2nd Allan Plant Breeding Symposium April 17

Crop breeders from North Carolina and California will discuss their work at the second Robert E. Allan Plant Breeding Symposium on Monday, April 17 at 1 p.m. in Johnson Hall, Room C107.

Jim Holland, a maize geneticist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service at North Carolina State, will discuss how genes interact at the molecular and whole plant level to create the types of traits breeders look for in plant breeding.

Andrea Cardinal, a soybean breeder at North Carolina State University, will talk about manipulation of the fatty acid components of soybeans to improve food and industrial uses of soybean oil.

Tom Osborn, director of Genetic Resource Development at Seminis Vegetable Seeds, a subsidiary of Monsanto, will talk about his work with polyploid crops. Polyploid organisms have multiple sets of chromosomes that, among other things, provide them with additional resistance to environmental stresses.

“The purpose of the symposium is to bring in good plant breeders and good thinkers in the plant breeding field to talk to our students,” said Kim Campbell, USDA-ARS wheat geneticist at WSU. “We like to invite people who can focus on areas other than small grains breeding that we do so much here.”

The symposium is dedicated to Bob Allan, a USDA-ARS wheat breeder, who retired in 1996 after 38 years at WSU.  He continues to have an active research program and is regarded as a valuable resource by both faculty and students.

“Dr. Allan is a role model for collaboration and mentoring that is so important in a long-term endeavor like plant breeding,” Campbell said.

The symposium is sponsored by the departments of crop and soil sciences and plant pathology and the USDA-ARS. A reception is scheduled at Ensminger Pavilion (formerly the Livestock Pavilion) at 5 p.m.

Both the symposium and the social are free and open to the public.

For more information contact Kim Campbell at (509) 335-0582.