In our rapid selection experiment we're using hoverflies to pollinate the Brassica rapa flowers. Here's a photo from the first test run 🪰

Testing different substrates for growing fast-cycle brassicas in our upcoming selection experiments. Looking to find the best combination to optimise root washing!

Nice example of a wild lentil plant, fresh from root washing, ready for root exudate measurement. We'll see how the exudates compare to modern lentil and other crops!

Last week we had a great kick-off meeting with colleagues and collaborators!

Some of the beautiful flowers in the WILD-ROOTS greenhouse today.

🧪The plants are getting bigger and the exudate measurements are beginning in earnest. Hypothesis is that wild plants exude more C, and more diverse exudates, but previous experiments suggest it's not that simple!

Soil VOC emission measurements underway (with SPMEs) thanks to our Masters student Jordi. Will wild relatives have different emissions compared to modern crops?

First measurements of photosynthesis underway. Will there already be differences between crops and wild relatives?

The first plants are growing happily in the greenhouse. So far we have cereals and legumes, but many more to come. First photosynthesis measurements later this week!

The first experiment of the WILD-ROOTS project is getting up and running 🥳 We'll be looking at how domestication affects the roots of 20 different crops - exudation, VOCs, rhizosphere and more!

The WILD-ROOTS project is based at IRTA (Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology) in Cabrils (Catalonia, Spain) which was looking lovely in the winter sunshine today.

📢Postdoc position open in WILD-ROOTS. Looking for a plant or soil ecologist with experience in omics analysis. Based at Cabrils, near Barcelona. borsatreball.irta.cat/enlace_ofert...
Contact catherine.preece@irta.cat for more details.

The maize seeds have arrived! 🥳 And here is a quick example of some of the differences and diversity you get from just one population of teosinte, landrace maize and modern maize.

Climate change means that we now need crops that can thrive with fewer inputs under harsher conditions. Could crop wild relatives and traditional varieties help to increase the resilience of agricultural systems? Over the next 5 years that's what we aim to find out! [6/6]

Well, a bit like dogs versus wolves, crops tend to grow in conditions that are very different from their wild relatives. We give them all the water, nutrients and pest control that they could want. So we expect that crop wild relatives may be tougher and more resilient to drought and disease. [5/6]

So we want to study the roots and their interactions with the soil, to understand the differences between crops and their wild relatives. What might we find? [4/6]

Crops often look different to their wild ancestors, but most research has focused on changes above-ground, especially in yield and growth rate. However, half of the plant is underground, and is also fundamental for plant performance! [3/6]

With animals, domestication resulted in changes to physiology and behaviour that brought mutual benefits, when under the care of humans. A similar thing happened with plants. [2/6]

Crop domestication began more than 10,000 years ago and brought about one of the greatest changes in the lives of Neolithic humans, which we still experience today. But how have the plants themselves changed? [1/6]