The SUCSEED project is founded on the necessity to identify and develop novel solutions adapted to seed protection using natural and environmentally-friendly alternatives to pesticides. This project intends to establish the seed as a central player in next-generation crop health management in favor of a more sustainable agriculture. It focuses on two major phytosanitary problems: seed-transmitted pathogens and damping-off (i.e. absence of germination/emergence due to seed- or soil-borne pathogens) of four different crop species (i.e. wheat, tomato, common bean and rapeseed) and their most commonly associated pathogens.
To identify these alternative solutions, SUCSEED proposes to investigate three cuttingedge research directions: (i) enhancing seed defenses, (ii) engineering seed microbiota and (iii) unraveling the local molecular environment of germinating seeds, to design bio-innovative seed treatments.

Coordination: Matthieu Barret, Research Institute of Horticulture and Seeds (IRHS) Joint Research Unit, INRAE