Biotechnological approaches for overcoming effects of drought on agricultural production in Serbia

Drought is already affected Serbian agriculture with the prediction to increase in the future. This project will bring together many scientific disciplines to study the influence of drought and its economic consequences for agricultural production. Subproject 1 (Improving drought resistance of key arable and vegetable crops using a range of biotechnologies) will identify opportunities to improve crop production under drought and through integrating aspects of proteomics, phenomics, genomics, molecular marker technologies and conventional breeding to improve breeding efficiency for better drought resistance in wheat and tomato. In subproject 2 (Improving deficit irrigation techniques for increasing crop water use efficiency and yield quality) the water saving irrigation methods will be applied for irrigation of potato and tomato and several plant-based methods tested as sensing tools for irrigation management. Subproject 3 (Economic consequences of drought for agricultural production and market competitiveness) will assess the economic consequences of drought, cost-benefit analyses for investment in new cultivars and technologies. The project builds on and exploits existing international collaborations between Serbian and EU research groups that have already been partners in 3 FP6 projects and 3 FP7 project proposals. Three of these EU institutions ( Newcastle and Tuscia Univerities, INRA) will help to strengthen much-needed expertise in crop science and economy research.