UCDavisPlants

Photograph of the grain of the four cultivars evaluated in this study.

🌱 From Crop Science: Reducing water and nitrogen inputs maintained high yields in common bean cultivars, showing that more efficient, sustainable management is achievable in central Chile. (Paul Gepts)
▶️ www.scielo.br/j/sa/a/kc3tV...

Multi-environment evaluation and genomic prediction of agronomic traits in the southern US rice genepool The southern US is responsible for 80% of the country’s production of rice, approximately half of which is exported to other countries. Understanding genotypic and environmental factors impacting the ...

From ESS Open Archive: Genomic and multi-environment analyses show strong, stable predictive power for key rice traits, supporting more efficient breeding in the southern US.
(Mary-Francis LaPorte, Steven Knapp, Daniel Runcie, Christine Diepenbrock)
▶️ essopenarchive.org/users/957295...
#PlantScience

Whole‐genome sequencing bulked segregant analysis uncovered FW7, a Fusarium wilt resistance gene masked by epistasis in octoploid strawberry The resistance of the heirloom cultivar Earliglow to Fusarium wilt race 1 is conferred by a dominant gene on chromosome 2B (FW6) and a nearly additive gene on chromosome 2A (FW7). The effect of FW7 ...

🍓From Plant Genome: WGS-BSA revealed a strawberry Fusarium wilt resistance gene, FW7, enabling more effective R-gene pyramiding. (Mishi V. Vachev, M. Bjornson, D. Pincot, R. Famula, H. Brukental, C. Lòpez, G. Cole, M. Feldmann, Steven J. Knapp)
▶️ acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Advancements in Persian walnut tissue culture and genetic engineering: bridging traditional methods with modern biotechnology - Planta Main conclusion This review summarizes major advances in Persian walnut biotechnology, emphasizing progress in propagation, somatic embryogenesis, genome editing, and computational tools while outlini...

🌳 From Planta: Advances in tissue culture, genome editing, and AI are accelerating Persian walnut propagation, improving efficiency and expanding breeding potential. (Charles A. Leslie, Abhaya M. Dandekar)
▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#PlantScience

Addressing economic barriers to crop diversification in rice-based cropping systems - npj Sustainable Agriculture npj Sustainable Agriculture - Addressing economic barriers to crop diversification in rice-based cropping systems

🌱From npj sustainable agriculture: Crop diversification in rice systems can raise long-term profits, but only when paired with incentives that offset added costs, risk, and market barriers.
(Sara Rosenberg, Bruce Linquist, Cameron M. Pittelkow, Kassim Al-Khatib)
▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Rising Heat Leads to Minimal Losses for California Processing Tomatoes California’s $1 billion processing tomato industry is highly efficient and likely will be able to withstand higher temperatures from climate change, as well as traffic.

🌱 From UC Davis: California’s processing tomato supply chain shows minimal postharvest losses from heat and traffic, highlighting how efficiency can buffer climate impacts. (Sarah Whitnell, Tim Beatty)

▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/ri...
#Postharvest

Cumulative distribution of truckload observations across observed temperatures (2011–2020) and projected temperatures at midcentury (2040–2049) and end of century (2090–2099) under SSP3-7.0. Each line shows the cumulative distribution function of temperature observations. The thick lines show the median distribution for a particular period (observed, midcentury, or end of century). The thin lines show the distribution for a particular year, and for projected temperatures, they show the distribution for a combination of a particular year and climate model—EC-Earth3, EC-Earth3-Veg, MIROC6, or TaiESM1.

🍅From American Journal of Agricultural Economics: Heat during transit raises tomato damage, especially when paired with heavy traffic. High-resolution data show climate-driven postharvest losses remain small overall. (Timothy K. M. Beatty)

▶️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#AgEconomics

Development of simplified method for the detection of Capsaicin using High Performance Liquid Chromatography Peppers are widely used for their pungency, and Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) is often used to measure the pungency of the peppers caused by compounds call…

From Journal of Chromatography Open: New HPLC-UV work shows a simple 60-min extraction can accurately quantify capsaicin in chili peppers, with dry peppers yielding far better recovery.
(J. Heinrich Lieth)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#PlantScience

Stavros Vougioukas on the Future of Farm Robotics As California's agricultural sector adopts automation to manage costs, labor shortages and production risks, researchers at UC Davis are partnering with them to develop solutions that can make a real ...

🚜 From UC Davis: How UC Davis Research is Engineering Solutions for Harvest Automation and Safety (Stavros Vougioukas)
▶️ engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/stavros...

Salmonella enterica exploits the auxin signaling pathway to overcome stomatal immunity Author summary Currently, there is no technology available to eliminate human bacterial pathogens from internal tissues of edible leaves. However, bacteria can penetrate the leaf through stomatal pore...

