Thanks to a million dollar ARPA-E Award (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), Assistant Professor, James Schnable will join forces with Iowa State University (ISU) researchers to develop and test a new combination of nitrogen sensors.
The goal of the ‘High-throughput, High-resolution Phenotyping of Nitrogen Use Efficiency Using Coupled In-plant and In-soil Sensors’ project will address breeding targets to reduce input costs to farmers, as well as the concern many farmers have regarding future regulations to target nitrate runoff levels.
“My contribution to the grant is to take these sensors out into the field in Nebraska, testing their accuracy with different hybrids in soil with different amounts of nitrogen as well as looking at whether different sets of genes control how efficiently nitrogen is taken up into the stem from the soil, and how efficiently nitrogen is remobilized within the plant, for example corn plants scavenge nitrogen from their lower leaves to have enough to put into growing kernels during grain fill,” explains Schnable.
The sensor award is part of the bigger ROOTS project, Rhizosphere Observations Optimizing Terrestrial Sequestration, to produce crops that will greatly increase carbon uptake in soil, helping to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, decrease N2O emissions, and improve agricultural productivity. Projects like these that improve the soil are critical to our national food and energy security, the environment and the economy. Healthy soil will enable increased and more efficient production of feedstocks for food, feed and fuel, enable sustainable land management practices while also limiting emissions from two major greenhouse gases and make American farmers more competitive and contribute toward U.S. leadership in an emerging bio-economy.
Learn more about:
The Schnable Lab … http://www.schnable.org/
The ARPA-E Award … https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=slick-sheet-project/more-information-isus-project-coming-soon
Roots … https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-programs/roots