The breeding program will continue to focus on making crosses and advancing material within the program while incorporating new objectives and taking on more projects. The current objectives will remain the same but with a more direct focus. The high oleic trait work will continue with the cooperation of Zenglu Li from UGA and Anne Gilliam from USDA-ARS Stoneville, MS. Zenglu will provide the markers so that high oleic lines can be identified, once identified crossing with Anne’s low linolenic lines will commence.
A postdoc, Dr. Hugh Moye, was hired at the start of the year and will play a pivotal role in providing collaborations across disciplines. This opportunity will benefit not only him but also several members of the AU team and colleagues in other states which will be associated with the projects. Hugh will provide support to investigating the agronomic traits such as water use efficiency and how that relates to irrigation as laid out in Alvaro Sans and Sevgi Gurbuz projects.