PFI-RP: Crop Seed Shaped Pellets for Planting Multi-Species Conservation Habitats with Standard Planting Equipment

PFI-RP：作物种子形状颗粒，用于使用标准种植设备种植多物种保护栖息地

• 批准号: 2345771
• 负责人: John Losey
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345771&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; RP; Crop; Seed; Shaped

This Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project develops an affordable method for farmers to grow non-crop plants that nurture the essential insects (such as butterflies, bees, and ladybugs) required for efficient food production. Standard planting equipment is established for planting a small range of crop seeds (e.g., corn, soy, alfalfa, etc.) but not the wider set of plant species that essential insects require. The solution develops pellets that contain the diverse plants needed to support the essential insects and are the size and shape of crop seeds so they can be planted with the standard planting equipment farmers already use. This technology will allow farmers benefit from the additional ecological services like pollination and pest suppression these habitats facilitate. Consumers will benefit from the lower food prices that enhanced ecological services will allow.This project will develop an efficient, flexible mechanism for inserting tailored, non-crop diversity into cropping systems. The initial focus of the technology is the restoration of habitat for the monarch butterfly. This project will develop a multi-seed pellet to plant non-crop plants such as milkweeds and coneflowers into agroecosystems to attract beneficial insects as a shift in weed management has precipitated a rapid decline in those plant and the beneficial birds and insects that depend on them. To reach the goal of habitat restoration necessary for increased food crop yields, the team will (1) select the optimal set of species to incorporate, (2) determine optimal methods for conditioning and breaking dormancy, (3) develop efficient methods to produce the multi-seed pellets, and (4) test the technology in large-scale field tests.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.

该创新伙伴关系 - 研究伙伴关系 (PFI-RP) 项目为农民开发了一种经济实惠的方法来种植非农作物植物，以培育高效粮食生产所需的重要昆虫（如蝴蝶、蜜蜂和瓢虫）。建立标准种植设备用于种植小范围作物种子（例如玉米、大豆、苜蓿等），但不适用于基本昆虫所需的更广泛的植物物种。 该解决方案开发出的颗粒包含支持基本昆虫所需的多种植物，其大小和形状与农作物种子相同，因此可以使用农民已经使用的标准种植设备进行种植。这项技术将使农民受益于这些栖息地所提供的额外生态服务，例如授粉和害虫抑制。消费者将受益于生态服务增强所带来的更低的食品价格。该项目将开发一种高效、灵活的机制，将定制的非作物多样性纳入种植系统。该技术的最初重点是恢复帝王蝶的栖息地。该项目将开发一种多种子颗粒，将马利筋和金光菊等非农作物植物种植到农业生态系统中，以吸引有益昆虫，因为杂草管理的转变导致这些植物以及依赖它们的有益鸟类和昆虫迅速减少。为了实现提高粮食作物产量所需的栖息地恢复目标，该团队将（1）选择要纳入的最佳物种集，（2）确定调节和打破休眠的最佳方法，（3）开发有效的方法来生产多种子颗粒，(4) 在大规模现场测试中测试该技术。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。