Project Grant 20181000828571

NATURAL RUBBER IS A CRITICAL NATURAL RESOURCE USED FOR COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF PRODUCTS ESSENTIAL TO MODERN LIFE. THESE INCLUDE AUTOMOBILE, TRUCK AND AIRPLANE TIRES, MACHINE PARTS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND OTHER MATERIALS. HOWEVER THE CURRENT SUPPLY OF NATURAL RUBBER COMES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE RUBBER TREES GROWN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. AS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MODERNIZE AND AREAS AVAILABLE FOR PLANT CULTIVATION SHRINK, THERE IS LIKELY TO BE A SHORTFALL IN NATURAL RUBBER IN THE FUTURE. THE GOAL OF THE 'BIOENERGY, ADVANCED BIOFUEL, AND RUBBER RESEARCH AGRICULTURAL LINKAGES' (BARRAL) PROJECT IS TO OVERCOME BARRIERS TO THE COMMERICIALIZATION OF AN ALTERNATIVE NATURAL RUBBER AND INDUSTRIAL SUGAR CROP TARAXACUM KOK-SAGHYZ (TK) IN THE NORTHERN US. THE PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS OF THIS DANDELION CROP ARE NATURAL RUBBER, INULIN (A STARCH-LIKE CARBOHYDRATE), SUGAR, AND BIOMASS. THE LATTER THREE OF THESE HAVE MUTIPLE CONVERSION OPPORTUNITIES TO BIOENERGY AND BIOFUEL. THE BARRAL CONSORTIUM IS LED BY THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY (OSU) IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AND OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY.THE PROJECT BUILDS UPON PREVIOUS PROGRESS FUNDED BY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SOURCES AND AN ESTABLISHED COLLABORATIVE GROUP (PENRA) AND HAS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES.OBJECTIVE 1. MAXIMIZE CROP ESTABLISHMENT AND CROP PRODUCTION BY DEVELOPING AND ADAPTING COMMON AND REGION-SPECIFIC AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT AND METHODS.OBJECTIVE 2.OPTIMIZE AND DEMONSTRATE FIELD PRODUCTION IN OHIO, NEBRASKA AND OREGON BY TRANSLATING AND ADAPTING RECENT OHIO SUCCESSESOBJECTIVE 3.MAXIMIZE EXTRACTABLE RUBBER YIELD AND PURITY BY OPTIMIZING HARVEST, POST-HARVEST HANDLING AND STORAGE METHODS AND/OR EQUIPMENT.OBJECTIVE 4. MAXIMIZE THE YIELD OF TK FERMENTABLE SUGARS, AND RUBBER THAT MEETS TIRE MANUFACTURING STANDARDS, BY OPTIMIZING PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED OSU INNOVATIVE INULIN AND ROOT RUBBER EXTRACTION AND PURIFICATION METHODS.OBJECTIVE 5.EVALUATE TECHNOECONOMIC AND LIFE CYCLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF A TK RUBBER AND SUGAR BASED INDUSTRY ACROSS THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT US NATURAL RUBBER SELF-SUSTAINABILITY.IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, TK HAS BEEN PRODUCED ON ABOUT 50 ACRES IN OHIO AND OREGON, INCLUDING ON COMMERCIAL OHIO FARMS. TRANSPLANTED CROP, BUT NOT DIRECT SEEDED CROP, HAD SUFFICIENT SIZE TO PERMIT EFFICIENT WEED CONTROL USING CULTIVATION, HAND WEEDING AND LIMITED HERBICIDE APPLICATION. DIRECT SEEDED CROPS ARE SLOW TO ESTABLISH AND EVEN HAND WEEDING DOES NOT SUPPORT COMPETITIVE PLANT GROWTH NOR PRODUCE LARGE ROOTED PLANTS WITH HIGH RUBBER AND INULIN YIELD AT HARVEST. OUTDOOR PLANTING BOX TRIALS DEMONSTRATED THAT COMMERCIALLY COMPETITIVE YIELDS CAN BE OBTAINED UNDER OPTIMAL CONDITIONS AT HIGH PLANTING DENSITY AND LONG GROWING SEASON. INDIVIDUAL SELECTIONS AMONG LARGE TK PLANTS HAVE REVEALED GENOTYPES WITH >200 MG/G DRY ROOT, COMPARED WITH THE CURRENT MAJORITY WHICH RANGE FROM 50 TO 80 MG/G. ALSO, NATURAL QUANTITATIVE HERBICIDE TOLERANCE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AND SELECTED IN SEVERAL ACCESSIONS. THE TK GENOME HAS BEEN GENERATED AND USED TO DESIGN SCHEMES OF HIGH-TROUGHPUT GENOTYPING FOR MARKER ASSITED