To stabilise high yield levels growers require the rapid establishment of optimum plant stands under many different environmental conditions. Because germination refers to the ability of a seed to produce a normal seedling under favourable conditions, selection of seedlots on the basis of germination characteristics alone will not necessarily identify those that will be most successful in seedling establishment. The aim of CONVIGOUR is to determine the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms influencing genetic variation for seed vigour in Brassica napus and develop new bio- and genetic markers for breeding of new cultivars with enhanced vigour and yield stability. In particular the project aims to: i) Understand the impact of seed and seed coat structure and chemical composition on seed vigour; ii) Determine the roles of micronutrients and phytohormones on germination performance and vigour iii) Understand the responses of these seed traits to environmental factors in order to investigate the genotypexenvironment interactions iv) Develop bio-markers and high-throughput metabolic and genetic screening tools for breeding of new cultivars with enhanced seed vigour and environmental stable yield The objectives proposed in this project will be achieved by high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping of a large collection of genetically diverse B. napus genotypes. The industrial partners will provide expertise in field-based phenotyping and Brassica biology, and will benefit from the application of new genetic and bio-markers. A tight partner network has been established according to the respective expertise of the industry and research partners. As a result we first expect to gain major improvements in breeding and seed production by better understanding the phenotypes of seed production failures in certain genotypes or under certain environmental conditions. This will lead to identification of candidate genes and bio-markers that are expected to increase the efficiency of breeding for seed quality traits in B. napus. CONVIGOUR represents a concerted transnational effort to attain a comprehensive systems-level understanding of B. napus seed vigour, its response and adaptation to the environment and its influence on yield. Through the selection of excellent complementary partners, combining four different technology platforms in three countries, we expect to generate considerable amounts of new data and knowledge on seed vigour, and to translate these resources into innovative prediction and modeling tools in commercial breeding practice. The CONVIGOUR network will consolidate and expand existing transnational research efforts and bring together some of the leading partners in European oilseed rape and North American canola breeding and research.

Drought is the main problem of agriculture worldwide and the situation is expected to get worse with climate change. Agriculture in the Mediterranean area could be particularly damaged and one of the primary menaces is agro-diversity depletion. Maize is one of the most important crops worldwide and is a model crop in plant breeding; however, it is especially vulnerable to abiotic stresses (heat and drought) encountered in a scenario of climate change. The objectives of DROMAMED are to: 1) assemble germplasm collections of maize adapted to Mediterranean dry areas, pooling and evaluating stress-resistant varieties from the national collections, 2) support innovative farming systems by promoting quality and sustainability of agricultural models based on organic and family agriculture, 3) study genetic factors involved in maize adaptation to drought and heat stress, 4) investigate the physiological and morphological mechanisms involved in maize responses to stresses, 5) establish predictive models and selection criteria for breeding programs focusing on tolerance to stress (phenotypic, marker assisted and genomic selection models will be designed to improve tolerance to individual and combined stresses), and 6) release new stress tolerant varieties and knowledge for being used by stakeholders; all these achievements will contribute to the sustainability of production and mitigation of the effects of stress in present and future climate scenarios. DROMAMED intends to 1) valorize the germplasm collections maintained in Mediterranean countries, with entries that have been selected for adaptation to a large diversity of stressful environments, 2) promote innovative crop management practices to increase quality and sustainability of organic and family agricultural systems, 3) capitalize current and new knowledge about mechanisms of tolerance to abiotic stresses, and 4) develop selection methods that will increase our ability to improve breeding approaches enhancing maize tolerance to abiotic stresses. DROMAMED will contribute to the progress of knowledge beyond the state of the art by dissecting the genetic, biochemical, morphological and physiological mechanisms underlying stress tolerance, providing useful tools and materials to capitalize the diversity of maize for cultivation under low inputs in the Mediterranean area and thus leading to rescue germplasm for future agriculture. The social impact will be encouraged in DROMAMED reling on close contacts between associations that represent the needs of producers and researchers to gather precise information on demands of stakeholders, try to fulfil as much as possible those demands, and transfer to growers technical knowledge to facilitate cultivation of the released drought tolerant populations. These associations are the Spanish Society for Organic Agriculture (SEAE), the Italian Maize Growers Association (AMI), the Italian Confederation Agricultural Producers (COPAGRI), the Breeding Cattle Associations of Antalya Province of Turkey (BCAAT), and the Organic Agriculture Association of Turkey (ETO).