Digital Twin for Harnessing Genetic Wealth in Crop Wild Relatives

The ever-expanding global population, coupled with the challenges posed by #climatechange, shows the pressing need to address #foodsecurity. To counteract global food insecurity, it is imperative to boost food production by developing crop varieties with increased yields, enhanced nutrition, and resilience against diseases and environmental changes. The untapped genetic resources present in Crop Wild Relatives play a crucial role in achieving these objectives.

This webinar showcases the innovative utilisation of MoDGP (Modelling the Distribution of Germplasms of Interest), a recently developed modeling approach, in conjunction with FIGS (Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy), an existing tool. During the event, we explore the application of these tools to unlock the transformative potential of digital twinning—a cutting-edge technology for model-based identification and utilisation of genetic resources. Digital twinning streamlines data integration, facilitates dynamic model updates, automates uncertainty analysis, and provides alerts for desirable genetic traits. This groundbreaking approach is poised to benefit plant breeders, conservationists, and policymakers alike.

Crop Wild Relatives, a central focus of the BioDT project, is highlighted as a prominent use case during the webinar.

00:00:00 - Welcome and introduction – Joanne Ahern, Trust-IT Services srl
00:04:18 - Introduction to and demonstration of the MoDGP (Modeling the Distribution of Germplasms of Interest) tool - Desalegn Chala, University of Oslo
00:21:22 - Introduction to and demonstration of the FIGS (Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy) tool - Zakaria Kehel, International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
00:40:51 - Questions & Answers