Maize, Barley, Rapeseed: MLU Receives Millions In Funding To Improve Crop Performance

Can the nutritional value of barley be increased? How can plants produce more cellulose? What unknown, valuable substances are found in olive leaves? Questions like these are at the heart of the new "Value Plant" research network at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). Around 7.1 million euros are being invested in 14 application-oriented research projects. The goal is to harness findings from basic research for concrete applications. The funding comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Science.

The new projects aim to bridge the gap between basic research and applied science. "In basic research, we often work with model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana . These are well-researched because they are not as complex. Their genome, for example, is relatively small," says consortium spokesperson Prof. Dr. Ingo Heilmann of the MLU. However, these fundamental findings do not yet have immediate practical application. They are often not easily transferable to more complex crops.

This is where the "Value Plant" consortium comes in: The goal is to develop approaches that are as practical as possible to improve the performance of selected crops. Some of the projects are dedicated to so-called secondary metabolism in plants. Secondary metabolites are substances that plants produce to better adapt to their environment. These include, for example, defense mechanisms against predators. "We want to modify plants so that they produce more of a desired substance or completely new substances," says Heilmann. Other projects investigate how plants can be made more resilient – ​​for example, against drought stress or pests. The focus is on various domestic grain varieties and rapeseed.

All projects are designed to ensure that the results can be applied as quickly as possible. "The selected crops, such as barley or rapeseed, would also be suitable for collaboration with local production companies later on. This would allow the results to be tested in the field with companies or farmers in the next step," says Heilmann. Some of the findings could also be further exploited through patents or serve as the basis for spin-offs.