Innovating Works

ECO-INTENS-HORT

Financiado
Ecological intensification in horticulture: Increasing crop quantity and quality...
Ecological intensification in horticulture: Increasing crop quantity and quality by understanding relationships between functional diversity, ecosystem services and genotype-specific traits. Biodiversity is a vital resource for humanity, providing essential ecosystem services for food production. Agriculture is a main driver of biodiversity loss, thus jeopardising the biodiversity-based ecosystem functions and service... Biodiversity is a vital resource for humanity, providing essential ecosystem services for food production. Agriculture is a main driver of biodiversity loss, thus jeopardising the biodiversity-based ecosystem functions and services agriculture itself depends upon. The demand for agricultural products is rising, so alternatives to conventional intensification are urgently needed. Ecological intensification strengthens natural processes through regulating and supporting ecosystem services instead of using human-produced inputs. Current research on temperate and tropical crops indicates that many crop systems experience pollination deficits, limiting crop production. Effective pollinators have been identified for some crops, but we lack a mechanistic understanding of how functional biodiversity translates to gene flow across plantations, and thus crop yield and quality. How floral traits of different crop genotypes affect gene flow has also received little to no attention. This interdisciplinary project is designed to create species-specific data showing how pollinator species move pollen, and which genotype(s) of pollen they carry, as this determines yield and nutritional quality. Further, this project is dedicated to assessing whether mixed cropping of genotypes can affect pollination services by measuring genotype-specific floral traits and associating traits with variation in pollinator visitations. This will create a mechanistic understanding of pollinator movement, necessary to develop ecological intensification strategies that use genotypes with specific flower traits to strategically attract and retain the most efficient pollinators. The outcome of this research has scientific, economic, and societal impact, by delivering strategies to make food systems more productive while maintaining biodiversity and environmental sustainability, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal Zero Hunger, instead of succumbing to the rising demands on agriculture. ver más
14/01/2026
190K€
Duración del proyecto: 34 meses Fecha Inicio: 2023-03-06
Fecha Fin: 2026-01-14

Línea de financiación: concedida

El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2023-03-06
Línea de financiación objetivo El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
Presupuesto El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 190K€
Líder del proyecto
GEORGAUGUSTUNIVERSITAT GOTTINGEN STIFTUNG OFF... No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico TRL 4-5