Clemson University received a $649,898 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 four-year project aims to develop drought-resistant crop varieties through microbiome transfer techniques. Researchers will identify the microbiome conferring drought tolerance in the native grass Andropogon virginicus. They will characterize this microbiome and test its effectiveness in improving drought resilience in corn through greenhouse experiments. To support the beneficial microbiome under field conditions, the researchers will select cover crop species functionally similar to Andropogon to amplify the microbiome before planting corn. Field experiments will evaluate the ability of the cover crops to amplify the inoculum and provide drought resilience to corn. The work seeks to enable the application of microbiomes to enhance drought tolerance in agricultural crops.
Generated 1/7/24, 1:09 AM