Symposium

2019 Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium held

20Mar

Writer: Beth Ann Luedeker

Dr. Bill Rooney, Professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement, discussed the use of genome prediction for crop improvement. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Soil and Crop Sciences and Horticulture graduate students teamed up once again to host the Texas A&M University Plant Breeding Symposium at the Memorial Student Center February 21.

This is the fourth year for student-run symposium, and the event keeps getting bigger and better. Since its inception the symposium has been attended by 1,200 scientists and graduate students either in person or via the live webinar broadcast.

Graduate student organizers of the symposium were (from left to right) Jales Fonseca, Yu-ya Liang, Nolan Bentley, Cynthia Sias, Jeewan Pandey, Anil Adhikari, and Roy Davis.

Plant Breeders, Assemble! was the theme for this year, with a focus on how interdisciplinary teams are working together for plant improvement. Keynote speakers included Dr. Tabare Abadie of Corteva, Dr. Matthew Rouse of the USDA-ARS, Dr. Jose Crossa of CIMMYT, and Dr. Bill Rooney, TAMU Professor and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement.

Three travel scholarships were provided by Corteva to bring students from other universities to present their research posters at this symposium. The winners of those scholarships were Gina Sideli, a Ph.D. student in Hortuculture and Agronomy at the University of California-Davis; Bal Maharajan, a Master’s student in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; and Alexander Susko, a Ph.D. student in Plant Breeding at the University of Minnesota.

three female graduate students standing together

Ranjita Thapa, April DeMell and Ammani Kyanam were the graduate students selected to speak at the symposium.

Three Texas A&M students were given the opportunity to speak at the symposium in addition to presenting their research posters. Those speakers were April DeMell a Master’s student in Plant Pathology; Ammani Kyanam, a Ph.D. student in Plant breeding under Dr. Bill Rooney; and Ranjita Thapa, a Ph.D. Plant Breeding student under Dr. Michael Thomson.

Winners in the poster competiton were Stephany Toinga, 1st; Aditi Raju, 2nd; and Lauren Fedinia 3rd.

Stephany Toinga placed first with in the research poster competition. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Graduate student Yu-ya Liang introduces a speaker during the afternoon session of the symposium.

crowd of people looking at a line of posters

More than 40 graduate students presented their research posters during the Plant Breeding Symposium.

Graduate student Jales Fonseca introduced the speakers during the morning session. (Texas A&M Soil and Crop Sciences photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Coffee Education Symposium

11Oct

A Coffee Education Symposium will be held at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Center on F and B Road in College Station, Thursday, November 8, from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch and a coffee tasting will be included.

The symposium will include presentations on the Texas A&M Coffee Center, coffee chemistry, coffee sensory, the research and development of coffee projects, and an overview of the coffee industry and its current trends. Dr. Ben Wherley, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Amanda Birnbaum, Dept. of Horticultural Sciences, will present agronomic opportunities for spent coffee grounds followed by a field tour of ongoing research with spent coffee grounds.

For more information, contact: Dr. Ben Wherley, b-wherley@tamu.edu or (979) 845-1591.

The full agenda and RSVP is found on the Center for Coffee Research and Education website.

Texas Plant Protection Association annual meeting held in Bryan

14Dec

By: Beth Ann Luedeker

TPPA Chairman Ray Smith talking at podium

TPPA Chairman Ray Smith addressed the participants at the 29th annual TPPA conference

Members of the Texas Plant Protection Association held their 29th annual conference at the Brazos Center in Bryan December 6 and 7. The non-profit organization is comprised leaders in agribusiness, agriculture research, extension and education, and agriculture regulatory agencies.

Attendees heard presentations on all aspects of agriculture, from ag credit to management technologies to the U.S. Farm Bill and more.

Dr. Peter Dotray talking to conference participants

Dr. Peter Dotray, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Weed Specialist and professor at Texas Tech University, presented information on current cotton technologies during the TPPA conference

“We have been talking about stewardship this year, not only stewardship of the land but also stewardship of the herbicide technology we are working with,” said Dr. Peter Dotray, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Weed Specialist with the TAMU and Texas Tech University, during his discussion on current cotton technologies. “There are big rewards with new tech, but there are also risks of over use and misuse. We need to be mindful as we make applications.”

“It is important to move toward a better understanding of the plants we are trying to control,” Dotray said. “Muthu [Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan] in College Station has provided a lot information and many others have contributed but there is much more to do.”

“We are at a crossroads,” he said. “We have had pretty good results but it is important to be on the same page, to know the proper herbicide for the weed pest we are targeting, proper nozzel size and application rates, so the technology we are trying to steward will be here beyond the current season.”

Pramod Pokhrel, a doctoral student under Dr. Nithya Rajan, placed first in the TPPA PhD student poster contest.

A poster contest was held in conjunction with the meeting, which drew more than 30 entries. In the doctoral student contest Pramod Pokhrel, who is working on his PhD in Agronomy under Dr. Nithya Rajan, placed first. Seth Abugho, who is working in Weed Science under Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, placed second, and Mahendra Bhandri, who is studying Agronomy under Dr. Qingwu Xu and Dr. Amir Ibrahim, placing third.

The Master Student Poster contest was won by Sadie Church, a student of Dr. Ronnie Schnell. Second place was Zane Jenkins and third was Aislinn Walton, both students at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX., under Dr. Jourdan Bell and Dr. Qinwu Xue.

Industry Awards were presented to Ronnie Phillips of Phillips Ag Consulting and Research, and Tony Driver of Syngenta.

