HOR 314 - Applied Plant Breeding and Genetics

Credit Hour(s): 4
This course examines the application of Mendelian genetics to crop improvement, including trait identification and selection, mechanisms of inheritance, and “conventional” breeding modalities. Biotechnology, including transgenics and cisgenics, as well as New Breeding Techniques (NBT’s) such as gene editing will also be discussed. The role of biodiversity as it pertains to centers of origin and seedbanks will also be stressed. Most fundamentally, this course provides a survey of plant domestication throughout history, and its role in improving the human condition. This includes increased yields, pest/disease resistance, biofortification, and climate resilience. In particular, the successes and shortcomings of seminal events like the Green Revolution and the promises/perils of the “Gene” Revolution will be emphasized.  This course has an additional fee.

  4 Credit(s).