INCREASE
A participatory research approach to characterize genetic resources of food legumes
The INCREASE project aims at developing effective conservation methods and tools to foster agricultural biodiversity in Europe. Focusing on four main legumes (chickpea, common bean, lentil and lupin) the project will implement a new approach to conserve, manage and characterise genetic resources through participatory research. The INCREASE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 862862.
Core activities
INCREASE will enhance the management and use of genetic resources, focussing on food legumes, which are crucial for sustainability, food security, and human health. The four pillars of the project activity are:
- innovative data management solutions to develop gold standards for data sharing and integration into the central infrastructure;
- the development of novel tools and principles for germplasm management;
- the adoption of AI and cutting-edge technologies for genotyping and phenotyping;
- international effort with the involvement of non-European partners and international organizations.
Major outputs
INCREASE’s expected outcomes are:
- optimizing databases to facilitate the sharing and management of data on food legume genetic resources;
- producing a higher quantity of top-quality genotypic and phenotypic data;
- developing Intelligent Collections of diverse genetic resources and undertaking a participatory citizen-science experiment to devise innovative conservation management practices;
- creating new knowledge, such as gene discovery or genomic prediction;
- developing, testing, and disseminating best practices for dynamic management of genetic resources across European and non-European institutions;
- establishing decentralized information technology approaches for data sharing and germplasm conservation.