Nordic Plant Improvement Network
Nordic Plant Improvement Network
Within the framework of NOVA, the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network, a Nordic Network on Plant Improvement was formed in 2010. The network's purpose is to arrange joint Nordic courses in the field of plant breeding and plant improvement. NordGen is actively involved in the network, and currently host the network secretariat. Visit the network homepage
for more information.
The coming winter, 24 - 29 January 2011, an inter-Nordic NOVA PhD-course in plant breeding will be arranged at the Agricultural University of Iceland. The title of the course is ‘Breeding for adaptation to climate change’. The course is primarily directed to Nordic and Baltic plant breeding and forestry PhD-students, with contributing lecturers from the Nordic agricultural universities as well as international guest lecturers.
Climate change will lead to increased temperatures and changed precipitation patterns in the Nordic region. As a consequence, plants need to be adapted to new agro-climatic conditions. Climate change will lead to needs for changed production systems, certain crops will expand to new regions and completely new crops will become introduced, in all aspects implying needs for new varieties for the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture and forestry. Due to special conditions, such as day length and temperature, in the Nordic region these demands can not be met solely by introduction of imported varieties from other regions. Efforts in the entire plant breeding chain are a prerequisite to meet these demands on access to well adapted material for the Nordic region.
The goal of the course is to give an understanding of challenges in breeding for agriculture and forestry imposed by climate change. Methods used to meet these challenges will be covered. Participants will learn aspects of breeding for abiotic stress resistance, with special emphasis on day length requirements and low temperature regimes. Crop plants and forest trees will state examples during the course.
For more information, please contact: Magnus Göransson, e-mail: magnus.goransson@nordgen.org