Carla Pinheiro, researcher at the MolMicro of Bacterial Pathogens Lab at UCIBIO – NOVA FCT, coordinates the BIOTA research project, titled “Beneficial microbial communities for legume yield and quality challenges: Phaseolus productivity under elevated CO2 and post-flowering heat spell”, which has been granted by AgroServ, an interdisciplinary consortium that gathers 11 recognised research infrastructures and enables research on agroecosystems in a holistic and multi-scale approach.
BIOTA is an ambitious initiative that tackles several agroecology principles and elements, with a focus on the agroecosystem level. It aims to create synergies between primary production (yield and quality), the food system (nutritional quality of seeds), and health and wellbeing (nutraceutical quality of seeds). The project addresses how growing conditions influence the properties of the produced seeds.
Carla Pinheiro explains that "this project will allow us to link plant growth conditions (particularly in newly improved beans) with seed quality from both agricultural and nutritional perspectives. By working with elevated CO2 concentrations, we are also addressing the context of climate change and agroecological mitigation measures, such as using soil microorganisms."
"In terms of research, we will utilize hyperspectral imaging (both in the field and under controlled conditions) to assess plant growth. The seeds produced will be evaluated for their quality, including nutritional content, nutraceutical properties, and the profile of BVOCs (biological volatile organic compounds). The technique for detecting BVOCs in seeds, currently being optimized in collaboration with our team, could represent a new phenotyping area with significant agroecological implications", Carla Pinheiro notes.
The BIOTA consortium includes several Portuguese partners, including UCIBIO - NOVA FCT, ISA-UL, INIAV, IPPortalegre, and GROUND, that will benefit from access to the state-of-the-art research infrastructures from EMPHASIS and METROFOOD. The project is funded by the European Union Horizon Europe program, under project AgroServ, GA No. 101058020, positioning BIOTA at the forefront of research into sustainable agriculture and food security in the face of climate change.