The experimental cultivations in Thermi, at the facilities of Hellenic Agricultural Organization-DEMETER, near Thessaloniki (Greece), have started again! This time, in the framework of the new I+D project ‘DarkAegean’ led by Dr Alexandra Livarda in collaboration with the agronomers Dr Ioannis Mylonas (Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources) and Dr Elisa Ninou (International Hellenic University), we are experimenting with wheat, and in particular with free-threshing wheat.
In December 2023 we successfully sowed 7 landraces of bread and 7 landraces of macaroni wheat from across the Aegean, as well as a commercial wheat cultivar for control. Each landrace is being cultivated under three different levels of manuring and two levels of irrigation in three replications.
The plants are being monitored and we are hoping for good weather and a successful harvest in the summer!
The harvested seeds will be eventually used to measure their 3D morphology towards the development of a new tool that will allow investigation of agriculture in the past, applying the results of the experimental grown grains to archaeological material.
The project DarkAegean. The agricultural economy of the Aegean Dark Ages through machine learning-powered 3D cereal grain morphometrics (PID2022-139907NB-I00) is funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ and by “FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa”.
