(ANSA) - ROME, 23 FEB - Giving life to a new plant capable of expressing the quality of durum wheat, but with the productive potential of common wheat;
an opportunity to improve production and counter the negative effect of climate change in agriculture.
It is the study by Crea published in the scientific journal Trends in Plant Science, which often anticipates future research trends by drawing new perspectives for the genetic improvement of wheat.
As the two researchers Luigi Cattivelli, director of Crea Genomics and Bioinformatics and Anna Maria Mastrangelo of Crea Cerealicoltura e Crop Industriali, authors of the work explain, it is a question of combining the greater production potential of soft wheat with the qualitative characteristics of durum wheat, using the techniques traditional breeding and genome editing.
Contrary to popular belief, Crea explains, soft wheat can be more adaptable and therefore more productive even in many areas where durum is traditionally grown.
They are two different species but also very similar, so much so that, under certain conditions, it is possible to cross them and transfer genes from one species to another.
The differences are qualitative such as the hardness of the seed, the protein composition and the color that determine the aptitude to produce pasta, in the case of hard or bread and cakes of the tender.
But the two plants also differ in their ability to adapt to the environment (resistance to stress and climate change) and production potential.
In particular, some studies show a higher production potential in soft wheat than in durum wheat.
But if qualitative differences are controlled by a few genes, those related to adaptation to the environment are more complex with a different genomic configuration.
(HANDLE).