{"id":165375,"date":"2025-06-07T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T16:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165375\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T16:14:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T16:14:18","slug":"smarter-wheat-on-the-horizon-drones-and-genetics-lead-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165375\/","title":{"rendered":"Smarter Wheat on the Horizon: Drones and Genetics Lead the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study led by researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University and the Volcani Institute is transforming how scientists identify wheat varieties that can withstand hot, dry climates. By using drones equipped with advanced thermal and hyperspectral imaging technologies, the team has developed a faster, more accurate method for pinpointing resilient wheat \u2014 an urgent need amid growing global food insecurity and climate change.<\/p>\n

The research, recently published in\u00a0Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, was conducted by Ph.D. candidate Roy Sadeh under the supervision of Dr. Ittai Herrmann and Prof. Zvi Peleg of the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture at Hebrew University. The team deployed drones over experimental wheat plots at the Pheno-IL research and education facility\u2019s rain-out shelter. The drones captured high-resolution images of both emitted heat and reflected light, enabling researchers to measure key traits such as stomatal conductance, leaf area index, and chlorophyll content \u2014 critical indicators of a plant\u2019s water-use efficiency and stress response.<\/p>\n

Using machine learning models to analyze the data over two growing seasons, the team successfully identified 16 genetic markers associated with improved performance under both optimal and drought conditions. These genomic regions were further validated in subsequent field trials, offering promising tools for breeding climate-resilient wheat varieties, according to a\u00a0press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil now, measuring stomatal conductance, the plant\u2019s ability to regulate water\u2014was slow and required manual tools,\u201d said Sadeh, first author of the study. \u201cThis drone-based approach offers a fast and powerful new way to identify drought-tolerant plants, without touching the plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Study Highlights Path to Climate-Resilient Wheat Through Drones and Genetic Mapping<\/strong><\/p>\n

The findings provide a practical and promising approach for plant breeders aiming to develop high-yield, climate-resilient wheat. By integrating drone-based imaging with advanced genetic analysis, the study demonstrates how breeding programs can be significantly accelerated\u2014an essential step in meeting rising global food demand under increasingly challenging environmental conditions.<\/p>\n

About the Study<\/strong><\/p>\n

The research examined 300 genetically diverse wheat lines grown under both optimal and drought conditions at a rain-out shelter facility. Using support vector machine models, the team analyzed drone-captured thermal and hyperspectral images to estimate plant traits. This approach improved water-use estimation accuracy by 28%. Notably, the study is the first to use UAV-derived measurements of stomatal conductance to map genetic markers in wheat.<\/p>\n

As climate change continues to pressure global food systems, such innovations offer powerful tools to adapt agriculture for the future. By merging advanced phenotyping technologies with genetic insight, the research sets a foundation for developing wheat varieties that are more resilient to heat, drought, and other climate-related stresses \u2014 supporting long-term food security.<\/p>\n

The study was supported by the Israeli Council for Higher Education (Future Crops for Carbon Farming project), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study led by researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[69287,471,69288,1203,267,806,1302,70,29921,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-165375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-crop-breeding","9":"tag-farming","10":"tag-featured-europe","11":"tag-food","12":"tag-genetics","13":"tag-industry","14":"tag-innovation","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-seed-world-europe","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114642974408478598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}