Project Details
Description
A priority area for this program is research investigating how multiple management components can be integrated to enhance plant resilience to stressors and improve productivity. We have preliminary data suggesting that the species of cover crop farmers choose has legacy effects on the subsequent corn crop's resistance to the European corn borer, and that this legacy is mediated by soil fertility and/or mycorrhizal colonization. The goal of this proposal is to discover mechanisms that control the cascade of interactions linking cover crops, soil fertility, and corn pest management.The proposed multidisciplinary team, consisting of a chemical ecologist (Ali), a soil biogeochemist (Kaye), a plant molecular biologist (Ray), and a community ecologist (Murrell), will address the following questions: 1) Do cover crop-induced changes in corn mycorrhizal colonization and soil nutrients affect constitutive and induced corn defenses against a variety of herbivores?; 2) Is the effect of mycorrhizae on corn defense simply caused by increased nutrient uptake?; 3) What effects do cover crop species have on attraction or repellence of corn pests? and 4) How do plants in a field setting respond to herbivore cues when grown after different cover crop species? In greenhouse and field experiments we will evaluate how three cover crop species affect crop plant resistance. We will monitor mycorrhizal colonization, corn chemical response, corn resistance to both above- and belowground pests, and their behavior. This foundational knowledge will advance the prospect that farmers could intentionally select cover crops to affect corn defense against a suite of herbivores.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 1/1/18 → 12/31/21 |
Funding
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture: $500,000.00