Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance:
Summer Field-Oriented Short Course, TBD
This course on the genetics, breeding, and physiology of drought stress tolerance is targeted to graduate students in the plant sciences, as well as to professionals in the public and private sectors. It provides three transferable graduate-level credits.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
The course will consist of classroom lectures and discussions, hands-on lab and greenhouse exercises, and field research activities appropriate for a drought breeding and genetics program. Visits to seed company and USDA operations in the region will also be included. Course activities are designed around three modules:
• Whole Plant Physiology of Drought Stress
• Plant Breeding for Drought Stress Tolerance
• Genomic Approaches to Drought Stress Tolerance
Primary instructors will be Drs. Pat Byrne and John McKay. Other guest lecturers, each with a different specialty in the plant sciences, will provide information and insights, both in the classroom and at the field sites.
CONTENT
The course will focus on plant breeding strategies and practices directed toward improving plant performance under drought stress. Concepts for this intensive, three-credit graduate level course include:
- Analyzing the target environment
- Understanding plant response to drought stress and plant adaptation strategies
- Using wild species and land races as sources of drought tolerance.
- Demonstrating measurement of root pulling force, root architecture, canopy spectral reflectance (by handheld devices and unmanned aerial vehicles), canopy temperature, and leaf water content.
- Determining which phenotypic traits to use in selection practices
- Detecting marker-trait associations for relevant traits
- Employing transgenic approaches for drought tolerance
- Applying genomic data to improve understanding of stress tolerance
The last two days of the course will coincide with a symposium, Frontiers in Breeding for Drought.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should have a basic understanding of genetics, plant breeding, and plant physiology. Prior to the beginning of the course, students will review online material on these topics to provide a common background in breeding and physiology concepts.
PROGRAM COSTS
The cost of student tuition and fees is US $1,897 . Room and board will be approximately $900.
REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION
Registration is now open!!
Please complete the application form in order to be considered for the summer course.
For questions or for registration information, please contact the Program Assistant, Kierra Jewell, at Kierra.Jewell@ColoState.edu. Applications will be accepted through until the class is full (25 students).
All foreign visas and travel arrangements are at students' initiative and expense.
PREVIOUS COURSES
The first field-oriented short course was offered in June, 2010, the second in June, 2012 and the third in June, 2014. International groups of students converged at Colorado State University in Fort Collins for the intensive two-week program. A total of 42 students from 17 countries have enrolled in the course.
View a slideshow of photos from the 2012 course.
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This program was initiated by a grant from USDA-NIFA. 