** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** HEMP IS A CROP SPECIES WITH ENORMOUS POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLY PRODUCING FIBER, OIL, AND PROTEIN IN THE COUNTRY. ONE MAJOR COMPLICATION TO HEMP BREEDING AND PRODUCTION FOR FIBER IS THAT HEMP PLANTS HAVE SEPARATE MALE AND FEMALE SEXES, OFTEN CLOSE TO 50:50, YET FEMALE PLANTS PRODUCE MORE FIBER AND OIL THAN MALE PLANTS DO. A KEY QUESTION IN HEMP BIOLOGY IS THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE GENES THAT CONTROL THE SEX OF HEMP PLANTS (WHETHER IT IS MALE OR FEMALE), WITH THE FUTURE GOAL OF PRODUCING ALL-FEMALE POPULATIONS THAT PRODUCE MORE FIBER BIOMASS AND OIL. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE WILL GENERATE HIGH QUALITY GENOMIC RESOURCES FOR HEMP THAT SPECIFICALLY FOCUS ON IDENTIFYING THESE GENES THAT CONTROL SEX DETERMINATION. WE WILL SEQUENCE AND ASSEMBLE SEVERAL MALE (XY) HEMP GENOMES, AND IDENTIFY GENES IN THOSE GENOMES. FURTHER, WE WILL SEQUENCE THE GENOMES OF PLANTS WITH MUTATIONS IN FLOWER DEVELOPMENT TO NARROW IN ON THE GENES THAT CONTROL SEX. THE IDENTIFICATION OF THESE GENES WILL ALLOW US TO PRODUCEGENETIC MARKERS THAT ARE PERFECTLY LINKED TO SEX, WHICH IS CRUCIAL FOR HEMP BREEDING AND PRODUCTION. IN ADDITION, THE IDENTIFICATION OF THESE GENES SETS THE STAGE FOR PRODUCING ALL-FEMALE POPULATIONS OF HEMP THAT PRODUCE MORE BIOMASS FOR FIBER AND OIL AND PROTEIN. LASTLY, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A TRAINING PROGRAM FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY ON RECRUITING ALABAMA HBCU UNDERGRADUATES INTO THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY THROUGH A JOINT GENOMICS AND BREEDING TRAINING PROGRAM AT HUDSONALPHA AND NEW WEST GENETICS.