Detalle de: MEJORA GENÉTICA DEL ALMENDRO ASISTIDA POR HERRAMIENTAS FENÓMICAS Y GENÓMICAS (ALMBREDOMICS)

The almond sector has experimented a spectacular growth in recent years at national and international level, with an increase in demand of almonds and an increase in prices. This has been a consequence of the strong American commercial campaigns and the proven health benefits of this food. In addition, the development of new varieties has favoured its expansion into new areas where traditional varieties could not be cultivated. This expansion, together with the uncertainty of climate change, the implementation of new production models and the current needs of the industry, has generated the need for new varieties adapted to this new situation. In this sense, Subproject 1 represents a continuation of 11 previous projects on almond breeding, financed at a national level continuously since 1989. Regarding this new proposal, Subproject 1 will be the coordinator of this coordinated project that represents a new basis for creating more solid scientific cooperation frameworks for the improvement of almonds. Clearly, this subproject will benefit from the collaboration with IRTA in the identification of the genetic control of the quarantinable organism, Xanthomonas arboricola vr. pruni and understanding of the causes behind the generation of kernel breakage to provide the industry with solutions to mitigate these issues. The main goals of the subproject 1 will respond to the new challenges of almond breeding, providing new almond cultivars adapted to the current productive and industrial challenges, conditioned by the expansion of cultivation to new areas, in an environment of global warm. As specific goals, the subproject 1 will be focused on the development of new cultivars with the traditional objectives (self-compatibility and late flowering) and the incorporation of new ones, such as the early flowering and ripening times, and the study of the pomological, chemical and organoleptic characteristics of the almond in relation to the main industrial uses. In addition, the new cultivars obtained will be released in the Certified Category, which is a quality bonus for our new cultivars. Clearly, these new productive and industrial challenges, require a faster and more efficient response than the obtained in classical breeding program of this species. Therefore, during this subproject 1, the implementation of modern strategies in genomics and in genotyping and more important the application of cutting-edge breeding strategies, such as genomic selection, will be carried out to greatly improve the breeding efficiency of the breeding program. In addition, high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) protocols utilizing technologies like hyperspectral cameras will be implemented to increase the efficiency of breeding programs. This will be achieved by integrating plant material from IRTA and CEBAS-CSIC to provide comprehensive scientific insights into the genetic architecture of important traits

Principal investigator: Pedro José Martínez García

Participants: Federico Dicenta López-Higuera