Posts Tagged: UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Standing Ovation for Honey Bee Geneticist Robert E. Page Jr.
It was like coming home when acclaimed honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr., stepped...
Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, presents the Exceptional Emeriti Faculty Award to honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Exceptional Emeriti Faculty Award recipient Robert E. Page Jr. talks about his work as a honey bee geneticist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From left are Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Exceptional Emeriti Faculty Award recipient Robert E. Page Jr. and his wife Michelle, and their niece Suzi Redmond and their grand niece Emily Redman, a UC Davis student. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Family members stand in front of a poster honoring Robert E. Page Jr. at the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' celebration. From left are niece Suzi Redmond and her daughter, Emily Redmond; Michelle Page (wife of Rob Page); and the honoree, honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr. (right) receives congratulations following the awards ceremony. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tribute to Bill Patterson and Doris Brown, Strong Supporters of the Bohart Museum of Entomology
The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) honored...
Bill Patterson and his wife, Doris Brown (left), listen to the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' Award of Distinction program. At right is Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bill Patterson thanking the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for gifting he and his wife with the Friend of the College award.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From left are Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; award recipients Bill Patterson and his wife, Doris Brown; and Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bill Patterson and Doris Brown Selected 'Friends of the College'
Bohart Museum of Entomology associate and longtime butterfly collector Bill Patterson and his...
Avid butterfly collector Bill Patterson looking specimens at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. This image was taken in 2017. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Entomologist Bill Patterson (center) of Sacramento and the international Lepidopterists' Society president Brian Scholtens, entomology professor at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, discuss butterflies with scientist-author Robert Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. UC Davis hosted the 2017 meeting of the Lepidopterists. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Congrats to Honey Bee Geneticist Rob Page!
Congratulations to UC Davis-trained bee scientist Robert E. Page Jr., recipient of the...
Inside a honey bee colony. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Rob Page as a doctoral student, with his major professor (and collaborator) Harry Hyde Laidlaw Jr.
UC Davis to build new $5.25M greenhouse to protect U.S. grapevine collection
Project designed to prevent red blotch and other grapevine diseases
A new, $5.25 million greenhouse is being built on the University of California, Davis, campus to safeguard an important grapevine collection from red blotch disease and other pathogens.
The 14,400-square-foot greenhouse will have a vestibuled entry, be insect-proof and provide another level of disease protection. It is being spearheaded by Foundation Plant Services, or FPS, which provides the U.S. grape industry with high-quality, virus-tested grapevine plant material.
The program serves as the primary source for grapevine plant material distributed to nurseries under the California Department of Agriculture's Grapevine Registration and Certification Program, which provides the majority of grapevines planted in the United States. For the grape industry, it is essential to protect this material from disease-carrying insects and guarantee fast access to clean plant material.
“The program is considered the largest quarantine center for the grapevine industry in the United States,” said Maher Al Rwahnih, a plant pathologist and FPS director. “This is kind of a game changer for us.”
A history of serving the grapevine industry
FPS has maintained healthy grapevine planting stock on the UC Davis campus for more than 70 years in open fields at the Classic and Russell Ranch foundation vineyards. FPS scientists first detected grapevine red blotch virus at Russell Ranch in 2017. By 2021, an estimated 51.6% of the crop there was infected. Material from that vineyard is not being sold, and the site is now part of an epidemiological study to try to pinpoint how the disease is transmitted.
FPS pathologists have detected red blotch on less than 1% of the Classic vineyard crop. But it may not always be that way in the future.
“We don't know how long the Classic vineyard will remain clean,” Al Rwahnih said. “Every testing season, this is what keeps me up at night. We're not sure why it's happening in Russell Ranch and not the Classic vineyard.”
Once the greenhouse is operating, grapevines propagated from plant material from the Classic vineyard will be moved into the greenhouse, tested and verified as clean from disease. From there it will be sold to nurseries, which will grow additional plants to sell to growers.
Two greenhouses part of plan
Normally the foundation has 4,000 vines available, but the greenhouse will only house 2,000 vines, so inventory will be cut in half.
“This phase is just a starting phase,” Al Rwahnih said. “It's not sufficient for our needs.”
FPS plans to build another greenhouse in the next two to three years to increase capacity.
Industry groups and FPS identified greenhouses as the best way to protect the plants from red blotch and other pathogens transmitted by insects. They are also consulting with those same people on the grape varieties to include in the greenhouse.
“We have a large selection, and we need to make sure all the varieties that are important to industry are contained,” he said.
The first greenhouse is expected to be finished by the end of 2023.
Funding for the first greenhouse is coming from a variety of sources. The California Fruit Tree, Nut Tree and Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board, managed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, contributed $4 million to the project. The California Grape Rootstock Research Foundation gave $500,000, Foundation Plant Services with UC Davis is funding $450,000, and the California Grape Rootstock Commission gave $100,000.
“This is crucial for the grapevine industry, and we are very grateful for the support,” Al Rwahnih said.
/h3>/h3>/h3>