Proyecto de investigación
Modulation of plant-bacteria interactions to enhance tolerance to water deficit for grain legumes in the Mediterranean dry lands (AQUARHIZ)
Responsable: Carmen Vargas Macías
Tipo de Proyecto/Ayuda: 6º Programa Marco de la U.E.
Referencia: INCO-CT-2004-509115
Web: http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/74212_en.html
Fecha de Inicio: 01-03-2004
Fecha de Finalización: 31-08-2007
Empresa/Organismo financiador/es:
- Commission of the European Communities
Socios:
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (Jean-Jacques Drevon)
- Association Européenne de Recherche Sur les Légumineuses à Graines (Anne Schneider)
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main (Guenter Kahl)
- Faculty of Sciences (Jamal Aurag)
- Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II (Mohammed Sadiki)
- Institut National de Recherche Scientifique et Technique (Mohamed Elarbi Aouani)
- Soils, Water & Environment Research Institute - Agricultural Research Centre (Youssef Garas Yanni)
- Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumed (Said Amrani)
Becarios:
- Nombramiento de Becario:
Resumen del proyecto:
The primary goal of AQUARHIZ is to increase the production of chickpea, common bean and faba bean in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, where their nutrition and yield are affected by water deficit. The project is founded on the preceding evidence for in ter- and intra-specific genetic variability of legumes for tolerance to water deficit (TWD) and in the demonstrated capacity of specific rhizobia to enhance the TWD by the plant. Therefore, legume genotypes selected for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stre sses in previous projects, and provided by external sources, will be tested with a participatory approach for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) and yield in reference production areas of the above countries.
The host-specific rhizobia will be isolated in f ield trials, genotyped, and analysed for their contribution to the TDW of the symbiosis. Rhizobial strains with prospective use as inoculants will be monitored for their survival in inoculant formulations, competitiveness and persistence in soil, and their impact on the biodiversity of targeted ecosystems. The economic feasibility of the selected symbioses in sustainable farming systems of the targeted countries will be assessed. Sets of genotypes contrasting in their tolerance to water deficit and nodulati on will be used to elucidate the physiological and molecular basis of TWD in relation to SNF. Their transcriptome will be explored with existing cDNA macro-micro arrays and through links to the Medicago genomics consortium. It is expected that this multidi sciplinary approach will deliver improved legume varieties and "a la carte" microbial inoculants better adapted to the specific water deficit conditions of each targeted region, contributing to a sustainable agriculture under water limitation in the Medite rranean basin. This material will be provided to seed and inoculant industries for further commercialisation, and introduced in breeding programmes to improve local legume lines appreciated by consumers.
