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The Joint Research Unit on the Genetics, Diversity and Ecophysiology of Cereals was created in January 2000 between Inra and Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand to develop collaborative projects on the genetics of crop species that are relevant for French agriculture (wheat, sunflower). Cereals, and bread wheat in particular, are cultivated on 9 million ha in France i.e. 30% of the crop area, and represent the most important agricultural export. Improvement of bread wheat quality and yield in an environmentally sensitive, sustainable, and profitable manner has to be achieved in the next decades to meet growing world demands for high quality food, feed, and more recently bio-fuels. Significant advances in the understanding of wheat plant biology as well as in the management and exploitation of genetic resources must be achieved to face this challenge and maintain the competitiveness of our agriculture.

The Joint Research Unit INRA-UBP 1095 has six teams focused on interconnected research themes belonging to a thematic continuum that ranges from fundamental research on the composition, organisation and evolution of the wheat genome to the application of new methods and genomics tools in programmes to breed new varieties, while at the same time including integrative biology programmes on key traits such as yield, grain composition and disease resistance.

The Joint Research Unit on the Genetics, Diversity and Ecophysiology of Cereals is a research Unit of the INRA Research Center in Clermont-Ferrand-Theix.