Agronomy and Plant Genetics 1888-2000 - Department of Agronomy ...

Agronomy and
Plant Genetics
at the University of Minnesota
An account of work in
Agronomy and Plant Genetics
at the University of Minnesota
From 1888 to 2000
Compiled by the
Department of Agronomy
and Plant Genetics
Minnesota Report 247-2000
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, including the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, is committed to the policy that
all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities and employment without regard to race, color, creed,
religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status or sexual orientation.

A2
This monograph is a publication of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.
Publication design and production consultation was provided by Larry A. Etkin,
experiment station senior editor, in the Communications and Educational Technology
Services unit of the University of Minnesota Extension Service, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Some of the photos in this publication are from Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics files; some from the School of Agriculture collection obtained with the
assistance of Gerald R. McKay, professor emeritus, Department of Information and
Agricultural Journalism; most were provided by David L. Hansen, staff photographer,
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.
Disclaimer
Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding
that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Minnesota Agricultural
Experiment Station or the University of Minnesota is implied. Registered and trademarked
names are the properties of their respective owners.
Availability
For information on purchasing this publication contact the Distribution Center, 1420
Eckles Avenue, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108-6069
(order@dc.mes.umn.edu or call 612-625-8173). In accordance with the Americans
With Disabilities Act, the text of this material is available in alternative formats upon
request. Please contact your Minnesota county extension office or, outside of
Minnesota, contact the Distribution Center.
Cover Photos
From left, top to bottom: William Kehr, graduate student, in oat research plot, 1949;
J.W. Lambert, soybean breeder, 1970s; field day, Morris station, about 1940; J.O.
Culbertson, flax breeder, 1950s; W.M. Myers, department head, and J.J. Christensen,
plant pathology head, with wheat in campus greenhouse, 1950s; Farm House, department
home from 1928 to 1941.
Copyright © 2000 Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved.
Printed on recycled paper containing a
minimum of 10 percent post-consumer waste.

Chapter 6
Foreword
As a member of the Department of Agronomy
and Plant Genetics, I have been privileged to share in the most recent
28 years of its history. With the advent of molecular genetics and its attendant
biotechnologies, genomics, miniaturized computers and instant electronic
communications – to mention a few changes, these past years have
been exciting, interesting and rewarding for the department. By reading
Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota, however,
one also gains a profound sense of respect and appreciation for the
complexity of the challenges faced by faculty, staff and students and the
enormous progress they made during our early history.
This book is intended to portray the course of agronomy and plant
genetics from its formative stages in the late 19th century on through the
beginning of the 21st century. In many ways, the primary strands contributing
to the current fabric of the department can be traced to these
early times in this 100-plus-year period.
From the start, the education of students and Minnesota citizens has
been the primary guiding principle for agronomy and plant genetics.
Education in agronomy and plant genetics, as part of a land-grant institution,
is a process based on discovery of new knowledge through research
and scholarly inquiry. The genesis of ideas, their testing, refining, and
developing through research, and the delivery of a tangible good, such as
new information for teaching and outreach or a new crop variety or management
practice, are all part of this fabric.
One of the chapters herein contains a listing of buildings and facilities
that have been or are part of agronomy and plant genetics. No doubt these
facilities have had an essential role, but the key ingredient in shaping
agronomy and plant genetics has been the people. The efforts of many
persons associated with the department have had lasting ripple effects

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through time that have often reached wave proportions, as chronicled in
individual chapters. Other lists show post-baccalaureate degrees earned by
agronomy and plant genetics students. The collective impact these individuals
have made in the state, nation and world is tremendous. Although this
book does not list the undergraduates educated in agronomy and plant
genetics, some 32 undergraduate and graduate alumni have received the
University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award as a testament
to the significance of their careers.
Current students, staff and faculty of agronomy and plant genetics certainly
owe a large measure of their future to the contributions of their predecessors.
May this process continue.
Burle Gengenbach
September 2000
St. Paul

Chapter 9
Preface
On April 3, 1946, my wife, Bethene, and I
drove from Oklahoma into the Twin Cities to visit the University of
Minnesota. We planned to stay a day, go on to visit colleges in Nebraska
and Kansas, return to Oklahoma, and I would then enter graduate school
somewhere in the fall.
I was wearing my Army khakis when I met with H. K. Hayes, who said
that if I wanted to take graduate work here they would take me. Hayes
signed me up on the spot for 21 credits of graduate classes, including statistics
and genetics, though I had been out of school and in the military for
more than four years. I started classes the next day and have been associated
with the University ever since.
I worked on alfalfa for 18 years, until Stucker and Barnes took over
that project; then worked with the forage and legume seed production project
in northern Minnesota until retirement.
In the late 1980s there was talk of preparing a history of the department.
We formed a committee: Robert Andersen, Richard Behrens, Verne
Comstock, Jack Goodding, Don Harvey, Robert G. Robinson, Roy
Thompson, Walt Wedin and myself; I was sort of elected-appointed chair.
We had a lot of discussion but never made much headway. In retrospect,
it seems we gave more talk than good thought to the project. But thanks
to a good push from Burle Gengenbach, we finally have wrapped it up.
Early on I suggested that we list all who had earned graduate degrees
in the department, including the theses titles, dates, and advisers for the
Ph.D. graduates. Most did not agree. When I raised the topic on a visit to
Dr. Charles Burnham in the nursing home he said, “If you don’t include
them you will have a weak history.”
I found good reference material for the Ph.D. listing, but the Graduate
School has discarded many of the master’s theses. We did our best to

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reconstruct the list of master’s graduates; it’s the best we could make it, but
I cannot swear to its accuracy.
Just about everyone originally on the committee except Verne
Comstock, Roy Thompson and Walt Wedin is gone or has dropped out. I
have been fortunate to be able to persist through nearly 15 years and finally
see this book in print.
I owe much to two women in my life. Bethene, my first wife, supported
my graduate student days and never questioned my many trips to
northern Minnesota on forage project work; about 400, as I recall. Unfortunately,
Bethene died in 1974 from acute pancreatic cancer and Helen,
my second wife, is in the Presbyterian Homes of Arden Hills. In recent
months I have worked on the book in the dining room there between 2
and 4 in the afternoon, when the room is clear of residents and staff.
I hope and trust that this book will bring to light and preserve many
facets of the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. I enjoyed my
work and the more than 54 years that I have been associated with the
department. Now, in my eighties, I have no wish to return to my native
Oklahoma. I spent many days there in the 100-degree days in the summers
at threshing and the like. I prefer the 75-degree summer days here in
Minnesota.
Laddie J. Elling
Professor Emeritus
September 2000

Chapter 9
Acknowledgments
Compiling the information for this book took
considerable effort on the part of a group of emeritus professors who initiated
the process in the mid-1980s. I especially want to recognize the
leadership and persistence of Laddie Elling, the initiative of Robert
Robinson and the work of Orvin Burnside, Gordon Marten, Jim Sentz,
Roy Thompson and Walt Wedin. I also wish to thank those of the department’s
current faculty who provided historical accounts of their areas. Kent
Crookston, department head through the period when gathering information
for and writing this book became a serious endeavor, was generous in
his support and encouragement.
Some areas of work and periods of time probably are not covered as
much as would have been optimal due to lack of records or people to provide
an account from collective memory. Early studies of sugarbeets, tobacco,
wild rice and other crops are known but not discussed, and other agronomic
functions of the early years may unintentionally have been passed
over in compiling this account.
Every effort was made to verify the facts, such as names, dates and
events, included herein, but the flavor of the individual chapters is that of
the authors. Gratitude is due to Lynne Medgaarden for the time she spent
in double-checking the accuracy of the graduate student and thesis listings
with the departmental student records.
A special note of appreciation goes to the many people who served in
staff roles in the department throughout these 100-plus years. Some are
named, others are not mentioned specifically; nevertheless, all have contributed
in unique and substantial ways to the work that made this departmental
history.

vi
Finally, I want to recognize the editorial and organizational skills of Lee
Hardman, which were essential in completing this book. In addition to writing
and editing, Lee located and sorted through the numerous photographs
that could have been included and selected and provided captions for those
that are shown. Harlan Stoehr kept the whole process moving.
Burle Gengenbach
September 2000
St. Paul
Professor Emeritus Laddie J. Elling.

Chapter 9
Dedication
Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University
of Minnesota is dedicated to Professor Emeritus Laddie J. Elling
with the sincere gratitude, appreciation and best wishes of the department
and his colleagues.
When they met for the first time in 1946, Dr. H.K. Hayes must have
instantly perceived the qualities in the young Laddie Elling that led to his
long and productive career. On that initial day, Laddie’s long relationship
with the University of Minnesota and the department, first as a graduate
student and then faculty member, was set – an unbroken connection that
only grew stronger through the years. The nominator of Laddie Elling for
the University’s Outstanding Achievement Award wrote in 1998, “I have
never met another person who has as much enthusiasm and devotion to
the University of Minnesota as Laddie Elling.”
These traits carried through the many roles that Laddie has had as a
University professor including:
Undergraduate advisor, mentor and teacher, with a special affinity for
the crops judging team.
Enterprising and productive researcher in breeding and management.
Outreach educator for grass seed production in Northern Minnesota.
Advocate and tireless spokesman for agriculture.
Valued committee member, including planning for five buildings on the
St. Paul campus.
Active member of the retirees group and voluntary historian for the
department.
In addition to his recent work on the department history, two facets of
Laddie’s professional career merit special mention. Laddie Elling’s work on

viii
forages and grasses plus his interest in the agriculture of Northern
Minnesota led directly to establishment of a grass seed production industry
for that region. The beneficiaries of this program hold Laddie in the highest
esteem for his pioneering efforts. Likewise, the members of the student
crops judging teams, to the person, have related the value of the judging
experience Laddie provided. In addition to the discipline of learning and
the judging skills obtained, the annual trips to Kansas City and Chicago
provided an “experiential” educational dimension much beyond the classroom
that was even more highly valued by the participants.
From these many roles, Laddie Elling has gained a unique perspective
of a significant portion of the department’s history and the people who
made it happen. In addition to H.K. Hayes, Laddie met and worked with
many staff and faculty who had departmental roots beginning in the early
1900s. These associations, combined with his experiences since 1946,
provided a unique perspective to help guide development of this account
of department history.
Thank you, Laddie, for another job well done.
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Faculty, Staff, Students, Alumni and Friends
September 2000

Contents
Foreword ................................................................................ i
Preface .................................................................................. iii
Acknowledgments .................................................................... v
Dedication ............................................................................ vii
Chapter 1 — Milestones .......................................................... 1
Chapter 2 — Origin and Faculty ............................................ 9
Chapter 3 — Department Buildings ...................................... 27
Chapter 4 — Recollections .................................................... 31
Chapter 5 — Undergraduate Teaching .................................. 35
Chapter 6 — Extension Education ........................................ 47
Chapter 7 — Alfalfa Breeding and Pathology Research ........ 51
Chapter 8 — Barley Improvement ........................................ 59
Chapter 9 — Corn Improvement .......................................... 63
Chapter 10 — Flax Improvement .......................................... 79
Chapter 11 — Forage Management, Quality and Utilization 83
Chapter 12 — Forage and Turf Seed Production in
Northern Minnesota ........................................ 95

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Chapter 13 — Forage Breeding and Genetics ........................ 99
Chapter 14 — Genetics, Cytogenetics and Biotechnology .... 103
Chapter 15 — Oat Improvement ........................................ 111
Chapter 16 — Soybean Improvement .................................. 123
Chapter 17 — Weed Science .............................................. 129
Chapter 18 — Wheat Improvement .................................... 139
Chapter 19 — Wild Rice Breeding and Production .............. 147
Chapter 20 — New and Uncommon Crops .......................... 153
Chapter 21 — Branch Agricultural Experiment Stations .... 157
Chapter 22 — Minnesota Crop Improvement Association .. 175
Chapter 23 — Centers and Institutes .................................. 183
Appendix A — Awards and Recognition .............................. 187
Appendix B — Master of Science Graduates ...................... 193
Appendix C — Doctor of Philosophy Graduates,
Alphabetical Listing .................................... 213
Appendix D — Doctor of Philosophy Graduates,
Theses and Advisers .................................... 231
Appendix E — Field Crop Varieties Released by the
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.. 291
Appendix F — Index ............................................................ 295

Chapter 1
Milestones
Milestones
Looking back over more than a century of
work in agronomy and plant genetics, chances are that no two people
would select the same set of milestones to mark progress along the way.
The entries that follow are far from all-inclusive and understandably subject
to challenge as the most important events of the period. Nonetheless, they
fairly represent significant milestones that set the stage on which the
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics would emerge, that have
affected its course and that indicate its accomplishments.
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signs into law on July 2 the Morrill
(Land Grant) Act, providing grants of federal land to states to
finance education in agriculture and the mechanic arts.
1869 The Minnesota legislature reorganizes the University of
Minnesota, providing for a College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts in conformity with the National Land Grant Act, and transferring
all of the lands granted and to be granted by the national
government and the proceeds from them to the University
for this purpose. The legislature also instructs the board of
regents to secure suitable lands for an experimental farm near
the University. A tract along both sides of University Avenue
from Oak Street to Prospect Park is purchased from John S.
Pillsbury for $8,500. Little progress was made; the land was not
suitable for agricultural use.
1881 Edward D. Porter appointed professor of theory and practice of
agriculture. Porter established the farmers institutes, forerunner
of the agricultural extension service, and laid the foundations for
the school and college of agriculture.
Compiled by Professor Emeritus Laddie J. Elling, who joined the department faculty in 1950
and retired in 1985.

