FUTUREROOTS: Redesigning root architecture for improved crop performance
Food security is a pressing global issue. Crop production has to double by 2050 to keep pace with global population growth increasing to 9 billion. This target is challenging given the impact of climate change on water availability and the drive to reduce fertilizer inputs to make agriculture more environmentally sustainable. FUTUREROOTS aims to create a unique high throughput root phenotyping facility that exploits recent advances in biological image analysis, wheat genetics and mathematical modelling to pinpoint the key genes that control root architecture and develop molecular markers and new crop varieties with improved nutrient and water uptake efficiency. Rooting depth impacts the efficient acquisition of soil nitrogen (and water) since nitrate leaches deep into the soil. Phosphate use efficiency could be significantly improved by manipulating the angle of root growth to explore the top soil where this macronutrient accumulates. A key impediment to genetic analysis of root architecture in crops grown in soil has been the ability to image live roots non-invasively. FUTUREROOTS will make use of recent advances in microscale X-ray Computed Tomography which permits root phenotyping. In parallel, innovative mathematical models simulating the impact of root architecture and soil properties will be developed as tools to assess the impact of architectural changes on uptake of other nutrients in order to optimise crop performance.
See also: https://smart-akis.com/SFCPPortal/#/app-h/technologies?techid=59
Smart-AKIS: European Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) towards innovation-driven research
in Smart Farming Technology
Ongoing | 2016-2018
in Smart Farming Technology
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Greece