Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Current Competitive Grant

What drives corn yield stability in the context of climate variability?

Project ID: E2011-07

This 2-year grant for $80,111 was awarded in 2011.

Location: Floyd, Story, Washington counties

Can corn genotype affect the soil rooting environment (also known as the rhizosphere) to modulate yield amount and yield stability? Investigators will examine the ability of rhizosphere properties to promote agroecosystem (crop and soil) resilience. They seek to identify causal relationships between genotype-controls on rhizosphere properties and yield amount, yield stability and soil quality.

Michael Castellano

Michael Castellano Michael Castellano is an assistant professor in the ISU Agronomy Department. His research focuses on biogeochemical cycling and transport within the soil as it extends to the atmosphere and subsoil. His ultimate objective is to maximize sustainable productivity of agricultural systems. He is particularly interested in nitrogen because nitrogen frequently limits production and is easily lost from agricultural systems to the surrounding environment. He believes that minimizing nitrogen limitation on crop production while maximizing nitrogen retention within agricultural systems is among the most important global research priorities of the 21st century. [Contact lead investigator]

Co-Investigator(s):

Kristen Hofmockel, ISU Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, and Jim Rouse, Iowa Crop Improvement Association

This competitive grant project is part of the Leopold Center's Ecology Initiative.

Topics: Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, Life Cycle Assessment