Project start: 01.03.2023
Project end: 28.02.2026
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Federal Office for Agriculture and Food

In QCuK, cucurbit varieties are characterized with regard to their yield performance, abiotic stress tolerance, product quality and food safety under drought stress conditions. Suitable methods for non-invasive phenotyping of growth, morphology and physiology of the plants as well as methods for the determination of quality influencing factors for breeding processes will be developed. The aim is to identify quality changes in plant compounds, such as valuable vitamins and flavonoids or non-desirable bitter cucurbitacins, in fruits. In QCuK, the aim is to support the breeding of seed-proof varieties in organic horticulture, to ensure yield as well as tasty, healthy and bitter-free fruits in future climate scenarios, and to assess quality changes under predicted weather conditions in time. On-farm breeding methods will also be used for and compared with further results of the project. Non-invasive phenotyping techniques for an early selection of resistant cultivars under artificial drought stress conditions will be established and applied in early plant developmental stage. Selected cultivars and lines will be investigated in protected cultivation, under production-like as well as real conditions and in the breeding process for drought stress tolerance, yield capacity and product quality at five locations to detect stress-induced changes in compounds. The underlying molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance and induction of plant biosynthetic pathways will be investigated in transcriptome analyses. The results of QCuK will help to support the breeding of climate-adapted and high-performing crops in organic horticulture, to strengthen product quality and food safety, and to assess quality-altering losses as consequences of climate change.

Project start: 01.01.2022
Project end: 31.12.2024
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Federal Office for Agriculture and Food

The focus of the BMEL/BÖLN founded HortiPrimed project is on abiotic stress pre-treatments as an alternative plant protection method for sustainable horticultural plant production. HortiPrimed will investigate and establish procedures involving abiotic stress pre-treatments as an alternative plant protection method for sustainable horticultural crop production. Dosed stress pre-treatments can result in faster and stronger defence reactions to reoccurring stress and, by this improve stress tolerance ('priming'). Such priming effects involve desirable cross-reactions leading to broader tolerance against abiotic and biotic environmental stresses and pathogens. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, HortiPrimed will develop procedures for controlled priming stimulation of juvenile plants to provide sustainable protection during the later production phase in the greenhouse.