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.
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.
For many years, agronomist Bruce Linquist has been studying and sharing the benefits of cultivation techniques that reduce water use and farmers’ expenses in the water-intensive crop of rice. Now, the Soil Science Society of America has recognized Linquist’s leadership and research excellence, naming him a fellow of the society.
As growers face continued reductions in water available to irrigate crops, and while the world needs more food produced and more protein in particular, alfalfa offers an attractive option. It yields remarkedly well under reduced irrigation, and its protein can be consumed by both animals and people.
Anaerobic digesters are commercial facilities that break down food and yard waste to create energy by capturing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. But even this process creates waste of its own. A new study shows some of that secondary waste can be used as fertilizer, potentially saving farmers the cost of chemical fertilizer, a UC Davis scientist explains at a recent field day event.
Wheat was the first Western crop planted in California more than 250 years ago, and it’s still a strong contender for growers seeking options as temperatures get hotter and water turns more salty and scarce, researchers at UC Davis told growers and industry representatives this week.
Each spring, crews with the UC Davis Department of Plant Science plant popping corn on campus farmland west of campus, then harvest it in the fall. The next spring, that same corn shows up for one of the most popular exhibits during Picnic Day: the corn shelling machine, in front of the Plant and Environmental Sciences building.
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.
Gurdev Singh Khush, UC Davis alumnus and emeritus faculty member has been awarded a $250,000 prize for his role in inventing disease-resistant rice strains that are now the dominant varieties planted across southern and southeast Asia.
California wheat farmers could maintain their yields and improve soil health by growing annual wheat without tilling the soil year after year. This strategy could encourage farmers to adopt a sustainable practice commonly called conservation tillage, no-till or minimum-till cultivation.
