Plant Breeding

Zhang outlines priorities for Small Grains Breeding Program

 

Caught between the increasing severity of drought in California and state restrictions on the use of groundwater, grain growers in the Central Valley need options that offer income potential. The recent Small Grains/Alfalfa Field Day, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, presented research on growing cereal crops with minimal water.

Without such options, growers are projected to fallow hundreds of thousands of acres on previously irrigated land in the Central Valley. The university’s Small Grains Breeding Program is working to meet that need.

Brummer to lead $900K national search for awesome alfalfa seed

A nation-wide project led by Charlie Brummer, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, has received a grant of $936,000 over the next three years from the Alfalfa Seed and Alfalfa Forage Research Program, within the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Scientists are seeking the genetic basis for breeding new varieties of alfalfa that can withstand the pressures of climate change and evolving pests and disease.

“Redesign” alfalfa? Brummer urges just that

Alfalfa expert Charlie Brummer says it's time to "think about redesigning the alfalfa plant from first principles," after 40 years of frustrated efforts to increase yield. He made the remarks at a recent meeting of the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference. Students also presented their research, including trials to grow the crop with less water.