Improving buckwheat productivity

Project description

What is the research project about?

The orphan crop buckwheat is a pseudocereal with high nutritional values, agronomic versality and ecological benefits. In addition, buckwheat has low fertilization requirements, is resistant to most cereal diseases and is adapted to various climatic conditions. Buckwheat is therefore an attractive orphan crop that can contribute not only to a healthier human diet, but also to more resilience in agriculture. Although buckwheat has a long tradition in Switzerland and Europe, its cultivation has declined over the last century. Significant challenges for buckwheat breeding and cultivation are self-incompatibility and asynchronous flowering which leads to nonuniform seed sets and unstable yields. This project aims to implement CRISPR-Cas genome editing in buckwheat to induce uniform flowering and self-fertility with the goal to improve buckwheat productivity.

Why is the research project important?

New plant breeding technologies (NBTs) have the potential to accelerate breeding efforts of buckwheat and other orphan crops for enhancing diversity in agriculture and the human diet. The results of this research project will give insights into how genome editing can be applied to adapt Swiss orphan crops to contemporary agricultural requirements. Through involving partners from the practice, we also aim to provide decision makers from industry and policy with scientific insights that allow them to assess opportunities and challenges of genome editing in plant breeding and agriculture.