TomorrowS (Targeting Optimal crop Management for Resilience under climate change for cotton and Wheat by Simulation)

Designing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L) and durum wheat (Triticum durum) crop management ideotypes (cultivars, fertilization, salinity and irrigation) by simulation under current and projected future climate: A comparative study in Greece and Tunisia (2018-2021).

Date de début de projet

01/05/2018

Date de fin du projet

30/04/2021

Objectifs

TomorrowS aims at optimizing crop management of greatly important crops for the Mediterranean area like cotton and wheat, in order to adapt them to the negative impacts of climate change and hence reducing future uncertainties and helping farmer decisions during cultivation.

Small scale experimental fields of 3 to 4 commercial varieties of cotton and durum wheat will be establish in Greece and Tunisia for two years in order to evaluate their salt stress tolerance under different crop management procedures (different irrigation and fertilization levels). The factors studied in the GEM experiments will combine with the crop model DSSAT, and focus will be given on simulating crop productivity minimizing inputs of water, fertilizers and agrochemicals. In addition, economic viability of crop management ideotypes will be evaluated.

Besides the above stated main objective, this project aims also to suggest approaches for enhancing sustainable agriculture and improving farming systems, establish a road map showing how the multidisciplinary insight used in this project can be also applied to other crops and last but not least, promote synergies among young researchers. 

Localisation

Greece, Tunisia & France

Description

WP1. Management

The activities of this WP aim to establish internal monitoring and self-evaluation mechanisms, to control the progress of the project, to maintain communication with the ARIMNET2 secretary and commission through regular reports and reviews. A constant interaction between all partners will ensure through consortium meetings, e-communication, exchange of documents and information. Regular Skype meetings among the partners will also been set up.

WP2. Wheat cultivation for salt stress tolerance under different crop management procedures

Two years of Genotype x Environment x Crop Management (GEM) experiments will be conducted in Greece and Tunisia and the factors studied in the GEM experiments will be the cultivar, amount of fertilization, amount of irrigation and salt content of irrigation water. Each plot will be at least 50 m2 with 3 replications for every selected wheat commercial variety while sowing time is in November and harvesting in middle June. The durum wheat field trials in Tunisia will be performed in humid, semi-arid and arid area. In Greece the cultivation will be performed in the region of Thermi Thessaloniki in North Greece, one of the main wheat cultivation areas of Greece and the sowing and harvesting time are almost the same with Tunisia.

WP3: Cotton cultivation for salt stress tolerance under different crop management procedures

This WP includes small scale field experimentation for two years with the aim to evaluate commercial cotton genotypes for salt stress tolerance with respect to the sustainable agriculture. More specifically, field experiments of 3 commercial varieties will be carried out in the experimental fields of HAO – DEMETER in North Greece with 2 levels of fertilization, 2 levels of irrigation and 2 levels of salt content in the irrigation water and 3 replications (total 72 plots). Each plot will be at least 50 m2. The cultivation will be performed according to the requirements of integrated management of cotton, and more specific the Greek standard AGRO 2-2/2.  Field trials will also be established in Tunisia with the same observations and treatments. From each plot, except the harvesting for yield estimation, cottonseed from 1m2, will be handpicked and ginned in the experimental ginneries of IPGRB. The High Volume Instrument (HVI) will be used for the evaluation of the fiber quality properties.

WP4: Development and calibration of the crop model

This WP tackles the model improvement for salt stress and the modeling of mechanism involved in cultivar x fertilization x irrigation x salinity interactions. Model would be calibrated using WP2 and WP3 results. When needed, implementations of new sub-module to account for new interactions would be added until the model provides sufficient adequacy between observed and predicted values. Data from the first year should be used for model calibration and the second year of experiment for model evaluation.

WP5: Simulation and evaluation of virtual crop management

This WP will focus on the optimization of production and resilience with minimum use of resources.

A simulation plan for the crop management will be created as a grid while the best cultivars will be optimized with a genetic algorithm as the best combination of parameter values within existing range of variation. This package will provide current and future crop management ideotypes.

WP6: Dissemination and exploitation of the results

The dissemination activities aim to guarantee that the knowledge generated during the course of the project will be disseminated to the largest relevant audience possible. This will be accomplished through scientific publications with particular attention to “open access”, participation to conferences or workshops and seminars, and through meetings of the research team. The partners will take part to at least one world conference (e.g World Cotton Research Conference-7) in order to transfer the results and the knowledge of the project.  In addition, social medias such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram will be used to disseminate the results.

Partenaires

Coordinator Dr. Eleni Tsaliki, HAO DEMETER Greece
Partner 1 Dr. Zoubeir Chamekh, IRESA Tunisia
Partner 2 Dr. Romain Loison, CIRAD France

Financement

ARIMNET