Plants and Plant Systems

Researchers in this area are developing crop management practices to increase the profitability and sustainability of plant production and protection particularly in wheat and grain sorghum. The college's specialties include fundamental genetics, plant growth, physiology, pests and diseases, storage and adding value to crops.

In June 2020, the USDA's National Institute for Food and Agriculture selected K-State to serve as a center to improve U.S. winter wheat varieties. The university received $1 million to establish the International Wheat Yield Partnership's (IWYP) Winter Wheat Breeding Innovation Hub. K-State will lead the effort to evaluate research findings from several IWYP projects that contribute to "significantly improved" wheat yields.

The college supports wheat breeding programs at our Manhattan campus and our Agricultural Research Center–Hays. Critical to this work is the internationally recognized Wheat Genetics Resource Center on the college's Manhattan campus. It maintains a gene bank, along with evaluation and passport data, on 2,500 wheat species accessions.

K-State represents Kansas in the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, a consortium of plant diagnostic laboratories located in nine states and created by the USDA-NIFA and the Office of Homeland Security to detect biological attacks and promote plant health and productivity.

The College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension's research in food crops is felt across the globe. The university was named the winner of four highly competitive grants totaling more than $100 million from the USAID. The grants establish and fund four Feed the Future Innovation Labs, representing global partnerships among universities, industry and non-governmental organizations that focus on improving the resiliency and production of food crop plants in grain-producing countries in an effort to end world hunger.

Contacts:
Raj Khosla, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
Agronomy
rkhosla@ksu.edu
785-532-6101

Steve Keeley, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
Horticulture and Natural Resources
skeeley@ksu.edu
785-532-1428

Megan Kennelly, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head
Director of Graduate Student Program
Plant Pathology
kennelly@ksu.edu
785-532-6176