Professor and Basye Endowed Chair in Rose Breeding
Phone: 979-862-3072
FAX: 979-845-0627
E-mail: d-byrne@tamu.edu

David Byrne received his B.S. in Plant Science from Rutgers University in 1975. He received his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding in 1980 from Cornell University. He conducts the Prunus and Rosa Breeding and Genetics Programs as well as teaches classes in the subject areas of fruit and nut production, tropical horticulture, and plant breeding and genetics.

From 1980 – 1983 he was a Research Scientist at the International Plant Research Institute where he conducted the Cassava Breeding and Production Program. Dr. Byrne coordinated all research in variety improvement including the field research program, germplasm development program, and the various biotechnology programs in place. He also helped developed business proposals with other companies throughout the world.

Dr. Byrne’s research includes stone fruit and rose breeding and genetics.

The thrust of the applied plant improvement work is breeding for adaptation: disease resistance, consistent yield and fruit quality under mild winter conditions in stone fruit, and disease (black spot, powdery mildew, cercospora) resistance in rose breeding. The stone fruit breeding is for early-ripening fresh market types to improve the range of varieties available with emphasis on unique types to market and the health benefits of these fruits. The rose breeding is aimed at developing disease resistant and heat tolerant varieties with superior landscape quality. This involves yearly cycles of pollination and plant evaluation. In addition, a strong effort is made to collect useful plant material from throughout the world.

Other research is focused on germplasm analysis, the improvement of breeding procedures in perennial crops, and the genetics of markers and other traits. Various molecular markers are being developed to be used in marker-assisted selection protocols, identification of hybrids, for studies of germplasm used in breeding, isolation of specific genes, and the construction of genetic maps. In vitro culture is used for embryo rescue, for chromosome doubling in the development of artificial amphidiploids, and for transformation studies. Inter-specific hybridization and rapid introgression of traits from wild species into commercial germplasm is of great interest. In rose, amphidiploids are being examined as an approach to transferring diploid germplasm to the tetraploid gene pool. In this and the Prunus projects, genetic markers will be evaluated as a tool to accelerate the introgression process and the recovery of the commercial phenotype.

HONORS AND AFFILIATIONS
Robert E. Basye Chair in Rose Genetics
This Chair was established by the late Dr. Robert E. Basye in 1990 to provide consistent funding for research in rose breeding and genetics. The applied breeding program concentrates on the development of germplasm resistant to black spot and powdery mildew that have good landscape characteristics. Other research has included rose germination, rose genetics, the interfertility of rose species, rose cytogenetics, rose diversity and phylogenetics, and rose genomics. Current work in rose genomics involves collaborative work with Dr. Dani Zamir of Israel on the mapping of two rose populations with molecular markers and diversity studies of the commercial and wild rose germplasm.

Fulbright Scholarship
Dr. Byrne spent from August 2004 until February 2005 at the EMBRAPA Experiment Station that works with Temperate Fruit Breeding located in the town of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This is a sub tropical zone with weather conditions similar to the southeastern region of Texas. While there he taught a graduate level course on Fruit and Ornamental Breeding as well as gave multiple lectures on such topics as the world trends in fruit production, the use of molecular markers in fruit breeding, and the production of stone fruit in tropical climates. He also worked with Dr. Maria Bassols Raseira, a fruit breeder and geneticist, on the evaluation of horticultural traits of the stone fruit germplasm in Brazil as well as with experiments on fruit set, embryo rescue, and the molecualr diversity of the germplasm. The molecular diversity work was also done in collaboration with Carolina Castro. As a result of this work, the two breeding programs are developing a collaborative breeding and research plan to take advantage of the opposite seasonality of their sites. Adjunct Professor in Department of Horticulture at Kasesart University, Thailand Project which is working towards alternative crops to replace poppy cultivation in this region of the country. Thus far four low chill peaches, the Thai Tiger series, have been released to help develop the fruit production industry in this region. Dr. Byrne has worked with the Fruit Breeding Program lead by Dr. Unaroj Boonprakob to help develop low chill peach varieties adapted to the northern highlands of Thailand. The Fruit Breeding Program is supported by the Royal Agricultural Project.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Vizzotto, M., L. Cisneros, W. R. Okie, D. W. Ramming, and D. H. Byrne. 2007. Large variation found in the phytochemical content and antioxidant activity of peach and plum germplasm. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., 132: 334-340.

Burrell, A. M., R. D. Lineberger, K. S. Rathore, and D. H. Byrne. 2006. Genetic variation in somatic embryogenesis of rose. HortScience 41(5): 1165-1168.

Zhang, L. H., D. H. Byrne, R. E. Ballard, and S. Rajapakse. 2006. Microsatellite marker development in rose and its application in tetraploid mapping. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., 131:380-387.

Thaipong, K., U. Boonprakob, K. Crosby, L. Cisneros-Zevallos, and D. H. Byrne. 2006. Comparison of ABTS, DPPH, FRAP, and ORAC assays for estimating antioxidant activity from guava fruit extracts. J. Food Composition and Anal. 19:669-675

Byrne, D. H. 2005. Trends in stone fruit cultivar development. HortTechnology, 15(3):494-500.