Subject area responsible
Ramune Kuktaite, Researcher
Department of Plant Breeding, SLU
ramune.kuktaite@slu.se, +4640-415337, +46738 553345
Plant Product Quality Improvement
Last changed: 30 November 2025
Multidisciplinary research in the Plant Product Quality Improvement area focuses on addressing key societal needs by conducting cutting-edge science and to advance the state-of-the-art in innovations related to plant protein and other high-value components, nutrition, health promoting compounds, sustainable use of plant resources, bio-based materials, processing technologies, pre/post-harvest technologies and reduction of food-losses.
Our research is strategically built on the key aspects of plant product quality elements including ‘sustainable raw materials, processes and end-use products’ following the farm-to-fork strategy. This further includes conventional breeding, precision breeding, pre/post-harvest attributes, resource use efficiency and sustainability to deliver plant-based products that benefit both society and the environment. We combine knowledge on quality of plant product components from raw material processing through the production chain, and via conventional breeding and precision breeding we are improving traits, as well as tailoring the characteristics of plant-based products for food, feed, and industrial applications. We strive to develop knowledge in areas related to plant breeding, aiming to improve plant product quality and crop adaptation to a changing environment.
Our research has a strong collaborative character, involving partners from the national and international academic arena, as well as a very broad industrial partner network.
Key focus areas
• Quality mapping for targeted crop breeding: focus on high-value components in stress adapted crops.
• Precision breeding: focus on advanced genetic tools, such as CRISPR-Cas, to study and enhance product quality, environmental adaptation, and productivity at the molecular level.
• Pre/post-harvest quality: focus on sustainable and environmentally friendly pre/post-harvest technologies to improve commercial and nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables.
• Valorization of side streams: focus on sustainable and innovative uses of crop residues/side streams from plant production systems in order to create higher value products.
• Plant-based innovations: focus on innovative processing technologies, such as the fractionation of high-value components from green biomass and proteins from crops, and structure-function relationships in plant-based systems for food and bio-based materials for improved uses in diverse systems.
• Sustainable plant-based systems: focus on an integrated approach to sustainably use the valorized components of plant-based innovations to improve their bioeconomy and environmental performance.