Early career scientists from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences were hosted to a recent conference where they networked with industry professionals and attended educational sessions.
Ten UC Davis students and postdoctoral researchers recently attended the annual Vegetable and Flower Conference of the American Seed Trade Association. They enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their research during poster sessions, hear speakers and network with people in the industry. More than 800 seed professionals from 33 countries attended.
Among those attending from the Department of Plant Sciences were:
Imtiyaz Khanday, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, is co-leading an international team that has propagated a commercial hybrid rice strain as a clone through seeds with 95 percent efficiency. The method that led to this breakthrough could lower the cost of hybrid rice seed, making high-yielding, disease-resistant rice strains available to low-income farmers worldwide.
Climate change creates hotter weather and drier seasons – and new challenges for farmers. With excessive heat damaging seed quality, seed producers and growers increasingly need uniform and productive crops with thermotolerance.
The Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis is celebrating its 20th anniversary on September 12, 2019, and the center just released its Annual Report 2018. Information on attending the event, and links to the Annual Report are in the article.
