The identification of new variability represents a major tool to face challenges to overcome global warming and improve farming system sustainability. Turnips and cabbages, which largely contribute to food production worldwide, are native of the Mediterranean basin. Wild forms and landraces grow under highly contrasted environments. Taking advantage of this distribution, the objective of BrasExplor is to collect, explore this wide genetic diversity of wild and locally cultivated forms, after discussions with farmers on cultural practices and traditional uses, in order to promote local varieties. Collects will be performed along the climatic gradient with a precise description of contrasted environmental conditions, edaphic and microbiome composition of the soil. From 100 populations of cabbages (Brassica oleracea) and 100 of turnips (B. rapa), we will sequence (Next Generation Sequencing) in bulk each population for genome-wide scans looking for associations between nucleotide polymorphism and environmental variables as well as soil composition in order to search for genetic determinants of adaptation to suboptimal conditions. These data will be confirmed under controlled conditions for water and temperature stress and in contrasted field conditions for different traits: seed germination, root architecture, flowering phenology, self-incompatibility, microbiota diversity, morphology. Genetic data will be also used to infer their population genetic structure and to understand the relationships between the wild and cultivated forms of each species, the impact of farming practices under environmental constraints. Results will allow development of core-collections for in situ/on-farm management strategies and ex situ conservation as well as for promotion of landraces and for first proposal of pre-breeding populations.

The NETTREE proposal will be submitted to the SFS-28 2019 call, which revolves around the improvement (“adding value”) of the quality of information attached to collections of genetic material in Europe. We will focus on the existing network of forests tree Genetic Conservation Units (GCU), a well-established conservation network relying on the identification of natural forest stands of high value, under the coordination of the EU-wide EUFORGEN program, devoted to the protection of European forests and to dissemination of information. GCUs preserve a forest species’ genetic diversity and adaptive potential, so the purpose of European forestry conservation programs is to identify ways to grant the long-term viability of GCU stands. The EU-level monitoring and data collection on GCUs is supervised by EUFORGEN through the EUFGIS information system. In spite of the clarity of objectives of EUFORGEN and of GCUs, methods to identify GCUs are not stardardised across European countries; information attached to each GCU is frequently rudimentary and lacks further interpretation or treatment, thus preventing managers from making sense (and use) of it; indicators of resilience, as well as of potential for breeding for economically or ecologically useful traits, are missing altogether for most GCUs. In this respect, there is a pressing need to “add value” to GCUs and the corresponding information system, making it a more effective monitoring network and a useful resource for conservationists, managers, and breeders. In agreement with the call text, our proposal aims to (a) fill gaps in EUFGIS (e.g., missing ecological information, risk indicators including climatic and societal threats), and update its structure to accommodate the types of information listed below; (b) fill gaps in the GCU network, particularly for eco-regions that are GCU-poor, by suggesting new GCUs, and establish criteria for how to identify new, valid GCUs, including by making use of the information listed below; (c) improve & intensify genotypic and phenotypic information attached to the GCUs, by proposing a standardised set of traits and types of genetic information that should be acquired on all GCUs; this will focus particularly on genomic approaches and on stable (“hard”) traits that respond to different components of climate change (CC) in different eco-regions (e.g., drought in the South, phenological offset in the North); (d) provide standardised indicators of the short-, medium-, and long-term viability of GCUs based on the information collected at points (a)-(c); these will be provided as multidimensional indicators taking into account multiple components of risk and adaptive potential; (e) model the adaptive and plastic response of individual stands to CC, based on information gathered in (c), through individual-based models, thus providing indicators of resilience on the short, medium, and long term; we will rely on extant models, which permit to predict the fate of a population based on the (genetic, physiological, ecological) properties of real or simulated individuals that compose it; (f) provide and test protocols for the collection of data as per points (a)-(c) by the end-user, so that the characterisation of GCUs can be autonomously operated by forest managers; such protocols will propose the end-user standardised methods to collect samples and to interact with specialists who will produce the necessary data; (g) provide a user-friendly interface (linked to EUFGIS) that will allow the end-user to compute indicators and resilience predictions as in points (d) and (e), based on the data obtained in (f), as a support for decision-making on the choice and management of GCUs. The network's activities have already started on partners' own resources, with the setting up of the core network in December 2017-March 2018, and a 3-day meeting (INIA, Madrid, 16-18 April 2018) to establish the work plan and to identify work packages and work package leaders.

INTEGRITY aims to evaluate alternative management of mixed crop-ruminant livestock systems to increase the potential increment of Carbon and Nutrient Circularity in diverse agro-climatic regions. Nine countries from three continents (America, Europe, and Oceania) are involved in this proposal. Different degrees of integration between the crops and livestock components of a system may have advantages or disadvantages, so trade-offs among economic (productivity, efficiency), environmental (nutrient cycling, soil health, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions), and social (work arduousness and organization, household networks) indicators will be identified. Gaps in knowledge regarding impacts of the integration need to be addressed to fully understand the mechanisms that reduce GHG emissions and/or increase soil C sequestration and nutrients (i.e. C, N) use efficiency in mixed production systems; and which would be the impact of proposed interventions with a broader and holistic perspective. These interventions will be specifically designed for each situation and will be evaluated experimentally to quantify their impact, not only through direct and specific effects but also in a broad sense addressing the circularity within the agricultural systems by different modeling tools. Standardized evaluation approaches and procedures across the different partners will allow direct comparison of the relative impact of new management alternatives. Stakeholders’ involvement through the process will certainly help to focus on applicable new practices and facilitate their adoption by farmers. The conformed Low Carbon Livestock - Research Network, a regional platform involving countries from America and Europe created in 2020 and supported by the GRA, will strengthen the capacity-building opportunities for young researchers and enhance the result dissemination platform. Proposed activities within this project will be organized in 5 Work Packages (WP). The WP1 will investigate different management practices at diverse agricultural systems to enhance nutrient circularity, production efficiency, and reduce C footprint; WP2 aims to identify the potential improvement of C footprint by increasing the inclusion of by-products in ruminants feeding programs; WP3 will evaluate the management of carbon circularity and climate change mitigation and adaptation in mixed crop-ruminant livestock systems through system approach assessment and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (i.e. design of digital twins of farms based on combining sensor data and modeling that can help the decision-making process of stakeholders on the production chain of different mixed production systems). Also, this WP includes agent-based modeling to understand the decision-making process and other emergent properties of mixed crop-livestock production systems; WP4 will involve engagement with stakeholders, training, communication, and dissemination; WP5 project coordination. A particular characteristic of this proposal is the range of diverse production systems with different agro-climatic and socio-cultural characteristics that will allow observing differential responses of enhanced resource use efficiency and optimize nutrient circularity with the integration of the two systems components at different locations. This project involves cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary cooperation, which will be supported by the consortium’s complementary scientific skills, and reinforce and expand a history of mutual cooperative research where new partners will be involved.