What are the main objectives of the BOOSTER project?
BOOSTER aims at improving drought tolerance in two cereal crops – maize and teff. The main objectives of the scientists during the four-year research within the project are to create new drought-tolerant cereal varieties. Novel molecular priming technologies from seaweed and microbial-based biostimulants will also be developed as an eco-friendly approach for improving drought resilience.
Why are maize and teff the main focuses of the project?
Teff is the most economically important crop in Ethiopia. It has high nutrient content and is more resilient to drought than many common worldwide crops. Despite its relatively drought tolerance, it is still affected by prolonged drought which has recently occurred due to climate changes.
At the same time maize is one of the world leading crops and a critical source of food, feed, fuel and fibers. At CPSBB our research is focused on maize, as it is among the most economically important cereal crops in Europe, along with rice and wheat, and is also among the most sensitive to drought.
By parallelly working on maize and teff, BOOSTER results will potentially provide information on the commonalities and differences in drought tolerance mechanisms of these two cereals with stark differences in drought resilience. Thus, by using teff, a relatively drought tolerant species, and maize, a drought sensitive cereal model species, BOOSTER will identify the different mechanisms adopted by the two cereals to cope with this abiotic stress. The efforts to explore similarities and differences in genes and regulatory sequences, involved in drought response in these species, will potentially open new avenues for the development of cereals that are simultaneously productive and resilient.
What scientific approaches are planned for the project’s realization?
There is a genetic approach in the research which includes not only focusing on genes involved in drought responses, but also identification of the still largely unexplored function of the non-coding regulatory sequences that determine plant yield under drought.
On the other hand, there is also a systematic approach to discover and characterize natural plant biostimulants. Extracts from brown algae will also be used as a source of sustainable and renewable raw material for boosting the drought resilience in the cereal crops. Biostimulants will also be developed by isolation and characterisation of soil microorganisms ( rhizobacteria) growing in and around plant roots which has proven abilities to stimulate plant growth and influence plant responses to abiotic stresses. They will be selected based on their ability to form symbiotic relationships that facilitate crop resilience under drought.
What has already been done at CPSBB and what is planned till the end of the project?
Our team has conducted several research activities since the beginning of the project in the beginning of 2023, including greenhouse transplanting of several genotypes of maize plants, seed production, as well as testing tailor-made seaweed extracts both on seeds and leaves of the plants under controlled drought conditions for mitigating drought stress. We already observed the potential of seaweed extract biostimulants in mitigating the adverse effects of drought stress on maize yield. Results have shown significant improvement in leaf fresh weight, corn cob weight, and seed weight in primed drought-stressed plants.
Future research plans at CPSBB include analyzing the mode of action of the seaweed extracts through transcriptome and metabolomic analysis of leaf samples for a selected number of maize varieties. The best-performing SWEs biostimulants for maize will undergo additional validation through field trials.
What is the expected impact of the BOOSTER project and how will the results affect agriculture?
The BOOSTER project and its results will significantly increase the chances of achieving drought-tolerant genotypes via classical breeding and new breeding technologies, with a relevant increase in drought resilience compared to those currently available. Furthermore, the development of novel and more efficient biostimulants represents an additional eco-friendly weapon for reducing the negative effects of drought on cereals. Without any doubt, the combination of discovering novel drought-tolerant genotypes and developing natural biostimulants will potentially lead to climate-smart agriculture.
