Grant Improves Stress Tolerance in Carrots 

Carrot growers face a variety of both climate and biological threats, including water access and diseases such as Alternaria leaf blight (Alternaria), a disease that can reduce yield by 40-60%. Some cultivated carrots are partially resistant to Alternaria but still require frequent fungicide applications to fully protect crops from this disease. University of California, Davis researchers are tapping into the genetic diversity of wild carrots to breed Alternaria resistance and the ability to grow in water-deficient conditions into cultivated carrots.

Improving Stress Tolerance in Carrots 

Determinants of Persistent Cover Crop Adoption and Dis-Adoption to Inform More Effective Farmer Incentives for Durable Adoption 

This AgMission grant is evaluating cover crop adoption and identifying the factors leading to their successful, long-term use in the Midwestern United States.

Pangenome-based Identification of Genetic Variants Conferring Stress Resistance in Tomato Wild Relatives, and Efficient Transfer to Cultivated Tomato 

Tomatoes are an important economic and nutritional crop, but they are vulnerable to stresses from extreme weather and disease, which puts food security and farmers’ profits at risk. This research is harnessing wild tomatoes’ genetic diversity to improve cultivated tomato varieties. The research is focusing on resistance to drought and early blight disease, two significant challenges facing tomato growers worldwide.

International Lettuce Genomics Consortium 4: Pre-competitive Foundational Research for Lettuce Breeding

Lettuce downy mildew and INSV are the two most destructive foliar diseases of lettuce. The fourth iteration of the International Lettuce Genomics Consortium project will analyze phenotypic and genomic data of lettuce and these two pathogens, including natural variants that confer greater pathogen virulence, to develop resources for enhancing the durability of disease resistance in lettuce. The project will also participate in assembling the lettuce pangenome, a comprehensive dataset that captures genetic variation within wild and cultivated lettuce species and is available for lettuce improvement.

Applied Innovation of Myoinositol to Improve Cattle Fertility & Sustainability of Cattle Production Systems 

This study is testing whether the supplement myoinositol, known to enhance fertility in women, can improve egg quality and embryo development in cattle when added in the lab or given directly to donor cows. By increasing fertilization, embryo viability and pregnancy rates, the research aims to make in vitro embryo production (IVP) more successful, overcoming current challenges with poor egg quality.