PLANT OILS REPRESENT AN OUTSTANDING POTENTIAL SOURCE OF ENERGY-DENSE HYDROCARBONS THAT CAN BE USED FOR FUELS AND INDUSTRIAL RAW MATERIALS, BUT A MAJOR CHALLENGE IS TO PRODUCE THESE OILS IN NON-FOOD OILSEED CROPS THAT HAVE HIGH YIELDS AND CAN GROW UNDER MARGINAL AND VARIED CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. IN RECENT YEARS, CAMELINA SATIVA HAS RECEIVED CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION AS A POTENTIAL NON-FOOD BIOFUELS CROP, BUT SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES REMAIN TO DEVELOP STABLE, HIGH-YIELDING, GEOGRAPHICALLY ADAPTED GERMPLASM SUITABLE FOR BIOFUELS PRODUCTION. WE WILL UTILIZE ADVANCED HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHENOTYPING AND GENOMICS-BASED APPROACHES TO DISCOVER USEFUL GENE/ALLELES CONTROLLING SEED YIELD AND OIL CONTENT AND QUALITY IN CAMELINA UNDER WATER-LIMITED CONDITIONS, AND WILL IDENTIFY HIGH-YIELDING CULTIVARS SUITABLE FOR PRODUCTION IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS. THE PROJECT INCLUDES THREE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: 1) DEVELOP AND APPLY AUTOMATED, NON-DESTRUCTIVE HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHENOTYPING (HTP) PROTOCOLS TO EVALUATE THE PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY AND STRESS TOLERANCE OF A CAMELINA PANEL CONSISTING OF 250 ACCESSIONS, GROWN UNDER WELL-WATERED AND WATER-LIMITED CONDITIONS. 2) DISCOVER ALLELES/GENES CONTROLLING MORPHOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, SEED, AND OIL YIELD PROPERTIES USING GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (GWAS). 3) IDENTIFY, TEST, AND VALIDATE USEFUL GERMPLASM, INCLUDING TRANSGENIC LINES PRODUCING DROP-IN READY JET FUEL COMPONENTS, UNDER DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTS AND MARGINAL PRODUCTION AREAS. TAKEN TOGETHER, THIS PROJECT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCE THE UTILIZATION OF NON-FOOD OILSEED CROPS FOR BIOFUEL PRODUCTION AND PROVIDE GUIDANCE AND INSIGHT FOR FUTURE STUDIES OF PHENOMICS-BASED CROP IMPROVEMENT.