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SUMMARY:Sugar beet breeding\, bolting resistance and Gibberellins - Helen 
 Holmes\, Broom’s Barn
DTSTART:20101210T130000Z
DTEND:20101210T133000Z
UID:TALK26677@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:15560
DESCRIPTION:As well as accounting for 30% of the world’s sugar productio
 n\, Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) is a versatile crop producing
  phytochemicals\, livestock feed and is used as a biofuel feedstock. Field
  cultivars are biennial long-day plants with an obligate requirement for v
 ernalization (prolonged cold treatment) to induce reproductive growth. How
 ever it is the root of the plant in the vegetative state that has up to 18
 % sugar content and is the useful agricultural product. Bolting\, or inter
 node elongation\, is the first visible sign of the reproductive transition
  and precedes flowering. If bolting resistant genotypes could be developed
  this would  protect spring sown crops from premature bolting and enable a
  winter sown crop\, with up to a 30% yield advantage. \n\nThe research tea
 m at Brooms Barn aim to understand the floral transition in sugar beet and
  ultimately to help breeders to develop cultivars which are resistant to v
 ernalization-induced bolting in the field. In my PhD\, I'll be focussing o
 n the role of gibberellic acids and looking for new breeding targets for b
 olting control. Our previous investigations showed up-regulation of GA bio
 synthesis at the shoot tip during vernalization\, and that the highest GA 
 content in the shoot tips of vernalized plants is correlated with the onse
 t of bolting. I also want to investigate the role of cytokinins in bolting
 \, and to look at the agronomic feasibility of a winter beet crop.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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