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FABAlous

Projekt title: 

FABAlous (JLU C)

Duration:

2025-2028

Funding:

Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)

Project partners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professur für Genetik der Nutzpflanzendiversität; Professur für Phytopathologie; Professur für Pflanzenbau und Ertragsphysiologie; Professur für Pflanzenzüchtung; Professur für Agrarbioinformatik; Professur für nachwachsende Rohstoffe und Bioressourcen, Justus-Liebig-Universität (Gießen)

Georg-August-Universität (Göttingen)

Universität Bayreuth (Bayreuth)

Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich)

Julius-Kühn-Institut für Resistenzzüchtung und Stresstoleranz (Quedlinburg)

Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (Gatersleben)

Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Innovation GmbH (Hohenlieth)

Universität Wien (Wien)
Staff involved: Niklas Tengen, Prof. Dr. Jakob Santner

 

The domestication of the faba bean (Vicia faba) dates back over 10,000 years. While it is still considered an important source of protein in the human diet in Mediterranean regions today, in Central Europe it is mainly used as feed for farm animals. This crop is characterised by its high content of high-quality protein, its importance for pollinators and its ability to fix nitrogen biologically. As a legume, it forms a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria (Rhizobium) that bind atmospheric nitrogen – a characteristic that makes it particularly attractive for organic farming.

In general, however, it is considered susceptible to heat and drought stress, which manifests itself in yield losses, reduced yield stability and reduced nitrogen fixation. In the context of climate change, this poses an increasing challenge for agricultural cultivation.

The aim of this BMFTR project is therefore to create a molecular and physiological knowledge base on the basis of which drought- and heat-stress-resilient faba bean varieties can be bred.

The ‘JLU-C’ part of the project, carried out at the Chair of Plant Nutrition and the Chair of Renewable Raw Materials and Bioresources, involves investigating nitrogen dynamics in soil and plants, nitrogen fixation, and the water use efficiency of different field bean genotypes and their response to a warming climate. Two central components are:

(i)    Controlled container experiments. These examine the combination of heat and drought stress on the nitrogen fixation potential and nitrogen and water use efficiency of twelve different genotypes.

(ii)    Bad Nauheim ‘heat field’. The local heating system of the town of Bad Nauheim, which supplies approximately 450 households with heat in winter and cooling in summer using a 1-hectare geothermal collector, is being used as a real-world laboratory in this project. The geothermal collector is installed under a field; cooling the households in summer leads to increased soil temperatures. This system makes it possible to characterise genotypic differences in resilience to drought and heat stress under field conditions and to analyse genotype-environment interactions. The resulting findings could make it possible to evaluate a potential expansion of the cultivation areas for field beans under future climatic conditions.