DEAR0002024

THE RESEARCH TEAM PROPOSES AN INTEGRATED SET OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE MECHANISTIC BASIS OF VARIATION IN YIELD AS A FUNCTION OF NITROGEN (N) IN MAIZE AND SORGHUM. THESE INCLUDE ANNUAL FIELD EXPERIMENTS ACROSS US PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS USING A COMBINATION OF ELITE BREEDING AND EXPERIMENTAL GENETICS. HYPOTHESES REGARDING MECHANISMS WILL BE INFORMED BY COMPARATIVE MODELING OF THE RESPONSES TO N BETWEEN MAIZE AND SORGHUM. ROOTS ARE A KEY BREEDING TARGET FOR PLANT PERFORMANCE AT LIMITED N. THE SIZE AND MORPHOLOGY OF ROOT SYSTEMS AFFECT N UPTAKE FROM THE SOIL AND THESE TRAITS ARE CONTROLLED BY GENETICS. LIKE ROOT SIZE AND MORPHOLOGY, CROP TRAITS CONTROLLING ROOT-ASSOCIATED MICROBIOME PARTNERSHIPS, WHICH ARE CRUCIAL FOR CROP NITROGEN ACQUISITION, ARE GENETICALLY CONTROLLED AND CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH BREEDING. THEREFORE THE SAME QUANTITATIVE GENETIC METHODS USED FOR BREEDING PLANT TRAITS CAN BE APPLIED DIRECTLY TO MICROBIOME FEATURES, WHICH WILL BE MEASURED THROUGH DNA AND RNA SEQUENCING. OUR FINDINGS WILL PROVIDE THE GENETIC UNDERSTANDING TO PRODUCE OPTIMAL ROOT SYSTEMS UNDER LOW N AND IN COLD SOILS. THE USE OF RELATIVE VARIATION IN THESE MECHANISMS AMONG THE ELITE BREEDING GENETICS WILL ALLOW US TO QUICKLY BREED FOR IMPROVED NITROGEN USE UNDER LIMITED FERTILIZATION. THIS WILL FACILITATE THE CREATION OF HYBRID LINES THAT CAN BE QUICKLY BROUGHT TO MARKET AND DEPLOYED IN THE FIELD TO REDUCE N FERTILIZER USE AND CONCOMITANT N2O GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION BY 50% IN LINE WITH PROGRAM OBJECTIVES.

Colorado State University

THE TECHNOLOGIES TO EMEND AND OBVIATE SYNTHETIC NITROGEN’S TOLL ON EMISSIONS (TEOSYNTE) PROGRAM AIMS TO LOWER NITROUS OXIDE (N2O) EMISSIONS FROM THE CULTIVATION OF CORN AND SORGHUM USED FOR UNITED STATES (U.S.) ETHANOL PRODUCTION BY 50%. THE PROGRAM WILL EMPHASIZE PLANT AND MICROBIAL BIO-DESIGN STRATEGIES THAT LOWER THE APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC NITROGEN (N) FERTILIZER ON CORN AND SORGHUM FIELDS WHILE MAINTAINING CROP YIELDS AND REDUCING 50% OF N2O EMISSIONS.

81.135 - Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy

Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) [DOE]

Fort Collins, Colorado United States

City-Wide

TECHNOLOGIES TO EMEND AND OBVIATE SYNTHETIC NITROGEN’S TOLL ON EMISSIONS (TEOSYNTE) (DE-FOA-0003405)