Research

The MoFAB project is submitted within the framework of the R&D infrastructure funding - 3rd call of the FFG: At the University and Research Center Tulln, a Phenomobile (field vehicle for the recording of plant characteristics) is procured, equipped with a customized 3D fusion sensor consisting of laser scanner with spectral, respectively thermal camera, and prepared for field measurements. The fusion sensor will be calibrated and validated using a grapevine pot experiment on networked field scales, handheld sensors, and destructive measurements, and used in drought stress experiments under a mobile greenhouse and in field trials. The fusion data will be used, with algorithms, to develop data pipelines for new crop traits. A combine with integrated phenotyping equipment (weighing system, NIRS) will be procured, and used to reference traits determined with the Phenomobile. A particular focus is the development of absolute and comparable measurements of leaf nitrogen content and stomatal conductance, useful traits for developing feedback loops for digitizing agricultural nitrogen and water management and selection in breeding.

Susceptibility of grape berries to stressors such as drought or heat changes according to the stress intensity and duration, but also depending on the berry developmental status at stress occurrence. For example, grapes in the herbaceous phase are more susceptible to drought stress than berries in the ripening stage. Drought and heat stress, which are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude due to climate change, share a common effect in increasing the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plant cells. While ROS are produced basally as signaling molecules, and plants have adapted mechanisms to detoxify them, stressful conditions increase their production. Given the economic importance of Vitis vinifera for the wine industry in Austria (and worldwide), it is important to understand how ROS metabolism interacts with other metabolic pathways active at the different stages of berry development, and therefore the effects of the timing of ROS-inducing stress factors. The inability to detoxify ROS may cause changes in berry metabolism and development that affect harvest quality, such as by increasing lipid oxidation, membrane damage, and subsequent cell death, the latter of which can cause symptoms such as berry shriveling in extreme cases. The project will explore the different strategies that grape berries could adopt to counteract an increase in ROS molecules produced in response to stressors, including the boost of the antioxidant pool (or de novo biosynthesis of antioxidant molecules) and the modification in the expression of ROS scavenging enzymes. The ROS scavenging capacity of developing grape tissue will be quantified by enzyme activity assays and gene expression analysis. Damage in berries caused by ROS will be quantified following drought and heat imposition in terms of the extent of lipid oxidation, cell death and changes in berry composition.

The overall goal of this innovation action is to improve the competitiveness of European legume crops. This will be achieved by establishing focused innovation partnerships between research- and industry-based players who together will increase the availability of well-adapted and productive cultivars of key legumes species. The partnership framework is designed to be sustained after the project ends with the ability to expand into other species. There are twelve objectives. Six of these relate to cross-cutting (generic) matters that arise from the call topic. Six are focused on the improvement of specific species, or groups of similar species: Soya bean Lupin Pea Common bean Lentil Clovers BOKU engagement in WPs: Soybean (J. Vollmann, R. Hood-Nowotny) Lupin (J. Strauss)