2
1882 On Porter’s recommendation and the regents’ concurrence, the
legislature authorized sale of the original farm and purchase of
more suitable land. Sale of the original farm for development
netted $172,043. The 155-acre Bass farm in St. Anthony was
purchased for $300 per acre and the adjoining 95-acre
Marshall Langford property for $200 per acre; the experiment
station and college of agriculture were established on this land.
1883 First buildings constructed on the St. Paul campus: Farm House
(later the agronomy department’s first home) for $25,000;
Home Building (primarily for the school, but also for dormitory
and offices) for $17,000, and the Farm Barn for $15,000; it
burned in 1891.
1885 Edward D. Porter appointed first director of the Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES).
1887 Congress passes the Hatch Act, on March 2, providing funding
for agricultural experiment stations established in connection
with colleges of agriculture provided for under the Land Grant
Act of 1862.
At a meeting of the Board of Regents an advisory board of
seven members made up of “practical farmers” was designated
to confer with Professor Porter and draw up plans for a
school of agriculture.
1888 The School of Agriculture is established and opened on October
18. The course was two winter terms of six months each until
the 1891-92 academic year, when it became three terms. The
first year there were 47 students, the second year 78 and the
third year 104.
Director Porter selects first experiment station staff to head its
five divisions: agriculture, agricultural chemistry, entomology
and botany, horticulture and veterinary. His first selection is
Willet M. Hays, agriculturist. Porter creates a Department of
Agriculture to coordinate work of the college and station, whose
faculties are identical.
1889 Professor Porter resigns, becomes director of the Missouri AES.
Administrations of his successors, N.D. McLain, then Clinton
Smith, were brief and stressful.
1891 Andrew Boss is appointed farm foreman May 1 following graduation
from the School of Agriculture.
Willet M. Hays goes to North Dakota this fall as professor of
agriculture and agriculturist at the N.D. AES.

3
1892 Coates P. Bull joins the faculty as agriculturist.
1893 Col. William M. Liggett, a member of the board of regents, succeeds
Clinton Smith as dean and director of the University’s
Department of Agriculture.
Willet Hays returns from North Dakota as professor of agriculture.
1894 Hays appointed vice chairman of the agricultural experiment
station. Cooperative experimental work begins on Oren C.
Gregg’s Coteau Farm at Lynd.
1895 Hays persuades legislature to approve northwest and north-central
sub stations.
1896 Experiment Stations at Crookston and Grand Rapids are
opened.
1903 Hays and Bull call organizational meeting of Minnesota Field
Crop Breeders Association at Minnesota State Fair. Hays is
elected secretary of the organization, which later becomes
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association (MCIA).
Cooperative experimental work phased out on Coteau Farm at
Lynd.
1904 Willet M. Hays resigned in December to serve as U.S. assistant
secretary of agriculture.
1906 Administration Building, Coffey Hall, erected.
1908 College of Agriculture catalog lists agronomy for first time, previously
agronomy courses were listed under agriculture.
1909 Act of the legislature creates a division of agricultural extension
and home education in the Department of Agriculture at the
University of Minnesota.
Andrew Boss appointed chief of the Division of Agronomy and
Farm Management.
Elvin Charles Stakman appointed instructor in plant pathology.
1910 Agricultural Extension Division begins operation January 1.
Archie Del (A.D.) Wilson, director of farmers institutes and former
assistant in agriculture, appointed superintendent August 1.
A.C. Arny appointed assistant in agriculture.
1911 Paul E. Miller appointed agronomist at West Central School and
Experiment Station, begins research there, later becomes director
of agricultural extension service.

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Legislature authorizes northern and southern demonstration
farms.
1912 Oscar M. Olson, lecturer in agronomy, receives part-time extension
appointment to head the demonstration farms project. By
year-end 28 farmers in 28 counties had contracted with extension
to operate their farms as demonstration farms.
Coates P. Bull added to graduate school faculty.
Northeast Demonstration and Experiment Farm established at
Duluth.
1913 Operations begin at Southern Demonstration and Experiment
Farm, Waseca.
1915 Herbert Kendall Hayes appointed associate professor of agronomy.
Agronomy and farm management division now has five
sections: cooperative seed production and distribution, farm
crops, cereal breeding, cost accounting and farm organization.
1916 Release of Redwing, first wilt-resistant flax variety developed by
the department.
1917 Section on cereal breeding renamed plant breeding.
Andrew Boss appointed vice director of the experiment station
and chief of the Division of Farm Management, Agronomy and
Plant Genetics.
1921 Frank Peck, who earlier served on the agronomy and farm
management staff, appointed director of agricultural extension
succeeding Archie Del Wilson, who resigned June 30.
1922 R.F. Crim, Cottonwood County agricultural agent, appointed
first full-time extension specialist in agronomy.
1923 Gopher oat variety released, presently the oldest long-term
check variety in USDA’s uniform midseason oat performance
nursery.
1928 On recommendation of Dean Coffey and approval by the board
of regents, the farm management section of the Division of
Farm Management, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, is merged
with agricultural economics on July 1 to form a Division of
Farm Management and Agricultural Economics, leaving a
Division of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. H.K. Hayes is
named chief of agronomy and plant genetics. The division is
housed in the original experiment station building (the Farm
House), which was remodeled to provide adequate office space.

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1929 E.R. Ausemus stationed in the department by USDA to head
the hard red spring wheat improvement project. Ausemus was
the first so assigned to stay to retirement.
H.K. Hayes announces in August that the first lot of hybrid seed
corn will be placed with growers the following season.
1930 In January the agricultural experiment station releases the first
lot of 75 bushels of hybrid seed corn, Minhybrid 402, to growers
recommended by county agents.
1934 Thatcher wheat, resistant to stem rust, released. Thatcher was
grown on about 17 million U.S. and Canadian acres in 1941,
remained the principal spring wheat grown in North America in
1951, still led in acreage in Montana in mid 1960s.
1938 C.R. Burnham appointed first geneticist and cytogeneticist
September 1. Cytogenetics research on corn begins.
1939 Period of planning and construction of buildings now named
Hayes Hall and Stakman Hall begins. General contract let
October 17, 1940, for $249,700; mechanical and electrical let
for $37,000.
1941 Agronomy and plant genetics moves from Farm House into
Agronomy Building, now Hayes Hall.
1945 Minnesota oat acreage peaks at 5,392,000 acres; average yield
is 45 bushels/acre.
1948 First issue of Varietal Trials of Farm Crops published.
Agronomic research begins at Rosemount Experiment Station.
1949 First unit of Minnesota Crop Improvement building constructed
at a cost of $51,208. Of this amount, $28,000 is contributed
from the agronomy and plant genetics seed stocks project.
1952 H.K. Hayes retired as chief of agronomy and plant genetics on
June 30.
W.M. Myers appointed head, Department of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics, July 1. The University’s Department of
Agriculture is renamed Institute of Agriculture, Forestry and
Home Economics to avoid confusion with the state of
Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
1953 Renville, first Minnesota soybean variety developed from a cross
of two lines, released.
1957 Park Kentucky bluegrass variety released to Northern
Minnesota Bluegrass Growers Association.

6
1959 Southwest Experiment Station established at Lamberton, R.G.
Robinson plants winter wheat and rye plots there in September.
1961 J.W. Lambert leaves barley project to devote full time to soybean
breeding, D.C. Rasmusson assumes leadership of barley
improvement project.
1963 W.M. Myers appointed dean and director of international programs.
E.H. Rinke named interim department head.
1964 H.W. Johnson appointed head of agronomy and plant genetics
July 1.
1967 MAES and MCIA sign memorandum of understanding transferring
foundation seed production and distribution from
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics to MCIA.
1969 Department changes undergraduate course offerings to a series
of principles-based courses, replacing commodity-based courses
offered since the early 1900s.
1978 Netum, first wild rice variety developed by the department, is
released.
1982 Marshall wheat released, is Minnesota’s leading spring wheat
variety from 1983 to 1990 and is grown on more than 5 million
U.S. acres during its peak production years.
1983 Robust barley released, will be grown on about half the barley
acreage in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota from
1985 to 1999.
1985 H.W. Johnson, is succeeded by Orvin C. Burnside. Burnside’s
appointment, April 15, overlaps Johnson’s July 15 retirement
date.
1989 Major undergraduate curriculum changes result from Project
Sunrise, department majors are replaced by college-wide
majors.
1990 Orvin C. Burnside resigned as department head June 30, serves
as professor of weed science until retirement in 1998. R. Kent
Crookston appointed interim head July 1.
Gene for corn dihydrodipicolinate synthase isolated and its
DNA sequence determined.
1991 R. Kent Crookston appointed department head on August 7.
First genetically engineered crop (oat) developed by department
geneticists is produced by particle bombardment technology.

7
1993 David Somers appointed to endowed chair in molecular
genetics.
Ronald Phillips selected as a Regents Professor of the University
of Minnesota.
Department imposes variety development fee on sales of all
registered and certified seed of all crop varieties developed by
the department, protected by the MAES and released on or
after Feb. 15, 1992. The charge is 50¢/bu. on soybean seed,
30¢/bu. on wheat, 25¢/bu. on barley and oat and 5% of the
sale price of seed of other crops.
1994 Agronomy Building officially renamed Hayes Hall.
1998 Donald Rasmusson receives Siehl Prize in recognition of his
work in barley improvement.
R. Kent Crookston resigns to accept position at Brigham Young
University, Provo, Utah. Burle G. Gengenbach appointed department
head.
1999 University changes from quarter to semester teaching program.
2000 University President Mark Yudof designates Ronald Phillips as
the University’s first McKnight Presidential Chair to recognize
and enhance his work in plant genomics.
Publication of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the
University of Minnesota.
Hayes Hall with greenhouse, west, before construction of Borlaug Hall.

J.J. Christensen, plant pathologist; J.W. Lambert then agronomy department
barley breeder; and H.K. Hayes, chief, Division of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics; about 1950.
8

Chapter 2
Origin and Faculty
The Morrill, or Land-Grant College Act, passed
by the U.S. congress in 1862, provided for transfer of federal lands to
approved state colleges for support of instruction “in agriculture and the
mechanic arts.” While there were efforts to apply this provision at several
Minnesota towns, including Glencoe, Hastings and Red Wing, a bill introduced
by Senator John S. Pillsbury and passed in the 1868 legislative session
transferred the agricultural college to the University of Minnesota, thus
qualifying the University for the federal land grant.
Later in 1868 the University bought 96 acres of land east of the
Minneapolis campus, extending from the junction of University and
Washington avenues east to Prospect Hill and south to Franklin Avenue.
Another 30 acres were acquired in 1869; these 126 acres became
Minnesota’s unofficial agricultural experiment station.
A succession of professors of agriculture was then appointed to the
University faculty: Colonel Daniel A. Robertson in 1869; Dalston P.
Strange in 1872, who hired Walter R. Field as farm manager; Charles Y.
Lacy in 1874, who expanded variety testing of cereal crops and vegetables,
and Edward D. Porter in 1881. Lacy had identified the land as not suited
to agricultural experiment work. Porter persuaded the regents to sell it and
to buy the 154-acre Edgar Bass farm and adjoining 94-acre Nathaniel
Langford farm in St. Anthony Park. The University gained full possession
of these farms, which became the St. Paul campus, in 1883-84.
In 1885 the legislature passed an enabling act, instructing the regents
to establish “... an agricultural experiment station for the purpose of promoting
agriculture in its various branches by scientific investigations and
Compiled by Laddie J. Elling from department records, reports and bulletins of the Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station, and documents from University archives, including records
of board of regents meetings and papers of Andrew Boss and Coates P. Bull.

