decrease of soil water potential and water uptake by roots and consequently stomatal closure. These stresses also stimulate secondary metabolism and antioxidant accumulation, which also serves as a stress protection mechanism. High concentrations of tropospheric ozone are common all over Italy during the spring-summer season. Ozone injuries to vegetation are related to its penetration into plant tissues, mostly via stomatal uptake, rather than to tropospheric concentrations per se. In several crops, closure of stomata due to drought/salinization reduces ozone entering into leaf tissues and counteracts possible ozone damages. Furthermore, the stimulation of antioxidant synthesis as a response to environmental stresses can represent a further protection factor from ozone injuries for Mediterranean crops.
The co-existence of stress-induced stomatal closure and high ozone levels during spring-summer in Mediterranean environments implies that models that do not take into account physiological responses of crops to drought and salinity stress may overestimate ozone damages when stress responses overlap with seasonal ozone peaks. The shift from concentration-based to flux-based approaches has improved the accuracy of models to assess ozone effects on agricultural crops. It is, however, necessary to further refine the flux concept with respect to the plant abiotic stress defense capacity that can differ among genotypes, climatic conditions, and physiological states
BIOFECTOR Project ID: 312117 Funded under: FP7-KBBE Resource Preservation by Application of BIOefFECTORs in European Crop Production
No full textBIOFECTOR is an integrated project with the aim to reduce input of mineral fertilisers in European agriculture by development of specifically adapted bio-effectors (BEs) to improve the efficiency of alternative fertilisation strategies, such as organic and low-input farming, use of fertilisers based on waste recycling products and fertiliser placement technologies.
Bio-effectors addressed comprise fungal strains of Trichoderma, Penicillium and Sebacinales, as well as bacterial strains of Bacillus and Pseudomonades with well-characterized root growth promoting and nutrient-solubilising potential. Natural extraction products of seaweed, compost and plant extracts, as well as their purified active compounds with protective potential against biotic and abiotic stresses are also tested in various combinations. These features offer perspectives for a more efficient use of nutrients by strategic combination with the alternative fertilisation strategies. Maize, wheat and tomato are chosen as representative crops. Laboratory and European-wide field experiments assure product adaptation to the various geo-climatic conditions characteristic for European agriculture.
The final goal is the development of viable alternatives to the conventional practice of mineral fertilisation as contribution to a more efficient management of the non-renewable resources of mineral nutrients, energy and water, to preserve soil fertility and to counteract the adverse environmental impact of agricultural production.
The project has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 312117 (BIOFECTOR).
Project Duration 60 Month 01.09.2012-31.08.2017
EU-Contribution €5,999,82
A Single Amino-Acid Substitution in the Sodium Transporter HKT1 Associated with Plant Salt Tolerance
No full textA crucial prerequisite for plant growth and survival is the maintenance of potassium uptake, especially when high sodium surrounds the root zone. The Arabidopsis HIGH-AFFINITY K(+) TRANSPORTER1 (HKT1), and its homologs in other salt-sensitive dicots, contributes to salinity tolerance by removing Na(+) from the transpiration stream. However, TsHKT1;2, one of three HKT1 copies in Thellungiella salsuginea, a halophytic Arabidopsis relative, acts as a K(+) transporter in the presence of Na(+) in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Amino-acid sequence comparisons indicated differences between TsHKT1;2 and most other published HKT1 sequences with respect to an Asp residue (D207) in the second pore-loop domain. Two additional T salsuginea and most other HKT1 sequences contain Asn (n) in this position. Wild-type TsHKT1;2 and altered AtHKT1 (AtHKT1(N-D)) complemented K(+)-uptake deficiency of yeast cells. Mutant hkt1-1 plants complemented with both AtHKT1(N) (-) (D) and TsHKT1;2 showed higher tolerance to salt stress than lines complemented by the wild-type AtHKT1 Electrophysiological analysis in Xenopus laevis oocytes confirmed the functional properties of these transporters and the differential selectivity for Na(+) and K(+) based on the n/d variance in the pore region. This change also dictated inward-rectification for Na(+) transport. Thus, the introduction of Asp, replacing Asn, in HKT1-type transporters established altered cation selectivity and uptake dynamics. We describe one way, based on a single change in a crucial protein that enabled some crucifer species to acquire improved salt tolerance, which over evolutionary time may have resulted in further changes that ultimately facilitated colonization of saline habitats
