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Gulf Coast Research and Education Center

Gulf Coast Research and Education Center

Breeding and Genetics

Strawberry Breeding

All UF/IFAS cultivars are developed through traditional breeding methods and are not genetically engineered. The GCREC develops strawberry cultivars for the Florida industry, and commercial production is concentrated on more than 11,000 acres in west-central Florida. Criteria for selection include: High marketable yields, especially in the early season; excellent fruit appearance, size and shelf life under harsh environmental conditions; consistently sweet flavor; and resistance to multiple diseases of economic importance.

Tomato Breeding

The UF Tomato Breeding and Genetics program utilizes traditional breeding methods to develop improved hybrids and breeding lines adapted to Florida, and to understand the genetic control of important traits. Each year, approximately 50,000 plants are evaluated and selected for advancing based on several characteristics including: yield, vine strength, disease resistance, fruit size and quality (flavor, color, texture, firmness, resistance to cracking, etc.), disease and others.

There are eight private breeding programs developing tomato varieties for Florida. Most of these companies rely to some extent on the UF tomato breeding program as a supplier of improved germplasm, parents of commercial hybrids, and/or finished hybrid cultivars.

Ornamental Horticulture Breeding

Current breeding efforts are directed toward the developing and releasing new caladium and gerbera cultivars, genetic sterilizing lantana and nandina, and evaluating and selecting superior Florida-native plants.

Alternative Crop Breeding

GCREC is working to find new and profitable crops for Florida growers.  New breeding efforts will be established for hops, hemp, artichokes, pomegrantes, blackberries, and other commodities that may not be found in Florida...yet.


AI Faculty Members

Dr. Amr Abd-Elrahman
College of Ag and Life Sciences
Professor of Geomatics

aamr@ufl.edu
813-757-2283
 
Dr. Nathan Boyd
Associate Center Director
Professor of Horticultural Science
Weed Science
nsboy@ufl.edu
813-419-6613
 
Dr. Dana Choi
Assistant Professor of Ag Engineering
dana.choi@ufl.edu
813-419-6591
 

Dr. Sriyanka Lahiri
Assistant Professor of Entomology
lahiris@ufl.edu

813-419-6585
Dr. Lahiri is working on collaborative projects to utilize AI in the field of pest monitoring and augmentative biological control techniques. Specifically, efforts are targeted towards relying on AI to recognize feeding damage in plants caused by chilli thrips and spider mite pests in strawberry fields. Additional research work encompasses the development of AI to deploy augmentative biological control agents in response to pest infestation. 
 
   
Dr. Seonghee Lee

Assistant Professor of Horticultural Science
Strawberry Breeding
seonghee105@ufl.edu
813-419-6611
Dr. Lee's research program is focused on identifying genes and DNA sequence variants that control flavor, fruit quality, and disease resistance in octoploid strawberry. Big multi-omics data sets and comprehensive studies have been implemented to identify potential candidate genes and functional mechanisms for improving fruit flavor and disease resistance to multiple pathogens. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems biology approaches in multi-omics data analysis of strawberry will be the most effective way to utilize ‘big’-sized complex data and facilitate the integration of multi breeding traits for new cultivar development.    
 
 
Dr. Kevin Wang

Assistant Professor of Ag Engineering
xuwang1@ufl.edu
813-419-6618

Dr. Wang adopts deep learning models to enhance the accuracy of complex plant trait estimation that ultimately offer breeders enormous support in selection.


Dr. Vance Whitaker

Professor of Horticultural Sciences
Strawberry Breeding
vwhitaker@ufl.edu
813-419-6608

Dr. Whitaker directs the UF/IFAS strawberry breeding program at GREC. He and his team develop flavorful and disease resistant varieties that are widely used in Florida and around the world. Dr. Whitaker uses AI primarily for phenomics, collaborating with Dr. Kevin Wang and Dr. Amr Abd-Elrahman to capture plant traits with cameras mounted on drones and ground vehicles and to extract plant and fruit features from those images in an automated workflow. That trait information is then used to guide breeding decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Dana Choi
Assistant Professor
Agricultural and Biological Engineering
dana.choi@ufl.edu
813-419-6591

Dr. Natalia Peres
Professor
Plant Pathology
nperes@ufl.edu
813-419-6602

Dr. Kevin Wang
Assistant Professor
Agricultural and Biological Engineering
xuwang1@ufl.edu
813-419-6618