University of Georgia
UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics & Genomics
Menu
Close
Search

Cultivar Development

Cultivar and germplasm development remain an important part of our mission and the pipeline in breeding programs continues to generate genetically superior lines of value to the industry.


Soybean Breeding

Zenglu Li’s soybean breeding program focuses on development of soybean cultivars within maturity groups that are suitable for cultivation in the southeastern US.

In 2021, he released four cultivars with second generation Glyphosate tolerance that show excellent performance within their maturity group and possess superior resistance to many soybean pests that limit soybean yield.


Zenglu Li Georgia Seed Development Professor in Soybean Breeding and Genetics
zli@uga.edu
soybean

Wheat Breeding

The wheat breeding program of Mohamed Mergoum (in photo) is similarly prolific, releasing four new cultivars that showed good performance in state and/or regional variety trials, some of which have improved scab (Fusarium head blight) resistance, a persistent goal. 


Mohamed Mergoum Georgia Seed Development UGAF Professor in Wheat Breeding and Genetics (Plant Breeding, Genetics, & Genomics)
mmergoum@uga.edu
mergoum in greenhouse

Peanut

A new release from Bill Branch meets the demand for high yield and value in a region where tomato spotted wilt and leaf spot diseases are a persistent challenge.

While runner-type peanuts are the primary market-type in the southeastern U.S., there is a small market for spanish types for which a new nematode resistant release from Nino Brown and Bill Branch will be available. 


William D. Branch Georgia Seed Development Professor in Peanut Breeding and Genetics
wdbranch@uga.edu
Nino Brown Assistant Professor of Peanut Breeding
inbrown@uga.edu
peanuts

Cotton

Peng Chee released cotton isogenic lines for two nematode resistance QTL. These germplasm lines will be useful for deciphering the genetic and molecular basis of root-knot nematode resistance in upland cotton. 


Peng Chee Professor | Cotton Breeding and Genetics, Host- Plant Resistance, Quantitative Trait Loci, Genomics
pwchee@uga.edu
cotton

Turfgrass Breeding

Last, but not least, the turfgrass breeding program of Brian Schwartz, with participation of Wayne Hanna, is releasing a new bermudagrass for golf greens that is more stress resilient than TifEagle.

Tifton bermudagrasses have global recognition for their use on sport fields including those for Summer Olympics, World Cup soccer and the Super Bowl.


Brian M Schwartz Professor
tifturf@uga.edu
Wayne W Hanna Professor Emeritus
whanna@uga.edu
turfgrass