The Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station was awarded a $636,646 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program. The grant will fund research to develop a novel and sustainable nanoparticle platform for delivering effective and prolonged supplies of double-stranded RNA molecules in plants. Specifically, the Station will synthesize three...
The federal Project Grant award of $299,541 was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) to the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station (CAES). The award aims to understand the mechanisms of nanoparticle (NP) interactions with plant leaf surfaces, including NP retention and penetration, to enable improved delivery of agricultural nutrients using NP technologies. The research combines...
This $639,875 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Texas A&M Agrilife Research to improve understanding of plant-microbe-insect interactions and their implications for sustainable pest management. Specifically, the grant will support identification of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) combinations that induce...
This Project Grant award of $849,928 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310 - Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) will fund research by Utah State University to investigate the microbiome of native drought-tolerant plants in the Intermountain West region. The project aims to isolate, characterize, and test plant growth-promoting bacteria from the rhizospheres of native plants like Ceanothus velutinus and Cercocarpus ledifolius....
This $514,102 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Texas Tech University investigating an alternative non-toxic solution for controlling plant-parasitic nematodes. The project focuses on naturally occurring bacteria found within nematodes that may drive their survival and impact on plants. It aims to generate the first coherent picture...
This $300,000 Project Grant was awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) program. The grant supports a research project led by the University of Utah to investigate the mechanisms that pathogenic plant bacteria employ to target and kill competing microbes on plants, while avoiding harm to their own species. The goal is to elucidate the molecular basis for the killing specificity of these bacterial weapons,...
This federal Project Grant award from the Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research by Iowa State University to gain a better understanding of plant root microbiomes and the interactions between the microbes within these communities. The $180,000 grant, awarded on June 1, 2023, will fund a 3-year project to study how microbial communities form on corn plant roots and how the...
This $3,300,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) award, effective September 1, 2024, aims to develop natural, eco-friendly biocontrol approaches for improving organic leafy green production across multiple regions. The key project goals are to enhance microbial safety, sustain crop yields, improve product quality, and analyze consumer perception and cost-benefits. The primary awardee, the University of Connecticut, will lead this...
The University of Connecticut was awarded a $455,000 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The five-year grant will fund research to develop plant-based drinking water supplements for controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni colonization in broiler chickens. The university will combine the antimicrobial efficacy of plant-derived compounds...
This federal Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program provides $850,000 to Cornell University to conduct research on how plant facilitation of rhizosphere microbes promotes plant nutrient acquisition from soil organic matter. The key objectives are to: 1) investigate plant capacity to promote proliferation and induction of phenolic acid bacteria, 2) determine the distribution of...