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NSF Supporting Research to Reduce Fertilizer Use in Maize

Maize (Agricultural Research Service, USDA)

(Agricultural Research Service, USDA)

Researchers at three universities, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service have received a $1.3 million grant from National Science Foundation for research on reducing the amount of fertilizer to grow maize. The three-year project is led by the ARS’s Ivan Baxter, who also serves on the Danforth Center’s faculty in St. Louis. Other team members represent Cornell University, Purdue University, and University of Minnesota.

Maize is one of the most widely grown crops worldwide and has been adapted to many different growing conditions, resulting from a high degree of genetic and phenotypic diversity. While some aspects of this diversity have been studied, less is known about adaption to soil conditions, which the research under the grant is expected to address.

The goal of the project is to use the knowledge generated by the research to produce a more nutritious crop that can grow in more environments while using less fertilizer, and thus reduce the strain on the environment. The researchers plan to use a statistical analytic technique called Nested Association Mapping designed to describe the genetic architecture of traits in corn.

The team anticipates using this tool to identify the way different genes interact with mineral nutrients and toxic elements from various soil conditions to better understand soil’s role in the state of maize. The research is expected to create hypotheses that can be tested using experimental varieties evaluated across the United States and in Africa.

In addition to the research, the grant supports training opportunities for young scientists, aspiring scientists, teachers, and international scientists. Student and teacher internships will be sponsored in St. Louis, St. Paul, Minnesota and Ithaca, New York, while educational resources will be developed to help high school teachers add bioinformatics and plant molecular biology to their curricula.

Read more: Grant Funds Research on Developing Corn for Warmer Climate

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