Institut für Bienenschutz
Climate-resilient sunflower crops can help to reduce the EU dependency on imports of vegetable oils and proteins shifting towards sustainable alternatives, to mitigate the impact of agricultural production on water use and greenhouse gas emissions, to grow resources for pollinators, and to promote biodiversity. HelEx will generate the knowledge and use innovative tools to accelerate the breeding of sunflower varieties adapted to extreme drought and heat stresses, while assessing their environmental impact and economic value of the resulting innovations along the value chains. HelEx will also consider two linked groups of traits increasingly impacted by climate change, i.e. the eco-systemic service to pollinators and seed quality. HelEx will explore (1) the genetics of drought and heat tolerance in wild Helianthus species, and (2) wild H. annuus alleles introgressed into cultivated sunflower, (3) determine molecular processes involved in tolerance and genetic control of seed quality and pollinator attractiveness, (4) transfer such processes using classical marker-assisted selection and innovative genome editing approaches, (5) assess the environmental and biodiversity impact of these new sunflower ideotypes, and (6) investigate the socio-economic impact and benefits in relevant value chains for different feedstock. Innovations and activities will be embedded in (7) a communication strategy involving various societal stakeholders to promote and enhance project progress and outcomes, and to make transparent the broader dimensions of plant biotechnology, biodiversity, and benefit sharing. The HelEx consortium brings together scientists, SMEs, and industry partners representing an international and interdisciplinary group of experts in sunflower ecology, physiology and genomics; plant biotechnology and breeding; pollinator biology and ecology; environmental impact assessment and feedstock processing; socioeconomic assessment at the local and life cycle levels.
Europäische Union