10
experiments ...” This act would qualify the station for then-proposed federal
funding, which came with passage of the Hatch Act by the U.S.
Congress in 1887.
The regents designated the University farm as the experiment station
and the College of Agriculture faculty as its staff. A department of agriculture
was created to coordinate work of the college and station, and Porter
became dean of the college and director of the experiment station. Porter
had come to the University from Delaware College, Newark, where he had
taught science and mathematics for 30 years and managed the College’s
experimental farm. When he resigned his Minnesota position on March
21, 1889, to become dean of the College of Agriculture and director of
the Agricultural Experiment Station at Missouri the regents voted to continue
his salary to the end of the academic year.
Porter published the first experiment station bulletin, reporting work
with Russian apples, wheat experiments and potato culture, in January
1888. His first faculty appointment, in February 1888, was Willet M.
Hays, as instructor in agriculture and assistant agriculturist at the experiment
station. Hays, the first agronomist on the scene, would play a prominent
role in the work of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and
the evolution of its agronomic function.
Born in 1859 on a farm in Hardin County, Iowa, Hays studied at
Oskaloosa College, Drake University and Iowa State College, Ames, teaching
country school and working on his home farm to earn his way. After
graduation he worked a year as assistant agriculturist under Seaman A.
Knapp, agriculturist at the college, then a year on the editorial staff of the
Orange Judd Farmer in Chicago, where he came to know men high in
national and agricultural affairs.
While Gregor Mendel’s laws of heredity, published in an obscure journal
in 1866, went virtually unnoticed until 1900 and their full significance
was not realized until much later, Hays believed from the early 1890s that,
“There are Shakespeares among plants.” He saw the individual plant as
the unit of improvement and had a grasp of the effects of hybridization. He
organized the University’s farm for systematic field plot tests and set out to
breed and test large numbers of plants in order to “find the Shakespeares.”
Within a decade his efforts grew from a few rod squares of timothy, where
plants were treated individually, to a crop nursery of several acres of important
crops and millions of plants.
In fall 1891 he went to the new North Dakota Agricultural Experiment
Station as agriculturist and professor and head of agriculture at the college.
There he laid out the station farm for crop rotations, planned the field plot
layout and established a field-crop breeding nursery. By 1893 he was back
in Minnesota as professor of agriculture in the college and agriculturist and

11
vice chairman of the experiment station,
where he headed the agricultural division.
Under his investigations and selections,
several varieties of field crops were made
commercially available and became widely
distributed.
The best known of these were
Minnesota No. 13 corn; Minnesota No.
169 Bluestem wheat; Primost, or
Minnesota No. 25 flax; Minnesota No.
105 barley; and Minnesota 281 and 295,
two introduced varieties of oats. Learning
of an alfalfa developed through selection
into an extremely winterhardy variety in
Carver County by German immigrant
Willet M. Hays
Wendelin Grimm, Hays thought it a
Shakespeare among alfalfas that should be
propagated. Grimm became the standard recommended alfalfa variety
where winterhardiness was a factor in alfalfa-growing success.
Hays fostered cooperation of agronomists in neighboring states and
the USDA. Plant stocks were exchanged, conferences were held, and he
frequently visited other experiment stations and the USDA to benefit from
interchanges with those doing similar work. Recognizing the effect of environment
on plants, he early enlisted the cooperation of farmers in testing
varieties and studying cropping practices.
Troubled by the difficulty of controlling field operations under such circumstances,
he advocated establishing branch experiment stations. He
began experimental work on Coteau Farm at Lynd in 1894 and persuaded
the state legislature in 1895 to establish two branch stations, the
Northwest Sub-Station at Crookston, on land contributed by Empire
Builder James J. Hill, and the North Central Sub-Station at Grand Rapids.
He traveled extensively, going to Europe in 1899 and becoming widely
acquainted with plant breeders and with other experimental methods used.
He initiated cooperative research with North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa,
Nebraska and Wisconsin, fostering greater standardization of methods and
joint analysis of research problems. With Coates P. Bull, he fostered organization
in 1903 of the Minnesota Field Crop Breeders Association
(MFCBA) and was its first secretary. It evolved as the Minnesota Crop
Improvement Association.
In December 1903 Hays chaired the founding meeting of The
American Breeders Association, which became the American Genetic
Association, and was its secretary from 1903 to 1913. He founded the

12
Journal of Heredity, was its editor from 1910
to 1913, and stimulated interest in the organization
of departments of genetics in many institutions.
He resigned in December 1904 to serve as
assistant U.S. secretary of agriculture from
1905 to 1913. In that role he is widely credited
with fostering the Smith-Lever Act establishing
cooperative extension work, and the Smith-
Hughes Act, which provides federal funds for
vocational education. He also arranged transfer Andrew Boss
of the Indian school farm at Morris to the
University of Minnesota; it became the West-Central Experiment Station.
Among Hays’ students was Andrew Boss, who was raised on a farm
near Wabasha, Minnesota. Boss attended the two-year term of the School
of Agriculture in 1889-90 and 1890-91. Following graduation he became
the experiment station’s farm foreman, a role in which he worked closely
with and under the supervision of Hays. While Hays was at North Dakota
Boss was entrusted with the care of the plots and general execution of the
experiments in the agriculture division. On Hays’ return the versatile Boss
developed and taught the first course in dressing and curing meats offered
in the United States and Canada. He went on to develop the first textbook
on the subject and by 1901 had received funding to build a state-of-the-art
meat laboratory, where, among other things, he conducted early research
in relating carcass traits to live animal traits.
In 1902, on recommendation of Hays, animal husbandry was separated
from the Division of Agriculture and given division status. Boss was
named acting head of the new Division of Animal Husbandry but also
retained his position as assistant in agronomy.
Following Hays’ appointment as assistant secretary of agriculture, in
January 1905 Boss was also given charge of the agriculture division. He
headed the two divisions into 1909, when he wrote Dean J.W. Olsen in
May asking for relief, preferably from his animal husbandry obligations.
Correspondence indicates that Boss was experiencing a health problem at
the time.
Dean Olsen’s tenure, from January 1909 to January 1910, was a difficult
time. Reputedly a choice of the governor supported by few of the
regents and not popular among the faculty, Olsen withdrew and was succeeded
by Dr. A.F. Woods, assistant chief of USDA’s Bureau of Plant
Industry.

13
The experiment station annual report for 1909-1910 shows T.L.
Haecker in charge of both animal and dairy husbandry; after Boss’s name
only “agriculture” appears. The term, “investigations in agronomy," first
appears in this report. Although archival papers dated 5/1/1910 show the
organizational structure of a Division of Agronomy with C.P Bull, professor
of agronomy, in charge, the station report for 1910-1911 shows a
Division of Agronomy and Farm Management with Boss in charge.
Bull may or may not have headed the division for an interim period;
whether or not he did, he played a strong part in the emerging agronomy
function. His father, James Bull, an Edina Mills farmer who traced his lineage
to Henry Bull, one-time governor of New Jersey, was a member of
the University’s first agricultural committee. Coates Preston Bull earned his
B.S. in agriculture at the University in 1901, working at University Farm
while a student to earn his way. Following graduation he went to University
of Illinois as assistant professor of farm crops but returned in a year to
teach and do experiment station work as assistant agriculturist under Hays.
He worked with Hays in organizing the MFCBA, became its secretary
when Hays left for Washington, and served in that role until 1920. His
biography shows his work as in plant breeding, plant biology and weeds
and weed control.
Bull worked with the selection process for Minnesota No. 13 corn,
judged corn, grain and county exhibits at the State Fair in the early 1900s
and, among other things, handled the experiment station’s early tobaccogrowing
investigations. In 1907 he was instrumental in arranging the
merger of the Agricultural Association of Minnesota with the MFCBA.
He was a founding member of the American Society of Agronomy
and its first vice president. When the Division of Agronomy and Farm management
was organized into sections in 1913-1914 he became head of its
Cooperative Seed Production and Distribution Section; he also managed
the National Corn Exposition in Dallas, Texas, in 1914. In 1918 he took
leave to serve as captain of the American Red Cross unit in Serbia.
In June 1919 Bull and Manley Champlin, of South Dakota State
University, called a meeting of agronomists from Canada and several
north-central states in St. Paul that fostered formation of the International
Crop Improvement Association (ICIA). In 1968 the ICIA became the
Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA).
Bull left the University in 1919 to take an active management role in
the St. John and Bull Seed Co., Worthington, Minnesota. He returned to
St. Paul in 1921 to complete his working career in charge of the weed
control division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

14
ANDREW BOSS
Although his post high school education consisted of only two terms
in the University of Minnesota’s School of Agriculture, Andrew Boss
played a leading role in early development of the College of Agriculture
and the agricultural experiment station and was one of their best-known
representatives.
When he began his career as foreman of University Farm in 1891 the
position covered all phases of experimental work in agriculture and livestock.
In 1893 he was made assistant to Professor Hays and farm superintendent,
dividing the work of agriculture and animal husbandry with
Professor Thomas Shaw, whose area was livestock investigations and
instruction. He was relieved of farm superintendent duties temporarily in
1899 while Professor Hays was in Europe, serving in effect as interim head
of the division. On Hay’ return he served as assistant professor of agriculture
and farm superintendent until 1902, when he was promoted to associate
professor of agriculture and acting head of animal husbandry. In
1904 his appointment as chief of the Division of Animal Husbandry was
finalized.
From 1905 to 1909, while serving as chief of both animal husbandry
and agriculture, he appears to have focused considerably on the animal
husbandry segment of his responsibilities. He served for several years as
secretary of the Minnesota Livestock Breeders Association and was much
involved in preparation and exhibition of livestock from University Farm in
the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago, exhibiting the grand
champion of the show in 1904.
After 1910, when in charge of the Division of Agronomy and Farm
Management, Boss showed keen interest in the potential for crop improvement
through hybridization of plants. He hired H.K. Hayes as plant breeder
in 1915 and strongly encouraged his work. In 1919 Boss fostered
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association’s (MCIA) adoption of the practice
of field and bin inspection as part of the seed certification process,
which continues today.
In 1917 he became professor and chief of the Division of Farm
Management, Agronomy and Plant Genetics and vice director of the agricultural
experiment station, the latter position unfilled since the resignation
of Willet Hays. When farm management and agronomy and plant genetics
were split into two divisions in 1928 with H.K. Hayes as head of agronomy
and plant genetics, Boss continued as vice director of the experiment
station. He retired in 1936, then returned as acting associate director of
the experiment station for six months in 1944. He died in January 1947
at the age of 79.

