From 25-29 May 2026, the 4th international Wheat Congress (IWC2026) took place in Bologna. At this event, the global wheat community exchanges knowledge and discusses advancements in agronomy, genetics, genomics and breeding of wheat.
Elisabette Mazzucotelli, Giulia Castorini and Francesca Desiderio, who work on PRO-WILD projects at CREA, attended the IWC2026. The three researchers investigate the genetic diversity of wild emmer wheat, focusing on traits that improve drought resilience. As part of the congress, some IWC participants also visited PRO-WILD field trials at CREA, where several wild wheat relatives and derived pre-breeding lines are growing.
At the Wheat Initiative's pre-congress workshop "Wheat germplasm conservation & utilization: Challenges and opportunities", Elisabetta received an award for her presentation. Her talk "Survey of ex situ wild wheat diversity to guide the development of a reference germplasm collection" illustrated the strategy of the PRO-WILD work package 2 and showcased first results achieved largely through the work of Einav Mayzlish-Gati (ARO). Congratulations to the team on these fantastic achievements!
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