phasis was the breeding of plants for 

 improved productivity, resistance to 

 disease, and the development of new 

 and superior, early maturing varieties 

 of horticultural plants, flowers and 

 ornamentals. By 1987, 111 new variet- 

 ies of horticultural plants had been 

 introduced by Station scientists (see 

 Appendix 5). Nutrition, production, 

 and management research also were 

 productive research areas, however. 

 Today there are six geneticists in the 

 department each with a different spe- 

 cialty. From 1979 to the present, O. M. 

 Rogers has been chairman of the de- 

 partment. 



G. M. Dunn, D. G. Routley and B. 

 J. Long, geneticist, plant chemist and 

 graduate research assistant, respec- 

 tively, investigated the genetic and 

 biochemical basis for resistance to 

 northern corn leaf blight, a fungal dis- 

 ease. They found that multigenic re- 

 sistance corn lines produced greater 

 amounts of substances resistant to the 

 fungus than did monogenic resistance 

 lines and suggested that the factor in- 

 volved was "phytoalexin-like" in na- 

 ture. Because it was known that 

 hydroxamic acid (DIMBOA) in corn 

 plants was toxic to some fungi, they 

 developed a rapid method for screen- 

 ing lines for DIMBOA, implicated this 

 material in resistance to northern corn 

 leaf blight, and then showed that the 

 material played a major role in plant 

 resistance to the corn leaf aphid as 

 well. 



With plant pathologists, Dunn se- 

 lected among Ladino clover lines for 

 resistance and hardiness and studied 

 selection and basic genetics of brome 

 grass, a hay plant. He had a strong 

 interest in the breeding of hardy aza- 

 leas, and developed an early-matur- 

 ing, open-pollinated, ornamental corn 

 variety called 'Sunapee'. 



Routley has experimented with 

 composted sewage sludge for growing 

 ornamentals, grass, vegetables and 

 other plants. Since 1975 he has served 

 as Editor of the Station publication 

 Research Highlights. 



Between 1974 and 1987 Y. T. 

 Kiang and his graduate students have 

 produced more than 20 research pub- 

 lications. These include papers on the 

 effect of deicing salt on the genetic 

 differentiation of roadside grasses, 

 vegetative propagation of white pine 

 by cuttings, and the crucial impor- 

 tance of saving wild rice in Taiwan 

 from extinction because it can serve as 

 a valuable source of germ plasm for the 

 improvement of domesticated rice va- 

 rieties. 



In the U.S. soybeans and their 

 products have high economic value, 

 surpassing corn as a source of total 

 farm income. Kiang has published 

 numerous papers on his soybean re- 

 search and has attained national rec- 

 ognition particularly in the use of 

 isozymes in genetics and breeding. 

 Soybean genetics is still in the forma- 

 tive stage, but findings should have 

 broad application both basic and ap- 

 plied. 



Kiang has contributed to the ge- 

 netics of the honey bee. In recent re- 

 search he coupled his interest in the 

 honey bee with that of the soybean 

 indicating that "the foraging behavior 

 of pollinators can affect pollen dis- 

 persal, cross pollination, genetic 

 structure and interspecific hybridiza- 

 tion." 



A tradition of tomato breeding, 

 begun by A. F. Yeager in 1940, has 

 been continued by L. C. Peirce. Peirce 

 came to the university from Iowa State 

 University in 1 964 as chairman of Plant 

 Science at which time he initiated a 



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