[SCAN] Response of Barley to climate change conditions: harnessing the plant water relations and memory stress

Title: Response of Barley to climate change conditions: harnessing the plant water relations and memory stress

Speaker: Ander Yoldi

Abstract:  Agricultural activity is under increasing pressure due to the need for productivity improvement to cope with the growing world population scenario. In this regard, an increase of 70 % in the demand for cereals –both for human and animal consumption– is estimated for 2050, needing a “Golden Revolution” in agriculture to deal with it. Moreover, it is worth noting that the new demand should be fulfilled under the climate change context that we are already facing, and will get worst according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast. Nevertheless, despite the obtained new agricultural varieties, and the developed advances in technology to increase cereals yield during the last decades, changes in the climate still limit this improvement. Therefore, to ensure the food security on the near future, it is essential to investigate how crops will respond to climate change conditions, either i) through the breeding of most economically relevant species and ii) the look for new adaptive crops.

To share some light on the topic, along my PhD studies we investigated Barley´s (Hordeum vulgare L.) response capacity to deal with future climate change conditions from a molecular, physiological and agronomical point of view. In this talk, I will focus on the basic plant perform response that modulates the rest of the physiological-biochemical and molecular responses: the plant water relations. Finally, I will give a brief general notes about my future work in ITQB together with the PEM lab members: Barley´s memory stress response as the keystone process for future stability development and food security maintenance.