The Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas received a $585,650 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The objective of this 4-year award is to identify genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that confer tolerance to high nighttime temperatures (HNT) in rice, which can significantly impact yield and quality. The researchers will use genome-wide association studies and QTL mapping...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $755,168 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to the University of Delaware from March 1, 2023 to February 28, 2027. The grant will fund research to investigate different forms of arsenic found in rice, including a newly identified toxic form, and test practical ways to decrease risks to rice consumers through farm management and food processing changes. As part of this collaborative effort,...
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture was awarded a $629,392 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 grant will fund research to develop improved flavor selection methods for blackberry breeding programs. Specifically, the researchers will combine consumer sensory panel data and metabolomic data on volatile and nonvolatile compounds...
The University of Nebraska received a $649,997 Project Grant from the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The grant, awarded on July 1, 2024, will fund research to elucidate the physiological and molecular mechanisms of high nighttime temperature (HNT) tolerance for improving rice grain yield and quality. The project aims to leverage recently discovered rice genes that contribute to natural variation in grain size and weight under HNT stress, a growing problem...
This three-year, $649,999 project grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI, CFDA #10.310) program will fund research at Texas Tech University to develop new rice cultivars with robust yield under saline and water-limited environments. The project will utilize transgressive segregation in advanced generation progenies of a cross between indica and aus rice varieties to identify genotypes exhibiting...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within the United States Department of Agriculture awarded a $10,000,000 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU Agricultural Center) on April 1, 2023 with a projected completion date of March 31, 2027. The grant aims to develop climate-resilient innovations to sustainably produce rice in the southern U.S. through a multi-state,...
The Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas (UADA) was awarded a $749,638 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The goal of the 5-year project is to introduce career opportunities for STEM and liberal arts students in Arkansas in the areas of agriculture and natural resources, food safety and nutrition, and rural community development. The...
This $720,494 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to improve the productivity, quality, and nutritional traits of rice under heat stress. The key objectives are to: 1) phenotype a novel "Heat-MAGIC" rice population to quantify the impacts of heat stress on yield, grain quality, and nutrition; 2) map genetic loci associated with heat tolerance; and 3) characterize favorable...
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) received a $599,999 project grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the 1890 Institution Capacity Building Grants Program (CFDA 10.216). The grant aims to investigate the potential medicinal properties of different rice bran extracts from Arkansas rice varieties, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antihyperglycemic, anti-cholesterolemic, and antihypertensive...
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville was awarded a $650,000 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program. The grant period is from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2027. Under the award, the University of Arkansas will develop and implement a consistent, national-scale early detection and rapid response tool to prevent the spread and establishment of invasive...