HOW CLIMATE ADAPTATION AFFECTS YIELD AND STRESS TOLERANCE IN WILD PSYLLIUM: A NEW PLANT PRODUCT FOR FOOD, FIBER, AND RANGELAND RESTORATION

Plantago patagonica or wild psyllium, occurs across a wide range of climatic conditions and produces high levels of seed mucilage that can be used in many food products. Despite these promising characteristics and our extreme reliance on global psyllium imports, domestic production of wild psyllium has not been seriously explored. The chief goal of this project is to understand how climate adaptation affects agricultural productivity. This will be achieved by identifying trade-offs among seed yield and stress tolerance across a climatic gradient. Determining the extent to which desirable yield and resilience traits vary as a function of climate will identify gene pools that can utilized in the development of new plant products. A secondary goal is to accumulate the knowledge needed to develop a new drought-adapted psyllium product that can meet the demands of a growing population and reduce our reliance on imports. Lastly, building an understanding of the complex inter-related factors that affect plant productivity in a changing climate will also facilitate the use of wild psyllium as a Native Plant Material to restore degraded rangelands, sustaining our natural resources and reducing the ecological footprint of agriculture.