Department news

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.

Dandelions are pretty, but weeds nationwide cost homeowners, farmers, ranchers and land managers tens of billions of dollars each year in control measures and lost production. They also endanger fragile ecosystems and can increase threats of erosion and wildfire. 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 the preservation of 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.”

The event is this Friday, April 11, in the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center. Registration and coffee start at 8 a.m., with the event opening at 8:45 a.m. Jason Rauscher will speak; he’s the R&D academic relations lead for our event’s core partner Corteva Agriscience. The day includes speakers, poster sessions and networking.

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.

Visitors grab a few ears of this special corn and toss them down a shaft. Two mighty wheels break the kernels off the cobs and spit the cobs out one chute. Down a second chute clatter the kernels, which are scooped into a bag for folks to take home.

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.

Plums on the tree can be difficult to judge for ripeness: Many of the varieties grown commercially attain their beautiful color before the fruit is mature. If harvested too soon, plums may not be sweet and flavorful, and they can develop problems in storage. But growers are wary of harvesting late: Fruit can get bruised or punctured, or even drop before harvest. All that impacts how consumers view this nutrition-packed fruit, potentially shifting the combined appearance, aroma and flavor from delight to disappointment.

If you’ve driven past central California’s walnut groves, you’ve seen them: Thick, rough-looking tree-trunks rise from the ground for two or three feet. Then, atop each base, a thinner trunk with smoother bark continues up and branches into majestic, green canopies spreading toward the sky.