The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) recently awarded Aniruddha Maity a $300,000 grant to research the influences of endophytes and abiotic factors on herbicide resistance development in Italian ryegrass. Maity’s is one of 10 projects that are part of AFRI’s Agricultural Production Systems Research program, which awarded a combined $5.5 million. Maity is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences, specializing in weed science.
His project will aim to understand the interactive effects of endophytes, soil moisture, texture, temperature, and carbon dioxide levels on herbicide resistance development, specifically across Alabama in Italian ryegrass, a major weed problem in wheat and other winter and spring crops. Overall, this project hopes to understand the driving forces of herbicide resistance acquisition and expression in Italian ryegrass to help develop new and informed management strategies to combat the recent plague of herbicide resistance evolution and spread in dominant agricultural weeds.
Other researchers participating in the study include Alvaro Sanz-Saez of Auburn University and Tony Adesemoye of the USDA Soil Dynamics Lab.
