Title: The best mixtures – mapping of genetic sort mixtures and microbiome effects in wheat (Breed4Mix)

Funded by: GUDP, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries

AU project manager: Associate professor Bjarne Nielsen, Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics

Collaboration partners: Agro, Aarhus University, Nordic Seed.

Project period: 1 July 2025 - 30 June 2029

Funding amount: Project costs: 14,883,296 DKK. Total amount applied for: 12,155,967 DKK

Project description:

Varietal mixtures in wheat have had increasing popularity in recent years and varietal mixtures now make up more than a third of the total wheat area in Denmark. However, breeders still focus exclusively on pure varieties in breeding programmes. The aim of this project is to develop a new breeding goal for wheat with a view to using varietal mixtures in breeding to support better yield stability and a more sustainable wheat production. It is assumed that the cultivation of varietal mixtures will help to increase the biodiversity of soil microorganisms, which will improve the ecosystem. In this way, the breeding and cultivation of varietal mixtures supports a new Biosolutions strategy for managing pests and diseases, a strategy that will improve crop protection and sustainability in wheat production.

In the project, the breeding company Nordic Seed, in connection with their existing breeding program, will establish 1800 new field plots with varietal mixtures of different wheat lines in combination with plots with pure wheat lines. Together with genomic data, it will enable the estimation of new genetic admixture effects. Analyzes of soil microbiome data will make it possible to investigate and understand relationships between current breeding traits, new biodiversity traits from soil microbiome data, disease resistance traits and NOx emission traits.