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C4FUTURE scientist contributing with data at the latest BNI international consortium meeting held in Tsukuba, Japan, on November 17-19, 2022.

Plants that fit better to future climate will be more important to us than ever before. One promising candidate for these plants are the so-called C4-plants. An important crop and C4-plant is maize. Researchers breed new genotypes to find the one that can handle future climate conditions the best. Therefore, the maize genotypes must be examined under different conditions.

In the frame of Work Package 1 of the project, taking place in the department of Crop Production and Biostimulation Laboratory at ULB in Brussels (Belgium), the first task consisted in a morphological evaluation of root traits at an early development stage in controlled environments – hydropony under two abiotic stress conditions: nitrogen and hydric deficiency.

"Stress" in crops is any external factor that negatively influences on productivity. The natural variation in diversity panels of maize and sorghum is examined to enhance adaptation to nitrogen and water stresses, being already major constrains due to climate change. Three Mediterranean field trials for testing resilience towards these stress factors are in progress. Preliminary observations from Anzola trial fields in Italy show clear differences between stress (nitrogen shortage and drought) and no stress (nitrogen fertilization and irrigation) in terms of stand establishment, growth and development.