Grain breeders and dealers rely heavily on the compositional properties of many different types of grain, including: soybeans, corn, rice, and wheat etc.  The most common variables assessed for commercial and nutritive properties of grains are oil and protein content, both of which are highly variable, with values ranging from 20 – 60%.

Soybean crop is susceptible to a variety of threats including soybean cyst nematode (SCN), soybean rust, bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) and aphids.  SCN is currently the largest pest of soybean and can be controlled with crop rotation or nematicides, however, crop rotation is not always successful and nematicides can be expensive and harmful to human health. Generation of a soybean that is genetically resistant to SCN (and other diseases) would avoid these complications.

Soybean aphid is an invasive insect pest that was first discovered in North America in 2000 and can have devastating effects on soy crops and yields. A new advance from the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences allows for engineering of aphid-resistant soybean cultivars.

Domestic soybean cultivars used in the U.S. are highlysusceptible to soybean rust disease caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi. The rapid spread of the disease and its abilityto cause significant yield losses (ranging from 13 to 80% of total yield) canresult in major economic losses for soybean producers. Synthetic fungicides areheavily used (~74 million acres in US in 2007) to prevent rust disease buttheir effect on human health and the ecosystem is unknown.

Soybean aphid is an invasive insect pest that was first discovered in North America in 2000. Since then, these aphids have become a significant pest in the soybean producing regions of the northern USA and southern Canada. Currently, millions of acres of fields are sprayed with insecticide each year, which is both costly and has potential environmental implications. Researchers at the University of Illinois and USDA – Agricultural Research Service have identified a gene that can confer aphid resistance for soybeans.

UIC researchers demonstrated that phenylalanine in solution or in solution with other compounds confers UV shielding effects to the surface of plants or to other materials that are in the same mixture as the phenylalanine.

This invention is a system to track agricultural grain from harvest to the final "whole" grain point in the supply chain process; end users or processors. System components include radio frequency identification device "Grain Chips"(RFID-GC); technology to systematically deposit and remove RFID-GC; hardware, software, and software database storage.

Numerous types of stresses (heat, cold, drought, insects, high salinity in soils, UV radiation) decrease the yield of important commercial food crops.  UIC researchers have found a critical, early stage of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway that can enhance a crop’s tolerance to plant stresses. Phenylalanine is an aromatic amino acid and essential for cellular function. Administration of additional phenylalanine at an appropriate time has been shown in both a model organism and in soybean to significantly affect resistance to stress and can improve seed yield.