Plant Sciences News and Stories

Soybean ressearchrs

Researcher uses automated imaging technology for fast detection of destructive soybean pest

Lei Zhang, assistant professor of plant nematology, is on the lookout for the soil-borne roundworm called soybean cyst nematode (SCN). Zhang...

A picture of an herbaria pressed sample.

Plant pressings, photo albums and portals into our past

“When people have a fire or natural disasters in their homes, the first things they’ll grab are the photo albums. We need to appreciate...

Jinh Jung in front of computer

Purdue geomatics professor debuts open-source platform at upcoming NAPPN meeting

When someone wants to watch or share a video, they likely go to the free video sharing website YouTube, says Jinha Jung, associate professor of...

Faculty sits with drone

Plant Sciences team develops thermal remote sensing protocol using GRYFN platform

Say you’re an agricultural scientist, and you know there’s technology out there that could be a game-changer in your research. But its...

A shaved ice machine sprinkles snow over young arabidopsis plants to freeze the whole plant at once.

The perks and pitfalls of ‘plastic’ plants

Imagine broccoli’s short, sparse and ugly cousin, and you have Arabidopsis thaliana. It is native to Eurasia and some parts of Africa, but...

uav data on a monitor

Data-Driven Seminar Series

Purdue College of Agriculture presents a seminar series featuring experts in data science, digital agriculture and digital forestry.

A scientists dips a tube of petunia petals into liquid nitrogen to freeze it for tissue harvest.

Stop and smell the volatile secondary metabolites

As Ying Li steps through the door, Natalia Dudareva stops mid-sentence to spin around and meet her with a sly grin and the words, “I’ve...

Claire King waters her quinoa in the greenhouse.

Claire King named a Golden Opportunity Scholar

It’s easy to imagine the whole of agriculture as a giant feast sprawled out on an equally giant table. America’s famous Thanksgiving...

Jessica McVay has been selected as seed administrator for the Office of the Indiana State Chemist

New seed administrator appointed to Indiana State Chemist office

Jessica McVay, who has worked as a seed analyst, feed microscopist and laboratory coordinator for the Indiana Seed Regulatory Agency for 11 years,...

Close Up of Tomato Seedlings in Science Carrier

Tomatoes in spaceflight: A giant leap for human (and plant) kind

Space calls out to us to explore and possibly discover a second home. But how will humans sustain themselves on years-long flights or in living on...

PPSS speaker attendance

Largest Ever Attendance for Purdue Plant Science Symposium

The Purdue Plant Science Symposium, sponsored by Corteva Agriscience, has been held at Purdue since 2015. This year, it marked the largest...

Student Matthew Haan stands with another person in front of mountains in the Philippines

Horticultural and Landscape Architecture student discusses summer research and training in the Philippines

With limited international travel experience and a student’s budget, Matthew Haan was thrilled when he received the opportunity to go to the...

Gurmukh (Guri) Johal works in corn field

Purdue researcher’s short corn has far-reaching potential for growers, industry and the environment

Gurmukh (Guri) Johal is a scientist, not a teller of fairy tales. But the Purdue professor of botany and plant pathology likens his recently...

Joshua Widhalm

A track record of scholarly excellence: Widhalm named 2023 University Faculty Scholar

“If you ask my mother, I declared in third grade that I was going to be a professor one day,” says Joshua Widhalm. His passion for...

tuinstra_ag_comm

Hardin award celebrates Tuinstra’s global research success

Throughout his career, Agronomy Professor, Mitch Tuinstra, has demonstrated a passion and commitment to global agriculture and food systems. His...

Arabidopsis in the growth chamber

Nanocarrier research taps technology in Ag Alumni Seed Phenotyping Facility

The advantages of packaging a bioactive compound in a nanosized carrier have been proven in medicine for targeted drug delivery. Now Purdue...

Soybean Competition group

Ideas keep stemming from annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition

The Student Soybean Innovation Competition recently held its 29th annual contest at Purdue University. Sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance...

Jennifer Wisecaver conducts research

Wisecaver named University Faculty Scholar, looks to future research efforts

“It is a wonderful honor, and it will have a big impact,” says Jennifer Wisecaver, associate professor of biochemistry, responding to...

Two researchers examining petunias in a greenhouse

Biologists, chemical engineers collaborate to reveal complex cellular process inside petunias

A Purdue University team led by Natalia Dudareva, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry in Purdue University's College of Agriculture, and...

sorghum field at Purdue University

Seed-based technology offers peace of mind from sorghum forage risk

Sorghum has served as a food and feed crop for thousands of years, yet it can become poisonous under drought or freezing conditions. The problem is...