🌱 From PLOS Pathogens: Salmonella reopens plant stomata by hijacking auxin biosynthesis and signaling, using both its own and the plant’s auxin production to bypass stomatal immunity. (Brianna Fochs,Zachariah Jaramillo,Ho-Wen Yang,Jirachaya Yeemin,Maeli Melotto)

▶️ journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

(a) Compatibility (C) or incompatibility (I) with pollen of Solanum pennellii LA0716fps2. Rejection of fps2 mutant pollen was observed only on pistils of S. pennellii (all tested accessions) and some Solanum habrochaites, suggesting the ODC2-dependent pistil barrier evolved in a common ancestor, and is breaking down in S. habrochaites.

🌱 From The Plant Journal: ODC2 and HT-A work together to form a pistil barrier in wild tomatoes, blocking cultivated tomato pollen and shaping unilateral incompatibility. (Xiaoqiong Qin, Sarah Ng, Elizabeth Paul, Roger T. Chetelat)

▶️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#PlantScience #Genetics

Figure 1.. Salt stress is causing discoordination of root and shoot growth. Arabidopsis HapMap population was screened for salt stress-induced changes in root:shoot ratio. The increase in the projected area of shoot and root (Figure 1—figure supplement 2) was used to estimate (A) shoot and (B) root exponential growth rate. (C) The root:shoot growth rate ratio was calculated per genotype. The histograms represent the number of accessions across three studied conditions (0, 75, and 125 mM NaCl), whereas the population average is indicated using the dashed line. Additionally, the distribution of the genotypes within each treatment was visualized using the error plots (lower panel), where population average and standard error is indicated using a colored point and a line, respectively. Individual gray points represent individual genotypes.

🌱From eLife:Salt stress disrupts root–shoot coordination in Arabidopsis, revealing SR3G as a key gene that limits suberization and resilience. New tools uncover how plants manage ion balance and growth under stress.(Minmin Wang, Georgia Drakakaki)
▶️ pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
#PlantScience

Fig. 2. Map showing locations of studies used in the analysis. Circle size represents number of observations in each location.

🌱 From Field Crops Research: Global analysis shows nitrogen efficiency in cereals improves when both synthetic and natural N sources are considered, revealing lower true N losses and highlighting soil-driven N supply. (Jagdish Kumar Ladha)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#PlantScience

Fig. 4. System architecture diagram during training and deployment.

🤖 From Computers and Electronics in Agriculture: Vision-based learning let UAVs navigate orchard rows using only RGB imagery, reducing interventions and outperforming existing methods while generalizing to new sites. (Peng Wei, Stavros G. Vougioukas)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Frontiers | Suitability of walnut and pistachio shells as soilless substrates for producing Genovese basil in aquaponic systems IntroductionThe use of agricultural by-products, such as walnut and pistachio shells, is emerging as a sustainable substrate alternative to conventional subs...

🌱 From Frontiers in Horticulture: Basil grown in aquaponics performed well with moderate walnut or pistachio shell substrates, showing these local by-products can replace part of coconut coir in sustainable media. (Alharith Alghaithy, Irwin R. Donis-Gonzalez)
▶️ www.frontiersin.org/journals/hor...

Cabernet Sauvignon’s Long Memory Revealed UC Davis scientists find chemical "switches" that control gene expression in cabernet sauvignon remain stable across hundreds of years of clonal reproduction.

🍇 From UC Davis: Study finds cabernet sauvignon still carries stable epigenetic marks from its parent varieties, revealing centuries-long molecular memory in clonally propagated vines. (Dario Cantù, Carole Meredith)
▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/ca...
#Viticulture #Genetics

Phased epigenomics and methylation inheritance in a historical Vitis vinifera hybrid - Genome Biology Background Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, regulate transcription and influence key biological traits. While many efforts were made to understand their stability in annual crops, th...

🍇 From Genome Biology: Grapevine clones show stable, inherited methylation across centuries. A phased genome framework reveals long-term epigenetic patterns in Cabernet lineages. (Noé Cochetel, Amanda M. Vondras, Rosa Figueroa-Balderas, Dario Cantu)
▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#PlantScience

Why Is Federally Funded Research So Important? America’s lucrative, long-running investment in basic science and research is under threat, and the consequences could be far-reaching for local and national economies and for the United States’ leade...

Why Is Federally Funded Research So Important? UC Davis VC for Research Simon Atkinson explains @ucdavisresearch.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/why...

Multi-Trait Spectral Modeling for Estimating Grapevine Leaf Traits and Nutrients Analysis of leaf hemispherical radiative properties for retrieval of its biochemical and mineral nutrients could lead to a powerful monitoring approac…

🍇 From Plant Phenomics: Multi-trait spectral modeling improved predictions of grapevine leaf nutrients, offering a more accurate vineyard monitoring. (Parastoo Farajpoor, Alireza Pourreza, Mohammadreza Narimani, Matthew W. Fidelibus)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#PlantScience #Viticulture

Study Shows Very Dense Olive Orchards Thrive on Less Fertilizer UC Davis researchers found olive trees produce the same yields and high-quality oil when using 25-50% less fertilizer.