15
HERBERT KENDALL HAYES
H.K. Hayes was born in Granby, Connecticut, March 11, 1884, and
raised on a corn and tobacco farm there. He earned his B.S. and M.S.
degrees at Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, and, later, his
D.Sc. from Harvard University in 1921.
After earning his M.S. his first role was as USDA special agent for
tobacco investigations from 1908 to 1909. He then was appointed assistant
agronomist for the Connecticut Experiment Station, where he served
from 1909 to 1911, and where he succeeded E.M. East as plant breeder
from 1911 to 1914. He was appointed associate agronomist in charge,
section of plant breeding, at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
in 1915. He later was named associate professor of plant breeding, serving
in that role until 1928 when he became chief of the Division of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics. He held that title until his retirement in
1952.
He served concurrently as collaborator, division
of cereal investigations, USDA, from 1916
to 1931. From 1932 to 1933 he was acting
professor at Cornell University, temporarily
replacing H.H. Love, and from 1936 to 1937
was advisor to China’s National Agricultural
Research Bureau, Nanking. Following his retirement
he again served as professor at Cornell
University during 1952 and 1953, this time in
the aid program of the College of Agriculture of
The Philippines, Los Banos.
Herbert Kendall Hayes
Hayes served as president of the American
Society of Agronomy, received a decoration “se merito” from the president
of the Republic of Chile, and was elected an honorary member of scientific
societies in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Germany and Sweden. With
F.R. Immer he was co-author of Methods of Plant Breeding, for years the
world’s leading text on plant breeding, which was published in English,
Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
Extensive plant breeding work was underway at Minnesota when
Hayes arrived, but he believed there was inadequate use of genetic principles
and that larger hybrid populations should be grown. His plant breeding
experience was then limited to corn and tobacco. Keenly interested in
work in plant pathology, especially with its application in developing stem
rust resistance in wheat, he developed a close working relationship with
pathologists working on disease resistance in wheat and other crops.
Cooperation with the Department of Plant Pathology in 1920 and 1921
included projects relating to stem rust resistance in wheat and oat, wilt of

16
flax and rust of timothy. The experiment station’s 1925 report included 12
subtitles of cooperative projects under the general title of “Development of
Disease-Resistant Varieties of Farm Crops.” Hayes was deeply involved in
the development and release of stem-rust-resistant Thatcher wheat, for
many years the leading hard red spring wheat grown in North America.
When Hayes arrived in Minnesota the emphasis for corn improvement
centered on farmer selection of superior ears; the effects and implications
of self- and cross-pollination in corn still were not recognized. He became
a principal promoter for developing and using hybrids, de-emphasizing the
value of close selection and corn-show standards for yield improvement.
He directed inbreeding, selection and hybrid testing of corn at Minnesota
and in fall 1929 announced that the experiment station would release the
first Minhybrid early in 1930.
Hayes began teaching genetics and plant breeding his first year in
Minnesota. He later relinquished genetics teaching but continued to teach
plant breeding until his retirement. From 1915 to 1952, during his tenure
in Minnesota, 225 graduate students completed degrees in the division.
Fifty-eight took both the M.S. and Ph.D., 85 the M.S. and 82 the Ph.D.
only. Hayes had an active and important interest in the programs of most
students; proportionately, many more students emphasized plant breeding
and genetics than crop production. Among the graduates, 77 became
prominent in crop breeding, many went into administrative positions, and
from 1939 to 1973 nine former graduate students of Hayes and his associates
were presidents of the American Society of Agronomy.
Hayes died Sept. 9, 1972. Minutes of the University of Minnesota
Senate for Nov. 30, 1972, include this tribute:
Dr. Hayes was one of the world’s leading crop scientists in the first half of this
century and his research in the developing science of plant breeding had farreaching
implications. Standard procedures today, such as hybridization to
obtain new forms, pedigree selection and breeding for resistance to diseases
were subjects of his early research . . . . Although Dr. Hayes’s research
achievements were great, he is best remembered for his work with students.
Through his leadership the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics became
known throughout the world for its work in plant breeding, and to its
classrooms and its laboratories came students from many countries of the
world to work and study . . . . His personal interest in students, enthusiasm
and constructive criticism made him a builder of men, and many of his former
students now occupy positions of leadership in many countries of the world.
WILL MARTIN MYERS
H.K. Hayes’ successor was Will Martin Myers, born June 11, 1911,
on a 120-acre farm near Bancroft, Nemaha County, Kansas, the fourth of

17
five children and the second son. Myers said his
family could afford little beyond the necessities
of food, clothing and shelter.
When Will Myers graduated from Bancroft
Rural High School with a class of 7 students in
1928, the school had 2 faculty and 28 students.
Under the influence of L. E. Call, dean of agriculture
at Kansas State College (later Kansas
State University), Will decided to attend Kansas
State, rather than Kansas University. At Kansas
State he worked under Dr. John H. Parker, then Will Martin Myers
professor in charge of plant breeding, who also
was his adviser and was influential in Myers’ choice of a major in agronomy
and plant breeding. At Kansas State he was a member of the intercollegiate
crops team; he also was a member of the student agricultural association
and agronomy club and president of both in his senior year.
Following graduation from Kansas State in 1932 he came to the
University of Minnesota for graduate work under H.K. Hayes, receiving his
M.S. in 1934 and Ph.D. in 1936. During his graduate work he served as
an instructor in genetics and cytogenetics.
From 1937 to 1946 he served first as associate geneticist and then
geneticist with the USDA at State College, Pennsylvania. From 1946 to
1947 he headed the agricultural research branch of the Agriculture
Division Natural Resources Sections, General Headquarters, Supreme
Commander for the Allied Powers, Tokyo, Japan. From 1947 to 1949 he
was senior geneticist at the U.S. Regional Pasture Laboratory, State
College, Pennsylvania. He also served part time from 1945 to 1949 as
professor of cytogenetics at Pennsylvania State College’s Department of
Agronomy.
From 1949 until coming to Minnesota in 1952 as head of the
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, he was director of field
crops research with the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural
Engineering, USDA, Beltsville, Md.,
In 1948 he was the first to receive the Stevenson Award for farm
crops research from the American Society of Agronomy. He also received
the University of Minnesota’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 1951.
He served as secretary-general of the Sixth International Grassland
Congress at Pennsylvania State University in 1952 and was chairman of
its executive, program and publication committees. In 1956 he headed the
U.S. delegation to the Seventh International Grassland Congress in New
Zealand. He served successively as vice president and president elect of the

18
American Society of Agronomy and was its president in 1958.
While an advocate of grassland value and the value of forage crops,
Myers also was keenly interested in oat breeding. As head of the agronomy
department he led in the introduction of many new crop varieties and methods
in all areas of agronomy. He was co-author, with J.K. Wilson, of the
book Field Crop Production, and author of chapters on alfalfa and wheatgrass
in the German publication, Handbuch der Pflanzenzuchtung, published
in Berlin.
He became a member of the Board of Agricultural Consultants for The
Rockefeller Foundation in 1954 and took leave in 1959-60 to serve as a
special consultant to the Foundation in New Delhi, India. In 1963 he
resigned his department head position to serve as dean and director of
international programs at the University of Minnesota. He then served
from 1964 to 1967 as director designate, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, and from 1967 to 1970
as vice president, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York City.
HERBERT WARREN JOHNSON
Herbert W. Johnson, who succeeded Will Myers as department head
on July 1, 1964, was born July 3, 1920, at Bolivar, Tennessee, and was
a 1939 graduate of Gadsden High School. After
earning a bachelor’s in agricultural education
from the University of Tennessee in 1943 he
served with the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe.
Following the war he did graduate work in
agronomy at the University of Nebraska–
Lincoln, earning his master’s in 1948 and his
Ph.D. in 1950. He served with USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service at Raleigh, North
Carolina, until 1953, when he moved to
USDA’s facility at Beltsville, Maryland, as coordinator
of soybean improvement work.
Herbert W. Johnson
Johnson headed the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics for 21 years, from July 1964 to July 1985.
Known mainly as an able and effective administrator, he nonetheless made
substantial contributions to research through his leadership and close working
relations with his staff and faculty. He emphasized recruiting well-qualified
people and rewarding quality teaching, research and extension work.
During his tenure 40 faculty members were recruited for positions in
the department. Among them, eight were USDA personnel, seven served
in extension, and two were for short-term service on a project in Morocco.

19
During the 1960s he managed the merger of three faculty positions in
plant physiology into the department.
Under Johnson’s leadership the department was recognized among the
outstanding units in the University in 1983, resulting in special merit salary
increases for the faculty, and in 1985 as the University’s outstanding undergraduate
teaching department. He maintained close contact with the state’s
crop commodity groups, which was acknowledged in part by an honorary
life membership in the American Soybean Association, and endorsed and
supported work with the state’s minor or small-acreage crops.
He served on many committees and boards of the American Society
of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America, and on several
national boards and committees. Among the latter were the Panel on
World Food Supply of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, the
National Science Foundation’s Panel on Researchable Areas Which Have
Potential for Increasing Crop Production, and the National Academy of
Sciences Committee on Climate and Food, where he chaired the Plant
Breeding Panel. In 1970 he was program chairman of the American Seed
Trade Association’s 25th Annual Corn and Sorghum Conference.
He chaired the committee to plan and construct Borlaug Hall and
complete the construction of Building 396, later designated as Christensen
Laboratory. In 1985, when he resigned as department head, he was presented
with the American Society of Agronomy’s Agronomic Achievement
Award.
ORVIN C. BURNSIDE
Orvin Burnside, who succeeded Herbert Johnson as department head,
was raised on a farm near Hawley, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s in
agronomy at North Dakota State University and, following military service
as an officer in military intelligence, earned a
master’s and Ph.D. in agronomy (weed science)
at the University of Minnesota. His advisers
were A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens.
He joined the faculty of the University of
Nebraska in 1959, where he specialized in
weed science, and was professor of weed science
there prior to returning to Minnesota to
succeed Johnson on April 1, 1985.
His research prior to becoming department
head involved systems of weed control in agronomic
crops, herbicide phytotoxicity and persis-
Orvin C. Burnside

20
tence, and phenology and life histories of weed species. By 1985 he was
sole or co-author of more than 170 journal articles, 350 abstracts, 13
chapters in books, and many popular articles, and held two patents.
Burnside led a broad effort to secure funding from commodity organizations
and industry to support an endowed faculty chair in molecular
genetics for crop improvement. He succeeded in raising approximately
$1.5 million externally which was matched by $1 million from the
Permanent University Fund. Dr. David A. Somers was appointed to this
faculty position in 1993.
He has served as vice president, president elect and president of the
North Central Weed Science Society; as secretary, vice president and president
of the Intersociety Consortium for Plant Protection, as vice president,
president elect and president of the Weed Science Society of America, and
in many other positions on regional, national
and international professional organizations.
In 1990 he asked to be relieved of his department
head duties in order to return to his career
in weed science, and served as professor of
weed science in the department until his retirement
in 1998. Among Burnside’s later contributions
to his profession was a 20% commitment
of his time from 1993 to 1996 to serve
USDA-CSREES as chairman of the NAPIAP
Phenoxy Benefits Assessment Task Force.
R. Kent Crookston He is a fellow of the American Society of
Agronomy and the Weed Science Society of
America and an honorary life member of the American Soybean
Association.
R. KENT CROOKSTON
Kent Crookston, Orvin Burnside’s successor, was raised on a wheat
and dairy farm at Magrath, Alberta, Canada, and earned a bachelor’s in
agronomy at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, in 1968. He next
earned a master’s and Ph.D. in plant physiology at the University of
Minnesota, was awarded an honorary post doctoral fellowship by the
Canadian Research Council, and spent 1972 as a post doctoral fellow with
the Canada Department of Agriculture at Lethbridge, Alberta.
He was research associate at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,
from 1972 to 1974, when he came to the Department of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics. He took leave from 1984 to 1986 to serve as resident

21
coordinator of the USAID/University of Minnesota project at Rabat,
Morocco.
Crookston became director of the University's sustainable agriculture
program in 1988 and succeeded Orvin Burnside as head of agronomy and
plant genetics in 1990. He also headed the sustainable agriculture program
until 1992 and served as department head until 1998, when he was
named dean of Brigham Young University's College of Biology and
Agriculture.
He was a three-time recipient of the American Society of Agronomy’s
crops and soils award for excellence in agricultural journalism and is a fellow
of both the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science
Society of America. From 1987 through 1990 he served as consultant for
USAID in Morocco, in Senegal and Niger, West Africa, and Rwanda, Africa,
and was a consultant for the maize improvement project, IITA, Nigeria.
During his tenure as department head Crookston played a key role in
establishing a fee-for-use program for barley, oat, soybean, wheat and certain
other crop varieties developed by the department. To date the program
has earned in excess of $1 million. He played a major role in developing
the University’s sustainable agriculture program and led development of the
department’s decision case studies program for both undergraduate and
graduate level teaching. He also was co-organizer of the first national
Decision Cases in Agriculture workshop, held in Minneapolis in 1991.
BURLE G. GENGENBACH
Burle Gengenbach, a native of Nebraska, grew up on a grain and livestock
farm near Grant, Nebraska. He earned his bachelor’s in agriculture
and master’s in agronomy at the University of Nebraska, and his Ph.D. in
genetics at the University of Illinois. He served as research associate at
Illinois from 1971 to 1972, when he joined the faculty of the Department
of Agronomy and Plant Genetics.
Gengenbach was involved in the department’s research efforts that
contributed to the development of genetic biotechnology as an approach
for crop improvement. His group demonstrated the effectiveness of selecting
for disease resistance and nutritional quality improvements using corn
tissue cultures. A major portion of his research effort was devoted to studies
of the molecular genetic regulation of biosynthetic pathways for important
constituents of corn and soybean seed.
Among his long list of professional service endeavors, in 1984 he was
lecturer for a course on plant genetics at Beijing Agricultural University,
Beijing, China, and from 1986 to 1988 was associate editor for Crop

