Agriculture
Date:
01/26/2018
Three MSI PIs are the recipients of grants from the Brewers Association to fund research into hops and barley. They are among 17 grants awarded by the association for 2018.
- Professor Gary Muehlbauer (Agronomy and Plant Genetics) received a grant to study how to make hops resistant to powdery mildew, a pathogen that affects hops in the Upper Midwest. Professor Muehlbauer uses MSI resources for several projects concerned with the genomics of barley, wheat, maize, and soybean.
- Professor Brian Steffenson (Plant Pathology) received a grant to develop winter barley that can be grown in Minnesota. His group is using MSI in a project to clone genes for rust resistance (rust is a serious pathogen of wheat and barley) from wild cereals and use them in cultivated wheat and barley cultivars.
- Professor Kevin Smith (Agronomy and Plant Genetics) will also use his grant to study barley types that can be grown in Minnesota and other states. The Smith group uses MSI resources to study the genetics of numerous traits in barley, silphium, and oat.
An article about these professors’ research can be found on The Growler: U of M paving the way toward better barley, stronger hops. The announcement from the Brewers Association can be found on their website: 2018 Research and Service Grant Recipients Announced.