USask research aims to help cows, forage plants deal with stresses

Two University of Saskatchewan (USask) researchers have been awarded $322,000 in total by a federal agency for developing drought and salinity-tolerant forage crops, and reducing heat stress in dairy cattle.

The funding is from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s (NSERC) Alliance Grants program, which encourages university researchers and partner organizations to collaborate in generating new knowledge and accelerating the adoption of research findings to benefit Canada.

Dr. Jon Bennett (PhD), assistant professor in USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources (AgBio), was awarded $191,000 over three years to sustainably increase the productivity and salinity-tolerance of forage crops typically grown on marginal lands in Western Canada.

Forages comprise most of the diet of cows and are critically important to Canada’s cattle industry.

Bennett’s team aims to reduce the need for inputs and increase forage production by optimizing plant interactions with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) that colonize plant roots. AMF can increase plant tolerance to low water, salinity, and pathogen resistance, and in turn thrive on plant-derived carbon.