Vegetable Breeding and Genetics
Laboratory of I.L. Goldman
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has its beginnings in 1949, when Warren H. Gabelman was hired from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station to begin breeding cross pollinated vegetable crops at Wisconsin. Gabelman's goal was to test the feasibility of F1 hybrid vegetables, particularly carrot, onion, and table beet. These three crops were all of importance to the state of Wisconsin, all possessed cytoplasmic-genic systems for male sterility and fertility restoration, and all are biennial.
Germplasm Releases of Warren Gabelman |
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Warren H. "Buck" Gabelman |
Gableman was highly successful in developing hybrid breeding systems in these three crops. He also was a co-founder of the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics Program, a premier training program for graduate education in the field. Many inbred and hybrid releases from Gableman's breeding program have been important in cultivars of carrot, onion, and table beet throughout the world. For a list of his releases, click here. In 1970, D. Nicholas Breitbach joined Gabelman's program as an Academic Staff member and assistant in the breeding program. Nick's responsibilties grew throughout the years, and today he manages many aspects of the breeding programs for these three crops.
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Nick Breitbach in the Onion Field |
Nick Breitbach Harvesting Carrot Seed |
Gabelman trained many students in vegetable breeding and genetics, and these students went on to have a significant impact in the public and private sector. For a list of students trained by Gabelman and other faculty trainers in the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics Program, click here. In 1992, Irwin Goldman was hired to continue this program. Goldman's interests include vegetable breeding and genetics, horticulture and human health, and the history of plant breeding. For more on Irwin Goldman, click here. For more information on our research programs, click here.
Irwin Goldman Eating a Beet
Today, our lab focuses on breeding and genetics of carrot, onion, and table beet. We conduct field-oriented plant breeding work at approximately five locations around the state of Wisconsin and in conjunction with collaborators worldwide. We perform laboratory work related to our interest in both vegetable breeding and the relationship between vegetables and human health. Our students gain experience in field plot technique as well as laboratory-based analytical methods. Recently, our work was profiled in the CALS Science Report. For more information on our laboratory, please contact us at ilgoldma@wisc.edu.
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From top left, clockwise, Irwin Goldman eats lunch in his office, Nick Breitbach, Maggie Schaber, and Tom Koch harvest onions near Hancock, Wisconsin, Emilie Dirkse rides a stationary bicycle in a study designed to measure metabolic rates in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and Tom Koch displays his test tubes filled with carotenoids extracted from carrot roots. Photo credits: B. Wolfgang Hoffman for the CALS 2004-2005 Science Report.
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