Environmental Stress & Functional Ecology - ESFE

João Antunes Jacinto

PhD Student

White crowberry Fruit quality Genetic diversity Variability characterization Germplasm selection

From 2019 to 2020, I was a grant research holder in CE3C, within the project "WineClimAdapt - Seleção e valorização das castas mais bem-adaptadas a cenários de alterações climáticas” under the supervision Cristina Máguas and Cristina Antunes. After this grant, I switched to industry, and moved to the United Kingdom. I had a first job, as a Research Technician, at MOA Technology (2020-2022), based in Oxford, England. In 2022, I moved to Dundee, Scotland, for a new role as Plant Scientist. I worked for Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), a company devoted to providing vertical farming solutions worldwide. In May 2023, I left IGS and returned to Portugal, to pursue a PhD.
Currently, I am a PhD student under the program BIODIV - Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution. My project, entitle "Novel insights on Corema album (L.) D. Don - a path for future valorisation", will be developed in partnership between CE3C and Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, INIAV, I.P. The main objectives and outputs of this work will be:
1) Create a database for the white crowberry, regarding fruit quality, functional traits and genetics, along C. album's distribution range of Portugal and Spain;
2) Assess phenotypic variation, in wild populations, related to agro-morphological traits;
3) Selection of the best populations based on fruit productivity and fruit quality;
4) To link plant ecophysiological parameters related to water stress and fruit quality in different natural environmental conditions;
5) Understand if germplasm origin influences survival rate, thorough different propagation techniques.
This work will be a stepping stone of scientific knowledge for a potential breeding program for the species.