University of Houston researchers earn USDA grant to help make crops more weather-resilient

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Researchers at the University of Houston were selected to be part of a $7.9 million project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture to investigate how to make crops more resilient to extreme conditions such as heatwaves, floods and droughts.

ABC13 Meteorologist Elyse Smith visited their rooftop greenhouse on what was a data collection day within phase one of the project.

Under the supervision of Dr. Abdul Khan and Dr. Shuhab Khan, one of the main problems these researchers are trying to solve is related to soil salinization. That's when there's too much salt in otherwise healthy soil.

"Whenever you have a drought, you have stress on vegetation. Whenever there is salinity, flooding brings salinity. After flooding, we have more saline soil," Dr. Shuhab Khan explained. Soil salinization can occur naturally, like during flash floods.

However, human activities such as deforestation, irrigation, and over-farming can also lead to salt buildup in the soil.

One of the early theories the team tested was using silicone in the soil to counteract the salt content.

"We are not genetically modifying anything," Dr. Abdul Khan said. "We are just using things that are naturally available in the soil system."

This special silicone comes from nature and is found in the Earth's crust. So, nothing synthetic is used in their research.

The idea was born from collaboration between two different disciplines to take a more holistic approach to the problem. Dr. Abdul Khan is a biologist, and Dr. Shuhab Khan is a geologist.

However, as Dr. Shuhab Khan told ABC13's Elyse Smith, "This is what is needed to bring different disciplines together, broader disciplines, and address some bigger problems."

The team plans to move the experiment from their greenhouse lab into the field next fall. The proposed test site is farmlands near College Station.

The team hopes this research will help farmers become more climate-ready within the next four years. Potential benefits include a lower cost for farmers to produce their current yields with the resources needed and a higher crop yield even during times of environmental stress.

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