22
Science. He was instrumental in forming the
Plant Molecular Genetics Institute in 1985 and
was its director from 1988 to 1991.
He held a joint appointment in the
Department of Plant Biology, College of
Biological Sciences, from 1989 to 1998, when
he was named acting head of the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics. He was
appointed head in April 1999.
Gengenbach is a member of the American
Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of Burle G. Gengenbach
America, Genetics Society of America,
American Society of Plant Physiologists, International Association for
Plant Tissue Culture and the International Society for Plant Molecular
Biology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, the Crop Science Society of America and the American
Society of Agronomy.
FACULTY MEMBERS
Tenure
Faculty Member From To Specialization
Aamodt, Olaf S. 1924 1927 USDA, taught genetics
Andersen, D.C. 1937 1939 Assistant in plant genetics
Andersen, R.N. 1961 1989 USDA, weed science
Anderson, James A. 1998 Present Wheat breeding and genetics
Armour, Myron L. 1942 1953 Extension, forage specialist
Arny, A.C. 1909 1946 General agronomy, weed science, forages
Ausemus, E.R. 1930 1964 USDA, spring wheat improvement
Barnes, Donald K. 1969 1995 USDA, alfalfa improvement
Basset, L.B. 1908 1928 Assistant in agriculture, farm management
Beard, B.H. 1955 1961 USDA, barley improvement
Becker, Roger 1987 Present Extension, weed science
Behrens, Richard 1958 1986 Weed science
Benton, A.H. 1914 1918 Assistant in farm management
Bernardo, Rex 2000 Present Corn breeding and genetics
Borgeson, Carl 1932 1974 Foundation seed project,
School of Agriculture
Boss, Andrew 1891 1936 Chief, Agronomy and Farm
Management 1910-28
Brewbaker, Harvey 1923 1930 Corn breeding

23
Tenure
Faculty Member From To Specialization
Briggle, Lee 1972 1974 USDA, oat investigations leader
Briggs, Rodney 1953 1958 Extension, forage crops, undergraduate
teaching
Brun, W.A. 1966 1987 Plant physiology
Buhler, Douglas 1989 1993 USDA, weed science
Bull, Coates P. 1902 1919 Seed production and distribution
Burnham, Charles R. 1938 1972 Genetics, cytogenetics
Burnside, Orvin C. 1985 1998 Department head 1985-90, weed science
Busch, Robert H. 1978 2000 USDA, spring wheat improvement
Caddel, John L. 1975 1977 Special assignment, Morocco
Caldecott, Richard 1955 1966 USDA, genetics, cytogenetics
Cardwell, Vernon B. 1967 Present Undergraduate teaching
Clement, William M. 1959 1962 USDA, alfalfa genetics
Compton, W.A. 1965 1968 Corn improvement
Comstock, Verne E. 1954 1984 USDA, flax improvement
Cooper, Richard 1962 1968 Soybean genetics
Cooper, T.P. 1908 1910 Assistant in agriculture
Crim, Ralph F. 1922 1953 Extension, seed production
Crookston, R. Kent 1974 1998 Department head 1990-98, crop management
Culbertson, J.O. 1937 1957 USDA, sugarbeet and flax improvement
Cuomo, Gregory J. 1996 Present Pasture management, West Central
Research and Outreach Center, Morris
Doxtater, C.W. 1932 1936 Corn improvement
Dunham, R.S. 1945 1958 Weed science, undergraduate teaching
Durgan, Beverly R. 1985 Present Extension, weed science
Dyck, Elizabeth 1998 Present Southwest State U. agronomy teaching;
weed management, Southwest Research
and Outreach Center, Lamberton
Eberlein, Charlotte E. 1984 1989 Weed science
Ehlke, Nancy J. 1986 Present Legume and grass breeding
Elling, Laddie J. 1950 1985 Alfalfa breeding, seed production, undergraduate
teaching
Elliott, W.A. 1972 1977 Wild rice improvement
Falkner, Lori K. 2000 Present Southwest State U. agronomy teaching;
crop breeding, Southwest Research and
Outreach Center, Lamberton
Forcella, Frank 1993 Present USDA, weed management
Ford, J. Harlan 1960 1973 USDA, flax improvement
Gallagher, Lynn W. 1980 1983 Special assignment, Morocco
Gallo-Meagher, Maria 1994 1996 Wheat and barley molecular genetics
Garber, R.J. 1918 1921 Plant breeding
Garey, L.F. 1921 1928 Farm management

24
Tenure
Faculty Member From To Specialization
Geadelmann, J.L. 1972 1987 Corn improvement
Gengenbach, Burle 1972 Present Department head 1998–,
genetics, biochemistry
Goodding, John A. 1978 1989 Undergraduate teaching
Green, C.E. 1974 1982 Genetics, cell and tissue culture
Griffee, Fred 1920 1925 Plant breeding
Gronwald, John W. 1983 Present USDA, weed science, physiology
Gunsolus, Jeffrey 1986 Present Extension, weed science
Haedecke, A.D. 1918 1934 Seed production and distribution
Hardman, Leland L. 1976 Present Extension, soybean, undergraduate teaching
Hayes, H.K. 1915 1952 Division chief 1928-52, plant breeding
Hays, Willet M. 1888 1905 General agronomy, plant breeding
Heichel, Gary H. 1976 1990 USDA, physiology
Heiner, Robert E. 1965 1977 USDA, spring wheat improvement
Henderson, M.T. 1942 1945 Assistant in agronomy
Henderson, R.W. 1942 1946 USDA, genetics
Hicks, Dale R. 1968 Present Extension, corn and soybean
Hoverstad, A.T. 1923 1928 Cost accounting
Hovin, A.W. 1969 1981 Forage crops breeding
Kuan-Jen-Hsu 1952 1956 Plant breeding
Hueg, William F., Jr. 1957 1962 Extension, forages
Hutcheson, T.B. 1914 1914 Associate agronomist
Immer, Forest R. 1929 1946 Genetics, statistics
Jensen, Edwin 1954 1956 Extension, small grains and weeds
Jeppson, Randall G. 1980 1981 Extension, small grains and sunflowers
Johnson, Gregg A. 1994 Present Weed management, Southern Research
and Outreach Center, Waseca
Johnson, Herbert W. 1964 1985 Department head
Johnson, Iver J. 1928 1939 Corn breeding
Johnston, David R. 1958 1962 Spring wheat improvement
Jones, Robert J. 1978 Present Corn physiology
Jordan, Nicholas 1994 Present Weed and crop ecology
Jung, Hans-J. G. 1990 Present USDA, forage composition and quality
Justin, James R. 1962 1967 Extension, small grains
Kleese, R.A. 1962 1972 Biochemical genetics
Koo, Keh-Shing 1952 1961 Oat breeding
Kramer, Herbert H. 1942 1946 Plant breeding, statistics
Lamb, JoAnn F.S. 1996 Present USDA, alfalfa improvement
Lambert, Jean W. 1946 1982 Soybean improvement, genetics
Lebsock, Kenneth L. 1980 1981 USDA, administrator
Lueschen, William E. 1996 1999 New crop management
Majek, Bradley J. 1980 1981 Extension, weed science

25
Tenure
Faculty Member From To Specialization
Marten, Gordon C. 1962 1989 USDA, forage management
Martin, Neal P. 1974 1999 Extension, forage crops
Maxwell, Bruce 1989 1992 Weed ecology
McGinnis, F.W. 1919 1927 Agronomist in farm crops
McGraw, Robert L. 1980 1986 USDA, birdsfoot trefoil improvement
Miller, Gerald R. 1964 1983 Extension, weed science
Miller, J.H. 1948 1953 USDA, weed science
Moseman, A.H. 1944 1945 USDA, flax improvement
Moss, Dale N. 1968 1977 Plant physiology
Muehlbauer, Gary J. 1997 Present Wheat and barley molecular genetics
Mumford, D. Curtis 1926 1928 Assistant in farm management
Murphy, Royse P. 1937 1942 Assistant in agronomy
Murray, Helene 1993 Present Program coordinator, Minnesota Institute
for Sustainable Agriculture
Myers, W.M. 1932 1963 Plant breeding 1932-37; department
head 1952-63
Naeve, Seth L. 1998 Present Extension, soybean
Odland, T.E. 1920 1921 Seed production and distribution
Oelke, Ervin A. 1968 2000 Extension, small grains and wild rice
Olson, L.C. 1968 1970 Plant physiology
Olson, P.J. 1914 1918 Plant breeding
Openshaw, Stephen 1987 1992 Corn breeding
Orf, James H. 1981 Present Soybean improvement
Otto, Harley J. 1958 1975 Extension, forages and seed production
Parker, E.C. 1905 1907 Assistant in agriculture
Peck, Frank W. 1912 1922 Cost accounting
Peterson, Paul R. 2000 Present Extension, forage crops
Peterson, R.F. 1932 1934 Plant breeding
Peterson, Robert H. 1960 1996 Corn improvement
Phillips, Ronald L. 1968 Present Genetics, cytogenetics
Pingrey, H.B. 1928 1928 Assistant in farm management
Pinnel, Emmett L. 1942 1957 Corn improvement
Polson, David E. 1969 1974 Plant physiology
Pond, G.A. 1920 1928 Cost production studies
Porter, Paul M. 1995 Present Cropping systems
Porter, Raymond 1988 Present USDA, wild rice improvement
Powers, LeRoy 1932 1935 Plant genetics, quantitative genetics
Putnam, Daniel H. 1986 1993 New and alternative crops
Rasmusson, Donald C. 1961 2000 Barley improvement
Reece, Oscar E. 1944 1946 USDA, sugarbeets
Rines, Howard W. 1976 Present USDA, oat genetics

26
Tenure
Faculty Member From To Specialization
Rinke, Ernest H. 1940 1965 Corn breeding and plant breeding
Robinson, Robert G. 1948 1986 New and alternative crops
Sallee, G.A. 1928 1928 Assistant in farm management
Schmid, A.R. 1941 1977 Forage crops, research and teaching
Schmitt, Michael 1987 1989 Extension, corn
Schultz, Herman 1934 1941 Assistant in agronomy
Sentz, J.C. 1954 1971 Corn breeding
Sheaffer, Craig C. 1977 Present Forage crops, research and teaching
Simmons, Steve R. 1977 Present Undergraduate teaching, agroecology
Singleton, W.R. 1942 1942 Teaching genetics, plant breeding
Smith, Kevin P. 1998 Present Barley breeding and genetics
Smith, L.H. 1959 1995 Physiology, undergraduate teaching
Snustad, D.P. 1965 1966 Genetics
Snyder, Leon A. 1956 1966 Genetics
Somers, David A. 1984 Present Molecular genetics, soybean and oat
Sprague, Ernest W. 1956 1958 USDA, alfalfa genetics
Stahler, L.M. 1944 1948 Weed science
Steinmetz, F.J. 1919 1926 Farm crops research
Stevenson, F.J. 1926 1930 Plant breeding
Strand, Oliver 1969 1983 Extension, weed science, undergraduate
teaching
Stucker, Robert E. 1965 1995 Alfalfa, corn, wild rice breeding; statistics
Stuthman, Deon D. 1966 Present Oat improvement
Sunderman, Donald 1954 1961 USDA, spring wheat improvement
Thomas, H.L. 1945 1969 Forage breeding, statistics
Thompson, John 1902 1904 Assistant in agriculture
Thompson, Roy L. 1972 1978 Extension, small grains
Tsiang, Y.S. 1943 1945 Corn improvement
Tulelen, Neal A. 1958 1962 Plant genetics
Vance, Carroll P. 1976 Present USDA, plant physiology
Wedin, Walter F. 1957 1961 USDA, forage management
Wiersma, Jochum J. 1997 Present Extension, small grains, Northwest
Research and Outreach Center, Crookston
Wilson, Archie D. 1905 1917 Assistant in farm management
Wilson, H.K. 1927 1945 Agronomist, weed control, teaching
Worsham, C.G. 1920 1922 Cost of production studies
Wych, Robert D. 1978 1982 Small grains, physiology
Wyse, Donald L. 1974 Present Weed science

Chapter 3
Department Buildings
Farm House, the first building constructed by
the agricultural experiment station, was authorized by a $25,000 appropriation
and built in 1883. It was intended as a building in which School of
Agriculture students could live. Iver J. Johnson lived in this building for a
time; he had to move when it was assigned to agronomy and plant genetics
following the division’s reorganization in 1928. Farm House was demolished
after the Agronomy Building (Hayes Hall), 364, was constructed.
The seed house, #345, is the south part of the present structure
referred to as the seed house. It is a frame building constructed in 1918 at
a cost of $16,466.72.
Ag botany greenhouse, #339, was one section of greenhouse, approximately
10 x 24 feet, constructed in 1923 at a cost of $2,526.46.
The structure was destroyed when the agricultural botany building was leveled
to make room for the present Magrath Library.
Field house, #355, is the north part of the present structure referred
to as the seed house. It is a frame structure constructed in 1932-33 at a
cost of $27,751.47 and has drying bins and a corn room.
Agronomy building and greenhouse, #364, is now Hayes Hall. The
main structure is a four-story brick building with offices, laboratories and
classrooms. It once housed the seed stocks section and Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association. Rooms 104 and 106 were designed for crops shows
that MCIA might sponsor and room 202 was the location of early annual
meetings of MCIA members. The greenhouse was three sections to the west
of the agronomy building on the third level. Included was a head house for
soil storage, a germination room and general storage. The greenhouses and
head houses were destroyed when Borlaug Hall was constructed.
By Laddie J. Elling.

