Writer: Kathleen Davis Phillips, (979) 845-2872, ka-phillips@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Frank Gilstrap, (979) 845-7958, f-gilstrap@tamu.edu
Dr. John Mullet, (979) 845-0722, jmullet@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION — Texas legislators are betting on the collective expertise of the state’s researchers to piece together grain and turfgrass varieties that are a cut above any else in the world. They’ve anteed up $1 million aimed at developing the most competitive, most environmentally sound crops possible.
And with intricate work at the molecular level, much of it already whizzing through research labs in the state, breakthroughs already are unfolding, according to officials at The Texas A&M University System, one of four agencies included in the funding.
Called TxGRAIN, the legislative initiative focuses on wheat, rice, turfgrass, corn, sorghum, forage and sugarcane, bring together the work of scientists from Texas A&M, Texas Tech University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Texas locations.
The TxGRAIN money is building the capacity to take research to the next step,” said Dr. Frank Gilstrap, associate director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. “Researchers are conducting collaborative work funded by TxGRAIN so that improved varieties can be delivered in a shorter time.”
Years shorter, believes project advisor and Texas A&M biochemist Dr. John Mullet. The effort will enable an expansion of current biotechnology research, especially to identify genes for insect and disease resistance and use those genes across all of the species and that will hasten the time it takes to get results.
Because the function and order of genes on the chromosomes are similar in the grain, or grassy-type crops, an important gene found on one can be used quickly in the others, he explained. A gene that enables wheat to withstand drought better, for example, could be put into turfgrass for a variety that would require less watering in urban lawns.
Much research already has been done in Texas, but the TxGRAIN initiative will help researchers unify their efforts for quicker results. In fact, officials believe that due to advances in gene discovery methods, it is likely that nearly all the agriculturally important genes in grains and grasses will be identified over the next 10 years.
“We have a foundation of capabilities and expertise in each commodity,” Gilstrap said. “The TxGRAIN money has helped build the capacity to take it to the next step. This will definitely hasten the results.”
Currently, researchers are working on corn to create resistance to aflatoxin and to improve the resistance to spider mites. On wheat, scientists are mapping the genome for leaf rust resistance and for aphid resistance. Sorghum is being mapped for greenbug, grain mold and drought resistance. Blast resistance is the key project for rice, and turf grass efforts include isolating genes for fall army worm resistance, to name a few projects.
Thirteen projects were funded through TxGRAIN. The bulk of the funding goes to corn, wheat and sorghum, with $156,316 each over the next two years. Rice work will spend $146,842, turfgrass has $118,421, forage gets $94,737 and sugarcane work will spend $71,053.
Gilstrap said a bonus for the TxGRAIN work is that while each commodity typically has separate breeders at the field level, many of the molecular researchers are the same across the grains.
“When it comes to sharing of information, the geneticists are the same players,” Gilstrap said. “They all are able to assist all the breeders regardless of the crop.”
TxGRAIN and its forerunner, TxCOT (for the state’s cotton research), are part of an overall legislatively funded initiative called “Putting Genes to Work for People Through Agriculture,” Mullet noted.
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