CBI Field Sites
If you would like access to one of the CBI field site, please complete the request form below. You will receive an email with approval or denial in the next 7 days. Without approval, you should not proceed with your sampling trip. Requests are typically declined due to conflicts of schedule, sampling approach already requested by others, or the field is unavailable.
Field Site Access Request Form
Poplar Field Sites
Clatskanie – GWAS
Managed by Poplar Innovations
Brian Stanton – [email protected]
The Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) is CBI’s foundational P. trichocarpa mapping population. It was assembled from ~1,200 fully re-sequenced individuals representing a latitudinal gradient ranging from 38.8° to 54.3°N. The Clatskanie GWAS study is the oldest of four replicated trials at other locations. The purpose is to overcome barriers to gene discovery, validation, and deployment using GWAS breeding selections to identify causal mutations underlying natural variations in cell wall composition and biomass yield. Selected P. trichocarpa genotypes are being hybridized both intra- and inter-specifically using targeted genomic selections for breeding elite poplar feedstocks. Genomic selection algorithms are being developed to predict the performance of the inter-specific hybrids of P. trichocarpa and P. deltoides that will be verified in field assessments of elite families and clonal progeny.
Corvallis – GWAS
Managed by Oregon State University
Jared Leboldus – [email protected]
Seven acres of agricultural land was planted with approximately 4,000 cuttings of P. trichocarpa in 2024. The tree genotypes are planted in triplicate. These trees are sequenced and part of a GWAS study to identify genes that control traits associated with wood characteristics, growth, disease resistance, and abiotic stress response.
Mississippi State University – Provenance Trial
Managed by Poplar Innovations
Brian Stanton – [email protected]
This trial builds upon prior research at Mississippi State University (MSU) that showed that P. deltoides provenances from east Texas and Oklahoma were superior to those of the Mississippi Delta in trials conducted along the Mississippi River. Furthermore, P. deltoides parents from these regions were used in hybridizing some of the highest-performing P. × generosa families bred by the University of Washington. Seventeen open-pollinated families from eight stands located along the 97th meridian between Arygle, Texas (33.1° N latitude) and Blackwell, Oklahoma (36.8° N latitude) were sampled in propagating 216 clonal offspring for this replicated trial established at MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville Mississippi. The purpose is to identify elite germplasm with superior growth and drought tolerance for both direct deployment and inter-specific hybridization.
University of California-Davis – GWAS
Gail Taylor – [email protected]
The genomewide association study (GWAS) experiment consists of a set of unique 1100 genotypes collected from across a latitudinal gradient in the western USA, with contrasting rainfall. The site is 15 acres, drip irrigated and fertigated, and designed to impose a controlled drought treatment across half of the site with three replicates of each genotype fully irrigated and three subjected to a reduced irrigation treatment, imposing a soil moisture deficit of up to 0.15 MPa each year. The site is instrumented with soil tensiometers and volumetric measurements of soil moisture. A weather station is located on the farm. The trees were planted April 2020, cut back and coppiced in 2023 and reduced to a single stem in 2024.
University of California-Davis – Transgenic
Gail Taylor – [email protected]
One of three transgenic field sites, this site consists of a set of unique genotypes of poplar 717, gene edited, to investigate long-term field performance of modified traits identified from the GWAS pipeline, including traits for tree productivity and performance and those associated with cell wall traits for processing and SAF production. The site is less than 1 acre, fully irrigated and fertigated, with weather station nearby. Tensiometers are deployed to follow soil moisture content.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) – Transgenic
Jonathan Cumming – [email protected]
The UMES poplar field site was established in 2021 as an eastern site for poplar biomass feedstock production trials. The first experiment in was a P. deltoides planting to generate seasonal growth patterns, biomass accretion (above and belowground), and changes in soil properties, including carbon accretion and enzymes associated with nutrient cycling.
In 2024, we established an additional planting of transgenic 717 poplar lines (one of three transgenic field sites) as part of the MD-CA-OR transgenic trial. At the MD site, we will be assessing a suite of variables reflecting growth and performance, with a focus here on root allocation and carbon sequestration in soils.
Westport – QTL Population
Managed by Poplar Innovations
Brian Stanton – [email protected]
The objective of this study is to identify and map loci controlling phenotypic variation in biomass, wood composition, Melampsora rust resistance, Venturia shoot blight, carbon partitioning, and interaction with the soil microbiome in an inter-specific pseudo-backcross family (identity 52-124). The backcross taxon — [P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides] × P. deltoides — is composed of approximately 350 BC1 genotypes that is being managed in a randomized complete block design of three replicates in field one of Poplar Innovations’ Westport Tree Improvement Center. (The backcross was made to P. deltoides ′D124′ in place of the original P. deltoides parent of the F1 family (P. deltoides ′IL-101′) to avoid inbreeding depression.) The study continues 2016 experimentation with family 52-124 at Poplar Innovations’ Boardman Research Site.