28
The two buildings, agronomy, now Hayes Hall and plant pathology,
now Stakman Hall, were authorized by a single appropriation. Bids were
let for the construction of buildings 364 and 365 on October 17, 1940.
The general contract was for $249,700; the mechanical-electrical contract
was let for $37,000. After construction of the two buildings, bids were let
for two adjoining greenhouses. The general contract was let for $13,199,
the mechanical contract for $6,590 and the electrical contract for $922.
Legend, which may be fact, has it that a retaining wall connected the two
buildings to indicate that they were one building.
Seed storage south, #366A, now a part of MCIA buildings 470-474,
was constructed in 1942 at a cost of $7,358.71. It is a frame building with
stucco exterior.
Seed stocks, #366, now a part of MCIA, was constructed in 1945 at
a cost of $57,082.75. It is a stucco-covered concrete-block building.
Greenhouse north of garage, #370A, was constructed in 1948 at a
cost of $30,084.13. It stood alone for several years until the 370B section
was constructed.
Seed storage north, #366B, was constructed in 1950 at a cost of
$20,640.59. It is a frame building with stucco exterior.
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association building, #366C, was
constructed in 1949 at cost of $51,207.84. The agronomy department
contributed $28,000.00 from its seed stocks fund.
East section of greenhouse, #370B, attached to 370A, and the head
house were constructed in 1951 at cost of $191,106.96. The head house,
a concrete-block structure, has a concrete floor and soil bins.
Crops service buildings, first phase, #388, was the first unit of the
complex first known as the plant science building. All of these units were
considered to be for use of the three departments: agronomy and plant
genetics, plant pathology, and soil, water and climate. Planning for this
complex began in 1955-1956 with Will M. Myers, head of agronomy and
plant genetics, taking the lead. The first phase was constructed in 1958 at
a cost of $100,000. A prominent feature of this service building is a dustremoval
system that permits threshing and cleaning seed inside at any time.
Crops research building, #389, was the second unit of the “plant science
building.” Urgent requests to build this unit on the west side of
Gortner Avenue were denied. When construction began two major units to
a laboratory-type building were planned, with the west unit twice as long
as the present crops research building. The appropriation for this second
unit was approved in 1959, but a suit against the state for assuming larger
debt for building construction caused a two-year delay. In 1961 the leg-

29
Department
Buildings
Locator Map
478
North
Future
containment
greenhouse
388
388A
398
423
370B
432
389
Future
Microbial
and Plant
Genomics
Center
366
366A,B,C
Buford Ave.
370A
Gortner Ave.
364
Folwell Ave.
365
396
Farm
House
was
here
429
Upper Buford Circle
Buford Circle
339

30
islature took special action to permit the construction. The building was
constructed in 1961-62 at a cost of $1,130,000.
USDA Weed Research Laboratory, #398, formerly 370 K, is the
greenhouse unit located north of the crops research building. It was completed
in 1965 at a total cost of $90,000, paid with USDA funds.
Plant Science Building, #396, now named Christensen Laboratory,
is located between Hayes Hall and Stakman Hall. A change in administration
and policy enabled the three departments to request and receive permission
to have this building constructed west of Gortner Avenue and
between and connected to both Hayes Hall and Stakman Hall. It cost
$1,327,000. This building, which contains only laboratories, is presently
assigned to the Department of Plant Pathology.
Crops Service Building, #388(a), phase II, was the final addition to the
crops service building It has drying ovens, a temperature- and humidity-controlled
seed storage room and other special types of services. It was completed
in 1969 at a cost of $259,000. The entire crops service building is a
one-story structure with a significant unheated area for bundle storage.
Borlaug Hall, #429, appeared in schematic drawings as early as
1958 but construction was not authorized for several years because of
University limitations on building requests. It finally was completed in 1985
at a cost of about $13,000,000. A greenhouse shown in the initial plans
could not be built because of cost limitations. Borlaug Hall is occupied by
agronomy and plant genetics, plant pathology, and soil, water and climate.
Teaching Greenhouse and Classroom Head House, # 432, were not
included in the Borlaug Hall project; they were completed in 1986 at a cost
of approximately $800,000. Because inflation had subsided the Borlaug
Hall project came in under budget and this facility was constructed from the
cost savings. This facility provides students in agronomy and plant genetics
and plant pathology courses the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments
and observe crops and weeds at various stages of growth.
Chemical Storage Facility, #478, was constructed in 1993 on a budget
that reached $917,000 by completion. This facility meets increasingly
stringent regulations for the storage, application and disposal of agricultural
chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides and other pesticides.
Sequel: When the agronomy and plant genetics department moved
into what is now Hayes Hall in 1941, Farm House was dismantled and
sold. Donald U. Harvey, a plot supervisor and later the department plot
foreman until his retirement in 1963, bought some of the materials and
used them in building his home at 1965 North Cleveland Avenue in
Roseville. Harvey continued to live in that home until October 1992, when
he moved to Presbyterian Homes, Lake Johanna, at the age of 97 years.

Chapter 4
Recollections
In the late 1940s three telephone lines (281,
282, 283) came into the department and rang at the desk between Stella
Melbostad and Margaret Taarud. One of them would answer the line and
signal the person called to the phone with a buzzer that went to all offices;
one buzz for 281, two for 282 or three for 283. A single phone in the west
end of the hall on the fourth floor was for students and others who had no
office. Later, line 311 was installed in Room 213 and Elling and Harry Hsu
had the first private phone in the department.
Stella Melbostad requested that Bob Robinson be the last person to
hold the 281-83 lines, “Because he was most readily available and could
answer more questions than most others,” she said. Still later, personal
phones came to faculty, staff and graduate student offices, and more
recently answering machines and voice mail, and a speakerphone in the
department head’s office.
Duplicating written information was another matter. Into the 1960s
the use of carbon paper was very prominent. One often saw Stella working
on a letter or document with eight or more carbons. An error meant
erasing the mistake on all copies. And this typing was done with a manual
typewriter.
Multiple copies were made on the stencil machine; there was only one
in the college, located in the duplication section. Agronomy typists “cut”
the stencil on their typewriters, the type bars striking the stencil without
touching the ribbon. The stencil was then carried to the duplicating room
where copies were made.
By Laddie J. Elling.

32
The department later acquired a “ditto” machine, which used a special
liquid to transfer impressions from the stencil onto paper. The stencils lasted
only for a limited number of copies.
Next came the xerographic copying machine, in which a heat process
transferred type from the stencil to heat-sensitive paper. Paper left exposed
to light became totally black.
Today copying machines are used extensively and each faculty member,
staff member and graduate student has an access number coded to
department projects. They can make as many copies as needed; the copies
are charged to the project budget.
In 2000, as this piece is written, with e-mail, voice mail, computers
and speakerphones in many if not all offices, it is difficult to imagine the
limitations of department communications in the 1940s.
CIVIL SERVICE PERSONNEL
While it is true that the faculty is the primary leader in the theory,
research and writing of the results in the Department of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics, the civil service personnel contribute greatly to the department’s
success. Work would be very inefficient without the plot supervisors,
statisticians, secretaries, financial managers and others in the civil service
group. While it is impossible to do justice to all of them, I would like
to say a bit about a few that I will not forget.
The first was Donald U. Harvey, the department plot supervisor. Don
was born in 1895 and died in 1997. He graduated from the University’s
School of Agriculture in 1917 and joined the U.S. Army in 1918. He contacted
influenza, received a discharge from the Army, and joined the
University of Minnesota staff later that year. He began working under Prof.
A.C. Arny in the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management.
Another staff member of that time was Stella Melbostad, a secretary
who started with the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management. She
retired in the 1970s after working more than 48 years with the department
and the University.
Lee Alexander, a mature person at that time, joined the University
staff about the same time as Mr. Harvey. Alexander worked with seed
packaging and helped with plot work. It seemed he was directly under Dr.
Hayes, but that is only my best guess. I could find no records of him and
have only memories to go by.
The fourth and fifth of my group came along after the Division of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics was separated from Farm Management in
1928.

33
Mrs. Margaret Taarud was born in Glenwood, Minnesota, and joined
the department about 1933 as a joint financial manager for the department
and for Minnesota Crop Improvement Association. She and Stella
Melbostad shared the management of the agronomy and plant genetics
office. Their desks were arranged so that either could answer the phones
for the department. Mrs. Taarud’s desk was against the wall just outside Dr.
Hayes’ office.
The fifth person was Mrs. Mattie Westgate who worked in the office
on the northwest corner of the fourth floor of the Agronomy Building, now
Hayes Hall, where she used a Monroe calculator to assemble and analyze
data for the department. Mattie was promoted to senior clerk in June
1948. I can add that most graduate students did their own data analyses
on two Friden calculators in the calculating room.
The morning I first entered the department, April 3, 1946, Stella told
me that Dr. Hayes was busy and I should visit with Dr. Burnham for a
while. She led me to Burnham’s office and he was very willing to visit with
me for about 30 minutes. Stella returned and said I could see Dr. Hayes,
who signed me on as a graduate student.
After WW II Don Harvey had all the labor force report to him and he
would assign high school students or older persons to faculty or graduate
students on a person-to-person basis. On one occasion I asked for a man
to go to Rosemount to help Dr. Thomas and me. We were assigned Nels
Olmein, a good big man who was willing and able to work. I immediately
supposed that he was just out of the Army. Fifty years later his son told me
that his dad had been in the Philippines and Japan and worked with the
Red Cross in Japan for a year. Nels was later appointed plot supervisor for
the corn project; he served there very well.
Harold Scott became the department plot supervisor after Don Harvey
retired. On one occasion Scotty, Mr. Kramer from the soils department
and I were in the crops service building. Suddenly Scotty started yelling,
“Why, did you jerk my cap off my head” Then I recognized why he was
so aroused. I hurriedly explained that the dust and straw exhaust system
sucked his cap into the system and into the storage tank as he walked
under one of the intakes. I was glad I was there to explain what had happened,
as it would have been hard put to settle the matter without a good
explanation.
I remember an experience I had with Lee Alexander while I was a
graduate student. I noted that he had a small set of tools, so I asked to borrow
a hammer. He let me take it, and when I came back with the hammer,
I made sure he knew I had returned it. I thanked him for the use of the
hammer, and his reply was, “If you had not brought it back, I would not
have loaned you tools again.” I am sure he was firm in that statement.

34
I also especially remember seven more of the civil service staff.
Avis Kunkel, the administrative assistant for 10 or more years, retired a
few years ago and now lives in Coon Rapids.
Mauritz Linder, a plot supervisor for the soybean project, is retired and living
near Stillwater.
Tom Warnke transferred and is now senior administrative director in farm
and grounds maintenance.
Louise O’Leary, who joined the department out of high school, was secretary
to the department head; she now lives in Oregon with her family.
Patricia Kessler has transferred to the University police department.
Bob Peterson retired from the corn project last year and lives near the
campus in St. Anthony Park.
Duane Smith is retired from the alfalfa project and lives in Maple Plain.

