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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
Field and Vegetable Crops
Semester:
2nd Semester
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Rehovot
Course/Module Coordinator:
R. Ben-David
Coordinator Office Hours:
Sunday 14:15-15:00
Teaching Staff:
Dr. Roi Ben David
Course/Module description:
Agriculture faces well known and daunting challenges in coming decades: growing human population, loss of agricultural lands, diminishing resource availability, and impacts of climate change. Concurrently, there is growing recognition of the urgency to modify or adapt current cropping systems to ensure long-term sustainability. Cereal breeding thus face the complex challenge of increasing productivity, in ever-harsher environments, while reducing the environmental footprint of production.
While genotype by environment interactions (G x E) is a well-studied field, relatively few studies in cereals investigate the impact of crop management (M), and cropping systems, on G x E. The workshop will look beyond the well-studied core-set of breeding traits in cereals and will discuss breeding opportunities to influence G x E x M in our Mediterranean environment and globally.
Course/Module aims:
Workshop will include two sections: (1) introduction to cropping system sustainability, prospects of climate change and their associations. (2) describe trait-base examples from major cereals (mostly wheat and barley but also maize and rice) where breeding can exploit beneficial interactions with management to optimize both field production and sustainability.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Gain vast knowledge on the components of GxExM in field crops
Understand it complexity
Critically read and analyze field crop research studies which focuses on GxExM synergies and trade offs
Attendance requirements(%):
100
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Lecture and exercises
Course/Module Content:
Detailed syllabus:
1. The yield gap hypothesis and historical perspective of yield improvement
2. Underling the core traits in cereal breeding and adaptation (phenology, grain yield, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress and quality)
3. The drivers of change in cereals cropping systems (climate change: rainfall unpredictability and scarcity, high temperature, demand for food production)
4. Agronomy and management: mechanization, crop rotation, intensification, drip irrigation, precision agriculture
5. Agronomy and management: reduced tillage, deep sowing, early sowing, manure application
6. Field lab exercise (deep/early sowing of wheat GAR/GAI lines). Submit an exercise summery
7. Trait1: establishment and early vigor in wheat and barley, long coleoptile
8. Trait2: weed competitiveness
9. Trait3: root architecture: vigor, density and depth
10. Trait4: nitrogen uptake efficiency: the ability of roots to uptake N
11. Trait5: stem characteristics: lodging resistance, carbohydrate storage and remobilization to grains
12. Trait x Trait interactions and tradeoffs: shoot and root vigor, root vs. tillering, structural biomass vs. grain yield, microbiome-soil disease- phosphorus use efficiency
13. Student presentations
14. Student presentations
Required Reading:
Relevant scientific articles and reviews will be provide to the students
Additional Reading Material:
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 40 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 30 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 30 %
Scientific poster preparation
Additional information:
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