Collaborative Research: RII Track-2 FEC: Supporting rural livelihoods in the water-stressed Central High Plains: Microbial innovations for climate-resilient agriculture (MICRA)

合作研究：RII Track-2 FEC：支持缺水的中部高原地区的农村生计：气候适应型农业的微生物创新 (MICRA)

• 批准号: 2316296
• 负责人: Seunghee Kim
• 金额: $ 210.18万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2027-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2316296&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RII; Track; FEC

Supporting rural communities in the Central High Plains region of the Midwest is critical. Agriculture is responsible for direct economic impacts of $21.3B, $26.3B, and $7.6B in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, respectively (USDA ERS data for 2021). This agricultural region is facing increased frequency and severity of drought due to climate change; as an example, in October 2022, 100% of Nebraska, 98.5% of Kansas, and 100% of Oklahoma experienced drought conditions, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: U.S. Drought Monitor. The MICRA project brings together researchers from Kansas State University (KSU), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and Langston University (LU) with a wide range of expertise (e.g., engineering, science, agricultural science, and social science). The project team will conduct research with the goal to preserve soil moisture and improve water quality under drought conditions. Corn is the target crop for study due to its economic importance in the Midwest, and its substantial demand for water and nutrients. Researchers will investigate the impacts of adding amendments to improve the soil (i.e., soil wetting bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, and biochar); understand plants’ behavior in response to drought; understand the impacts of climate change on agricultural workers; and determine farmers' willingness to adopt new irrigation practices relative to differing water rights and policies. The MICRA project will investigate the impacts of soil amendments at the lab-scale, greenhouse-scale, and field-scale, and will conduct surveys and focus groups. The MICRA team will recruit students from historically excluded groups; mentor and train undergraduate and graduate students to conduct interdisciplinary research; teach interdisciplinary courses at the graduate level; support early career faculty at KSU, UNL, and LU; and conduct educational outreach to rural K-12 science teachers.The MICRA team will generate fundamental knowledge regarding the impacts of soil amendments (i.e., soil wetting bacteria, B. subtilis, and biochar) to increase the water holding capacity of soil, thereby improving agroecosystem productivity as water becomes more limited due to climate-change-driven droughts. Interdisciplinary research is focused in three research thrusts. Research Thrust 1 will test the hypothesis that spatial and temporal soil wetting behavior of B. subtilis is driven by soil type, initial soil moisture levels, soil hydrophobicity, and administration methods, thereby generating new knowledge regarding soil wetting, evapotranspiration, and development of predictive, genome-scale metabolic models for soil-microbial interactions. The central hypothesis of Thrust 2 is that B. subtilis-mediated surfactant production (i.e., which changes the surface tension of water), when combined with biochar-mediated soil aggregation, can synergistically improve soil water retention. Thrust 2 will determine the impacts of soil wetting bacteria and biochar on water-holding capacity, nutrient transformation, and the rhizobiome under deficit irrigation. Thrust 3 focuses on the hypotheses that producers (i.e., farmers) having lower quality soils (e.g., high sand content) will be more willing to adopt new precision irrigation technologies and practices, particularly in regions where curtailments to historical water use amounts have been put in place. Focus group and survey data will yield fundamental insights regarding irrigator’s perceptions regarding soil amendments and irrigation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

支持中西部中部高原地区的农村社区至关重要。农业在堪萨斯州，内布拉斯加州和俄克拉荷马州的直接经济影响分别为21.3B，26.3B和7.6B（2021年的USDA ERS数据）。这个农业地区正面临着由于气候变化而导致干旱的频率和严重程度的增加。例如，根据内布拉斯加州林肯大学（University of Univers）：美国干旱监护仪（University）的数据，2022年10月，内布拉斯加州的100％，堪萨斯州的98.5％和100％的俄克拉荷马州经历了干旱状况。 MICRA项目汇集了堪萨斯州立大学（KSU），内布拉斯加林肯大学（UNL）和兰斯顿大学（LU）的研究人员，具有广泛的专业知识（例如工程，科学，农业科学和社会科学）。项目团队将进行研究，以保持土壤水分并在干旱条件下改善水质。玉米是研究的目标作物，因为它在中西部的经济重要性及其对水和养分的大量需求。研究人员将研究添加修订以改善土壤的影响（即土壤润湿细菌，枯草芽孢杆菌和生物炭）；了解植物对干旱的行为；了解气候变化对农业工作者的影响；并确定农民愿意采用与区分水权和政策的新灌溉实践的意愿。 MICRA项目将调查土壤修订在实验室规模，温室尺度和田间尺度上的影响，并将进行调查和焦点小组。 MICRA团队将从历史上排除的小组中招募学生；指导和培训本科生和研究生进行跨学科研究；教师跨学科课程在研究生层面；支持KSU，UNL和LU的早期职业教师；并向Rough K-12科学老师进行教育宣传。MICRA团队将产生有关土壤修正案的影响（即土壤润湿细菌，枯草芽孢杆菌和生物char）的基本知识，以提高土壤的水位持有水的能力，从而提高Agroecosystem生产力，从而提高由于气候变化驱动的Drought驱动的Droughts而变得更加有限。跨学科研究集中在三项研究中。研究推力1将检验以下假设：枯草芽孢杆菌的空间和暂时的土壤润湿行为是由土壤类型，初始土壤水分水平，土壤疏水性和给药方法驱动的，从而为土壤润湿，蒸发性，蒸发性和预测性，基因组尺度的代谢模型而产生了有关土壤菌方互动的新知识。推力2的中心假设是，枯草芽孢杆菌介导的表面产生（即改变水的表面张力）与生物炭介导的土壤聚集结合时，可以协同改善土壤水的保留。推力2将确定土壤润湿细菌和生物炭对水的持有能力，养分转化以及防御灌溉中的根瘤菌的影响。推力3的重点是生产者（即农民）具有较低质量土壤（例如，高沙含量）的假设，将更愿意采用新的精确灌溉技术和实践，尤其是在已经削减历史用水量的地区。焦点小组和调查数据将产生有关灌溉者对土壤修订和灌溉的看法的基本见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为是通过评估来获得珍贵的支持。