Showing posts with label Plant Breeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plant Breeding. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
BBC Video: Scientists try to boost crop yield
Pallab Ghosh visited East Malling Research in Kent to investigate how they are looking for ways to boost crop production through breeding, water conservation and vertical farming techniques. Watch the video at the BBC Site>
Friday, July 31, 2009
Profile: Luthur Burbank
Luther BurbankFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born: 7 March 1849 (1849-03-07) Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 11 April 1926 (aged 77) Santa Rosa, California, USA
Fields: Botany
Luther Burbank (7 March 1849 – 11 April 1926) [1] was an American botanist, horticulturist and a pioneer in agricultural science.
He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot.
Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the Shasta daisy, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Wickson plum, the Freestone peach, and the white blackberry. A natural genetic variant of the Burbank potato with russet-colored skin later became known as the Russet Burbank potato. This large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant potato in food processing.
Read more from Wikipedia>
Book Review: New biography of America's plant wizard
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Chicago author Jane Smith clearly does not want to see her books all shelved in one category at the public library. Among her seven works are two murder mysteries, two books about the fight against polio, a biography of prominent interior decorator Elsie De Wolfe and a novel set largely in Provence, France.
But don't let the genre-hopping mislead you. Smith, a cultural historian and an adjunct professor at Northwestern University, sees a common thread connecting her various titles."I am consistently looking at individuals and social periods where there were changes that were so fundamental that we assume that is the way it has always been," Smith says. "I try to go back and say: Where did we get this enormous change?
"Her latest book is "The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants."
Read more>
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But don't let the genre-hopping mislead you. Smith, a cultural historian and an adjunct professor at Northwestern University, sees a common thread connecting her various titles."I am consistently looking at individuals and social periods where there were changes that were so fundamental that we assume that is the way it has always been," Smith says. "I try to go back and say: Where did we get this enormous change?
"Her latest book is "The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants."
Read more>
Shop for Book>
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