ROMANCE · StRategies fOr iMproving Agronomic practices based oN miCrobiomEs.
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
- EU contribution
- €160,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
StRategies fOr iMproving Agronomic practices based oN miCrobiomEs.
The Action “Strategies for improving agronomic practices based on microbiomes (ROMANCE)” dives into the events happening belowground in cropping systems subjected to different agronomic practices, such as intercropping and crop rotations. These agrosystems have a plethora of microorganisms living in association with soils and plants, which are known as microbiome. The selection of proper agricultural practices is important to ensure the agrosystem health and influence microbiome shifts. ROMANCE research questions address how the microbiome members, especially bacteria (bacteriome), interact with each component of the agrosystem, including plant-microbe, soil-microbe and microbe-microbe, and which bacteriomes have key roles in each analysed cropping system. The research approach established were directed to determine the core and the accessory bacterial microbiome with their commonly associated functions. Then, collected data allow the design of simplified native bacterial consortia based on the microbiota and/or functions that make agronomic systems work well versus the ones working worse. This knowledge allowed the design of bacterial consortia based on simplified native bacterial communities, which will improve crop fitness and productivity, as well as protect against quarantine pathogens. The final goal to help farmers selecting the best management practices for their conditions and the best bacterial consortium buffering most of their agrosystem limitations or deficiencies. The overall objectives of ROMANCE are: i) to study the belowground bacteriome associated to intercropping and crop rotation systems, ii) to functionally characterize the bacteriome using a multi-omics approach (genomics, proteomics, metagenomics and culturomics) aand iii) to select and test simplified bacterial communities forming patentable consortia. In summary, ROMANCE created a toolkit to aid in the selection of agro-practices and biofertilizers through a holistic vision of the belowground microbiomes, addressing the pros and cons of using microbiota profiling versus bacterial functionalities (bacteriomes) to design field-applicable products.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Plants live in association with a plethora of microorganisms, which constitute the plant microbiome. The management of this microbiome, boosting the presence of functionally relevant bacterial taxa, will improve the plant growth and development and enhance the yields of crops, which turns of paramount importance for feeding a constantly increasing World population. The selection of a determinate agronomic practice is also very important in order to maximize crop productivity. In this sense, intercropping and crop rotation are two agronomic practices that are quite common within the European Union and also, all over the world. The crops used in these cropping systems are normally one legume, such as pea or clover, and one cereal, such as barley or maize. The rationale of using a legume in those cropping systems is to provide the soils and the subsequent crop with a N source.There are numerous studies about individual crops´ microbiota as well as about bacterial isolates able to promote plant growth and performance. Moreover, there are studies stating that bacterial strains are able to protect the plant from biotic and abiotic stresses. However, there is a lack of studies on the interaction between the different members of a microbiome within each plant and the different microbiomes of the plants included in a given cropping system.The main aim of this action is to determine the core microbiome and their associated functions that are common between the crops in each cropping system. This knowledge will allow to design an adapted biofertilizer based on a simplified native community, which will improve crop fitness and productivity, as well as protect against quarantine pathogens. This final goal will turn itself as an effective tool for managing cropping systems such as crop rotation and intercropping from a microbiological vision.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA · SalamancaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union