Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
• Faculty (12 scientists)
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Roger Boerma (Athens) – soybean breeding/genetics
Bill Branch (Tifton) – peanut breeding/genetics
Charlie Brummer (Athens) – forage breeding/genomics
Peng Chee (Tifton) – cotton breeding/genomics
Zhen Bang Chen (Griffin) – cereal/turf genomics
Katrien Devos (Athens) – cereal comparative genomics
Wayne Hanna (Tifton) – turfgrass/millet breeding
Jerry Johnson (Griffin) – cereal breeding/genetics
Steve Knapp (Athens) – sunflower/specialty oils genomics
Wayne Parrott (Athens) – legume transgenics
Andrew Paterson (Athens) - crop genomics
Paul Raymer (Griffin) – turfgrass/canola breeding
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
• Areas of research
– Cultivar and germplasm development
• cotton, forage grasses, forage legumes, novel oil crops,
peanut, pearl millet, small grains, soybean, sunflower,
turfgrasses
– Crop genetics
• cotton, forage grasses, forage legumes, novel oil crops,
peanut, pearl millet, small grains, soybean, sunflower,
turfgrasses
– Crop genomics
• Comparative grass and sunflower genomics, cotton
genomics, peanut genomics, soybean genomics and
transgenics, forage legume genomics, legume transgenics,
crop genomics
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
• Identified strengths
– Breeding of warm-season and cool-season
turfgrasses and forage grasses, peanut, wheat, and
soybean
– Molecular breeding of cotton, soybean, and sunflower
– Transgenic improvement of legume crops
– Comparative genomics of a wide range of dicot and
cereal crops
– Structural and functional genomics of cotton, peanut,
and sunflower
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
• Evidence of effectiveness
– Germplasms: 20 registered in Crop Science
– Mapping populations: 1 registered in Crop Science
– Cultivars: 11 wheat, 2 oat, 2 canola, 7 peanut, 4
seashore paspalum, 4 tall fescue, 7 soybean
– Cultivar royalty income: $3.5 to 4.5 million/year
• ~$375,000/year in originating breeding program
• ~$375,000/year in CRSS
• ~$750,000/year in support of above breeding programs
– Recognitions: 3 CSSA/ASA Fellows, 3 national-level
research awards, 2 regional-level research awards, 4
University-level research awards
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
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Impact on profession, industry, state, region, nation, and other constituents
– UGA turf and forage bermudagrasses, seashore pasphalum, turf centipedegrass,
and forage pearl millet cultivars are grown worldwide
– UGA cotton germplasm lines are used to expand genetic diversity of commercial
cultivars
– Cereal genomics research has provided resources for comparative mapping of
major grass crops
– UGA wheat cultivars have achieved a major market share in Southeast and
Midsouth
– UGA glyphosate-tolerant sobyean cultivars have achieved over a 60% market
share in MG VII and VIII areas
– UGA peanut cultivars have achieved over a 90% market share in Georgia and
surrounding states
– UGA-developed DNA marker technology used in a national program to enhance
oleic acid content of soybean seed
– UGA coordination of sequencing sorghum, the first C4 photosynthetic cereal,
provides the model for improvement and research on a wide range of crops
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Breeding/Genetics/Genomics
• Weaknesses and plan for improvement
– Faculty position in warn-season turfgrass breeding (working to
create an endowed chair)
– Faculty position in molecular genetics of turf and wheat
– Faculty position in cotton breeding
– Need for strategic plan to direct resource allocation and future
faculty hires
– The stature and accomplishments of UGA (primarily CRSS and
HORT, but also USDA-ARS) plant breeding and applied genetics
programs are not recognized at the University and national level
(probably due to commodity structure; working to create a
graduate-level Plant Breeding/ Genetics/ Genomics major and a
Plant Breeding/Genetics/Genomics Institute)
University of Georgia
www.cropsoil.uga.edu
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences • Department of Crop and Soil Sciences