🌳From UC Davis: Super-high-density olive orchards maintained yield and oil quality with far less nitrogen, and compost improved fertilizer uptake, highlighting a path to more sustainable production. (Andrew Curtright)

▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/st...

Compost application and reduced synthetic nitrogen fertilization promote sustainable olive production in super-high-density orchards - Agronomy for Sustainable Development As a high-value crop, olives are widely cultivated in Mediterranean-climate regions, including California. However, appropriate nitrogen (N) fertilization and nutrient management are required for the ...

🌱 From Agronomy for Sustainable Development: Super-high-density olives can thrive with less synthetic nitrogen, while compost boosts fertilizer uptake and supports more sustainable production. (Andrew J. Curtright, Savannah M. Haas)

▶️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#PlantScience #Sustainability

Plants Balance Adaptability in Skin Cells with Stability in Sex Cells Mutations drive evolution, but they can also be risky. New research led by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, published Nov. 10 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

🌱 From UC Davis: Plants guard mutations in reproductive cells while allowing faster change in outer tissues, revealing how shoots balance genetic stability with adaptability. (Kirk Amundson, Luca Comai

▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/news/plants-...
#PlantBiology #PlantScience

Spatial variation in the mutation rate within the plant shoot apical meristem | PNAS The potential impact of new mutations on organismal function and evolution depends on the developmental fate of the affected cells. Stem cells in t...

🌱 From PNAS: Meristem layers mutate at different rates, with the germline-forming L2 protected and the L1 evolving faster. (Kirk R. Amundson, Mohan P. A. Marimuthu, Oanh Nguyen, Konsam Sarika, Isabelle J. DeMarco, Angelina Phan, Isabelle M. Henry, and Luca Comai)
▶️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Fig. 1. – Scheme of the experimental setup. Gradual reduction of water provided under progressive drought (PD; water-green) treatment started on day 0. To achieve rapid drought (RD; grey), irrigation on the selected group of grapevines was interrupted from day 27; before that date, plants were watered up to pot capacity as controls. The yellow square represents control plants maintained at well-watered conditions throughout the whole duration of the experiment. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

🍇 From Journal of Plant Physiology: Grapevines adapt to drought type: under gradual stress, they “procrastinate,” delaying defense, while rapid drying triggers fast ABA-driven escape responses. (J. Orozco, M.A. Zwieniecki)
▶️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#PlantScience #Viticulture

Changes in the visual appearance of fruit of long-shelf-life cultivars in cold storage. ‘UC Golden Gate’, ‘UC Keystone’, and ‘Monterey’ fruit were stored in the dark at 4 °C for 0, 7, and 14 d postharvest.

‘UC Golden Gate’ and ‘UC Keystone’ are fusarium wilt-resistant strawberry cultivars that deliver high yields of large, firm, long-shelf-life fruit.
#HortScience https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18849-25
#plantscience #strawberry
UCDavisPlants

Three researchers in hiking gear examine a small tree on a rocky mountainside in the Sierra Nevada, surrounded by granite boulders and sparse pine trees.

A lone Jeffrey pine found over 12,000 feet up a Sierra peak sparked a 240-mile trek by UC Davis scientists to study how a bird’s seed and a single tree reveal the impacts of climate change, and why fieldwork still matters in understanding our changing world. Read more: ucdav.is/4oXjDaK

F2 bulk segregant analysis reveals salt-tolerant QTLs related to the ubiquitination process - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - F2 bulk segregant analysis reveals salt-tolerant QTLs related to the ubiquitination process

🌱 From Nature Scientific Reports: Researchers identified four rice quantitative trait loci (QTLs) linked to salt tolerance, revealing key roles for ubiquitination and hormone signaling in stress adaptation. (Isabelle M. Henry, Luca Comai)
▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#PlantScience #PlantBiology

Figure 1. Autonomous tractor (www.monarchtractor.com) (left) and autonomous sprayer (www.gussag.com) (right).

🚜 From Journal of Agricultural Safety Health: As robotics reshape farm work, researchers call for urgent study of human–machine safety, event tracking, and collaboration to protect agricultural workers. (Farzaneh Khorsandi)
▶️ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40794928/
#AgEngineering #Agriculture

California Surface Water Costs Triple During Drought UC Davis study shows surface water prices triple during drought while groundwater prices remain stable over time. It points to the need for joint surface and groundwater management.

From UC Davis: Water prices in California triple during droughts, while groundwater prices stay steady, highlighting the need to jointly manage both resources.
(Madeline Turland)
▶️ www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
#Drought

Price sensitivity to precipitation and water storage in California - Nature Sustainability This study examines the relationship between water inventories and price dynamics in California’s surface and groundwater markets over 2010–2022 and shows that price fluctuations in surface water mark...

From Nature Sustainability: Water prices in California’s surface markets spike during drought but stay stable in groundwater markets, showing storage is key to climate resilience.
(Colin A. Carter, Bulat Gafarov, Jens Hilscher, Katrina Jessoe)
▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#Climate #Drought