Saturday, August 12 • 10am–11am
Learn about the USDA Subtropical Horticulture Research Station
Join us for a Second Saturday Seminary! Dr. Gul Shad Ali will discuss the research and work done by the USDA to study and protect South Florida’s tropical crops. The USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Miami, Florida maintains a large collection of tropical crop germplasm including mangoes (Mangifera spp.), avocadoes (Persea spp.) and 38 other taxa some of which date back to early 20th century. In addition, one of the world’s largest collections of sugarcanes and related grasses is also maintained at this unit. These resources provide important genetic material for basic and applied research. The entire collection is evaluated for various agronomics, horticultural and fruit quality traits, which are provided to stakeholders through GRIN-global.org. The avocado collection is represented by Mexican, West Indian and Guatemalan ecotypes as well as mixed-race origins, and harbors rich genetic and phenotypic diversity. To utilize these populations, several pre-breeding avocado populations have been generated, some of which have been evaluated for Rooting System Architecture and canopy traits at the seedling stage. The Mangifera spp. collection on the other hand harbors relatively narrow genetic diversity and expansion efforts are underway by adding crop wild relatives to the collection. Leveraging latest developments in DNA sequencing technologies and high-resolution genomics, investigations are underway to map genes responsible for important horticultural, nutritional and flavoring traits using the Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Bulked Segregant Analysis and Quantitative Trait Loci sequencing (QTL-seq) approaches. In the wake of climate change and ensuing genetic erosion, preservation and expansion of these resources by adding Crop Wild Relatives are essential. The USDA-ARS efforts and future plans on genetic variability expansion, molecular phenotyping – including nutritional traits such as vitamins, minerals, flavoring compounds, sugars, and lipids – and safety duplication through tissue culture and cryopreservation will be discussed.
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