b'KURT VON RMKER (1859 - 1940) -NAZARENO STRAMPELLI (1866 - 1942)NIELS EBBESEN HANSEN (18661950) - GERMAN PLANT BREEDER - ITALIAN AGRONOMIST AND PLANTDANISH-AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST, Already during his agricultural studiesBREEDER 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. WithGregor Mendel. In 1903 he continued tofor new grasses, fruits and other plants his doctoral thesis Die Veredelungcross wheat varieties and within a fewthroughout Europe and Asia, which der vier wichtigsten Getreidearten desyears developed new high-performinghe brought back to the U.S. He then klteren Klimas (The breeding of thehybrid combinations. He created wheatraised or crossbred them with U.S. plant four most important cereals of the coldervarieties with a reduced stem, and avarieties to produce a stronger plant. He climate) in 1888, he laid the foundationshorter growing phase and increasedbred many new fruit varieties, among for plant breeding based on scientificdisease resistance. One of Strampellisthem the Hansen hybrid plums. He is principles. In 1889, he gave the firstbest performing varieties was namedalso credited with the discovery and lecture on plant breeding in Germany.Gregorio Mendel. Strampellis workintroduction of Cossack alfalfa, crested His intensive efforts in the breedingallowed Italy to become almost self- wheat grass and brome grass. He of rape, rye, wheat and fodder beetsufficient in bread wheat production,developed larger apricots and plums by increased the knowledge in the fieldincreasing the average yield of 1.0 t/ crossing native varieties with those he of breeding methodology and madeha at the beginning of the 19th centurybrought from Asia.him the mastermind of German plantto about 1.5 t/ha in the 1930s. Some ofDuring a trip to Russia in 1897, he breeding. Based on his proposals, thehis varieties were exported to foreigncame across the red-fleshed wild apple variety testing system was revolutionisedcountries, such as Argentina, Mexico,Malus niedzwetskyana and began in 1905 and the High Breeding Registerand China. The Mentana variety wastwo breeding programs with it. One of the German Agricultural Society wasexported and cropped in Sonora,was aimed at developing a cold-hardy introduced. After leaving his positionMexico, and became the source of a newcooking and eating apple, and the other as professor at the Royal Agriculturalgeneration of high-yielding, small sizeaimed at developing ornamental crab-College in Berlin, he devoted himself towheat varieties. Strampellis work laid theapples. His breeding led to the Almata practical cereal breeding on a leasedfoundations for Norman Borlaug and theapple and the Hopa crab-apple, estate near Halberstadt. Green Revolution of the late 1960s.among other varieties.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 predictable. 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. EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 27'