Life Sciences Commons^™

Breeding For Resistance In California Strawberry To Verticillium Dahliae, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This article focuses on breeding resistant strawberries to the fungus Verticillium dahliae, common name Verticillium wilt. This is a serious fungal disease that can result in a loss of 50% or more of a strawberry harvest when grown in infested soil. The main goal is to provide an example of how a cultivar can be made more resistant to a plant pathogen with the use of plant breeding methods.

Since 1930 the University of California, Davis, has been developing strawberry cultivars that are adapted to the agricultural industry and regional farms. Developing cultivars that require fewer inputs are of …

Evaluation Of Genetic Gain For Dynamic Leaf Traits In Maize Using Field Spectroscopy, Jonathan Luetchens

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Rapid introduction of cheap and precise genotyping technology has created a void between genotypes and phenotypes in maize breeding. While detailed genetic information is easily accessible, the data are lacking robust phenotypes to be used in mapping studies like genome-wide association. As a result, high-throughput phenotyping tools are necessary to rigorously characterize specific traits. In this study, agronomic traits and an active spectrometer system were used to monitor 36 era hybrids – popular commercial maize hybrids grown from 1936 to 2012 – to discover how various traits have changed over time. In conjunction with increased grain yield of 76 kg/ha …