Department news

Zhang outlines priorities for Small Grains Breeding Program

Between the increasing severity of drought in California and state restrictions on the use of groundwater, 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.

Quirós remembered for work in Brassica crops

Geneticist and Professor Emeritus Carlos F. Quirós Raffo died Feb. 3 of lung cancer. A celebration of life will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 12, in Chula Vista, Calif. He is remembered as a devoted husband, father and friend.