Latest News

Cell wall formation offers clues to healthier walnut trees

If you’ve driven past central California’s walnut groves, you’ve seen them: Thick, rough-looking tree-trunks rise from the ground for two or three feet. Then, atop each base, a thinner trunk with smoother bark continues up and branches into majestic, green canopies spreading toward the sky.

Zhang seeks better ways to breed small grains

Xiaofei Zhang started this month as an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, specializing in molecular genetics and breeding of small grains crops. His top priority, he said, will be developing wheat varieties that are highly productive for forage and that also have high grain yield and good quality.

California growers want both. The stresses of climate change demand that these varieties be developed quickly, and be able to survive under new conditions, he added.