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From 2018 to 2024, 24 organisations in 14 countries collaborated to improve plant breeding for organic farming. The project was coordinated by the Slovenian state institute KIS and focused on countries in Southeastern Europe. The research focus was on wheat (including durum and perennial wheat), soya, potatoes and buckwheat. As a project partner, Naturland e.V. was responsible for the on-farm trials in 12 countries. Part of the breeders' work was to develop plant populations with beneficial characteristics that can directly be used by producers. Breeders used marker-assisted selection to identify desirable breeding targets in early generations.
Wheat: Common bunt and protein yield
The wheat trials were overshadowed by major problems with common bunt in several countries. Fittingly, common bunt was one of the focal points of the research work. During the trials, the Aristaro variety showed the best resistance to the Austrian spore mixture. Further work was carried out on rust diseases, which are becoming increasingly important. In 2023, yellow rust appeared on a massive scale for the first time in Hungary. An interesting breeding goal in wheat (and also in soybeans) is selection for protein yield. A marker for this has been found.
Potatoes: Pests and beneficial catch crops
Under the dry weather conditions of Southeastern Europe, resistance to viruses is more important than resistance to late blight. Better variety candidates were developed for both diseases. Further trials were carried out to combat wireworms and potato beetles. Treating the planting material with the fungus Metarhizium spp. against wireworms resulted in a significant reduction in the number of infested tubers. Some catch crops (oil radish, vetches) had positive effects on tuber quality (scab, uniformity).
Soybeans: Improving cold and drought tolerance
The breeding objectives included drought tolerance, cold tolerance, tolerance to pests and diseases (rice bug, Sclerotinia spp., Diaphorte spp.), improvement of nodulation, reduction of cadmium uptake and weed suppression. Naturland carried out trials on cold tolerance during germination and flowering. The results show clear differences between the varieties, which will be useful for future breeding. An improved cold tolerance during germination can allow for earlier sowing, which is an interesting option in dry regions.
Buckwheat: Selection for grain use or green manure
In the case of buckwheat, basic plant cultivation data first had to be compiled. This showed that buckwheat varieties should actually be divided into two groups: Varieties for grain use with the most uniform ripening possible and varieties for green manure with good biomass production and a long flowering period for insects. Buckwheat is said to have the ability of allelopathy - the ability to prevent adjacent plants from germinating, mainly through root exudates. In this case, the laboratory and greenhouse trials showed clear differences between varieties. Some varieties even promoted the growth of the weeds that were sown alongside during the trials. The trials were also carried out with wheat. Here, too, there were clear differences between the varieties. Capo proved to be the best variety against a common ryegrass species, particularly in northern Spain.
Organic heterogeneous material and new varieties
Populations of wheat from Germany, Great Britain and Hungary were already on the market so that they could be tested in the demo trials right from the start. The populations showed good results in terms of environmental stability (yield and quality) and disease tolerance, but they were generally not among the best. Populations of soybeans and buckwheat were developed and tested for the first time as part of the project. Therefore, the number of results is still limited. The buckwheat population clearly showed that it is only suitable for green manure due to its longer flowering period, but not for grain use. The method of breeding populations was not chosen for the potatoes because it was not considered promising. Every tuber should look and taste the same. Here, young breeding material was tested together with the participating producers on their farms.
Breeding is a process that usually takes 10 to 12 years from crossing to variety approval. Therefore, a research project with a limited time frame cannot directly introduce new varieties for the market. However, we can look forward to good new crop varieties in the coming years.
Protein yield, resistance to diseases and the benefits of sheep grazing: More in-depth information on the practical output of the research can be found in the 
practice abstracts on the project homepage.
