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PLANT BREEDING FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE

Moisture deficits loom as one of the greatest challenges to future crop production, both in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. Enhancing the genetic tolerance of crops to drought stress, together with improved agronomic practices, is considered an essential strategy for addressing these deficits. To respond to the need for more plant scientists trained in developing drought tolerant cultivars, Colorado State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Oklahoma State University will offer a short course in Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance June 14-25, 2010. The course will be held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and at experimental field sites in Eastern Colorado and Western Nebraska.


TARGET AUDIENCE
The course is targeted to graduate students in the plant sciences, as well as to professionals in the public and private sectors. It will provide three transferable graduate-level credits.

CONTENT
The course will consist of classroom lectures, hands-on lab exercises, and field research activities appropriate for a drought breeding and genetics program. Course activities are designed around three modules:
*      Whole Plant Physiology of Drought Stress
*      Plant Breeding for Drought Stress Tolerance
*      Genomic Approaches to Drought Stress Tolerance

The course format will include several days at field sites in Colorado and Nebraska with intermittent classroom lectures and discussion. We will emphasize hands-on exercises to provide practical experience in a drought tolerance breeding program. Eight instructors from four universities, each with a different specialty in plant sciences will lecture both in the classroom and at the field sites. Visits to private sector breeding programs will also be included. The course will be given in English.

PREREQUISITES
Participants should have a solid understanding of basic plant physiology and genetics. Prior to the short course, students will review online material on these topics to provide a common background in breeding and physiology concepts.

PROGRAM COSTS
The cost of student tuition and fees is $1,687. Accommodations for room and board are available on-campus for either $600 (double occupancy) or $775 (single occupancy). This cost includes three meals daily. Guests are also welcome to make their own arrangements for room and board. All foreign visas and travel arrangements are at students' initiative and expense.

FUNDING
Partial funding for the course is provided by a grant from the USDA-CSREES-NRI Plant Breeding and Education program.

REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION
Participants may apply online (http://www.droughtadaptation.org) beginning December 1, 2009. Interested students are encouraged to visit the course website for more details, or send an email to the Program Assistant, Annie Heiliger, at Annie707@rams.colostate.edu<mailto:Annie707@rams.colostate.edu> with questions.


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Patrick F. Byrne
Professor & Graduate Studies Coordinator
Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences
1170 Campus Delivery
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Phone: 970-491-6985