Aarhus University Seal

Plant Genetics

Food security is the defining agenda for our growing global population. Uncertainties associated with a changing climate and instabilities in markets for food and fuel will require significant advances in crop production to allow crops to be sustainably exploited to meet these demands. The Plant Genetics section addresses these challenges through fundamental research on complex plant traits of agronomic relevance.

The Plant Genetics section bridge the gap between basic and applied crop science and collaborate extensively with commercial companies to develop future solutions for sustainable crop production.

Interdisciplinary research for future agriculture

The Plant Genetics section provide leadership in crop science, generating a dynamic research community whilst training a new generation of researchers in crop science and genetics. The Plant Genetics section focuses primarily on genetic research addressing questions fundamental for the biology of plants, and of interactions between plants, other organisms and the environment. A defining strength of the Plant Genetics section is its considerable expertise in the analysis and exploitation of genetic diversity based on the development and application of data-driven fundamental research. Researchers in the Plant Genetics section specializing in different fields such as statistical and quantitative genetics, genomics and machine learning cooperate closely with national and international partners in an interdisciplinary manner.

Machine learning-driven solutions in agriculture

Machine learning-driven solutions are empowering the future of sustainable crop production. The Plant Genetics section strategy in data sciences includes strengthening our scientific computing capabilities, offering further innovative solutions for the Agri-Food sector.

Key research areas

  • Genome informatics, machine learning and data science
  • Digital approaches for resilient and sustainable agriculture
  • Plant-environment interaction and epigenetics
  • Plant-microbe co-evolution and hologenomics
  • Plant resilience and adaptation
  • Hybrid performance and fitness effects
  • Statistical genetics
  • Predictive breeding and simulation
  • Crops for the future

-