Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection
Project Number: 8080-21000-033-017-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Nov 1, 2022
End Date: Oct 31, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this project is to improve disease resistance, fruit quality, and growth habit of temperate fruit crops through biotechnology. Communicate the important roles of biotechnology in Agriculture to stakeholders and the general public.
Approach:
Genetic engineering will be utilized to improve traits that have been either impossible or too time consuming to address through traditional breeding techniques. These traits include disease resistance, particularly invasive diseases, flower, fruit and seed development, dormancy, and tree architecture. Through this agreement, ARS and the Cooperator will continue to utilize genetic engineering approaches to investigate the fundamental genetic bases of these and other important traits. The agreement also proposes to develop improved tissue culture and plant biotechnology tools and systems to speed the development of in vitro horticultural crop cultivation. In addition, it proposes to apply genetic engineering technologies to develop improved germplasm and fruit varieties that will support food production, sustainability, safety, human health, and the availability of high quality fruit for consumers. The agreement also proposes to continue to develop technologies that will improve the efficiency and productivity of conventional breeding techniques.
