GRK 2843:  Accelerating Crop Genetic Gain

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: since 2023
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 469336000

Building on a successful history of bilateral collaboration and exchange throughout the past decade between two leading crop breeding research institutions in Germany and Australia, this proposal for a new International Research Training Group (IRTG) between Justus Liebig University Giessen and The University of Queensland aims at developing and applying novel combinations of interdisciplinary, data-driven methods to accelerate genetic gain for crop adaptation. The core research idea is that selection for essential environmental adaptation traits in plant breeding (for example to counter the impact of climate change on crop production) can be considerably accelerated by simultaneous integration of state-of-the-art genetic, genomic, phenomic and/or biotechnological innovations for identification, integration and selection of useful genetic diversity. Both individually and in combination, rapid technical advances in unrelated fields – for example genome sequencing, high-resolution digital phenotyping, artificial intelligence or gene editing – offer considerable potential as partial solutions for breeders to better understand crop adaptation and increase genetic gain for performance under suboptimal conditions.In this IRTG, interactive research projects aim to develop methods and approaches to integrate large multidimensional datasets from pangenome sequences, innovative phenotyping technologies and new, innovative breeding technologies to enhance genetic gain in under-utilized crops, using faba bean an sorghum as examples. Knowledge gained in the IRTG will contribute to a more accurate assessment of crop climate adaptation potential and genotype*environment*management (G*E*M) interactions, help discover, generate and/or recombine novel genetic diversity for important climate adaptation traits, and support the design of novel breeding strategies to improve the rate of stress adaptation in both major and minor crops.Furthermore, through multidisciplinary research projects and training, the IRTG participants will mentor a new generation of internationally networked breeding scientists capable of understanding and integrating data and analytical techniques from a broad range of interconnected scientific disciplines. This addresses the need for future plant breeders with broad interdisciplinary skills in plant genetics, data science, biotechnology and interpretation of genotype-phenotype-environment interactions, to tackle emerging global challenges facing agricultural plant production.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: Australia
• Applicant Institution: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
• Participating Institution: Hochschule Geisenheim University; Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI); Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen
• IRTG-Partner Institution: The University of Queensland
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Rod Snowdon
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Matthias Frisch; Professorin Agnieszka Golicz, Ph.D.; Dr. Eva Herzog; Professorin Dr. Sarah Schießl-Weidenweber; Professor Dr. Andreas Stahl; Professor Dr. Kai Voss-Fels; Dr. Benjamin Wittkop
• IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Ian Godwin