Kampong October Lecture Series

Thursday, October 17, 2019 – 6:30pm

When: Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 6:30 pm

Where: The Kampong, 4013 S. Douglas Road, Coconut Grove, FL 33133

Lecture Series: Osman Ariel Gutierrez, Ph. D., USDA
Research Geneticist (Plants) / Lead Scientist
Subtropical Horticultural Research Station
USDA-Agricultural Research Service

Lecture Topic: Breeding for Disease Resistance in Cacao Using Genomics Approaches

Cacao is an important crop in the tropical regions of the world. Cacao production worldwide has been severely affected by diseases and pests. In the Americas, the most important diseases are Frosty Pod Rot and Black Pod Rot and cause substantial production loses. The use of fungicides to control these diseases is not feasible due to high costs and environmental concerns. The most environmentally sound solutions are the development of resistant varieties. To develop resistant varieties, discovery of genetic markers for disease resistance paves the way to further breeding research. This type of research is what USDA-ARS does in order to find better varieties with higher crop yield and better disease resistance.

The main goal of my research program is to investigate the association of molecular markers with Frosty Pod Rot and Black Pod Rot in cacao. These results indicate the prospect of using these markers to accelerate the development of cacao varieties resistant to Frosty Pod Rot and Black Pod Rot.

Bio: Osman Ariel Gutierrez

Dr. Osman Ariel Gutierrez is a native of Venezuela. He attended the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Agronomía, in Maracay, State of Aragua, and obtained a BS in Agronomy in 1983.

In 1984, he joined the Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (FONAIAP) as a researcher in training. During this time he conducted research in seed science and technology and official variety testing in soybean, sorghum and corn. In the spring of 1988, he came to the United States and attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, Tennessee, where he enrolled as a student in English as a Second Language Program. In the summer of 1988, he was the recipient of a scholarship granted by the Inter-American Development Bank scholarship program. Then, he joined the Agronomy Department at Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, where he obtained a Master of Science degree in Agronomy-Plant Breeding and Genetics under the direction of Dr. Lynn M. Gourley in 1990.

In the summer of 1990, he joined Asgrow Seed Company at Plainview, Texas, where he worked as a research assistant in the sorghum and corn breeding program. While working in Texas he was awarded a research assistantship by the Crop Science Department at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina to pursue a Ph. D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics. In the spring of 1991, he joined the department under the direction of Dr. Daryl T. Bowman and Dr. Joseph W. Burton and graduated in the spring on 1995.

Upon his graduation he joined the Agronomy Department at Purdue University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the corn breeding program under the supervision of Dr. David V. Glover. In 1997, he accepted a Corn Breeder position with Pau Seeds Inc. in Ames, Iowa as the manager of the mid-early maturity corn breeding program where he was responsible for an inbred line development program with the purpose of obtaining 100-108 days Relative Maturity hybrids.

In 2000, he joined the Genetics and Precision Agriculture Research Unit of the USDA-ARS at Mississippi State, MS as a Research Geneticist and his work was focused on screening cotton germplasm for nematode resistance including the development of segregating populations for reniform and root knot nematode resistance, utilization of molecular marker-assisted selection for the introgression of resistance into elite material, and the development of random mating populations in cotton. During this time he also served as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Mississippi State University, and also served as International Cotton Consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Pakistan in 2008.

In the spring of 2011, he accepted a Research Geneticist position at the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station of the USDA-ARS in Miami to work in Cacao Breeding and Genetics. He is currently the Lead Scientist of the Project “Development and Application of Genomic-assisted Breeding Strategies to Produce Disease-resistant Cacao Genetic Resources” (https://www.ars.usda.gov/people-locations/person?person-id=46744). This program has collaborative research projects in West Africa, the Americas, Asia, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. He is also holding an appointment as Courtesy Professor of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida (https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/) and is a member of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, American Society of Horticultural Sciences, Gamma Sigma Delta agricultural honor society member and Sigma Xi Scientific Society honor member.

The event will begin at 6:30 pm with wine and light bites. The lecture will begin promptly at 7:00 pm.

Admission is always complimentary for members and $10 donations are suggested for guests. This is also a great opportunity to become a Kampong member, if you are not already, and become part of the NTBG family.

You may purchase a membership by calling 305-442-7169 ext. 100 or by going to https://ntbg.org/kampong-membership

Space is limited. Please RSVP at 305-442-7169, Holly ext. 100