An integrated cell wall biochemistry-based strategy for promoting the resilience and circularity of rice cultivation

Crop improvement is fundamental for a true biobased and circular economy, ensuring food security, climate neutrality and replacement of conventional energy resources. Rice is one of the major cereals as a food and fodder crop, which requires urgent scientific attention to improve yields under the challenges of biotic and abiotic stress. Moreover, rice generates 1.5 tons of waste (stubble) per ton of grain. Conventional waste management practices such as burning creates air pollution, which warrants an urgent need for developing efficient strategies to convert this lignocellulose biomass into value-added products. Cell wall biochemistry plays a key role in plant growth and stress resistance, and it is a prime determinant of lignocellulosic properties. This project aims to enhance the growth and resilience of rice by modifying cell wall biochemistry and to simultaneously optimize the lignocellulose biomass properties to develop novel value products from rice waste, hence supporting the circularity of rice cultivation. The key components of the project include (i) cell wall-based phenotyping to select and develop superior rice varieties, (ii) cell wall biotechnological engineering for better stress tolerance and reduced recalcitrance, and (iii) integral valorization of the derived agricultural waste in a cascade biorefinery to obtain biobased materials and bioenergy.