CPSC

The Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a catalyst for collaborative research projects across engineering and agriculture. With a strong record of team-building for large long-term interdisciplinary research and education projects at the University of Illinois, CDA continues to offer a competitive seed-funding program. The newly announced collaborative projects span two or more of the Center’s initial themes: automation, data, animals and crops, and people.

URBANA, Ill. – In its 63rd year, Agronomy Day at the University of Illinois will be an event unlike any other. For the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event moves online and features recorded video presentations from College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) researchers and Extension specialists.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Crops grow dense canopies that consist of several layers of leaves—the upper layers with younger sun leaves and the lower layers with older shaded leaves that may have difficulty intercepting sunlight trickling down from the top layers.

URBANA, Ill. - When her sister came home to finish spring semester online because of COVID-19, Leah Erdmann had no idea the together time they gained would lead to changing her major before she even started college.

Leah’s sister was finishing up her senior year at the University of Illinois when she moved back home. She brought a bunch of plants with her and coaxed Leah to take care of some. Leah was finishing up her senior year at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. – The Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL) developed a new Guide to African Soybean Seedborne Diseases and Pests for use by African seed companies, seed multipliers, research institutions, and soybean processors, whose operations demand high-quality seed. Identifying the causes of decreased seed health, which translates to poor germination, low yields, and decreased profitability, is key to building a successful soybean industry in Africa.

URBANA, Ill. – As climate change becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, scientists are working to diversify and improve alternatives to fossil-fuel-based energy. Renewable bioenergy crops, such as the perennial grass Miscanthus, show promise for cellulosic ethanol production and other uses, but current hybrids are limited by environmental conditions and susceptibility to pests and diseases.

URBANA, Ill. – Five University of Illinois faculty members received major awards at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2020 annual international meeting. The virtual event took place July 13 to 15. Illinois recipients include Paul Davidson, Vijay Singh, Richard Cooke, and Prasanta Kalita, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and The Grainger College of Engineering, and Laura Christianson, Department of Crop Sciences, College of ACES.

URBANA, Ill. – Genetically speaking, the loaf of bread you stress-baked during the COVID-19 shutdown is more complex than you think. Wheat’s 16 billion genes, organized in not one but three semi-independent genomes, can overlap or substitute for one another, making things extremely tricky for geneticists trying to enhance desirable traits in the world’s most widely grown crop.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers often study the genomes of individual organisms to try to tease out the relationship between genes and behavior. A new study of Africanized honey bees reveals, however, that the genetic inheritance of individual bees has little influence on their propensity for aggression. Instead, the genomic traits of the hive as a whole are strongly associated with how fiercely its soldiers attack.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The crops we grow in the field often form dense canopies with many overlapping leaves, such that young “sun leaves” at the top of the canopy are exposed to full sunlight with older “shade leaves” at the bottom. In order to maximize photosynthesis, resource-use efficiency, and yield, sun leaves typically maximize photosynthetic efficiency at high light, while shade leaves maximize efficiency at low light.