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New European research into future-proof, resilient potatoes

New EU-funded research will develop strategies for resilient potatoes
"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"

A group of leading European academic research institutions including the James Hutton Institute have joined forces to launch the ADAPT (Accelerated Development of multiple-stress tolerAnt PoTato) project, which seeks to develop strategies to make potatoes fit for the challenging growth conditions of the future. The ADAPT project will take place over the next four years with a total budget of 5m Euro from the EU Horizon 2020 program (No GA 2020 862-858).

Potato is one of the most important food crops worldwide. However, a major threat to tuber yield security for this staple food crop is its vulnerability to environmental stresses; particularly to combinations of heat and drought, which are becoming increasingly prevalent due to climate change. Often these conditions are also followed by seasonal flooding, which can ruin the entire harvest within a few days.

While there is some knowledge of responses to multiple stresses from model plant species such as Arabidopsis, similar knowledge in potato is lacking. In the ADAPT project, the complementary expertise of ten leading academic research institutions, four potato breeders, a screening technology developer, a government agency and a non-profit EU association will come together to investigate the mechanisms underlying multi-stress resilience in potato.

Dr Mark Taylor, from the James Hutton Institute team, commented: “We are delighted to be part of this project and will lead one of the scientific work packages. 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.

"Importantly, we have worked with some of academic and industry partners in previously funded projects and ADAPT will enable us to maintain momentum and enhance our network of excellent collaborators. The successful development of this area has also depended critically on underpinning funding from the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme." 

The ADAPT project kick-off meeting was held online in July 2020, bringing together representatives of the project partners and the European Commission. Visit the official project website and follow ADAPT on Twitter for more information and updates.

Press and media enquiries: 

Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Media Manager, James Hutton Institute, Tel: +44 (0)1224 395089 (direct line), +44 (0)344 928 5428 (switchboard) or +44 (0)7791 193918 (mobile).


Printed from /news/new-european-research-future-proof-resilient-potatoes on 19/03/24 02:48:44 AM

The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.