PGEN-BW: PHOSPHORUS USE EFFICIENCY AND GENETICS OF BREAD WHEAT (DBA.AD001.398)

Thematic area

Biology, agriculture and food sciences

Project area

Structure responsible for the research project

Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP)

Other structures collaborating in the research project

• Institute of plant genetics (IBBR)

Project manager

RAFFAELLAMARIA BALESTRINI
Phone number: 00000000000
Email: raffaella.balestrini@ipsp.cnr.it

Abstract

Phosphorus is an essential compound for wheat growth. Due to massive phosphorus
fertilizer applications from the 60's to the mid 80's, phosphorus availability from the
soil is, nowadays, not a major issue for bread wheat in most Western European
countries. Nevertheless, recent studies demonstrated that it could become a real
threat for wheat production by 2030 because of the constant decrease of fertilizer
applications. Indeed, it has been several years that the phosphorus inputs are lower
than exports (harvested crop organs), causing a serious depletion of available
phosphorus concentrations in the soil. So, it is time to prepare the needs for a higher
Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE), because it is unlikely that the fertilizer applications
will rise again, due to the economic weakness of many staple crop farms. Like many
agronomic issues, enhancing PUE will need to activate many levers. One of them is
the improvement of the genetic component of PUE. No significant research project on
the genetic of bread wheat PUE has been conducted in Europe during the last 40
years. The PGEN-BW project proposes to fill this gap.

Start date of activity

01/10/2020

Keywords

Bread wheat,, root phenotyping, PUE

Last update: 16/04/2024