Breeding Small Grain Cereal Crops in a Climate Change Scenario

Small grain cereals (mainly barley and bread and durum wheat) are the most important
staple crops in Europe and in the Mediterranean region. Over the past century, breeding has
been able to provide the highest yield increase ever seen, although now in many regions a
yield plateau is evident.
Climate change may be the single unifying, and chronic issue that will affect everyone and
every aspect of the economy. Changes in weather patterns and variability, as well as
differential combinations of effects in different parts of Europe and the Mediterranean
region are expected. The North will see warmer and wetter weather, whereas the South will
experience more frequent and severe droughts and heat waves, and in both cases there will
be a shifting pattern of incidence of pests and diseases.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) models predict that average yields
of cereals will fall due to drought, insect predation and diseases, whilst the demand for
food will rise significantly due to population growth. The identification of new varieties
adapted to the expected climatic conditions requires the accurate prediction of the new
scenarios and the efficient use of genetic resources and advanced genomic tools. The recent
progress in plant genomics and phenotyping offers the opportunity for a next generation
breeding era to overcome the limitations of traditional breeding.
The course presents, using a multidisciplinary approach, the most recent research for an
advanced knowledge-based breeding to cope with climate uncertainty. The aims of the
course are: (i) to raise awareness of the extra challenges imposed by climate change to food
security and cereal breeding; (ii) to give guidance on the impact and uses of recent
advances on genomics, phenomics and modelling for cereal breeding; and (iii) to provide
an integrated overview of the strategies that must be considered to increase breeding
effectiveness.