TARGETING THE RHIZOSPHERE PROCESSES AND MICROBIAL ASSOCIATIONS TO ENHANCE THE NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENCY OF CROPS

The major goal of the proposed research is to identify crop accessions with unique P mobilization and uptake capacity that are mediated through root morphology, chemistry, and fungal symbiosis. Through these approaches, we plan to increase the current P use efficiency of grain crops by 50%.Objective 1: Identify the combination of root morphology and exudation pattern across crop accessions that would enhance the P mobilization efficiency from phosphate rock minerals.Objective 2: Identify the morphophysiological attributes of the crop as well as the AMF that facilitates a positive symbiotic outcome of the crop-AMF associations.