Unravelling salt stress tolerance: physiological, morphological and genetic components in crop species and model plants. http://www.fedoa.unina.it/2011/ University of Naples
No full textResponses to ozone pollution of alfalfa grown with increasing levels of salt stress
No full textIt’s well known that ozone is the most dangerous atmospheric pollutant for vegetation and reduces yield of several crops (Ferretti et al., 2007). Considering that ozone enters into plant tissues through the stomata, all the factors that reduce stomatal conductance also reduce ozone injuries to crops (Fagnano and Merola, 2007). Among these factors, in Mediterranean area increasing problems of watertable and soil salification are widespread reported. Salt stress reduced ozone sensitivity of some crop (Maggio et al., 2007), thanks to its effect on stomatal conductance and antioxidants production. The aim of this paper was to verify if irrigation with saline water can modify alfalfa responses to ozone pollution. From this experiment, it was confirmed that environmental conditions can strongly modify the response of plants to ozone pollution. Therefore, the thresholds for the protection of vegetation actually based on plant exposure to ozone tropospheric concentration are not suitable for the Mediterranean cropping systems, because these environments are characterized by multiple stresses (i.e. drought, salinity and ozone) that can modify the response of plants to the single stresses. For these reasons a ozone flux approach that takes into account other pedoclimatic stressors, therefore based on the real ozone dose absorbed by plants, will be more suitable for estimating ozone damages to crops in the different agro-environmental conditions of Europe
Ozone Damages to Italian Crops: Environmental Constraints
No full textThe main environmental features of Italian cropping systems are described with particular emphasis on their effects on crop responses to ozone pollution. High ozone levels have been recorded all over Italy and daily patterns show, at nighttimes, strong decreases in plain areas, while ozone levels remain high in hilly areas. In the latter sites, therefore, the contribution of nocturnal stomatal conductance (gsto) to ozone uptake should be further studied. It is well known that summer drought and soil salinity reduce the soil water potential, thus causing gsto to decrease. These are likely to be the most important factors reducing crop gas-exchange and yield under environmental conditions occurring in Italy. However, the stressinduced reduction of gsto also restricts ozone uptake and, consequently, its potential damage. In Southern Italy, gasexchange limitations have been also measured in irrigated crops between two successive irrigations. Finally, the effect of water stagnation, which often occurs in clay soils of southern Italy, should be not underestimated. In these soils, in fact, root anoxia will cause stomatal closure and, consequently, will also interfere with ozone uptake and damage
Ozone Damages to Mediterranean Crops: Physiological Responses
No full textIn this brief review we analyzed some aspects of tropospheric ozone damages to crop plants. Specifically, we addressed this issue to Mediterranean environments, where plant response to multiple stresses may either exacerbate or counteract deleterious ozone effects. After discussing the adequacy of current models to predict ozone damages to Mediterranean crops, we present a few examples of physiological responses to drought and salinity stress that generally overlap with seasonal ozone peaks in Southern Italy. The co-existence of multiple stresses is then analyzed in terms of stomatal vs. non-stomatal control of ozone damages. Recent results on osmoprotectant feeding experiments, as a non-invasive strategy to uncouple stomatal vs. non stomatal contribution to ozone protection, are also presented. In the final section, we discuss critical needs in ozone research and the great potential of plant model systems to unravel multiple stress responses in agricultural crops
Coordination of root hydraulic conductivity and transpiration in honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L. ): A proposed role for aquaporins
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