b'KURT VON RMKER (1859 - 1940) -NAZARENO STRAMPELLI (1866 - 1942)NIELS EBBESEN HANSEN (18661950) GERMAN PLANT BREEDER - ITALIAN AGRONOMIST AND PLANT- DANISH-AMERICAN HORTICULTUR-Already during his agricultural studiesBREEDER IST, AND AGRICULTURAL EXPLORER in Bonn, he was particularly interestedIn 1900, he started his research on theOn his many expeditions in northern in plant breeding, which until then hadhybridization of wheat, although heScandinavia, Siberia, Manchuria, and the been carried out purely empirically, i.e.,was unaware of the concurrent work ofdry steppes of the Volga, he searched based solely on empirical values. With hisGregor Mendel. In 1903 he continued tofor new grasses, fruits and other plants doctoral thesis Die Veredelung der viercross wheat varieties and within a fewthroughout Europe and Asia, which he wichtigsten Getreidearten des klterenyears developed new high-performingbrought back to the U.S. He then raised Klimas (The breeding of the four mosthybrid combinations. He created wheator crossbred them with U.S. plant varie-important cereals of the colder climate)varieties with a reduced stem, and aties to produce a stronger plant. He bred in 1888, he laid the foundation for plantshorter growing phase and increasedmany new fruit varieties, among them the breeding based on scientific principles.disease resistance. One of StrampellisHansen hybrid plums. He is also credited In 1889, he gave the first lecture on plantbest performing varieties was namedwith the discovery and introduction of breeding in Germany. His intensive effortsGregorio Mendel. Strampellis workCossack alfalfa, crested wheat grass and in the breeding of rape, rye, wheat andallowed Italy to become almost self-suffi- brome grass. He developed larger apri-fodder beet increased the knowledge incient in bread wheat production, increas- cots and plums by crossing native varie-the field of breeding methodology anding the average yield of 1.0 t/ha at theties with those he brought from Asia.made him the mastermind of Germanbeginning of the 19th century to aboutDuring a trip to Russia in 1897, he came plant breeding. Based on his proposals,1.5 t/ha in the 1930s. Some of his varie- across the red-fleshed wild apple Malus the variety testing system was revolu- ties were exported to foreign countries,niedzwetskyana and began two breed-tionised in 1905 and the High Breedingsuch as Argentina, Mexico, and China.ing programs with it. One was aimed at Register of the German AgriculturalThe Mentana variety was exporteddeveloping a cold-hardy cooking and Society was introduced. After leavingand cropped in Sonora, Mexico, andeating apple, and the other aimed at his position as professor at the Royalbecame the source of a new generationdeveloping ornamental crab-apples. His Agricultural College in Berlin, he devotedof high-yielding, small size wheat varie- breeding led to the Almata apple and the himself to practical cereal breeding on aties. Strampellis work laid the founda- Hopa crab-apple, among other varieties.leased estate near Halberstadt. tions for Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution of the late 1960s. GEORGE HARRISON SHULL (18741954) - AMERICAN PLANT GENETICISTAfter his graduation from the University of Chicago (Ph.D.) in 1904, he served as botanical expert to the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1903-04, and after that as botanical investigator of the Carnegie Institution at the Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. He gave special attention to Burbanks results. Shull was instrumental in the development of hybrid maize, but he was mainly interested in pure lines, not for their economic value but mostly for his experiments in genetics. After producing maize lines that bred true, he then crossed these strains. The hybrid offspring of these pure lines were vigorous and predict-able. This had great impact upon global agriculture, and for his work on maize, Shull was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1948. Shull described heterosis in maize in 1908 but termed it heterosis only in 1914. He made several other key discoveries in the field of genetics. DECEMBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /43'