#benediktspapersoftheweek - week 14, 2026:
Joint modeling of social genetic effects in mono- and pluri-specific groups: case study in intercrops
Salomon et al., 2026 (preprint)
#breedingforintercropping #breedingformixedcropping #breedingfordiversity #cropdiversification #breeding
#benediktspapersoftheweek - week 13:
The rhizosphere microbiome: significance of plant beneficial, plant pathogenic, and human pathogenic microorganisms
Mendes et al., 2013
#benediktspapersoftheweek - week 12:
Mixing varieties mitigates early root competition in wheat under water and nutrient limitation
Montazeaud et al., 2025
https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/76/14/4171/8121040?guestAccessKey=
#breeding #plantbreeding #roots #diversification #agriculture #science
This will be the last paper of the week for a moment as I will be off work for the remainder of the year. I'll share new weekly articles that interest me with you from January onward again. Happy reading!
Paper of the week - week 44 (this week):
Hartmann et al. 2015
Distinct soil microbial diversity under long-term organic and conventional farming
https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2014.210
#benediktspapersoftheweek #soilmicrobiome #FarmingPractices #OrganicConventional #OrganicFarming #Biodiversity #SoilManagement
Paper of the week - week 43:
Malosetti et al. 2013
The statistical analysis of multi-environment data: modeling genotype-by-environment interaction and its genetic basis
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2013.00044/full
Paper of the week - week 42:
Bančič et al. 2021
Modeling Illustrates That Genomic Selection Provides New Opportunities for Intercrop Breeding
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.605172/full
#benediktspapersoftheweek #CropDiversification #intercropping #PlantBreeding
Paper of the week - week 41:
Smulders et al., 2025
Resilience through diversity: The potential of modelling species and variety interactions to enhance resilience of production systems
Paper of the week - week 40:
Huan et al. 2024
Cultivar mixtures increase crop yields and temporal yield stability globally. A meta-analysis
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-024-00964-6
Cultivar mixtures have been proposed as a way to increase diversity and thereby improve plant production, but our understanding of the effects of mixing cultivars on crop diseases and resource-use efficiency remains fragmentary. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the effects of cultivar mixtures on crop yield, yield stability, resource-use efficiency, and disease severity compared with monocultures of twelve major crops. We found that, overall, mixing of cultivars increased crop yield by 3.82%. Yield gains from mixing cultivars were highest in rice (+16.1%), followed by maize (+8.5%), and were lowest in barley (+0.9%) and sorghum (no increase). Temporal yield stability increased with the number of cultivars in the mixtures. Overall, mixing cultivars increased crop biomass, leaf area index, photosynthetic rate, and Water-use efficiency by 5.1, 7.2, 8.5 and 4.3%, respectively, and decreased disease incidence by 24.1%. Cultivar mixtures were more effective in mitigating diseases and increasing yields in studies performed at lower latitudes, higher mean annual temperatures, and higher mean annual precipitation. Our study complements and adds to previous research, indicating that cultivar mixtures reduce crop losses to disease and enhance resource-use efficiency compared with monocultures globally. We conclude that the targeted use of cultivar mixtures with appropriate management practices can reduce resource and pesticide inputs while maintaining high yields, thereby promoting sustainable and productive agriculture. Graphical abstract
Paper of the week - week 39:
Niels et al. 2025:
Harnessing historical genebank data to accelerate pea breeding
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00122-025-05032-5
#benediktspapersoftheweek #pea #breeding #genebank #geneticressources #legumes
The German Federal Ex Situ Genebank for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (IPK) harbours over 3000 pea plant genetic resources (PGRs), backed up by corresponding information across 16 key agronomic and economical traits. The unbalanced structure and inconsistent format of this historical data has precluded effective leverage of genebank accessions, despite the opportunities contained in its genetic diversity. Therefore, a three-step statistical approach founded in linear mixed models was implemented to enable a rigorous and targeted data curation. Spring accessions revealed considerable breeding potential, with protein content exceeding market standards by almost one-fifth and with hundred grain weight that could match the upper limits reported for European elite varieties. This variation is embedded within structured populations, comprising five convarieties including sugar snaps and field pea, adding value for breeding across diverse morphotypes and market segments. Winter accessions demonstrated cold resilience, with post-winter survival rate up to 79.27% under minimum temperatures as low as − 17.1 °C. This variation is of particular relevance given the limited availability of winter-hardy cultivars able to evade summer drought and heat stresses. Transformation of the IPK Genebank into a bio-digital resource redirects formerly static material into central leverage for plant breeding in view of contemporary challenges. As such, this investigation activated the IPK pea population for use in among others breeding for a wide variety of ideotypes, research into adaptation, and future combination with omics studies.
Benedikt Haug
