A group of European academic research institutions have joined together to launched the Acelerated Development of multiple-stress tolerAnt PoTato (ADAPT), which will develop strategies to make potatoes fit for the challenging growth conditions of the future, the James Hutton Institute, says in a news release on Aug. 28. The institute is part of the project.
“The funding will allow us to build on our research findings about potato stress responses and the involvement of major potato breeding companies will ensure translation of our science to end-users,” Mark Taylor, from the James Hutton Institute team, says in the release.
Potatoes are one of the most important food crops globally, but the crop is threatened by is its vulnerability to environmental stresses; particularly to combinations of heat and drought, which are becoming increasingly prevalent due to climate change, the release notes. Often these conditions are also followed by seasonal flooding, which can ruin the entire harvest within a few days.
The ADAPT project, will see the complementary expertise of 10 academic research institutions, four potato breeders, a screening technology developer, a government agency and a non-profit European Union association, come together to investigate the mechanisms underlying multi-stress resilience in potato.
The ADAPT project will take place over the next four years with a total budget of 5m Euro from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the release notes.