Seth Abugho with Dr. Gary Schwarzlose and Dr. Clark Neely

Seth Abugho, center, placed second in the 2017 TPPA Ph.D. student poster contest. Presenting the award are Dr. Gary Schwarzlose, TPPA president, and Dr. Clark Neely, TPPA vice president and poster chairman. Texas A&M AgriLife photo by: Blair Fannin

Sadie Church receives her award for the first place master student poster from Gary Schwarzlose, TPPA president, and Dr. Clark Neely, vice president and poster chairman.

2nd Global Soil Security Symposium

5Aug

2^nd Global Soil Security Symposium

Science-Society Interfaces for Global Soil Security

The 2^nd Global Soil Security Symposium aims to demonstrate that soil is a highly used and crucial resource, and is an indispensable partner to meeting sustainable development goals. Linking partners in business, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers on soil security through management practices, business solutions, and scientific outcomes and international initiatives that enhance protection and sustainable management of resources.

We invite YOU to learn and share your experiences in land management, business , policy and local practice.

Website and registration is at https://gssparisen.wordpress.com

The Annual Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium

3Feb

Soil&Crop Sciences graduate students will host the second annual Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium on Thursday, February 18, 2016. The one-day research conference is open to the public and will take place in the Memorial Student Center Bethancourt Grand Ballrooms, Room 2300 CDE, on the College Station, Texas campus. The program will begin at 8:00 AM with an evening reception to follow.

The symposium is free to attend, but registration is required for both on-campus and webinar participation. To register for the symposium and for more details, please visit the official symposium website: plantbreedingsymposium.com

The theme of the 2016 symposium is Healthier Food for a Healthier World. World class scientists from major U.S. agricultural universities, international research centers, and private companies will be speaking on plant breeding’s impact on human health and environmental quality. Speakers will explore topics in biofortification, breeding for enhanced nutrient content, and breeding crops for sustainable agricultural systems.

The line-up of keynote speakers includes:

Irwin Goldman, carrot and beet breeder and Horticulture Department Chair at the University of Wisconsin
Kevin Murphy, Assistant Professor working on breeding sustainable barley, buckwheat, ocra, and perennial wheat among others at Washington State University
Kevin Pixley, Director of the Genetic Resources Program and corn breeder at CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Jim Gaffney, Strategy Lead in Biotech Affairs and Regulatory at DuPont Pioneer in Johnston, Iowa.
Eric Jackson, Principal Geneticists and Systems Biologist at General Mills, working on oat and wheat nutritional genomics.
Kevin Crosby, Associate Professor of Horticulture and melon, pepper, tomato, onion and carrot breeder at Texas A&M.

In addition to these keynote speakers, students researching plant breeding at Texas A&M will share their research via oral presentations and posters. Students have the opportunity to win prizes up to $325 each for their efforts. Interested students may sign-up to present their research on the symposium website.

After the symposium, all attendees are invited to Café Eccell in Bryan, Texas for an evening reception. It will be a casual atmosphere to network with the speakers and other symposium attendees. Appetizers will be provided. The winners of the student research competition will also be presented with their awards at this time.

A Farm to Table lunch will also be provided to all symposium attendees. The farm-fresh food will be locally grown and prepared by chefs Ronin Cooking. The lunch will be paired with an informational presentation from the Ronin team describing their plant variety selections, farming methodologies, and food preparation techniques.

The symposium organizers are also hosting a non-perishable food drive in order to provide healthier food for those less-fortunate in our local community. The food will be collected by Texas A&M’s “12^th Can” student-run food pantry. Attendees who bring food items to the symposium will be entered into a raffle. Each food item is worth one raffle ticket. Each ticket will be an opportunity to win one of many prizes donated by seed companies and local businesses.

The Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium is fully organized by a team of Texas A&M graduate students studying plant breeding or a related science. Laura Masor, Brian Pfeiffer, Francisco Gomez, Ammani Kyanam, Dustin Wilkerson, and Smit Dhakal have been working together since August to make the event a success.

The Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium is presented by DuPont Pioneer. The symposium is a member of the DuPont Plant Sciences Symposia Series which connects similar events at universities around the world. The event is also sponsored by Cotton, Inc., Texas A&M’s Office of Graduate and Professional Studies, Texas A&M’s Departments of Soil and Crop Sciences, Horticulture, and Biology, Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M’s C.O.A.L.S. Council, Ronin Cooking, Seed Saver’s Exchange, and Johnny’s Select Seeds.

For more information about the symposium, contact the graduate student organizing committee via email at pbsymposium@gmail.com, visit our website at plantbreedingsymposium.com, or connect with us on social media:

Facebook at “Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium”
Twitter @pbsymposium
Instagram @pbsymposium
YouTube channel at “Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium”

The Annual Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium

19Jan

The line-up of keynote speakers includes:

Irwin Goldman, carrot and beet breeder and Horticulture Department Chair at the University of Wisconsin
Kevin Murphy, Assistant Professor working on breeding sustainable barley, buckwheat, ocra, and perennial wheat among others at Washington State University
Kevin Pixley, Director of the Genetic Resources Program and corn breeder at CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Jim Gaffney, Strategy Lead in Biotech Affairs and Regulatory at DuPont Pioneer in Johnston, Iowa.
Eric Jackson, Principal Geneticists and Systems Biologist at General Mills, working on oat and wheat nutritional genomics.
Kevin Crosby, Associate Professor of Horticulture and melon, pepper, tomato, onion and carrot breeder at Texas A&M.

Facebook at “Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium”
Twitter @pbsymposium
Instagram @pbsymposium
YouTube channel at “Texas A&M Plant Breeding Symposium”