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...
This $500,000 Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research to advance the understanding of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis between plants and fungi. The project aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of phosphate transport and its role in regulating this nutritionally-based mutualism, which has significant implications for...
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 $631,572.08 in funding to The Salk Institute for Biological Studies to conduct research aimed at understanding how plants select and interact with beneficial soil fungi to promote sustainable agricultural practices. The research will focus on characterizing the genetic basis for how plants discriminate between different...
Clemson University received a $238,500 Project Grant award from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to support the Higher Education National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grants Program. Over a five-year period from July 2021 to June 2026, Clemson will train and mentor four underrepresented minority doctoral fellows to manage plant diseases sustainably. The fellows will conduct translational research through dissertation projects utilizing a systems...
Clemson University received a $866,439 project grant from the Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) to improve the yield and profitability of organic vegetable production. The key products and services to be delivered include: Developing new organic fertilizer formulations using manure-based and rendered materials to increase nutrient use efficiency and support crop growth. The project will also pair these new...
Clemson University was awarded a $749,612 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) to address nutrient and antibiotic remediation in livestock wastewater through microalgae cultivation. The grant was awarded under NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (AFRI CGP; CFDA #10.310), which provides funding for fundamental and applied research, extension, and education addressing food...
This four-year, $649,915 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Clemson University to develop strategies for improving phosphorus use efficiency in crop production while limiting the uptake of toxic trace elements from phosphate rock. Through laboratory, greenhouse, and field experiments coupled with geochemical modeling, the research...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) program provides $992,808 to Clemson University to conduct collaborative research on understanding the role of fungal microbiomes in metal tolerance and soil biogeochemical transformations. The research aims to elucidate how interactions between fungi and bacteria influence the transformation and detoxification of metal ions in the environment. Using advanced analytical techniques, the project...
This $119,880 federal Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports a predoctoral research project to analyze the potential benefits to soil health of reintroducing native arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in prairie restorations on post-agricultural lands. The research will examine soil structure, nutrients, the AM fungal community composition, and...
This $300,000 federal Project Grant award was made under the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI, CFDA 10.310) to Michigan State University. The funding will support research, education, and extension activities focused on developing sustainable management strategies for soybean cyst nematode (SCN), a major pest causing over $1 billion in annual yield losses for soybeans in the U.S. The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of...