ARI Biennial Review for 2018-2019

towards mitigating the effects of climate change. ARI actively participates with its innovative field breeding methodology, using the Honeycomb Field Selection Designs and the Prognostic Breeding Paradigm. (D.A. Fasoula) DIVERSIFOOD H2020 Research Project This Horizon 2020 Project deals with a variety of crops, from maize and ancient cereals to legumes, and focuses, among others, on novel Participatory Breeding methods for conventional and organic agriculture, on the on-farm ( in situ ) conservation of traditional varieties and landraces and on the development of Community Seed Banks. It also deals with all relevant legislation, including matters under the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Farmers’ Rights and others). (D.A. Fasoula, M. Omirou, I.M. Ioannides) Aerial view of harvesting barley trials Breeding durum wheat, bread wheat and triticale The aim of the programme is to develop cultivars of high and stable grain yield under rain-fed conditions. Work is based mainly on two approaches: The first is the crossing of selected cultivars possessing desirable agronomic and quality characteristics, until a desired line is developed and checked in the field. A second and faster approach is the introduction of genetic material under development by CIMMYT and ICARDA, which is checked and selected under the climatic conditions of Cyprus. Sometimes a combination of these approaches is necessary. The practiced breeding method is a modification of the pedigree method, which retains for subsequent exploration F3 lines with a higher frequency of promising genes for high quality and agronomic characteristics positively associated with grain yield early in the programme. Outstanding F5 lines enter the preliminary yield trials, and the best of them proceed to Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) tests for registration. The two durum wheat cultivars that are currently cultivated the most are the ARI varieties ‘Ourania’ and ‘Hekabe’. Grown under organic farming conditions, these two varieties exhibited promising performance. New lines with improved quality characteristics are expected to replace these varieties. These new lines will exhibit better adaptability to climatic change and the harsh climatic conditions of Cyprus than the older durum varieties. Forage production could be improved both quantitatively and qualitatively through crossing and selection. Thus, the programme aims at identifying new varieties with high forage production and high nutritional value. The most promising lines are tested at several sites, in order to assess dry yield potential, nutritional value, disease and lodging resistance. Bread wheat lines having tall, leafy and strong stem are listed in the National Catalogue under the names ‘Akhelia’ and ‘Yiolou’. These varieties proved to be tolerant to dry conditions and yield much better than durum wheat. A new addition to the breeding programme has emerged from the needs of farmers of small ruminant animals, and these are the awnless bread wheat lines created in the last few years. These lines show a huge potential for animal feed since they produce high quality and quantity of forage under the tough Cyprus climatic conditions. They are already expected among the small ruminant growers after they were showcased in a field day in Akhelia experimental station with huge success. Finally, the most promising 15 PLANT IMPROVEMENT