A University Georgia researcher is being awarded a $1.2 million federal grant to study the nutritional benefits of pecans.

Assistant Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the Georgia grant Friday along with 28 other research projects dealing with specialty crops - fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, herbs and medicinal plants. The projects are sharing $46 million in funding.

The pecan project, headed by UGA food science professor Ronald Pegg, will document nutrients found in pecans to support marketing of the crop domestically and overseas.

Georgia is the largest producer of pecans in the U.S.

Georgia growers produced $171 million worth of the nuts in 2009, when they were ranked as the state's 13th most valuable crop.

The Associated Press

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