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Plant Science
Farmers in Mid-Atlantic and southern states face severe challenges in today’s agricultural situation. Vegetable soybean is appropriate for small farms in rural areas where family farms could realize high economic returns. Vegetable soybean is large-seeded with Japanese pedigrees and differs from the grain-type soybean in flavor, texture, and acceptability. The goal of the soybean breeding program is to develop vegetable soybean varieties that are adapted to Virginia environmental conditions and consumer demands by combining the yield and agronomic acceptability of U.S. commodity soybeans with the food quality of the Asian varieties.
Contacts: Harbans Bhardwaj, Tadesse Mebrahtu |
The New Crops component of the the Plant Science Program aims to diversify cropping systems to enhance agricultural income and profitability, protect water quality from runoff containing nitrogen through reduced fertilizer use, and support production of protein-rich grains for food and feed uses. This program is currently researching canola and white lupine. A new initiative consists of demonstrating on-farm production of biodiesel using canola. This program has previously researched a wide array of potential crop plants including castor bean, kenaf, sunn hemp, mungbeam, tepary bean, faba bean, meadowfoam and vernonia.