On 27 July, researchers of the LAMMC Institute of Agriculture, implementers of the International Baltic Research Programme project “NOBALwheat – breeding toolbox for sustainable food system of the NOrdic BALtic region” (leader Dr. Gintaras Brazauskas) Dr. Rita Armonienė, Dr. Andrius Aleliūnas, Dr. Andrii Gorash and IT specialist Ardas Kavaliauskas, visited the Cereal Breeding and Agroecology Department of the Agricultural Resource and Economics Institute (AREI), Stende Research Centre, Latvia.
When the project partners in Latvia encountered technical problems with the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a request for assistance was received to ensure that the WP2 and WP4 project tasks were not interrupted.
During the scientific visit, phenotyping of spring wheat was carried out in the experimental fields with the help of LAMMC UAVs. A meeting with NOBALwheat partners Dr Māra Bleidere, Vija Strazdiņa, Andris Lapanas and Zaiga Jansone was held to discuss the progress of the project and to share the experience of conventional and high-throughput phenotyping.
The visit included a tour of the NOBALwheat project’s spring wheat field experiments. The AREI-designed Phenomobil was tested in the experimental fields, experience of phenotyping wheat with it was shared, problems encountered and their solutions were discussed.
During the visit, LAMMC scientists were also familiarised with the breeding programmes for barley, winter wheat and durum wheat, toured the cereal breeding fields, visited the new greenhouse and the chemical research laboratory.
