Objective(s):
The objectives of the colloquium will be to help bridge the gap between breeding, MAS and genotyping with agronomic crops and vegetable/horticultural crops, with a target audience of professionals and students involved in improvement and conservation of horticultural crops.

The sequencing of plant genomes and the development of genome wide SNP arrays for a number of agronomic and specialty-crops is leading to new opportunities to better understand the organization of variation in germplasm and to develop new breeding strategies.  USDA funded large collaborative grant programs, such as The USDA-AFRI funded SolCAP and USDA-SCRI funded RosBREED projects as well as private/public partnerships exist and have aided in expediting the breeding process by funding research. The objectives of the colloquium will be to help bridge the gap between breeding, MAS and genotyping with agronomic crops and vegetable/horticultural crops, with a target audience of professionals and students involved in improvement and conservation of horticultural crops.