DuPont invests in advancement of Purdue Plant Sciences

As part of an innovative research collaboration, DuPont has granted Purdue University access to its proprietary phenotyping and ear photometry technology. To further enable the advancement of students pursuing agriculture-related majors and support plant sciences research, DuPont will also sponsor the Henry Wallace Chair in Plant Sciences in the Purdue University College of Agriculture.

 

John Arbuckle, DuPont Pioneer vice president, says: “Through this public-private effort, we’re shaping the future of agriculture by seeking to advance research and develop a rich talent pipeline of future employees. DuPont, Purdue, and, most importantly, growers will benefit from outcomes that could include broader and deeper research insights and better products with consistently higher yields.”

 

The technology from Pioneer will advance research at Purdue’s Indiana Corn and Soybean Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art, automated field phenotyping facility. Ear photometry technology, which quantifies yield on a single ear of corn, enables researchers to identify which key ear traits – such as ear size or number of kernels – affect overall performance.

 

“The ear photometry toolkit will allow us to measure corn phenotype and understand how the environment impacts the genotype,” says Karen Plaut, Purdue senior associate dean for research and faculty affairs and director of agricultural research. “In Indiana, we plant more than 5 million acres of corn per year and research to understand how the environment impacts yield is critical to our farmers.”