Latest News

Latest News

Alfalfa scholarship fund named for Putnam

The DH Putnam Scholarship Fund has launched with two inaugural awards given in honor of Daniel Putnam, professor emeritus of Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. The fund supports scientific research that benefits alfalfa production and use in California.

ARS researchers in Department of Plant Sciences will move to new facility

 

A new facility to be built east of the UC Davis campus highlights the partnership between the university – including the Department of Plant Sciences – and national agencies to confront challenges faced by consumers and the agriculture industry.

Nearly 70 years of collaboration between the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service predated the groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 29 celebrating the new facility. 

UC Davis and Butte College team up to inspire ag leaders

A new program is paving the way for a more diverse and innovative future in food and agriculture. The initiative at UC Davis will invite eight scholars who are first-generation college students and from underrepresented groups to participate in hands-on research, workshops and training. The program will help them develop leadership skills, build inclusive communities and share their unique experiences with peers.

Steam: Sustainable management for weeds, soil pests

SALINAS, Calif. -- Steam treatment of soil offers growers a viable alternative to chemicals and a money-saver for organic farmers. It also benefits farm laborers by reducing their exposure to potential harm, said graduate student Erika Escalona. She is assessing the impacts on weeds, soil-borne disease and the soil biome of steam treatments used to disinfest lettuce and spinach fields in the Salinas Valley. 

Smoke From megafires puts orchards at risk

Long-term smoke exposure from massive wildfires lowers the energy reserves of orchard trees and can cut their nut production by half, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found. The smoke can affect trees for months after a megafire, depressing their bloom and the next season’s harvest.

Automated technology fills the labor gap

SALINAS, Calif. -- It smelled a bit like freshly fried chicken with the oil starting to burn. A tractor-like machine rolled slowly over rows of carrots in a field near Salinas, Calif., spraying canola oil onto the weeds but sparing the small, tender carrot leaves.

Lima bean project battles bottlenecks in breeding

 

Two thousand years ago, lima beans were a food reserved for warriors in the Moche culture of coastal Peru. Today, researchers at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are leading a program to develop tools and resources to breed better beans faster. Their work is part of a larger effort to create new versions of the delicacy that will flourish in the United States.

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.

New herbicides, cultivation alternatives for rice farmers

Researchers offered some relief to rice farmers facing low prices for their crop, but record-high costs of production and hot temperatures during critical growth phases, describing trials of new herbicides and alternative cultivation methods during the Rice Field Day.