Brennan Hyden is a Ph.D. candidate working in the lab of Larry Smart, professor of horticulture at Cornell AgriTech, where his work focuses on using willow as a sustainable bioenergy crop. For his excellence in bioenergy research, Hyden was recently awarded a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to advance his work at Oakridge National Laboratory.
We recently asked Hyden about his research experiences as a graduate student at Cornell AgriTech and his exciting journey ahead.
What makes willow such a good bioenergy crop?
Willow is ideal because it can grow on marginal land that is too wet for other crops, it is fast growing, and it requires few inputs (fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides, etc.). It is cut back every 2-4 years, and then the wood is chipped and burned to generate heat, which can be used to create electricity. There is some flexibility in the harvest year, so if one year does not have a good market, the grower can harvest the next year.
Shrub willow can actually be a carbon negative energy source, since carbon is fixed into the roots, which are not harvested. Breeding targets for shrub willow for bioenergy include high yield (biomass), low ash content, and pest and disease resistance. Biomass is important because that is how yield is measured, and more biomass equals more energy.
Key traits from secondary metabolites can affect pest attraction (undesirable) and pollinator attraction (desirable, since willows are insect pollinated). The latter is important not only because it can support more effective and successful pollination, but it also can support a diverse range of insects, including many species of flies and bees. The ideal shrub willow is fast growing, high yielding, has low ash content, and is resistant to pests and diseases such as willow leaf rust.
Within the Smart Lab, what is your overarching research focus? What are your personal research goals?
The Smart Lab conducts research related to the genetics and breeding of shrub willow. Willow is one of only a small number of plants that are dioecious (having separate male and female plants), and important traits related are associated with the particular sex of a willow. However, we do not currently have a full understanding of the underlying genetics behind sex determination in willow, nor how sex controls these traits.
My research specifically focuses on understanding the genetics of sex determination in shrub willow and characterizing the gene pathways responsible for differences we observe in biomass and secondary metabolites. Understanding sex determination will enable more effective genetic studies and breeding efforts to improve shrub willow as a bioenergy crop.
