Davis, California, USA
April 26, 2011
The next session of the European Plant Breeding Academy (EPBA) dedicated to hybrid breeding will be held June 20-25, 2011. The session will take place at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) – Gatersleben, Germany, one of the EPBA partners. The host organization and private industry in the region will generously contribute to the session with lectures and interactive field tours, enhancing the experience for EPBA students.
The Nordharz / Börde region is regarded as the birthplace of modern plant breeding in Germany. Favorable conditions and fertile soils created the basis upon which a plant breeding industry with a worldwide reputation was able to develop in this area 100 years ago. Gatersleben is the center of crop plant research in Saxony-Anhalt and beyond. The plant breeding and research industry employs more than 1,000 in the region, around 500 of them at the IPK. Over the last two decades, numerous German and international companies have (re)established plant breeding stations in the region.
IPK Gatersleben is a world renowned institute focused on several research areas, such as: Management and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources (Genebank); Cytogenetics and Genome Analysis; Molecular Genetics; and Physiology and Cell Biology.
The Federal ex situ Genebank maintains a unique collection of plant genetic resources from more than 2,600 botanical species. The Genebank plays an important role in the global effort to protect cultivated plant species and their wild relatives from genetic erosion or even from extinction. In addition to the conservation of genetic resources research activities aim at developing strategies for an improved utilization of plant genetic resources.
Each year, more than 15,000 seed and plant samples are distributed worldwide. Recipients are research institutions, plant breeders, other genebanks, botanical gardens and interested individuals. The total inventory of the IPK Genebank amounts to 148,000 accessions. In collaboration with other IPK departments the collection is being characterized at the taxonomic, the genetic and the molecular level. Acting as an information center for taxonomy of crop plants, the Genebank hosts a botanical reference collection including a herbarium and a fruit and spike collection, which altogether amount to more than 500,000 voucher specimens.
The UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy is a postgraduate program that teaches the fundamentals of plant breeding, genetics and statistics through lectures, discussion, and field trips to public and private
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