Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84OCTOBER 2016 SEEDWORLD.COM / 39 YOU HAVE AN IDEA. WE HAVE THE SOLUTION. Concept to Completion Since 1960 Every idea is unique, so we customize every solution to meet your needs. Packaging and Container Handling Equipment is what we know, no matter how large or small your line. Tell us what you intend to accomplish, and we’ll make sure all the pieces fit. Custom Packaging and Container Handling Equipment taylorproducts.com 888.882.9567 JIANMING YU, an associate professor of agronomy and the Pioneer Distinguished Chair in Maize Breeding at Iowa State University, led a study explor- ing how gene banks play into plant breeding efforts. The researchers tested a complex set of genetic tools to predict which traits hundreds of sorghum seeds would possess if cultivated. The team then grew specimens for some of those sorghum accessions, the word used to describe plant material col- lected from various sites, to gauge the accuracy of their genome-based predictions. The team’s yield predic- tions proved accurate over 70 percent of the time. In theory, plant breeders can access a virtual ocean of data on germplasm, or the genetic material of plants, from all over the world. There are 1,750 gene banks in the world containing 7.4 million plant accessions, but only a small percentage of those possess the specific qualities that plant breeders prize in producing new culti- vars for production needs. But finding the best accessions among the millions available poses a logistical nightmare for plant scien- tists, Jianming Yu says. The publication shows it’s possible to an extent to predict the traits those accessions possess based on their genetic profile. Yu says the paper takes a step toward “super charging the engine” of a valuable resource allowing sorghum breeders to zero in on valuable accessions with greater ease and speed than is currently pos- sible. “We all agree on the urgency and challenges to effectively mine the nat- ural heritage stored in gene banks,” he says. “But we need to test different strategies and we need to figure out the way.” The researchers selected a set of 962 sorghum accessions from a U.S.