Location: Plant Physiology and Genetics Research
Project Number: 2020-21410-008-009-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Oct 31, 2027
Objective:
The overall goal of the project is to evaluate promising new industrial crops in southwestern desert environments, that will result in integration of these new crops into current crop rotations, and/or expand the crops into low input agricultural regions.
Approach:
Industrial crops such as camelina, carinata and soybean populations will be grown in the Maricopa Agricultural Research Center (MAC) fields under stress and non-stress conditions. Morphological traits including plant height, lodging score, and flowering date will be collected during the growing seasons. At physiological maturities, plots will be harvested, and seed yield will be determined. Oil and protein contents and fatty acid profiles will be estimated. The compiled agronomic and genomic data will be used to identify genetic regions and molecular markers associated with plant productivity. New advanced germplasm with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance and productivity will be identified. Those germplasm will increase the profitability of biofuel industries and thus diversify U.S. farmers’ crops and increase revenues.