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: 2316295
• 负责人: Melanie Derby
• 金额: $ 289.65万
• 依托单位: Kansas State University
• 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=2316295&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.

支持中西部中高平原地区的农村社区至关重要。农业对堪萨斯州、内布拉斯加州和俄克拉何马州的直接经济影响分别为213亿美元、263亿美元和76亿美元(美国农业部2021年ERS数据)。由于气候变化，这个农业地区正面临更频繁和更严重的干旱；例如，根据内布拉斯加州大学林肯分校：美国干旱监测机构的数据，2022年10月，内布拉斯加州100%、堪萨斯州98.5%和俄克拉何马州100%经历了干旱条件。MICRA项目汇集了来自堪萨斯州立大学(KSU)、内布拉斯加-林肯大学(UNL)和兰斯顿大学(LU)的研究人员，他们拥有广泛的专业知识(例如工程、科学、农业科学和社会科学)。该项目团队将进行研究，目标是在干旱条件下保持土壤水分和改善水质。玉米是研究的目标作物，因为它在中西部具有重要的经济意义，而且对水和养分的需求很大。研究人员将调查添加改良剂以改良土壤(即土壤湿润细菌、枯草芽孢杆菌和生物炭)的影响；了解植物对干旱的反应；了解气候变化对农业工人的影响；并确定农民根据不同的水权和政策采用新灌溉做法的意愿。MICRA项目将在实验室规模、温室规模和田间规模调查土壤改良剂的影响，并将进行调查和重点小组。MICRA团队将从历史上被排斥的群体中招收学生；指导和培训本科生和研究生进行跨学科研究；教授研究生水平的跨学科课程；支持KSU、UNL和LU的早期职业教师；并向K-12农村科学教师进行教育推广。MICRA团队将产生有关土壤改良剂(即土壤湿润细菌、枯草杆菌和生物碳)影响的基础知识，以增加土壤的持水量，从而在气候变化驱动的干旱导致水变得更加有限时改善农业生态系统的生产力。跨学科研究集中在三个研究方向上。研究推力1将检验这样一个假设，即枯草杆菌的空间和时间土壤湿润行为是由土壤类型、初始土壤水分水平、土壤疏水性和管理方法驱动的，从而产生关于土壤湿润、蒸散和开发可预测的、基因组规模的土壤-微生物相互作用代谢模型的新知识。推力2的中心假设是，枯草杆菌介导的表面活性物质的产生(即改变水的表面张力)与生物炭介导的土壤团聚体相结合，可以协同提高土壤水分保持能力。推力2将决定土壤湿润细菌和生物炭对非充分灌溉条件下土壤持水能力、养分转化和根瘤菌的影响。推力3侧重于这样的假设，即土壤质量较低(例如，含沙量较高)的生产者(即农民)将更愿意采用新的精准灌溉技术和做法，特别是在已经削减了历史用水量的地区。焦点小组和调查数据将提供有关灌溉者对土壤改良和灌溉的看法的基本见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。