Chapter 5
Undergraduate
Teaching
The record of undergraduate agronomy courses
taught from 1899 to 1929 shows that field (farm) crops and seeds, crop
(plant) breeding, thremmatology and field agriculture were offered prior to
1910. Courses emphasizing grain and corn judging, principles of genetics,
cereal crops, and corn and potato crops were added to the departmental
offering from 1910 to 1924. W.M. Hays, Andrew Boss, C.P. Bull, A.C.
Arny, H.K. Hayes, A.D. Wilson, H.K. Wilson, E.C. Parker, L.B. Bassett
and J.B. Thompson were involved in various aspects of teaching and advising
students. It appeared that the courses and advising emphasized preparation
for graduate study.
It is not known how many students were taught in these courses or
advised by faculty, but a quotation from the College of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Home Economics Bulletin, Volume 31, #17, March 24,
1928, provides some insight into the educational philosophy of the college
then:
Perhaps you would like to go to the college, but you think you can’t afford
to go, or you are not certain of the job or profession you wish to prepare
for, or you are awed by the great change from high school to a big
University.
If you are not interested in study, if you had a poor record in high school
because of your inability to do the work or a dislike for study or if your only
interest in college is some student activity you will save time and money by not
going. Many people have attained great success without going to college.
If you made a credible record in high school, if you have a real desire to
learn and an ambition to improve your mind and to increase your usefulness,
you are justified in at least a trial toward a college education.
By Professor L.L. Hardman, a member of the department faculty since 1976, incorporating
information provided by Laddie J. Elling.

36
The College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics aims to give to
its students practical, yet fundamental, technical training which prepares
them for some vocation, or profession.
It also aims to provide a broad university education which gives students the
breadth of view, depth of interest, and mental grasp which the state has a
right to expect of its university graduates. No college course, even though
it is excellent in every respect, can prepare young men completely and finally
for the immediate assumption of large and responsible positions unless
the student has had previous experience fitting him for such positions.
Agriculture is in itself the greatest industry of man. Our very existence
depends on a prosperous agriculture. The university offers a wide range of
courses to prepare men for this field, but two important facts should be
noted, you should have more than average ability and you must have an aptitude
and real enthusiasm for one of the special fields of agriculture work.
Most of this philosophy is still embraced on the campus and in the
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics today.
CIRCA 1939
The 1938–39 bulletin indicated that a B.S. degree offered in technical
agriculture was developed for students who planned to enter one or
more of the technical or applied fields of agriculture immediately after
graduation. Training was offered for all types of farming in Minnesota, for
extension work (county agent), and for technical agricultural work in various
industries – dairy, animal husbandry, agronomy and plant industries,
horticulture, agricultural engineering, farm management and business. The
tuition for an undergraduate student in the college in 1939 was $20 per
quarter, based on a rate of $1.50 per credit.
Students could select from several electives or emphases (majors) in
the sciences or fields represented by the various divisions of the college.
For a B.S. degree 204 credit hours were required. About half of the courses
in the curriculum were required and were to be taken in the first two
years of study. Examples were agricultural engineering, agricultural economics,
animal and dairy husbandry, horticulture crops, soils, zoology, bacteriology,
botany, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics and rhetoric.
Specific courses taught in the department provided either a plant industry
or a science specialization.
Agronomy courses required during the first two years were general
farm crops, grain crops, grain and hay grading, forage crops and principles
of genetics. Juniors and seniors would take problems in farm crops,
crop judging, farm crop (plant) breeding, pasture crops and management,
and seminar. A.C. Arny, H.K. Hayes, F.R. Immer, I.J. Johnson and H.K.
Wilson were shown as teaching faculty.

37
CIRCA 1949
Much of the earlier information was in the college catalog for this period,
but this statement was new:
Every prospective student in this curriculum is urged to obtain, before entering
the college, at least six months practical experience on a farm. Entering
students whose farm experience credentials are not satisfactory will be
examined as to their familiarity with farm practices, and farm experiences
will be required during the college course in accordance with the results of
these examinations.
The addition of this requirement indicates that students were coming without
farm backgrounds, which was affecting their performance in the college.
Agronomy courses offered for freshmen and sophomores were the
same as in 1939 except that a course entitled production and grading of
cereal crops was added. Junior and senior courses were also the same
except that a course in weed control, which emphasized cultural and chemical
control as well as weed and seed laws, was added. This course offering
reflects the availability of information about chemical control, which
was rapidly developing in the post World War II years.
Students could now choose either agronomy or plant genetics as an
emphasis under the technical agriculture curriculum. Plant industry described
a major or minor that could be selected in certain divisions of the
college, including agronomy. R.S. Dunham, L.J. Elling, H.K. Hayes, J.W.
Lambert, W.M. Myers, E.H. Rinke, R.G. Robinson, A.R. Schmid and H.L.
Thomas were listed in the teaching faculty.
During the period Dunham wrote a 224-page textbook, Introduction
to Agronomy, which was published in 1957 by Dryden Press, New York.
CIRCA 1959
The catalog covering this period showed the curriculum title changed
from technical agriculture, used for the previous 20 years, to agricultural
science. The farm experience requirement now stated: “Farm or specialized
experience is desirable and failure to have such experience may be a
deterrent to employment after graduation. Consult your advisor concerning
any experience that may be required by your major department.”
In addition to the general and specific university and college curriculum
requirements, students were required to complete a major and a
minor. A major consisted of 24 to 36 credits selected from one of the subgroups
listed; agronomy was one of the choices. Course lists showed that
the introductory course was now called “introduction to agronomy” and
had a required laboratory. The grain crops course title was changed to”
grain and oilseed crops.” New courses on the list were introduction to

38
A laboratory session in Hayes Hall in the 1950s.
genetics, principles of
genetics, review of the
literature of agronomy,
and advanced forage
crops. L.J. Elling,
J.W. Lambert, E.H.
Rinke, R.G. Robinson
and A.R. Schmid,
were shown as teaching
faculty.
In 1962 W.M. Myers,
department head,
hired L.H. (Larry)
Smith on a 50% undergraduate
teaching
and advising appointment. Smith led the department through a period of
extensive planning that would result in some major changes in the undergraduate
program and its basic philosophy.
CIRCA 1969
Catalog copy shows the significant changes in the department’s curriculum
that began with the hiring of L.H. Smith in 1962. It is now listed
under the agricultural science curriculum, with 192 credits required for
majors in either plant and soil science or biological and physical sciences
in agriculture. Lower division courses in communication, mathematics,
physical and biological sciences, liberal arts and electives occupy 90 of
these credits. Upper division offerings allow a student to specialize or
major in an area of interest by taking a minimum of 36 credits in that area.
Agronomy courses listed in this catalog reflect the department’s decision
to change from the commodity- based courses in place since the early
1900’s to a series of principles-based courses. These course changes were
made after many lengthy and heated discussions in department faculty
meetings. The department, for the first time affirmed that course content
would be controlled and managed by a departmental committee, but that
methods of instruction would be up to the individual faculty member.
Student evaluations would now be used on a regular basis to evaluate
teaching skills and student attitudes toward course content.
Titles of the new courses for the major were principles of agronomy;
adaptation, distribution and selection of field crops (crop ecology); growth,
development, and protection of field crops; maturation, harvest, storage
and utilization of field crops; introduction to plant breeding; weed control;

39
field plot design (applied statistics) and seminar. Electives in crop and grain
evaluation, special problems, pasture and grassland crops, and plant physiology
were suggested as supplements to these basic courses. Increased student
numbers in the agronomy major followed these significant changes.
Enrollment data for this period showed 120 students majored in agronomy
and 20 students graduated with a B.S. degree in 1959.
L.H.Smith now served as director of undergraduate studies; he implemented
an open-door policy for student advising that allowed students to
stop in any time for advising help or to discuss issues of the day. Smith
continued this policy of placing the interests of students first until he retired
in 1995 and was awarded many honors as a result of his special interest
in student welfare. Student participation in club activities and special judging
teams increased greatly during this era as participation in these activities
was strongly encouraged so students could gain valuable experience
outside the formal classroom setting. These extracurricular activities were
very helpful to students in obtaining jobs after graduation.
The sizeable enrollment increases required additional advising time
and more faculty effort was needed to maintain the quality of the undergraduate
program in the department. V.B. Cardwell was reassigned from
soybean physiology research to 75% teaching in 1972. S.R. Simmons was
hired in 1977 on a 50% teaching appointment. Classroom and laboratory
facilities were upgraded and expanded to accommodate the student enrollment
and the new course offerings. Special audio tutorial laboratories were
developed to provide additional experiences for students with insufficient
agricultural backgrounds.
CIRCA 1979
The College of Agriculture catalog listed agronomy as one of nine
majors students could select in the agricultural science industries curriculum.
This curriculum, one of six offered by the college, listed 22 majors to
choose from. A bachelor’s degree required 192 credits. An internship was
now required of agronomy majors; it could be fulfilled by taking a professional
experience program (Agro 5000, for up to 6 credits). Students who
had completed 90 credits of college work could intern with various companies
dealing with agriculture or in one of the many research projects in
the department during spring quarter or the summer.
New agronomy and plant genetics courses in the catalog were forage
production and utilization, management of cropping systems (a discussion
and case study approach to crop management decision making), seminar
for agronomy majors, morphology and identification of crops and weeds,
and advanced seed and grain evaluation.

40
Cardwell and Smith then served full time in undergraduate teaching
and advising. Simmons’ appointment was changed to 75% undergraduate
teaching, and John (Jack) Goodding was assigned to a 100% teaching
appointment upon completing his assignment in administration of the college.
These four faculty members were primarily responsible for advising
students and teaching the core principles courses offered by the department;
it was the first time department faculty were assigned fulltime duties
in teaching and advising undergraduate students.
Other department faculty were assigned to teach specific undergraduate
courses on a regular basis. Kent Crookston developed a new course, management
of cropping systems, at the suggestion of a CSRS review team
that considered it a necessary addition to the principles-based curriculum.
Craig Sheaffer taught forage production and utilization, Oliver Strand
taught morphology and identification of crops and weeds, Donald Wyse
taught weed control and W. Anson Elliott and Deon Stuthman taught introduction
to plant breeding. Enrollment reports for this period indicated that
124 to 150 students were enrolled in the major and that 39 agronomy
majors graduated with a B.S. degree.
CIRCA 1989
In 1987 the College of Agriculture applied for and was awarded a
grant from the Kellogg Foundation to develop of a new curriculum in agriculture.
“Project Sunrise,” a task force with representatives from various
departments in the college was appointed to evaluate current programs and
create new ones; S.R.Simmons chaired it. After many meetings, workshops
and interviews with faculty, alumni, farmers and agribusiness
employers, a new curriculum was designed. All department-based majors
were to be replaced by college-wide majors, three of which utilized courses
and faculty from agronomy and plant genetics.
Agricultural Industries and Marketing (AIM) was created as a major to
provide the scientific knowledge and technical skills necessary for an effective
agribusiness professional. About one-third of the proposed courses
related to communication skills, one-third to economic and business skills,
and one-third to one of four areas of emphasis: animal industries, crops
and soils industries, horticulture industries or food industries.
Animal and Plant Systems (ANPL) would prepare students for work as
managers and technical advisors and for careers in animal and crop production
systems. This major was designed as a science-based agricultural
education with a principles emphasis. Students could choose one of four
emphases: animal production, crops and soils and horticultural food production,
environmental horticulture or integrated pest management.

