The core research theme developed by the Crop Nutrition unit is on the environmentally sustainable intensification of the agricultural system. Research developed is interdisciplinary and aims at (i) identifying crop characteristics for improving resilience of agricultural production, while limiting the environmental footprint, (ii) providing breeders with selection criteria (including molecular and genomic tools) to develop new crop varieties, (iii) developing and evaluating methods (in lab and field environments) for performance testing of these varieties.
 

The focus is on improving resource use efficiency of crops to ensure food security and environmental quality. A considerable fraction of fertilizer to sustain plant biomass production gets lost as runoffs with detrimental consequences to the environment and human health. Faced with those pressing societal costs, modern agriculture must make a step change to produce biomass with less input. The unit develops synergistic activities in laboratory, natural habitat and field environments to identify plant characteristics for improving the resilience of agricultural production. The natural genetic variability of model (Arabidopsis) and crop (oilseed rape) species is screened.

 
Updated on February 23, 2021