BIOVEGEN joins the Stakeholder Platform of the VEG-ADAPT project

BIOVEGEN has recently joined the Stakeholder Platform of the VEG-ADAPT Project. This project, financed by the PREMIUM Program, started at the end of 2019 and is dedicated to improving the tolerance of three horticultural crops to stress situations in combination with climate change. The project has the support of the national financing agencies of the 8 participating countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Morocco. Spain, Turkey).

Vegetable crops in the Mediterranean area are increasingly exposed to stress factors induced by climate change. Among them, drought, heat and salinity stand out. For this reason, crop management planning is a key point to improve the resistance of these plants to stress and thereby achieve their adaptation to climate change.

Tomato, pepper and melon are the main fruit and vegetable crops in the Mediterranean and on which this project focuses. Together, these crops are the main suppliers of fruit for Mediterranean countries, with a total yield that reached 45 million tons in 2016.

The objectives of the project are therefore:

• Characterize the genetic and physiological traits that provide tolerance and resistance to drought, heat and salinity.
• Adapt crop management systems to tolerant/resistant varieties.
• Profile and/or develop new stress-adapted genotypes by exploiting local genetic diversity, as well as new genotypes and hybrids.

BIOVEGEN, as part of the Stakeholder Platform, you will be able to participate in the project meetings, contributing your experience and making proposals about the project's activities. These contributions will be aimed at directing the project in the direction of the real needs of the professionals who work in these crops.