Center For Root And Rhizosphere Biology News | Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology

Jan 13, 2025

College of Ag Sciences graduate students receive research grant awards

Thirteen graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences received research grants recently awarded by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Flies play a crucial role as pollinators, second only to bees in terms of the volume of crops and habitat they pollinate. Pictured here is a blue fly pollinating common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Credit: Martha B. Moss/Penn State Extension Master Gardener / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jan 02, 2025

Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows

New research led by Penn State scientists suggests flies are increasingly at risk due to rising global temperatures.

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Francisco Dini-Andreote, assistant professor of plant science, was named the Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Sep 26, 2024

Plant scientist named Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology

Francisco Dini-Andreote, assistant professor of plant science in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, has been awarded the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology.

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In anaerobic soil disinfestation, after organic amendments are mixed in, the soil is irrigated to saturation and covered with impermeable plastic, as shown here, creating no-oxygen conditions that suppress weeds.

Sep 25, 2024

$1M USDA grant to perfect weed killing method in organic crop production

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a four-year, $1 million grant to a team led by plant scientists and an economist from Penn State to investigate anaerobic soil disinfestation to support transitioning from conventional to organic production systems.

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Aug 29, 2024

Research teams receive $1.1 million to study microbiomes in agriculture

Two Penn State-led research teams have received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for projects investigating the ways microbiomes — the microorganisms in a particular environment, such as in soil or a living organism — can affect disease dynamics in agriculture.

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Nov 28, 2023

College of Ag Sciences recognizes faculty, staff for research achievements

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences lauded outstanding accomplishments in research during the 2023 Research Awards Ceremony, held Nov. 1 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.

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Nov 28, 2023

Researchers predict climate change-driven reduction in beneficial plant microbes

Bacteria that benefit plants are thought to be a critical contributor to crops and other ecosystems, but climate change may reduce their numbers, according to a new study by an international team of researchers. They published their findings in Nature Food.

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Sep 29, 2023

Liana Burghardt named new Director of Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology

Assistant Professor of Plant Science Liana Burghardt is serving as the new Director of the Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology, replacing outgoing director Jonathan Lynch, distinguished professor of plant nutrition.

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May 31, 2022

New plant science team gets grants from USDA-NIFA for research on soil microbes

An assistant professor in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received $950,000 in two competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lead a team studying interactions between plants and rhizobial soil bacteria, with the long-term goal of boosting forage and crop production while reducing environmental impacts of fertilizer use.

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Aug 02, 2021

Researchers identify a gene that regulates the angle of root growth in corn

The discovery of a gene that regulates the angle of root growth in corn is a new tool to enable the breeding of deeper-rooting crops with enhanced ability to take up nitrogen, according to an international team of researchers, led by Penn State.

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