Texas, USA
January 24, 2025
A Texas A&M AgriLife Research team is developing sorghums with nitrogen-saving traits by utilizing the genetic diversity of wild relatives to improve resilience and productivity for grain sorghum producers.
Sakiko Okumoto, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, works with sorghum seedlings to incorporate nitrogen-saving traits by utilizing the genetic diversity of wild relatives. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
The project is part of a $38 million overall grant announced by the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, ARPA-E, to develop advanced plant technologies to increase nitrogen-use efficiency and reduce nitrogen pollution from U.S. bioenergy feedstocks.
Bioenergy crops currently supply nearly 5% of the nation’s energy needs and provide an alternate revenue stream for American farmers, according to the DOE. The agency’s program, titled ARPA-E’s Technologies to Emend and Obviate SYnthetic Nitrogen’s Toll on Emissions, TEOSYNTE, is designed to improve nitrogen fertilizer efficiency while reducing the environmental pollution from nitrogen fertilizers.
Building expertise in the bioenergy crop field
The $3.8 million AgriLife Research-led project within the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences will be led by Sakiko Okumoto, Ph.D., AgriLife Research plant physiologist and associate professor.
Other co-principal investigators are:
- Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., Center for Greenhouse Gas Management in Agriculture and Forestry director and professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
- Bill Rooney, Ph.D., sorghum breeder, professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
- Sanjay Antony-Babu, Ph.D., microbiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology.
- Aniruddha Datta, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering.
- Veena Veena, Ph.D., principal investigator and director of the Plant Transformation Core Facility at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
“This research exemplifies our mission to pioneer knowledge that strengthens sustainability, economies and healthy living related to agricultural production,” said G. Cliff Lamb, Ph.D., director of AgriLife Research. “The team’s expertise and advancements will benefit grain sorghum producers and the industry worldwide.”
Doctoral student Varun Reddy, left, evaluates nitrite concentrations - (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
(Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
Doctoral student Ungsoo Jeong, right, makes extracts from the sorghum hybrid seedlings. (Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife)
Genetic advances in sorghum hybrids lead to lower producer costs
The AgriLife Research team has been studying the potential of biological nitrification inhibition, BNI, a unique trait found in wild relatives, through previous research efforts to reduce fertilizer application and enhance environmental benefits.
This new DOE-ARPA-E grant will assist the team in using advanced breeding techniques to predict, analyze and integrate this key trait from the wild varieties into commercial sorghum hybrids. BNI is a key focus of the TEOSYNTE program, which aims to advance the sustainable use of nitrogen fertilizers.
The technologies developed in the project will target the grain ethanol sorghum market, Okumoto said. By leveraging genetic diversity from wild varieties, new sorghum hybrids will offer unique opportunities for both growers and sorghum grain buyers to reduce costs by lowering fertilizer application levels.
The measures will simultaneously improve critical environmental advantages, such as lowering nitrogen losses, a major contributor to water pollution, and reducing nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas emitted from agricultural fields due to fertilizer application.
Engineering crops with enhanced natural nitrogen-saving traits, Okumoto said they can help enhance resilience and improve productivity.
“This project will build upon and demonstrate our expertise in advancing sorghum by breeding genetic diversity into new sorghum hybrids so fertilizer use, costs, greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution can be reduced,” she said.
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