Light bulb stock image

Ambassadors help build academic culture of innovation and entrepreneurship

Purdue, ranked as one of America’s most innovative universities, leads land-grant institutions in startup companies and ranks third among...

Jianxin Ma holds soybean plant roots to display the difference in growth.

Jianxin Ma appointed Dean’s Chair in Soybean Genomics

Purdue University’s Board of Trustees has approved Agronomy Professor Jianxin Ma’s appointment to the Dean’s Chair in Soybean...

plants growing in a green house

Phenotyping facilities offer powerful tools with a delicate touch

Phenotyping at Purdue University is pushing the limits of technology, offering researchers powerful insights into plants without disturbing a...

White Petunia flowers

New and improved cherry flavor courtesy of the petunia flower

Some flavors and aromas are more elusive than others, and a team of Purdue University researchers recently found the molecular recipe for one of...

abstract

NSF funds Purdue researcher’s study of fundamental signals between plants and their environment

Any undergraduate inching closer to graduation thinks about possible jobs. Searching by specific job titles or particular skill sets, job seekers...

Greenhouse Rendering

Purdue trustees approve $20 million greenhouse expansion

Today, the Purdue University Board of Trustees approved a $20 million allocation toward a phenotyping greenhouse facility. A component of Plant...

soybean leaves

Purdue research strengthens soybean's potential in the plant-based protein market

Although most of the world's soybean crop is fed to animals, a Purdue plant breeder thinks that soybean's complete protein — it...

Tesfaye

One gene closer to a sorghum Superman

Scientists are honing the traits of speed, strength and near invulnerability in an important food crop that, much like a superhero, will help...

Jianxin Ma, professor of agronomy

Detecting the disease resistance of a plant when it is only a seed

Jianxin Ma, professor of agronomy at Purdue University, holds the leaves of a soybean plant. Behind Ma, from left, are students Weidong Wang,...

Postdoctoral researcher Hye Lin Park

In plant stress response, one protein lures, binds its own killer

Like the plot of a mystery novel, research has found a twist in the way plants cannibalize their own cells to survive under stress.

Researchers in Field

Improving soybeans reduces the cost to farmers and the environment

Instead of relying solely on nitrogen in the soil, soybeans and many other legumes can pull nitrogen from the air for their growth – a...

Ma in field

Agronomy professor honored by Crop Science Society of America

The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) has announced that Purdue professor Jianxin Ma is its 2021 Fellow Award Recipient. The annual award...

In lab with masks

Summer research sows seeds of interest in agricultural sciences

“I was a first-generation student who was smart enough to get into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, but once I got there I was...

Purdue's Next Moves

Purdue launches Next Moves initiatives

Purdue University on Friday (April 9) officially launched Purdue’s Next Moves – five new distinct strategic initiatives designed to...

Team holding check

Students see growth potential in competition-winning biostimulant

In a contest created to develop novel applications for soybeans, it’s hard to beat a 98% soybean crop stimulant that improves soybean...

Klein demonstrating

Agricultural entrepreneurship: from labs to markets

Purdue University research, often published in scientific journals, became analytical ore that grateful industries mined and refined,...

Plant cell banner image

Purdue scientists develop methods to improve molecular identification in plants

Uncovering the complex associations among genes, proteins and the molecules they produce in a living organism can be a monumental task. Some...

Solar power panels on a corn field

Ag Data Services: Turning data sets into data assets

The cows at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana, are blissfully unaware that every minute of every day they’re generating mountains of data...

Male farmer working on a sorghum plantation

Purdue-developed sorghum safer for grazing animals and takes stress off producers

sorghum is a great crop for grazing, but livestock producers who use it always have some concern in the backs of their minds. Certain conditions,...

phenotype lab

Plant scientists maintain critical research to save data and irreplaceable plants

With about 15 wiliwili trees in the Lilly Greenhouses, and only 150 left in the wild after an insect pest decimated its population, Purdue oversees...

Memorial Mall

Plant science focus makes Purdue ideal for grad student’s research

McCoy’s search for a postdoc is underway as she works toward her goal of becoming a professor at a small university.

prize check

Winners spill the beans on their success

Addressing students whose shoes she stood in 25 years ago, Jocelyn Wong observed, “It is so important, this idea of innovation and innovative...

man watering plants

Seed grants advance basic plant biology

An innovative seed grant program in its second year is meeting its goal of encouraging collaboration among researchers. Purdue Center for Plant...

group of four students, from left: SoyTrack innovators Susan Hubbard, Christopher Stichter, Terence Babb and Jacob Semonis.

Purdue student team develops hydroseeding adhesive to win Student Soybean Innovation Competition

A chat with farmers over a cup of coffee in a small Indiana town led to an invention that earned a team of four students first place in the 2018...