UC Davis and Plant Breeding

Over the past century, UC Davis has honored its mandate as a land grant college – to provide quality higher education and address the real needs of society – in part through the education of plant breeders and the development and release of improved cultivars necessary for continued agricultural productivity.  Today the university is a world leader in the science of plant improvement, actively building on its acclaimed history through internationally-renowned academic and research programs in the agricultural, biological, biotechnological, and environmental sciences.

We invite you to explore this website and consider pursuing a degree in plant breeding at UC Davis.  Through the broad expertise of its faculty, the work of its active breeding programs in nearly 20 different agricultural and horticultural species, the progressive structure of its many interdisciplinary programs, and the research support provided by its cutting-edge facilities, the university provides a singular educational environment for modern plant breeding and its related disciplines.  Together, we can continue to conserve plant biodiversity and develop cultivars to meet the human and environmental needs of the future.

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Why Study Plant Breeding?

The field of plant breeding encompasses and ultimately integrates the pursuits of germplasm enhancement, cultivar development and release, and plant breeding research.  An education in plant breeding is guaranteed to be both challenging and highly interdisciplinary, as its purpose is to build a working synthesis of knowledge from a wide array of fields:  Ecology, genetics, agronomy, plant pathology, evolution, physiology, applied statistics, entomology, and molecular biology, not to mention economics, project management, and intellectual property rights.  Depending on the particular emphasis of your chosen academic program, a background in plant breeding, whether at the undergraduate, masters, or doctoral level, can prepare you to:

• Explore the world for the wild and domesticated ancestors of our modern crops
  By characterizing the variability and geographical range of a species, you can provide critical information to the work of conservationists, biodiversity managers, and plant breeders.
  
  
• Discover the genetic basis of plant phenotypes
  You can facilitate the development of improved cultivars by participating in the enormous amount of basic research that is needed to determine the genetic basis of plant traits, the vast majority of which remain to be elucidated.

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• Develop molecular tools that directly assist in the breeding process
  Once important genes are discovered, you can create reliable and easy-to-use molecular markers to assist breeders in their selections.
  
  
• Run, or work for, a breeding program
  Bring your skills to bear in academia, private industry, the government, or in development organizations by working in, or being the head of, a breeding program.  By developing populations, conducting field trials, screening for pest and disease resistance, making crosses and selections, analyzing data, propagating material, and countless other tasks, the basic research in all the related disciplines merge in the hands of the breeder into one unified application:  improved varieties.

• Teach
  Educate the next generation of plant breeders.  Depending on your interest, you can teach in other areas as well, such as genetics, statistics, and crop production.
  
  
• Assist in the stewardship of the planet's invaluable biodiversity
  Through gene banks, germplasm repositories, and in situ conservation strategies, you can play a role in the critical tasks of conserving and developing plant biodiversity, humankind's common inheritance and the foundation of its future.

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• Make the introduction of novel traits possible through germplasm development
  Desired traits are often found in exotic, distantly-related, or sometimes even entirely unrelated species.  In such cases, you can bring your skills to bear through the execution of difficult wide crosses or the development of cytogenetic or transgenic stocks, all critical pre-breeding work.

Plants feed the world, it is true, but they also clothe us, shelter us, provide us with a source of renewable energy, produce pharmaceutical and industrial compounds, and perform countless invaluable ecosystem services.  Indeed, the discovery, characterization, development, and responsible utilization of the world's wealth of plant biodiversity is absolutely necessary to the future well-being of humankind; and a degree in plant breeding is an excellent credential for contributing to this exciting and challenging task.  Whether you wish to work in the field, the forest, the greenhouse, or the laboratory, whether in the academic, private, non-profit, or governmental sector, whether domestic or abroad, a degree in plant breeding can position you for a fulfilling, stimulating, and necessary career.

How to Use this Site

By gathering into one convenient forum all current information regarding plant breeding research and academic programs at UC Davis, this site is meant to serve as a gateway for those interested in undertaking or furthering their education in plant breeding at the university.  While effort has been made to represent the academic programs, research tracks, and supporting facilities as accurately as possible, for the latest and most reliable information regarding any of these, be sure to contact the current program, lab, or facility representative.

Help us Stay Current

We look to the many widespread members of the university's plant breeding community to help us keep this site up-to-date and as reliable as possible for prospective students.  Please inform us of any errors or omissions you observe.

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