INCREASE - INTELLIGENT COLLECTIONS OF FOOD LEGUMES GENETIC RESOURCES FOR EUROPEAN AGROFOOD SYSTEMS - PROJECT OVERVIEW.

The general objective is to enhance the management and use of Genetic Resources on food legumes, which are crucial for sustainability, food security and human health. The project will expand the utilisation of food legumes genetic resources targeting users' needs in terms of accessibility, quality and quantity of information available. INCREASE, working with four important food legumes (chickpea, common bean, lentil, lupin) with significant value for the innovation of EU agriculture and food industry, will be based on four pillars: (i) innovative data management solutions to develop gold standards for data sharing and integration into the central infrastructure; (ii) developing novel tools and principles for germplasm management, based on the development of "Intelligent Collections"; (iii) adoption of cutting-edge technologies for genotyping and phenotyping combined with the potential of Artificial Intelligence; (iv) integration of available data and available genetic resources for European users. INCREASE will strengthen Europe in the field of legumes genetic resources and simultaneously it will represent an important model and tool for all crop genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]