嘿嘿视频

Students Breeding a Better Organic Popper Pepper

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Students in field with bell peppers
A group of 嘿嘿视频 students is breeding a “jalapeño popper,” a cross between a bell pepper and a jalapeño pepper. Two members of the team, Randi Jimenez and Wengyuan Xiao, examine their crop at the Student Farm.

Quick Summary

  • Students practicing what they learn, breeding a new pepper
  • Organic farms require new varieties of vegetable crops
  • Model student project helped 嘿嘿视频 land USDA grant

What do you get when you cross a jalape帽o pepper with a bell pepper?

An ingenious group of 嘿嘿视频 students are proving you can create a jumbo, organic, jalape帽o 鈥減opper,鈥 perfect for stuffing with rice, vegetables, protein and cheese. For the last four years, the young scientists have been making crosses and developing a new variety of pepper with the taste and texture of a jalape帽o, an extra-large cavity, and the right traits to thrive on organic farms.

鈥淢any pepper varieties don鈥檛 do well in organic farming systems because they weren鈥檛 bred for those systems,鈥 said graduate student Saarah Kuzay, current team leader of the project. 鈥淥ur variety will be able to produce high-quality peppers with fewer inputs of things like fertilizers, pesticides and water.鈥

The popper project began in 2012 when graduate student Jorge Berny wondered if a new breed of pepper could solve issues farmers faced with sun damage, yield and size.

鈥淭he jalape帽o peppers growing at the 嘿嘿视频 Student Farm were supposedly large enough for poppers, but they weren鈥檛 really that big,鈥 said Berny. 鈥淭he idea was to start a small breeding program that would give students hands-on experience in field breeding as well as develop cultivars adapted to low-input organic production.鈥

The first generation of the bell-and-jalape帽o offspring looked a bit strange 鈥 lots of pointy-topped bell peppers. The second generation looked very different from each other. Some resembled bell peppers; others looked more like jalape帽os. Each year, more students joined the effort and helped make crosses with the peppers they liked best in terms of size, shape, texture, taste and production.

鈥淚t could be another three years before we have a cultivar ready for release,鈥 said Kuzay.  鈥淏ut we鈥檙e getting there.鈥

The student-run project has become a model for other programs. In 2015, it helped 嘿嘿视频 attract a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop cultivars of vegetable crops for organic farmers. As part of that project, the 嘿嘿视频 Plant Breeding Center is working with the Organic Seed Alliance and organic growers across California to set priorities and eventually to trial new varieties of tomatoes, peppers, beans and other vegetable crops on farms.

鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to watch the peppers develop, year after year,鈥 Kuzay said. 鈥淚t shows that students and farmers alike, not just seed companies, can develop new varieties to suit their needs.鈥

The students have produced a short film, , which illustrates the science and purpose of plant breeding. 

 

Media Resources

Andy Fell, News and Media Relations, 530-752-4533, ahfell@ucdavis.edu

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