Members:

• ER: Dr. Felix Fritschi
• PhD students:
• Technician:

Principal Investigator: Dr. Felix Fritschi (Email: fritschif@missouri.edu)

Research goals:

Research in the MU Crop Physiology Lab is aimed at enhancing crop resource use efficiency by leveraging physiological mechanism-based strategies. In particular, we are interested in developing a better understanding of plant responses and adaptations to various abiotic stress factors (emphasis on drought and high temperatures) individually as well as when they occur in combination. The lab collaborates intensively with breeders and geneticists to improve germplasm that can better tolerate adverse environmental conditions.  The majority of our research is field based, but we complement field studies with experiments conducted under controlled environment conditions (growth chambers and greenhouses).  In our efforts to better understand form and function of plants and cropping systems, we use diverse techniques and approaches ranging from microscopy to satellite imagery and from molecular to agronomic tools. The focus of our research is on soybean and maize, the main row crops in Missouri, but we are also conducting research on various other species, including sorghum, switchgrass, cotton, and common bean. 

Facilities:

MU’s Crop Physiology Laboratory is well-equipped with a broad range of standard tools, including basic molecular equipment, a broad range of ecophysiological tools for characterization of above- and below-ground plant characteristics, liquid and gas chromatography analytical equipment, UAVs with various sensors, and field equipment for agronomic research.  The lab controls several plant growth chambers and has access to additional chambers as well as greenhouse space that is rented from campus.  Additionally, the Crop Physiology Laboratory has access to a broad range of University of Missouri Core Facilities which provide fee for service and/or user access, including for light and electron microscopy, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and plant transformation.

The Crop Physiology Laboratory also has its own building as well as a field lab at one of the University of Missouri Agriculture Experiment Stations. This station serves as the Labs hub to access field research conducted at several of the outlying experiment stations. The Crop Physiology has developed and/or controls a number of specialized field facilities. These include a network of four rainout shelters used for in-field imposition of drought stress, a field with rooting depth restrictions at different soil depths, large rhizobox mesocosms that can be used in association with one of the four specially designed rainout shelters, and an outdoor lab that can accommodate >1000 deep tubes that is particularly useful for root-related studies.