Luscious zinnias, spectacular tomatoes and blue stone-ground wheat were among the organically grown produce on display during the 2023 SCOPE Field Day at the Student Farm at UC Davis.
Forty scientists from 22 African nations started in-person classes with the African Plant Breeding Academy this spring in Nairobi. The six-week program is hosted by the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center. Rita Mumm, director and primary instructor for the academy, is leading the program.
Downy mildew makes those dry, tan-colored spots on spinach leaves -- a problem especially in organic cultivation. Growers have safety measures to ensure spinach is attractive, tasty and safe, but pathogens keep coming up with new ways to get around them, said Allen Van Deynze, associate director of the UC Davis Plant Breeding Center, directed by Charlie Brummer.
As common crop diseases such as downy mildew, Fusarium and corky root evolve, Richard Michelmore and members of his lab look for the genetic basis of new variations and for genes in lettuce that can resist them. They hope to breed those qualities into existing cultivars that already stand up to multiple diseases.
America’s grand challenge to develop sustainable, plant-based jet fuel offers a model for young scientists showing the value of collaboration across disciplines and institutions, a leading biofuels scientist said at the recent UC Davis Plant Sciences Symposium.
A new walnut variety will provide growers a way to harvest earlier and boost the harvest efficiency of California's $1.6 billion walnut industry. It also builds upon the legacy of the UC Davis Walnut Improvement Program.
Professors Maeli Melotto and Barbara Blanco-Ulate, who work on crop-pathogen interactions, foodborne illnesses, and postharvest quality, each received funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to research foodborne pathogens on fruit and vegetable crops.
Professor Jorge Dubcovsky and postdoc Joshua Hegarty, Plant Sciences, received a STAIR Grant to advance innovative solutions with commercial potential. They are working on breeding Triticale, a wheat and rye hybrid, which is being improved and tested for its baking quality.
A new Plant Physiology paper, authored by UC Davis plant scientists Ella Katz, Dan Kliebenstein, and undergrads Alycia Rasmussen and Aleshia Hooper, was featured as ‘Plant Physiology Article of the Week’ in The Signal, a weekly publication of the American Society of Plant Biologists.
The Department of Plant Sciences has released six new varieties of organic dry beans which are higher yielding, and are resistant to bean common mosaic virus (BCMV), a disease that prevents bean plants from maturing promptly and uniformly. Spearheading the project were Ph.D. candidate Travis Parker, Distinguished Professor Paul Gepts, and Charlie Brummer, professor and director of the Plant Breeding Center at UC Davis.