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About the project

CResWheat aims to support the breeding of climate-resilient spring wheat by identifying genetic resources for disease resistance, drought tolerance and important adaptive traits for the Nordic region. This will be done by conducting genetic studies and by making germplasm and related markers available to breeders.

This goal is crucial as Nordic spring wheat production faces challenges such as a limited growing season, threats from pests and pathogens, and the impacts of climate change with more frequent periods of heavy rainfalls and drought. The PPP project "CResWheat – Pre-breeding for Nordic climate-resilient spring wheat II" is one of four projects in the project period 2024-2026 of the Nordic Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for pre-breeding. 

“Having successfully identified resistance donors for seven major wheat diseases, pre-harvest sprouting, and early spring drought in the initial phase of CResWheat, we are excited about the opportunity to continue our work. Strategically utilising these donors, we established 16 populations, which we will now evaluate to identify superior progenies and genetic markers for use in marker-assisted backcrossing and selection. In the second phase, our goals include identifying donors resistant to the re-emerging wheat pest, gout fly, and the cereal cyst nematode, pests increasingly affecting spring wheat production as a result of pesticide restrictions, poor crop rotations, and climate change. The significant advantage of public-private partnerships lies in the increased exchange of knowledge, resources and educational initiatives, which will remain an integral aspect of CResWheat." 

/Project Leader Therese Bengtsson, Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

Partners:

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU (SE)

NordGen (the Nordic countries)

Nordic Seed A/S (DK)

Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd (FI)

Sejet Planteforædling I/S (DK)

Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke (FI)

Lantmännen (SE)

Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NMBU (NO)

Aarhus University (DK)

Graminor AS (NO)

Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge, METK (EE)