ECOBREED project at EUCARPIA Cereal Section Conference 2023

18/05/2023

ECOBREED partners ATK, BOKU, IFVC, NARDI, NPPC, RGA, SECOBRA, SELGEN and UNITUS participated in the EUCARPIA Cereal Section Conference 2023, which took place in Szeged, Hungary, from 15 to 20 May 2023. This year’s title was Cereal Breeding – Challenges and Opportunities for Global Improvement. The conference was attended by 226 participants from 23 countries. […]

ECOBREED partners ATK, BOKU, IFVC, NARDI, NPPC, RGA, SECOBRA, SELGEN and UNITUS participated in the EUCARPIA Cereal Section Conference 2023, which took place in Szeged, Hungary, from 15 to 20 May 2023. This year’s title was Cereal Breeding – Challenges and Opportunities for Global Improvement. The conference was attended by 226 participants from 23 countries.

UNITUS presented the selection of suitable durum wheat accessions for organic farming with high grain quality, production, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The study allowed them to identify seven accessions suitable for organic agriculture with wide adaptation to different environmental conditions.

SELGEN presented the results of the baking quality in set of selected wheat varieties within the project from experiments managed under organic conditions.

ATK, BOKU, and UNITUS presented the results of multi-year durum wheat variety tests carried out in different management systems. The objective of this study was to identify phenotypic parameters and yield components of durum wheat varieties of different geographic origin under Hungarian organic and conventional management in three growing seasons.

BOKU, SECOBRA, NARDI, NPPC, IFVC, ATK, RGA and SELGEN presented lessons learned from the ECOBREED project regarding breeding wheat for organic farming. Within the project, organic multi-environment trials (METs) with two winter wheat diversity panels (i.e. early and late maturity) were carried out from 2020-2022 in seven European countries.  The METs revealed an extremely high variability in grain yield caused by severe drought in some environments and by a significant legacy effect of previous mineral fertilization in one test site. Essential for organic wheat breeding seems to be resistance against common bunt as severe infection levels were observed.

ATK reported on Hungarian participatory organic wheat breeding programs as they sent their organic-suited winter wheat varieties and two populations to organic farmers to start participatory testing and breeding on their farms.

More information on the presented studies can be found here.