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Press release.
27/08/2010
Launch of the EU project DROPS (2010 – 2015)
Drought-tolerant plants
The European project DROPS (DROught-tolerant yielding PlantS), coordinated by INRA, was officially launched on August 27, 2010 during a seminar in Montpellier, France. This project will address issues on the scarcity of water resources through the development of drought-tolerant and water-efficient plant varieties.
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This European project brings together 15 public and private partners1 in eight European countries, Australia, Turkey and the United States to develop new methods and strategies aimed at preserving crop yields in periods of drought and improving the use of water resources by the plant.
This project will use a multi-disciplinary approach combining physiology, genetics, modelling with field tests and phenotyping platforms in the development of drought-resistant corn, wheat, durum wheat and sorghum. It will study the following characters: reduction in seed abortion, maintenance of leaf growth, root system architecture and water use efficiency (biomass/transpiration ratio).
The main objectives of DROPS are:
- to develop new methods for identifying drought-tolerant lines
- to identify, in large collections from all over the world, “the versions of genes” (alleles) which affect the characteristics studied, in order to benefit from these genetic resources for selection
- to test the comparative advantages of the different lines in the field in various water deficit scenarios. This will be conducted by a combination of computer simulations (enabling to test a large number of water stress scenarios) and field trials.
Results of the project will be distributed to breeders through the participation of 4 seed companies and a partnership with a professional breeders’ association. Results will also be published in scientific journals and students will be trained both on line and on site.
DROPS has a funding of €8.7 million over five years, as part of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development, including €6 million from the European Union.
1 INRA, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Pty Ltd, Biogemma, INRA Transfert S.A., KWS Saat AG, Lancaster University, Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Max Planck Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaften E.V., Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. A DuPont Company, Sabanci University, Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Alma Mater Studiorum Universita di Bologna, Université Catholique de Louvain, University of Queensland, Wageningen Universiteit.
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Written by :
INRA press service, phone: +33 (0)1 42 75 91 69
Contacts :
Scientific contact: François Tardieu, project coordinator; 33 (0)4 99 61 26 32; tardieu@supagro.inra.fr
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