Breeding/Genetics/Genomics

1. Breeding/Genetics/Genomics • Faculty (12 scientists) • 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Breeding/Genetics/Genomics • 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

6. 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)