As growers face continued reductions in water available to irrigate crops, and while the world needs more food produced and more protein in particular, alfalfa offers an attractive option. It yields remarkedly well under reduced irrigation, and its protein can be consumed by both animals and people.
Researchers are working to answer questions and solve obstacles that remain to its wider use, visitors learned at the UC Davis Small Grains/Alfalfa Field Day held May 9. A range of topics were covered:
Anaerobic digesters are commercial facilities that break down food and yard waste to create energy by capturing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The industry has been growing for decades, boosted in 2022 by a new requirement in California that all jurisdictions collect this waste and recycle it. It’s a key part of the state’s drive to reduce the dangerous, climate-warming gases that green waste creates when it decomposes in landfills.
Wheat was the first Western crop planted in California more than 250 years ago, and it’s still a strong contender for growers seeking options as temperatures get hotter and water turns more salty and scarce, researchers at UC Davis told growers and industry representatives this week.
Richard Michelmore, founder of the UC Davis Genome Center, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Michelmore is a molecular biologist and distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences who pioneered saliva-based COVID-19 testing for large-scale use, among other key contributions.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how people work, communicate online, create art and manage businesses. Now, the technology is being used in every aspect of our food systems.
Students and postdoctoral researchers can make career connections and build their networks at events hosted by Seed Central, and the next one is coming up at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at the ARC Ballroom on the UC Davis campus. The guest speaker will be Mohsen Mesgaran, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences whose research uses biological and technical approaches to manage weeds with fewer chemicals.
Doctoral student Maria Rottersman joins a national fellowship this year that helps early-career scientists pursue their research and develop their careers in food science and agriculture.
During his 20-year tenure as founding director of the UC Davis Genome Center, Richard Michelmore, recruited more than 20 faculty members, led the center to prominence as a hub of technology-driven biology and made national headlines by implementing an innovative, community-scale, saliva-based COVID test. Quite the legacy for someone who never wanted the job in the first place.
Tomatoes are not native to North America, but they have become an important part of our cuisine, economy and back-yard gardens. At UC Davis, the C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center is an important source of breeding lines that other scientists use to create the varieties grown commercially here and around the world.
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.
At the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, scientists are looking for ways to control pesky plants in rice fields, orchards, rangelands, farms, natural areas ̶ and even in people’s yards. Their work aims to benefit agriculture and preserve our natural resources.
This year, we are excited for the 2024 UC Davis Plant Sciences Symposium to represent work across the plant sciences with the theme, “Plant diversity from genes to ecosystems.”
Each spring, crews with the UC Davis Department of Plant Science plant popping corn on campus farmland west of campus, then harvest it in the fall. The next spring, that same corn shows up for one of the most popular exhibits during Picnic Day: the corn shelling machine, in front of the Plant and Environmental Sciences building.
Strawberries – luscious, beautiful and fragrant – figure in spring and summer traditions around the world. At UC Davis, the Strawberry Breeding Program is an important source for varieties that meet the needs of growers with different weather and soils, grown amid changing conditions of climate, water and market.
How can we really know what’s going on with the plants in fields, orchards and pastures? Using massive amounts of information gathered from agricultural lands, scientists have developed models that simulate how plants absorb light, take in and release gases, use water, grow and produce food.
