Program Overview

The Molecular Breeding Program utilizes DNA marker technology to aid the efficient and effective incorporation of valuable traits into improved rice cultivars.Many traits important in the development of cultivars can be difficult to measure or are environmentally sensitive, and thus it is difficult to make progress in breeding programs. DNA marker technology aids in overcoming these limitations by using a small amount of seed or leaf tissue from a plant to perform an easily interpreted laboratory test for indicating the likelihood of having the trait of interest. Because it is difficult to combine numerous important traits simultaneously into cultivars, marker-assisted breeding gives geneticists a versatile set of tools that can augment, as well as verify, traditional selection techniques.

Program Leader
Fjellstrom, Dr. Bob (USDA-ARS) 

Program Personnel
Christensen, Eric
Frank, Patrick
Pontasch, Fran

Research Projects

2004

Molecular Markers in Breeding

2003

DNA Markers for Rice Quality Measurements

2002

Developing and Utilizing DNA Markers for Rice