FHP-EN

Overview

In the Andes, subsistence-level farmers produce cereals as a staple crop, as they are the major source of calories after potatoes and quinoa. The FPH project is built to address the insufficiency of food availability in the Peruvian highlands, mainly in the Puno region, where many people consume only 40% of the theoretical caloric needs (2400 kcal per capita per day), even in good (climatological) years for food production (Gonzales-Valero 2018). Crop yields in the highlands depend on the climate, with recent years of climate instability (heavy rainfall, frost, drought and heat periods) making populations food insecure. Doubling cereal crop production would satisfy communities’ food needs.

Sustained efforts lead by Prof Luz Gomez-Pando of UNALM’s Cereals Department has resulted in the release of several high yielding varieties in wheat and barley named «Centenario». While these are presently the most sown wheat and barley varieties in the Peruvian highlands, we now seek to understand whether cereal breeding can be made even more efficient by introducing new breeding selection methods and phenotyping techniques

Enhancing cereals production in the Peruvian highlands through

knowledge transfer &capacity building

Specific objectives

1.Identify advanced lines of wheat and barley with high yielding potential and tolerance to drought and heat stress.

2.Determine the importance of phytohormone levels in plant responses in productivity under drought and heat stress.

3.Develop simple, rapid and user-friendly methods to assess phytohormones in the field.

4.Develop additional innovative research projects in the near future to improve welfare and assure food security in marginal areas of Peru.

May-June 2019: Early career researchers from UNALM (Patricia Deza and Diego Zamudio) has been trained at the Lancaster Environment Center of Lancaster University in high-precision phenotyping techniques.