Montana State University researchers get $5.1M DOE grant to study camelina

In Montana, a research team led by faculty in Montana State University’s College of Agriculture received $5.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy designed to explore camelina, an oilseed with the potential to be an alternative biofuel and multi-use crop.

The MSU team will work with collaborators nationwide in administering total funding of $11 million to take a systems-level approach to assessing camelina focusing on yield and nitrogen use efficiency.

The interdisciplinary team on the project will be critical in creating a comprehensive picture of camelina from the perspectives of genetics, production and microbiology. The MSU faculty on the team include plant physiologists, geneticists, agronomists, cropping systems specialists and bacteriologists specializing in plant-microbe interactions.