Performing Department
Plant Breeding
Non Technical Summary
Our global climate is changing and we need to be proactive in securing a national food supply that is healthful and robust. One scenario for this change is a shift in food production toward more Northerly regions of the US that have ample water resources. During this change we can anticipate a reduced availability of petroleum derived fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. This means that plants adapted to the lower light conditions of the Northern US will have to be adapted to utilize organic fertilizer, compete with weeds, and resist pests and pathogens that are no longer held in check by harsh winters. Despite these production challenges, there is a potential for vegetables that are more nutritious and appealing to consumers. The vegetables that are available to be grown in this future are not a static set to choose from, but rather a dynamic succession of materials that are the product of natural and artificial selection. This process of change must be continued. By measuring the chemical components of these traits and linking that information with genomic technologies we are better equipped to adapt plants to fill our needs.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
20%
Developmental
60%
Goals / Objectives
The goals of this project are to provide improved plant varieties that are nutritious, robust, flavorful and a greater understanding of the components that are targets of this selection process. The activities that will be undertaken are typical of a plant breeding program. Initial germplasm collection and evaluation will provide new traits for the process. Cross-pollinations and selection within the resulting populations will incorporate these new traits into desirable backgrounds. Selection will be performed for yield, uniformity, earliness, disease resistance, quality, flavor and other agronomic traits. These field based activities will be complemented by laboratory activities to quantify the degree of improvement of these traits and genomic activities that will be used to predict the presence of these traits in seedlings. Numerous events will be attended or hosted annually. These include conferences, grower meetings and field days. These will be critical opportunities to gain input from stakeholders. The products that will be generated are both tangible and knowledge-based. Tangible products will include new germplasm and varieties with an emphasis on pepper, cucurbit and snap peas. Knowledge-based products will take the form of new techniques and publications. The outputs of these results will be disseminated by various means. Progress toward vegetable varieties will be demonstrated to seed companies through the Vegetable breeding Institute field day attended by seed industry and vegetable processing representatives, grower trials and formal variety releases. Knowledge based outputs will be presented at conferences and published in the literature.
Project Methods
A diverse set of methodologies will be utilized in order to achieve project goals. Analytical methodologies allow for the quantification of plant traits that have a chemical basis. These traits include flavor, color, nutrition, aroma and many other aspects of plants that we value for quality and that better adapt plants to their biotic environment. Modern instrumentation to measure this chemistry includes high pressure liquid chromatography and ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection and solid-phase extraction of plant volatiles for separation by gas chromatography and detection through a combination of mass spectrometry and olfactometry. Genomic sequence information is more readily available than ever before. Previous molecular marker technology is being replaced by high-throughput methods that provide a much more complete picture of genomic organization and polymorphism. These two sets of information can be combined during the process of plant breeding to facilitate plant improvement. In an ideal scenario, the chemical and genomic characterization of segregating populations can be coupled with phenotypic selection. These populations will be generated through combinations of advanced breeding lines, cultivars and wild germplasm. Selections will be made in field conditions in the Northeast in conditions that are relevant to growers and following challenge with pathogens that our problematic in our region.