How can envirotyping help to mitigate the impact of climate change on carrots?

In the context of climate change and with the occurrence of more frequent and more extreme weather events, understanding crop behaviour in relation to abiotic constraints is becoming critical.
Being able to create and propose cultivars adapted to growers’ climatic conditions is our priority, to support them through an evolving climatic context.
Carrot cultivars can respond in different way to stresses like heat, drought, cold and to all sort of environmental effects.
Under contrasted climatic conditions, phenotypic expression and even performance ranking of the cultivars can differ.
This is G×E interaction.
Envirotyping is aiming at deciphering how these climatic conditions are impacting our crops.
Weather data occurring in different carrot market zones are collected and used to regroup them into clusters.
This weather description-based clustering gives to breeders a precious tool to develop cultivars adapted to each climatic region and to marketing a better vision for which cultivars to promote in each market segment.
Evaluating our cultivars in more extreme conditions and environments than the current market ones, could also help to better anticipate the consequences of climate change on the carrot crop.
By identifying and breeding for the most impacting weather conditions for the crop, we wish to improve cultivars’ resilience.

III International Symposium on Carrot and Other Apiaceae

J. Chevalier, A. Gomez

envirotyping, carrot, climate change, G×E interaction, abiotic constraints, adaptation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1393.32