Breedwheat : Developing new wheat varieties for sustainable agriculture

Ble

 

The project aims at strengthening the competitiveness of the French breeding sector while addressing the societal demand for sustainability, quality and safety. Bringing together 26 partners from the public and private research and breeding sectors, it has a total budget of €34 million for 9 years.

Led by Catherine Feuillet, Research Director at INRA Clermont-Theix, Breedwheat will combine structural and functional genomics, genetics, and ecophysiology with high throughput phenotyping and genotyping to identify markers and genes underlying yield and quality traits under abiotic and biotic stress. Moreover, the project will characterize and tap unexploited genetic resources to expand the diversity of French gene banks. Finally, new breeding methods will be developed and evaluated for their socio-economic impact. .This project will enhance the sustainability of wheat production through the development of new varieties that are more robust and less demanding in water and fertilizer, towards a more environmentally friendly agriculture that is adapted to climate change.

Breedwheat will reinforce the French position in the “Wheat-Global Alliance” for world food security led by the international research centers CIMMYT and ICARDA. It will also enable new collaborations with other large scale national projects in the framework of the new international “Wheat Initiative” for the coordination of wheat research, supported by the G20, co-led by INRA and launched on September 15th, 2011 at the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Breedwheat is the 1st French Stimulus Initiative project coordinated by INRA in the category “Biotechnologies and Bioresources” to be launched. Announced on February 23rd, 2011 by the French Minister of Higher Education and Research and the French Minister of Agriculture, Breedwheat is one of the five laureates of the “Biotechnologies and Bioresources” call for proposals. The project represents a total investment of €34 million for 9 years, of which €9 million were granted by the French Stimulus Initiative through the French National Research Agency (ANR). The project gathers the competencies of 26 French partners, including 11 private companies, to develop and use efficient genome sequence-based tools and new methodologies for breeding wheat varieties with improved quality, sustainability, and productivity.

 

Project coordinator:

INRA - UMR 1095 Génétique, Diversité, Ecophysiologie des Céréales (GDEC)
5, chemin de Beaulieu
63100 Clermont-Ferrand
France

 

Website

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Project partners:

The project involves 26 French partners, including 11 private companies.

 

CNRGV's responsible

  • Arnaud Bellec

 

CNRGV involvement:

  • 3D pool production and screening
  • BAC libraires construction