Westport – Lignin Inheritance Trial
Managed by Poplar Innovations
Brian Stanton – [email protected]
The study is based on full-factorial cross among seven P. trichocarpa males and seven P. trichocarpa females selected to represent the full range of natural variation in the syringyl-to guaiacyl monolignol ratio. Forty-nine (49) intra-specific hybrid families are represented in addition to the seven open-pollinated families. The trial is being conducted in field three of Poplar Innovations’ Westport Tree Improvement Center. Phenotypic variation in biomass yield and composition is being assessed over successive three-year coppice harvest cycles. The test plot has also been used to study meiotic recombination. Upcoming work will assess the efficacy of within-family genomic prediction.
Westport – Transgenic
Managed by Poplar Innovations
Brian Stanton – [email protected]
The purpose of this trial is to evaluate the relative performance of 17 knockout and overexpressed transgenic lines plus two controls (empty vector and wild type) of an inter-specific hybrid genotype, Populus tremula × Populus alba ′INRA 717-1B4′. The trial is designed as a randomized complete block with six replications of single-tree plots. It is situated in field three of Poplar Innovations’ Westport Tree Improvement Center and is part of a network of coordinated field trials at the University of California, Davis and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Switchgrass Field Sites
Ironhorse Farm – Genomic Selection
Managed by University of Georgia
Ali Missaoui – [email protected]
A panel of 200 half-sib families generated from polycrosses of 50 parents selected from the GWAS panel evaluated for NUE, drought, and biomass yield and composition will be planted at 3 locations in GA and TN. We are seeking more environments in other locations (North and West). Four genotypes from each family will be planted in replicated rows ( 800 genotypes per rep). Biomass yield and composition traits will be measured for 3 years. The phenotypic data will be used for validation of genomic breeding value estimates and selection of accurate genomic prediction models that facilitate the selection of best genotypes in biomass yield and composition and increase the efficiency of favorable alleles stacking.
Ironhorse Farm – GWAS
Managed by University of Georgia
Thomas Pendergast – [email protected]
Two replicated blocks of a 330 genotypes switchgrass GWAS panel using a randomized honeycomb design with 3m between linear plants and weedcloth. Block 1 was established in May 2019; Block 2 established in July 2020.
Tifton – Breeding Population
Managed by University of Georgia
Ali Missaoui – [email protected]
A panel of 200 half-sib families generated from polycrosses of 50 parents selected from the GWAS panel evaluated for NUE, drought, and biomass yield and composition will be planted at 3 locations in GA and TN. We are seeking more environments in other locations (North and West). Four genotypes from each family will be planted in replicated rows ( 800 genotypes per rep). Biomass yield and composition traits will be measured for 3 years. The phenotypic data will be used for validation of genomic breeding value estimates and selection of accurate genomic prediction models that facilitate the selection of best genotypes in biomass yield and composition and increase the efficiency of favorable alleles stacking.
Tifton – GWAS
Managed by University of Georgia
Ali Missaoui – [email protected]
The experimental sites were located at UGA Gibbs Farm in Tifton, GA. The study utilized a randomized complete block (RCB) design with three replications for each of the two treatments: drought-stressed (covered, CV) and control (uncovered, UC). Two replications for each treatment were established in August 2018, and the third replication for each treatment was established in April 2019. Biomass harvest was conducted in the first two replications only during the fall of 2019, while subsequent harvests were carried out in all three replications each year from 2020 to 2022. A total of 367 diverse accessions comprised the lowland, coastal, and upland switchgrass were used.
University of Tennessee – GWAS
Mitra Mazarei – [email protected]
A highly diverse switchgrass GWAS panel consisted of 330 accessions was planted under low and moderate nitrogen fertility treatments (two replicates per each nitrogen treatment) at Knoxville, TN (35.903094, −83.959253) in spring 2019. Genotypes were planted in a honeycomb design with 3.5 m spacing between plants. The field includes ‘Alamo’ AP13 as control/check genotype with 40 replicate plants (20 at low and 20 at moderate nitrogen). The field contains switchgrass ‘Blackwell’ buffer zone between nitrogen treatment plots and border. The field includes weed-cloth. The field area is 0.92 hectare.