Sustainable plant-based protein production through innovative stress tolerance evaluation of soybean

RISE-SOY aims to provide knowledge on the plasticity of physiological and biochemical adjustments of soybean to water-limiting conditions associated with yield and quality stability, and to identify digital physiological marker as well as enzymatic signatures indicative of high metabolic plasticity under stressful conditions. This will contribute to healthy food (nutrition) by increasing sustainable, climate-resilient plant protein production, particularly GMO-free, domestic soybean-based protein production under changing environmental conditions. To achieve its goals, RISE-SOY will pursue a novel and innovative approach of functional trait evaluation (drought tolerance) of high-quality food grade soybean including specialty lines such as those with increased levels of spermidine or hypo-allergenicity. RISE-SOY will combine next-generation physiological markers obtained from hyperspectral reflectance imaging and biochemical analyses of enzyme activity signatures to assess metabolic responses important/indicative for drought tolerance with quality and agronomic traits from field and controlled trials. This will significantly advance technologies/approaches to enable a climate-resilient plant-based food production for healthy nutrition in Lower Austria and beyond.