description
- The research is broken into several interconnected parts. The first aim is to forecast drought events in the UK and map it, displaying information on its severity, frequency, timing and span. This information will then be used to determine field-relevant levels of drought stress. We will then establish protocols to replicate the appropriate levels of stress under controlled conditions and quantify whether blackgrass and wheat tolerate the drought stress(es) differently and if so, then how are those tolerances manifest (e.g. Bigger aerial tissue / stay alive longer / generate more seed?). The quantitative data obtained from these measurable differences will then be statistically analysed to explore the mechanism(s) that underpin measurable differences in drought tolerance, these include generation and analysis of the plants' transcriptomes and/or metabolomes comparing within different lines and between the different species to see what is underpinning the different tolerances. Lastly, I aim to identify potential routes to use the knowledge gained in the project toward improving sustainable agriculture.