Publications by authors named "K Altendorf"

Hop production utilizes exclusively female plants, whereas male plants only serve to generate novel variation within breeding programs through crossing. Currently, hop lacks a rapid and accurate diagnostic marker to determine whether plants are male or female. Without a diagnostic marker, breeding programs may take 1-2 years to determine the sex of new seedlings.

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Lentil () is a pulse crop grown for its amino acid profile, moderate drought tolerance, and ability to fix nitrogen. As the global demand for lentils expands and new production regions emerge so too have the complement of diseases that reduce yield, including the root rot complex. Although the predominant causal pathogen varies based on growing region, is often found to be an important contributor to disease.

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Perennial grain crops have the potential to improve agricultural sustainability but few existing species produce sufficient grain yield to be economically viable. The outcrossing, allohexaploid, and perennial forage species intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) [Thinopyrum intermedium (Host) Barkworth & D. R.

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Intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) is an outcrossing, cool season grass species currently undergoing direct domestication as a perennial grain crop. Though many traits are selection targets, understanding the genetic architecture of those important for local adaptation may accelerate the domestication process. Nested association mapping (NAM) has proven useful in dissecting the genetic control of agronomic traits many crop species, but its utility in primarily outcrossing, perennial species has yet to be demonstrated.

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Thlaspi arvense (pennycress) has the potential for domestication as a new oilseed crop. Information from an extensive body of research on the related plant species Arabidopsis can be used to greatly speed this process. Genome-scale comparisons in this paper documented that pennycress and Arabidopsis share similar gene duplication.

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