Project Grant 20193361029862

This $300,000 award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) will fund the development and field testing of elite poplar tree varieties with reduced lignin content for more sustainable and efficient wood fiber production. The project aims to establish a short-rotation agroforestry system utilizing these genetically engineered poplar trees with enhanced traits for increased pulp yield and reduced carbon...

The University of Wisconsin System was awarded a $585,503 project grant by the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to lay the groundwork for introducing the traits responsible for efficient biological nitrogen fixation into elite maize (corn) accessions adapted to the US Midwest. The key objectives are to: Determine the nitrogen-fixing ability of parent lines and establish a correlation between nitrogen fixation and plant traits like aerial root number and diameter....

The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Purdue University a $649,784 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The four-year grant will fund research to identify genes for nitrogen use efficiency in perennial ryegrass. Perennial ryegrass is a widely grown forage and turf grass species. However, its shallow roots can limit nitrogen uptake and utilization, especially under low-nitrogen conditions. The...

This $299,961 federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to test whether a specific aspect of photosynthesis - the rate at which it is turned on during sunflecks - has a significant impact on soybean yield, and gain insight into the genetic cause of variation in this trait. The key products and services to be delivered under this 2-year award include: (1) generating soybean lines with variable rates of...

This $585,289 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research to develop soybean varieties with reduced levels of antinutritional factors, specifically trypsin inhibitors and lectins. The long-term goal is to produce improved, commercially viable soybean cultivars that can enhance the nutritional value and feed efficiency of soybean meal for livestock. Key objectives include...

This $699,870 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports the development of simplified and highly efficient genetic modification technologies for economically important grasses and cereal crops. The "PLANTTRANSFORM: SMART GRASS" project aims to overcome the current constraint in the plant science research community regarding the capacity to genetically modify major crop plants. The award establishes a...

This $998,283 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) will support the University of Maine System's research to develop new and cost-effective methods for producing different types of lignin with adjustable properties. The goal is to enhance the application of lignin-containing cellulose nanofibrils (LCNF) in the production of sustainable polymer composites. The research aims to overcome the...

The University of Wisconsin-Madison received a two-year, $264,000 Project Grant award from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The grant will fund research into sweet corn sugar and starch composition through identification and analysis of genes that modify these traits, such as the Sugary Enhancer 1 gene. The university will produce and analyze the SE1 protein, identify other...

This five-year, $650,000 project grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture aims to identify cattle that are more efficient forage utilizers under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. Oklahoma State University will determine the most effective production stage to identify animals efficient at utilizing forage, including the replacement heifer period after weaning, during pregnancy at four years old, and after calving...

This three-year, $1.8 million project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems aims to develop rapid transformation and gene editing techniques in maize through the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074). The University of Missouri System will work to establish a system for precisely inserting transgenes and editing genes at predetermined sites in the genome of maize. Researchers will create "landing pads" on five chromosomes of a...