MultiStress_ZP

Concurrent multiple abiotic and biotic stress interactions in maize: impacts and mechanisms: Experimentation, data hub and synthesis of findings (ZP)

01/02/2026 to 31/01/2030

Current crop science often investigates plant growth in relation to isolated stressors such as nitrogen deficiency, drought, heat, or specific pests and diseases. However, real-world cropping systems increasingly face multiple, concurrent stresses due to rising food demand and the impacts of global warming. This highlights a critical knowledge gap: traditional, reductionist approaches—such as the widely used “yield gap” concept—are insufficient for capturing the interconnected effects of multiple stressors. Instead, a comprehensive systems approach is required, one that describes how dynamic processes link genetic, biochemical, and ecophysiological factors. Mechanistic understanding of these interactions remains limited, largely because of the considerable resources required for suitable field experiments that can investigate the complexity of abiotic and biotic stress interactions.

The Central Project (ZP) is the core of the research unit. The primary objective of the ZP is to facilitate the advancement of interdisciplinary mechanistic understanding of how combined stresses impact maize under both temperate and tropical conditions. This will be achieved through: (i) developing advanced statistical models and experimental designs to ensure robust, high-powered field studies, (ii) coordinating and harmonizing central experiments in Germany and Kenya, providing standardized experimental platforms that serve all sub-projects (iii) evaluating new experimental and diversity-screened maize hybrids in the field, bridging greenhouse findings with real-world productivity assessments, (iv) conducting both targeted and untargeted metabolomics, generating critical biochemical data to link genetic information with field-level ecophysiology, (v) establishing comprehensive data management protocols and facilitating seamless data exchange among project partners. Through close collaboration across the RU, the ZP will continually synthesize findings from experimentation and crop modelling, leading to joint key publications.