SELECTION (MAS) AND TO IDENTIFY MULTIPLE GENE TARGETS FOR CRISPR GENE EDITING. CURRENT TK LINES ARE NOT INVASIVE AND GENE FLOW VIA POLLEN INTO COMMON DANDELION (TRIPLOID APOMICT) HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE IMPOSSIBLE. WEEDINESS POTENTIAL WILL BE CAREFULLY MONITORED AS MORE COMPETITIVE GENOTYPES, SUCH AS RECENTLY DEVELOPED POLYPLOIDS, ADVANCED SELECTIONS FROM IMPROVED POPULATIONS GENERATED THROUGH MAS, CRISPR GENE EDITING, AND ADDITIONAL GERMPLASM DERIVED FROM INTERSPECIFIC CROSSES ARE OBTAINED. SUPPRESSION OF WEEDINESS IS A KEY TRAIT IN OUR EFFORT OF ENGINEERED DOMESTICATION. COST ANALYSES AND CROP ENTERPRISE BUDGETS HAVE INDICATED THAT TK CAN BECOME A COMPETITIVE US CROP ONCE DOMESTICATED.TK PRODUCES RUBBER SIMILAR IN QUALITY TO THAT FROM THE TROPICALLY-GROWN RUBBER TREE AND A ROBUST US DOMESTIC CROP WILL ALLOW SELF-SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN THIS CRITICAL AGRICULTURAL MATERIAL. THE INULIN, SUGAR AND BIOMASS CO-PRODUCTS CAN BE CONVERTED VIA RELATIVELY SIMPLE, PRE-EXISTING CONVERSION PROCESSES INTO A SUITE OF PRODUCTS INCLUDING BIOFUELS. THE POTENTIAL TO FARM THIS CROP ACROSS THE NORTHERN STATES, CREATES OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE FARM GATE VALUE AND PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION FOR POTATO AND SUGAR BEET FARMERS AND CREATES A NUMBER OF IRRIGATED AND RAIN-FED MODELS FOR TK CROP PRODUCTION WHICH CAN BE USED BY GROWERS IN STATES THROUGHOUT THE NORTHERN US.THE OUTCOMEOF THIS PROJECT WILL BE KNOWLEDGE,AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS AND PRODUCTS THATPROPEL TARAXACUM KOK SAGHYZ(TK) TOWARD A SCALE NEEDED TO SUPPLY US MANUFACTURERS WITH DOMESTICALLY PRODUCEDNATURAL RUBBER AND SUPPLYSIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF BIOFUEL.WE FORESEE THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERAL MILLION ACRES OF TK FOR THE PRODUCTION OFRUBBER AND BIOFUEL, AND AN INDUSTRY THAT CREATESJOBS THROUGHOUT THE AGRIBUSINESS VALUE CHAIN ACROSS THE NORTHERN U.S. PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM TK ROOTS (RUBBER, C6 SUGARS, AND BAGASSE) ADDRESS THE GOALS OF REDUCING US DEMAND FOR FOSSIL FUELS AND INCREASING BIOPRODUCT PRODUCTION BY PROVIDING A CRITICAL BIOPRODUCT AND DISPLACING OIL USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SYNTHETIC RUBBER, BY PROVIDING A PURE C6 SUGAR STREAM FOR FURTHER BIOCONVERSION INTO BIOFUELS, AND BY PROVIDING A CELLULOSIC FEEDSTOCK USEFUL DIRECTLY, OR AFTER CONVERSION, AS A BIOFUEL.AT THE PROJECTED PLANTING DENSITY OF 1.5 MILLION PLANTS/HA AND AVERAGE DRY ROOT WEIGHT OF 6 G, 9,000 KG DW/HA OF TK ROOTS WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR PROCESSING. BASED ON COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS OF TK ROOTS FIELD HARVESTED IN 2014 IN OHIO, AND A PROJECTED RUBBER CONTENT OF 10% (DW), THIS CROP WOULD PROVIDE 900 KG OF RUBBER AND 2870 KG OF INULIN/ HA. AN ADDITIONAL 1,755 KG OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC SUGARS ALSO WOULD BE AVAILABLE. COMBINED, THE INULIN AND CELLULOSIC SUGARS COULD BE HYDROLYZED AND CONVERTED INTO 701 GAL/HA OF ETHANOL. THE VALUE OF THESE PRODUCTS AT CURRENT (SEPT 2017) PRICES WOULD BE $2,517/HA. THIS COMPARES TO A VALUE OF $2,321/HA FOR ETHANOL AND DRY DISTILLERS GRAINS MADE FROM THE AVERAGE YIELD (188 BU/ACRE; 12,643 KG/HA) OF IOWA CORN IN 2016.THE PROJECT WILL ALSO DELIVER INTEGRATED AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, WITH STATE-SPECIFIC PROTOCOLS, AND DETAILED ASSESSMENTS OF TK PRODUCTION IMPACTS ON WATER QUALITY, SOIL QUALITY, AND ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES.