Molecular Plant Breeding

Info

The implemented Forage Crop Genetics group mainly aims at developing genetic and genomic tools that can assist plant breeding.

Geschichte

The Molecular Plant Breeding group aims at developing molecular methods and techniques to understand the genetic composition of complex traits and application of this knowledge to plant breeding, supporting the development of new cultivars with novel traits that can contribute to a sustainable intensification of agriculture.

The group focuses on crop species, particularly forage and horticultural crops, and the use of various genotyping and sequencing technologies as well as bioinformatics approaches for genome analysis and breeding applications.As a specific example, our efforts to characterize genetic mechanisms such as self-incompatibility or cytoplasmic male sterility increased our understanding of how to use these mechanisms as breeding tools to efficiently control pollination in forage crops. Management of these genetic mechanisms in practical breeding by means of molecular markers will help pave the way towards the implementation of more efficient hybrid breeding schemes in forage grass species. On a long-term perspective, our research will contribute to sustainable feed and food production on both the local and global level.
This goal will be achieved by a cross-disciplinary approach combining cutting-edge phenotypic technologies implemented at the hosting group of Crop Science, ETH Zurich, state of the art genetic and genomic tools established at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark, and excellent genetic resources available from Molecular Ecology and Fodder Crop Breeding at Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station (ART).
The Forage Crop Genetics group is part of the Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, the World Food System and complements the teaching portfolio of ETH by adding valuable education elements based on molecular breeding strategies in plants for bachelor and master level students of Agricultural Science.