Global warming has a direct impact on agriculture.
Reduced water availability and high temperatures negatively affect the plant reproductive processes and therefore hamper the normal fruit or seeds development, thus limiting both crop yields and fruits quality. The C4C project (part of the ERA‐NET Cofund FOSC within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, www.foscera.net, addresses the research area of plant productivity under a climate change scenario focusing on the resilience to reduced water input and rising temperatures.

C4C aims at facing, with genetic and ‘omics’ tools, the impact of high temperature and drought stresses in cereals and solanaceae.

Large genetic resources available will be explored to identify the most tolerant lines to be employed for developing new breeding material with better resilience against rising temperatures and low water input agricultural practices. Moreover, through a transdisciplinary approach, C4C will be focused on the identification of loci and key genes involved in tolerance to these stresses and will set the basis for developing innovative lines with improved adaptation to adverse conditions.

The C4C research team

C4C is a multidisciplinary project based on a trans-continental consortium participated by European, Near-East and African excellences; Coordinated by CREA, it is led by a consortium of 6 partners pertaining to 5 countries (Italy, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria and Morocco) possessing complementary scientific expertise on both basic and applied research