Evaluation and Breeding of Diverse Hemp Germplasm for Disease Resistance

This proposal is for the FY2023 Supplemental and Alternative Crops priority area b. Industrial Hemp: i. Fundamental and applied research to develop production systems for hemp grown for grain or fiber with a THC content of 0.3% or less, including cultivar evaluation and development, plant spacing and harvesting techniques. The project will focus on evaluation of genetically and geographically diverse hemp genetic resources from the USDA ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit Hemp Germplasm Repository for resistance to diseases important to hemp industry. Resistant accessions identified during evaluations will be used in crosses to develop publicly available, stable, and disease-resistant industrial hemp germplasm. Field evaluation sites will be in Geneva, New York (42.86° N, 76.98° W) and Lexington, Kentucky (38.04° N, 84.50° W). Additionally, resistant and susceptible germplasm identified during this work will be incorporated into downstream mapping populations to support discovery of candidate resistance genes.