News
Grad students look for weed control and soybean breeding solutions
Two graduate students’ research that will help soybean growers has resulted in scholarships from the Foundation for Soy Innovation. Haylee Schreier, who is working on an advanced degree at the University of Missouri, is doing checkoff-funded research on a machine called the Weed Zapper that takes out weeds with electricity when they’re beyond chemical control.
“We’re looking at it more as a rescue treatment,” Schreier told Brownfield Ag News, “so when the weeds are much taller than the soybeans, that’s when you get your best control with it.”
Brazil native Caio Canella is working on his doctorate at the University of Missouri doing checkoff-funded research in the field of soybean breeding.
“We try to make the super plant, right, the one that can be resistant to biotic stresses, nematodes and many other types of diseases,” Canella told Brownfield, “but also tolerant to abiotic stresses, floods, drought, heat, all those different things.”
The foundation’s scholarship program, run by Missouri soybean farmers, is in its second year of supporting early-career faculty and students in their work across the soy value chain.
