We are the international consortium of LEGU-MED project, funded by PRIMA foundation in 2019. Our goal is to establish a well-integrated and multi-disciplinary plan to valorise the legumes in biodiversity-based farming systems and consequently enhance agro-ecosystem functions and services in the Mediterranean basin. We are specifically focusing on lentils and chickpeas as models for all grain legumes tovalorize, restore and manage Mediterranean legume biodiversity including neglected genotypes and wild crop relatives.
We aim at delivering innovative solutions which be exploitable in biodiversity-based agriculture: 1) develop highly diverse conservation agriculture systems, 2) use of plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), 3) use next-generation sequencing technologies, 4) promote advanced molecular markers in crop selection, 5) deliver diversity-based ecosystem services as substitute for external inputs, 6) perform precision agriculture and phenomics, 7) develop learning-support and participatory methods for stakeholder involvement.