FRUITFUL · Boosting fruit and nut trees' resilience and performance via molecular priming with biostimulants to achieve full orchard sustainability
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2027-01-01 → 2030-12-31
- EU contribution
- €1,397,790
- Participants
- 11
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Project objective
Fruit and nut orchards are vital to European and global agriculture and nutrition but face growing threats from cold, drought, heatwaves, frosts, and UV stress. These stresses reduce fruit set, impair quality, and undermine farm viability. FRUITFUL offers novel molecular priming strategies using tailored biostimulants to strengthen orchard resilience to adverse weather and abiotic stress. Using validated formulations, the project will enhance soil health, fruit set, and fruit quality across orchards of pome fruits (apples, pears); stone fruits (cherries, peaches, plums, mango); citrus (oranges, lemons, mandarins); tree nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts) and berry (Kiwi). For the first time, integrating soil microbiomes with tree multi-OMICS will reveal mechanisms of soil health, stress responses, and biostimulant-driven resilience in fruit and nut trees. The consortium comprises an industry partner BIOAT (Ireland); academic institutions CPSBB (Bulgaria), UOB (Italy), FGI (Bulgaria), ICDP (Romania), and FRI (Serbia); and associate partners FCA-UNL and IBR CONICET (Argentina), CRI and BZU (Pakistan) as well as MU (New Zealand). Through MSCA Staff Exchanges in FRUITFUL, agronomists will train in omics and bioinformatics, molecular scientists will gain field expertise, and industry will drive market-ready solutions. This mobility will foster sustainable capacity building, career growth, and innovation across Europe and beyond.FRUITFUL will deliver:•Scientific impact: mechanistic insights and proven solutions for abiotic stress resilience in orchards.•Societal impact: sustainable fruit production with safer inputs, improved consumer health.•Economic impact: validated protocols reducing yield losses and reinforcing Europe’s leadership in biostimulants.By uniting innovation, interdisciplinarity, and inter-sectoral mobility, FRUITFUL supports the EU Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork strategy, setting a benchmark for climate-smart perennial farming.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- BIOATLANTIS LIMITED · TRALEE KERRYCoordinatorIreland
- ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA · BolognaItaly
- BAHAUDDIN ZAKARIYA UNIVERSITY · MultanPakistan
- Citrus Research Institute, Sargodha · SargodhaPakistan
- INSTITUT PO OVOSHTARSTVO-PLOVDIV · PLOVDIVBulgaria
- INSTITUT ZA VOCARSTVO · CacakSerbia
- INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y CELULAR DE ROSARIO · RosarioArgentina
- INSTITUTUL DE CERCETARE DEZVOLTARE PENTRU POMICULTURA PITESTI MARACINENI · MaracineniRomania
- MASSEY UNIVERSITY · Palmerston NorthNew Zealand
- TSENTAR PO RASTITELNA SISTEMNA BIOLOGIYA I BIOTEHNOGIYA · PlovdivBulgaria
- UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL LITORAL · Santa FeArgentina
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union