• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Texas A&M AgriLife Research

  • Home
  • About
    • About AgriLife Research
    • Texas A&M AgriLife Research strategic plan
  • Research Areas
    • Bioenergy
    • Disease prevention
    • Food & Nutrition
    • Insect-Vectored Diseases
    • Land Use
    • Livestock & Plant Genetics
    • New Crops
    • Pests & Invasive Plants
    • Sustainability
    • Water
  • Regions of Texas
  • News
  • Contact

July 12, 2021 by G. Saldana

Texas grocer to offer limited run of AgriLife Research-bred hibiscus

United Family stores will carry winter-hardy plants in July from Dallas to Albuquerque

Photo of Blue Hibiscus
The most significant of his achievements, Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research breeder, said is the creation of blue-flowering winter-hardy hibiscus in Vernon. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dariusz Malinowski)

Rarely are Texas Plains gardeners able to purchase flowers bred specifically for their region. But in July, the United Family chain of stores will offer winter-hardy hibiscus plants bred by the Texas A&M AgriLife Research ornamental breeding program in Vernon.

The United Family has stores from Dallas-Fort Worth to Albuquerque that will participate in this distribution of winter-hardy hibiscus. The distribution will include some Texas A&M AgriLife-bred plants, with particular emphasis on the Vernon and Wichita Falls stores, said Bradley Gaines, business director for floral with the United Family, Lubbock.

The floral departments in about 90 stores will offer the plants, some of which will be from the award-winning Summer Spice Collection by J. Berry Nursery. This specific collection contains winter-hardy hibiscus bred by Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., AgriLife Research plant physiologist in the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon.

Story continues at AgriLife Today

Filed Under: News

July 12, 2021 by G. Saldana

Texas A&M AgriLife’s Simpson honored for lifetime dedication to peanuts

More than 50 years building extensive germplasm collection

Charles Simpson, Ph.D standing in a greenhouse
Charles Simpson, Ph.D., stands among his collection in the greenhouse. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by John Cason)

For 54 years, Charles Simpson, Ph.D., has been making a difference in the peanut products America eats – and on July 1, he was honored by the American Peanut Council with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award at the USA Peanut Congress in New Orleans.

Simpson, peanut germplasm explorer and breeder for Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Stephenville, was recognized “for his tireless efforts in peanut germplasm collection and preservation.”

Simpson, a professor emeritus in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences plant breeding program, retired in 2003 but still maintains an extensive germplasm collection at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Stephenville.

Story continues at AgriLife Today

Filed Under: News

July 12, 2021 by G. Saldana

Texas A&M AgriLife team seeking ‘holy grail’ of tomatoes

Goal is firm, flavorful, attractive, high-yield tomato with extended shelf life

Hands grabbing two tomatoes on a vine
Texas A&M AgriLife Research breeders are working toward developing the “holy grail” of tomatoes. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

A proposed project involving the characterization of a new breeding line of tomatoes developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife breeding program at Weslaco could further enhance Texas’ reputation for growing exceptional produce, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists.   

The development of flavorful, nutritious and firm tomatoes with a long shelf life, good appearance and high yield is the “holy grail” of tomato improvement, said Carlos Avila, Ph.D., AgriLife Research vegetable breeder based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Weslaco and principal investigator for the project.

Co-principal investigators are Kevin Crosby, Ph.D., AgriLife Research vegetable breeder at Texas A&M University, Bryan-College Station, and Vijay Joshi, Ph.D., AgriLife Research vegetable system physiologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde.

Story continues at AgriLife Today

Filed Under: News

June 28, 2021 by G. Saldana

Research shows similarities in hunters, animal rights advocates

Shared moral values could be key for wildlife, nature conservancy support

A mom and baby deer in a meadow
Hunters and animal rights advocates may share more in common when it comes to conservation of natural ecology, according to new research. (Stock photo)

Animal rights advocates and hunters may have more in common than they think when it comes to nature conservancy, according to a newly published study by a Texas A&M AgriLife researcher.

The research studied whether an individual’s empathy level toward wildlife predicted their support for conservation efforts. Researchers believe the study can be used to identify individuals and how they view the intrinsic value of nature in ways that can be leveraged to promote wildlife conservation.  

Measuring and understanding people’s commitment to nature conservancy based on personal morals will be key to combatting wildlife losses and ecosystem disruptions in the short- and long-term, said Gerard Kyle, Ph.D., professor and associate department head for academic programs in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.

Story continues at AgriLife Today

Filed Under: News

June 28, 2021 by G. Saldana

Space, exercise may be critical to drylot beef heifer reproduction

Texas A&M study to develop management strategies, stocking density guidelines

Heifers lounge in a drylot
Heifers lounge in a drylot. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Space and exercise could be almost as important as food and water to the successful development of beef heifers raised in drylots, and quantifying that importance is the aim of a planned study by a Texas A&M University Department of Animal Science researcher in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Reproductive development of replacement heifers dictates the overall efficiency of cow-calf operations. In order to maximize efficiency and minimize resource use, beef industry replacement heifers are increasingly being housed in drylots. While the practice is less common in Texas than in other areas of the country, land-use trends suggest it may become more prevalent, said Texas A&M’s Reinaldo Cooke, Ph.D., beef cattle production associate professor.

As an example, Houston, Navasota and College Station will soon become one big metropolitan area,” Cooke said. “We are going to have less grass resources for cattle, competing with urban development and crop production. I don’t believe the whole industry will change to confined operations, but we need to find management systems to make sure we are maintaining or promoting production efficiency and fostering animal welfare.”

Story continues at AgriLife Today

Filed Under: News

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 8
  • Go to Next Page »
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information
Texas A&M University System Member