A UC Davis survey found that gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic helped people relieve stress, connect with others, and grow food. It highlighted the positive mental health benefits and the need for more green spaces to support public health.
Professors Cameron Carter, School of Medicine, and Li Tian, Department of Plant Sciences, are co-directors of the Cannabis and Hemp Research Center at UC Davis. The center will guide and support cannabis- and hemp-related research across UC Davis.
Brassica plants, such as broccoli, produce metabolites that benefit humans (flavor, anti-cancer defenses), benefit the plant (attacking insects) and, in new research, defend against drought. Dan Kliebenstein’s lab examines drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
UC Davis researchers have partnered with a federally compliant pharmaceutical company to analyze the chemical and biological profiles of cannabis for the benefit of law enforcement, health care providers, and scientific professionals. A Cannabis and Hemp Research Center is also being established at UC Davis.
Plant breeders and food safety experts held a conference at UC Davis to discuss issues relevant to food safety, including microbial contamination control in produce throughout the food chain (seeds, field production, pre- and postharvest, packaging, distribution, marketing). Conference chair was Professor Maeli Melotto, Plant Sciences, UC Davis.
Sometimes, the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, DNA and genetic fingerprints replace rocks and imprints. That is the case for the carrot, the richest crop source of vitamin A in the American diet, whose full genetic code has been deciphered by a team led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of California, Davis.
