Breeding Plants against Hunger  [20.10.22]

A "look inside the plant" - that is what new methods of plant breeding allow. They ensure that adapted varieties will be available more quickly in the future. Prof. Dr. Tobias Würschum has been Director of the Department of Plant Breeding at the University of Hohenheim since March 2020. With his work, he wants to contribute to securing food for the world's population.

 

The agricultural biologist and former Director of the State Seed Breeding Institute is convinced that plant breeding has a key role to play here. This is particularly true in view of the effects of climate change.

 

Mr. Würschum, your Department was renamed from "Applied Plant Genomics and Plant Breeding" to "Plant Breeding" when you started. What do you do differently from your predecessor Albrecht Melchinger?

Plant breeding is a very broad and exciting field of research, ranging from simulation studies and selection theory to field trials, phenotyping, modern molecular methods, genomics, and bioinformatics. I would like to cover these areas with my group.

 

You were already working at the University of Hohenheim before your appointment...

Yes, before I took over the Department of Plant Breeding in March 2020, I was at the State Seed Breeding Institute, first as Director of the Biotechnology working group and from 2013 as Director of the entire institution.

I also studied here in Hohenheim - Agricultural Biology with a focus on plant breeding, population genetics, and plant protection. For my doctorate, I then went to Freiburg, where I did research on stem cells in plants. After that, I spent two years in the industrial sector and then came back to Hohenheim.

 

What is the most important question that drives you in your work?

The big question is how we can secure the food supply for the world's population now and in the future - and under increasingly difficult conditions such as the effects of climate change. Plant breeding has a key role to play here.

 

Assuming you had unlimited resources and possibilities - which project would you tackle?

Plant breeding is all about breeding new, improved varieties. But why exactly these are better remains largely a black box. Understanding this, however, would be important in order to be able to react more quickly to new challenges in the future and to breed specifically adapted varieties.

Nowadays, new methods make it possible to take a "look inside the plant," so to speak, and thus record the expression of RNA, proteins, and metabolites, for example. To do this on a large number of lines across many environments would certainly help to better understand the target agronomic traits such as yield, quality, and resistance, but also yield stability.

 

What research topics are you working on at the moment?

Mainly, we are working on the genetics of traits that are important for breeding, in order to enable genomics-assisted breeding. For example, one university-wide project, AMAIZE-P, is looking at phosphorus use efficiency in corn.

In another project, we want to improve quality traits in soybeans. Among other things, we are currently conducting our 1000 Gardens project again, a citizen science project in which participants grow and evaluate soybeans in their own gardens.

 

Can students also participate in your research projects?

Yes, of course, with Bachelor's and Master's theses as well as dissertations. There are also regular student assistant jobs in plant breeding.

 

What are the main contents of your teaching concept?

Teaching and research can go hand in hand in the field of plant breeding, and in my opinion they should. Thus, the excellent reputation of Hohenheim plant breeding is not based on research work alone, but equally on the very good training in the field of plant breeding. The Hohenheim School of Plant Breeding provides students with a broad, but also practically relevant knowledge - and thus the tools for a successful career in the breeding industry.

We want to give students an education with which they are competitive and in demand nationally, but also internationally. To do this, of course, you have to impart the technical knowledge, but at the same time you also have to awaken and nurture an interest in and enjoyment of plant breeding.

 

Where do your graduates work later?

Hohenheim graduates generally have very good chances of working in the plant breeding industry.

 

What good advice do you give to students?

To choose the subjects in which you have the greatest interest.

 

One last question: what do you do when you're not researching and teaching?

In my free time, I like to do sports and I also enjoy being outdoors in nature - that's a good balance to office work.

 

Thank you very much, Mr. Würschum!

 

Interview: Elsner / Translation: Neudorfer