Representatives from organizations linked through the African Orphan Crops Consortium met in Kenya recently and planted a jackfruit tree, symbolizing their goal of building a world where food security and peace go hand in hand.
Better management of walnuts in the field, and better handling and storage of the nuts after they are harvested, are key to boosting nut quality, keeping consumers happy and benefitting growers who supply nearly one-quarter of the world’s market each year.
Two undergraduates in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences – Khushi Chawda and Deysi Alvaro Ceja – have been named to the Borlaug Scholars class of 2024. The National Association of Plant Breeders’ Borlaug scholarships pair students with an NAPB mentor.
You come home from the store with a bunch of bananas. Now, which is the better place to store them, on the counter or in the fridge? Storing fresh produce correctly can save you money and time by keeping your tomatoes, grapes, broccoli and other fresh fruits and vegetables in tip-top condition for as long as possible.
Gail Taylor and her team at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking for the genetic keys to making America’s favorite leafy green stay fresher, longer, in the fridge.
Taylor and members of the Taylor Lab have found regions on the lettuce genome related to the tiny details of how lettuce leaves are built – structure that can make a leaf more or less hospitable to bacteria. They’ve also found genetic regions related to the plant’s ability to resist bacteria from getting in at all.
Sorghum is an earthy, nutty, gluten-free grain that boasts remarkable drought tolerance. It also poses serious potential as a sustainable crop in a warming world.
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.
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.
A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, suggests that photorespiration wastes little energy and instead enhances nitrate assimilation, the process that converts nitrate absorbed from the soil into protein.