41
Science in Agriculture (SCAG), proposed as an interdisciplinary program
serving seven departments in the college, required intensive course
work in biological, physical, chemical and mathematical principles. Students
were also required to select a major emphasis or an individualized
program. An undergraduate thesis was required from research conducted
in one of the host departments. This major was viewed as excellent preparation
for advanced degree studies in any of the disciplines in the college.
Faculty from the agronomy department initially served as coordinators
of these three majors, L.H. Smith, ANPL; V.B. Cardwell, AIM; and S.R.
Simmons, SCAG; they also advised students who selected an emphasis in
the department. The number of students advised by agronomy faculty varied
from year to year but enrollment data indicated 41 to 60 students had
selected an emphasis in agronomy and plant genetics. Twenty-two seniors
graduated in 1989.
Most of the courses previously offered by the department survived this
curriculum change, but the content and style of teaching were changed to
meet current student needs. A good example of such change was the integration
of case studies into the new curriculum. S.R. Simmons and R.K.
Crookston provided leadership to this college-wide emphasis in which
nearly 100 outstanding cases were developed between 1988 and 2000.
Departmental faculty, especially Simmons and Crookston, had significant
roles in planning and hosting two highly regarded national workshops on
the use of case studies in agriculture courses.
The pros and cons of organic agriculture, sustainable agriculture,
agroecology and the issues related to biotechnology came into departmental
course offerings during this period. Crookston was an early leader
in sustainable crop management research and incorporated his research
findings into the crop management course, in which he also used case
studies extensively. C.C. Sheaffer conducted some of the early crop management
research comparing maximum input and least input agriculture
and developed content for use in his forage management course.
In this period departmental and college faculty became concerned
about the decreased enrollment in the college and in majors related to the
department. Reflective analysis of this issue showed that the greatest cause
of the reduced enrollment was the shrinking rural population as many
farmers went out of business due to the economic stress from low commodity
prices, high-priced land and the high cost of production. There
were fewer farm families and those remaining in farming had fewer children,
so the pool of students who normally came to the University’s
College of Agriculture was smaller and competition for them was intense.
A second and very important cause of reduced enrollment was a controversial
recommendation by the University president and action by the

42
board of regents to close the University of Minnesota-Waseca campus in
1992. Previously many Waseca students transferred into our program at
the conclusion of their two-year program. We also suffered from the negative
attitude that developed toward the University from this decision. More
and more rural Minnesota residents began to look at the University of
Wisconsin-River Falls, Iowa State University and South Dakota State University
as places where they perceived that their children would get “real”
agricultural training.
In 1996 the regents approved another controversial proposal, that the
two-year program at Crookston be expanded to a full four-year program.
This decision adversely affected enrollment in agronomy at the St. Paul
campus; previously most of the best students in that program transferred
to St. Paul to complete their B.S. degrees. Students from central and
northwest Minnesota who previously would have come to St. Paul for agriculture-related
studies now had the option of a smaller college closer to
home.
A third enrollment reduction factor for the St. Paul campus occurred
in 1997 when the University initiated a joint degree program with
Southwest State University (SSU), Marshall, which began with the AIM
major with crops and soils emphasis. The second phase of this agreement
occurred in 1999 when the crops and soils resources management major
was offered to students at Southwest State. E. Dyck and L.K. Falkner were
hired in 1997 and 2000, respectively, as agronomy department faculty.
These positions were split teaching-and-research appointments, the teaching
at SSU and the research at the Southwest Research and Outreach
Center, Lamberton.This SSU/UM program now draws students from
southwest Minnesota, northeast Iowa, and eastern South Dakota who formerly
would have considered a border-state school or the St. Paul campus.
Because of these enrollment declines the faculty decided to aggressively
recruit students from the seven-county metropolitan area, where
nearly half of Minnesota’s population resides. We have begun to promote
our programs, especially the SCAG major with a plant science emphasis,
to biology and chemistry teachers as well as the guidance counselors in the
schools of this area. This promotion program identifies the many careers
that are possible after earning a good science-based agriculture degree.
Brochures and posters have been developed for recruiters to use as they
visit the various schools and several of the department faculty conducted a
summer course providing hands-on experience in various aspects of
biotechnology for high school teachers.

43
CIRCA 1999
This era brought another series of changes to the agronomy teaching
program. The University converted to a semester system in fall 1999. The
animal and plant systems major was replaced by three new majors: animal
production systems, environmental horticulture and crops and soils
resources management (CSRM), the latter housed in agronomy with V.B.
Cardwell as its coordinator.
Significant course offerings for students in this new major are: biology
of plant food systems; crops, environment, and society; weed biology and
systematics; integrated weed management; applied crop physiology and
development; management technologies for crop production; plant breeding;
field plot techniques (applied statistics); environment, global food production
and the citizen; issues in sustainable agriculture; field crop scouting
and problem diagnosis; and capstone course for seniors.
In 2000 department faculty were advising 57 students from four majors,
20 in AIM, 21 in ANPL, 8 in SCAG and 8 in CSRM. Nine student advisees
were graduated with a B.S. degree. Faculty regularly teaching in the undergraduate
program in 2000 are: V. Cardwell, B. Durgan, E. Dyck, L. Falkner,
J. Gunsolus, L. Hardman, G. Muehlbauer, J. Orf, P. Porter, K. Smith, C.
Sheaffer, S. Simmons, D. Stuthman and D.Wyse. Tuition for an undergraduate
student in the college for the fall 2000 semester was $2,520.22, based
on $163 per credit for the first 12 credits and $81.50.per credit thereafter
(16 credits is a normal load). Students must also pay a $238.22 services fee.
Students need 120 credits to earn a B.S. degree.
DISTINGUISHED UNDERGRADUATE TEACHERS
The University of Minnesota and the COAFES have recognized the
quality of the classroom instruction and student advising provided by
department faculty over the years. These outstanding faculty and the resulting
honors are a legacy of the visionary thinking of. H. K. Hayes, W. M.
Myers and H.W. Johnson, who began the policy of hiring and rewarding
good teaching, a policy the department continues to this day.
The College of Agriculture Distinguished Teaching Award
L. H. Smith (1968), V.B. Cardwell (1981) and S.R.. Simmons (1981)
Horace T. Morse/Amoco Outstanding Teaching Award
L.H. Smith (1968), L.J. Elling (1971), V.B. Cardwell (1981)
and S.R. Simmons (1989)
Gordon L. Star Award from U of M Student Association
(for Outstanding Service to Students)
V.B. Cardwell (1983, 1992), S.R. Simmons (1987)

44
Agricultural Education Club Outstanding Teacher Award
V.B. Cardwell (1988), L.H. Smith (1995)
Outstanding Teacher in the College of Agriculture Selected by the
Student Board
V.B. Cardwell (1993). L.H. Smith (1995)
Northrup King Outstanding Performance Award – Education
L.H. Smith (1991)
John Tate Advising Award
L.H. Smith (1990)
Little Red Oil Can Award
L.H. Smith (1969, 1995)
In 1999 the University of Minnesota created the Academy of
Distinguished Teachers to recognize and honor outstanding teachers from
all the colleges of the University. V.B. Cardwell and S.R.. Simmons were
honored as inductees. Academy members will mentor new faculty and participate
in teaching improvement seminars. Until creation of this academy
University-wide recognition of outstanding faculty was based primarily on
the individual’s research productivity.
EXTRACURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
CROPS TEAMS*
In early 1922 Professor A.C. Arny chaired a committee to organize
an intercollegiate crops contest for students that was patterned after the
collegiate stock judging contest offered for students by animal scientists
since 1902. The first Chicago contest was held on December 6, 1923; the
first Kansas City contest in 1929. Except for a period during World War II,
these contests have operated continuously. University of Minnesota student
teams participated in these contests from 1932 until 1991 and were
regular team and individual winners of one or both contests during the
coaching tenures of Elling and Goodding.
Students competing in these contests needed the ability to correctly
analyze and grade grain samples using the federal grain grading standards,
*For more details about crops contests consult the following publications:
Elling, Laddie J. 1981. The intercollegiate crops contest: 1923-1978. Journal of
Agronomic Education, Vol. 10: 5-13.
Elling, Laddie J. 1983. The American Royal Intercollegiate Crops Contest: 50 Years of
Competition (1929-1983). A brochure published by the Kansas City Board of Trade.

45
and to identify and provide scientific and common names for several hundred
weed and crop plants and/or seeds. Students prepared for these contests
by taking classes and working independently with their coaches,
reportedly spending as many as 40 hours per week outside of class preparing
for these contests. Most look back on crops team participation as a
highlight of their undergraduate experience.
Departmental faculty who served as crop teams coaches and their
periods of service were:
H.K. Wilson 1931-1941 J.C. Goodding 1980-1988
A.R. Schmid 1948-1960 V.B. Cardwell 1989-1991
L.H. Elling 1961-1979
PLANT INDUSTRIES/GOPHER CROPS AND SOILS CLUB
A committee of members of the American Society of Agronomy
(ASA) met and formed a student section in the late 1920s. Minnesota was
one of six colleges and universities expressing interest in this plan for
involving students in the professional society. By 1941 there were 23
active chapters with more than 300 individual student members.
The charter of the University of Minnesota–St. Paul Plant Industries
Club, issued by the ASA on Jan. 1, 1935, was signed by department faculty
member H.K. Wilson, chair of the committee overseeing student organizations
affiliated with the ASA. Club membership gave students opportunities
to participate in regional and national meetings and contests. Activities
in which students have been involved include: National Agronomy Club
Achievement Book Award Contest, National Manuscript Contest (originally
the National Essay Contest) started in 1932, National Speech Contest,
National Visual Presentation (formerly photo contest), National Research
Symposium and Collegiate Crops Judging Contests Club members also can
attend student meetings held in conjunction with various national meetings
of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society and Soil
Science Society. National student officers are elected annually.
Local meetings of the club are held regularly during the school year.
The club plans educational tours of local agribusiness companies, guest
speaker presentations, cookouts with faculty, preliminary contests and
working sessions for fundraising projects. As a fund-raising activity, club
members collect, package and mail plant specimens and crop and weed
seed samples ordered by high school teachers. Students Clifford
Christenson and Oscar Zoebisch started this program during the 1935–36
school year. Arlo Thompson, 1970 club president, initiated an organized
system for collecting and storing the plant and seed samples.

46
Other types of club activities in recent years include pumpkin production
and sales, and creation of an antique machinery (circa 1900) exhibit in
conjunction with the Ramsey County Historical Society and Gibbs Farm
Museum. The club was known as the Plant Industries Club until 1987 when
the name was changed to the Gopher Crops and Soils Club. These soil science
and agronomy faculty served as club advisers from 1968 to 2000:
1968-69
H.F. Arneman and L.J. Elling
1969-70
L.J. Elling and R.S. Adams, Jr.
1970-71
R.S. Adams, Jr. and D.K. Barnes
1971-72
D.K. Barnes and C.A. Simkins
1972-73
C.A. Simkins and D.D.Stuthman
1973-74
D.D. Stuthman and R. Gast
1974-75
R. Gast and A. Elliott
1975-76
A. Elliott and G. Malzer
1976-78
G. Malzer and E.A. Oelke
1978-79
G. Malzer and V.B. Cardwell
1979-80
V.B. Cardwell and L. Hanson
1980-81
L. Hanson and J.A. Goodding
1981-82
J.A. Goodding and J. Swan
1982-83
J. Swan and C. Sheaffer
1983-84
C. Sheaffer and M.P. Russelle
1984-85
M.P. Russelle and L.H. Smith
1985-86
L.H. Smith and R. Adams, Jr.
1986-87
R. Adams, Jr. and L.H. Smith
1987-89
L.H. Smith and T. Cooper
1989-90
T. Cooper and V.B. Cardwell
1990-91
V.B. Cardwell and S. Simmons
1991-92
S. Simmons and J. Lamb
1992-93
J. Lamb and L.H. Smith
1993-94
L.H. Smith
1994-95
L.H. Smith and J. Shaver
1995-96
J. Shaver and V.B. Cardwell
1996-2000
V.B. Cardwell

Chapter 6
Extension Education
The Hackney Bill enacted by the 1909 Minnesota
legislature provided for formal establishment of a division of agricultural
extension and home education at the University. In 1910 Archie D.
Wilson, superintendent of the Minnesota Farmers Institutes, was appointed
superintendent of agricultural extension work. The activities of the farmers
institutes eventually were assumed by the Minnesota Agricultural Extension
Service.
Wilson was an 1899 graduate of the University’s School of Agriculture
and a 1905 graduate of the College of Agriculture. He had been involved
in organizing the Farmers Club of Minnesota, whose members were former
School of Agriculture students engaged in farming and whose purpose
was to promote the general interests of agriculture. He was the club’s president
from 1902 to 1905. He was an assistant in agriculture at the
University from 1905 to 1907, when he succeeded Oren Gregg as superintendent
of the farmers institutes.
From the 1880s the faculty of the college and experiment station who
did agronomic work participated in outreach programs that later would be
considered extension functions. Ralph Crim, who had been first a high
school agriculture teacher and then Cottonwood county agent, was
appointed as the first full-time extension agronomist. Crim’s field crops
extension activities were: 1) to promote quality and yields under varying
soils and climate, 2) to standardize adapted varieties, 3) to increase the
market for pure and standardized varieties, and 4) to demonstrate profitable
methods of crop production. Crim’s appointment was half time extension
and half time as consulting agronomist and secretary of the Minnesota
Crop Improvement Association (MCIA). W.W. Brookins was appoint-
By Laddie J. Elling, Professor Dale Hicks, extension agronomist and a member of the department
faculty since 1968, and L.L. Hardman.

48
ed extension agronomist in 1934. Brookins then led extension barley, flax
and wheat improvement work while Crim concentrated on corn, forage
crops and crop improvement association work. Apparently because of the
manner in which his position was funded, Brookins does not appear as a
member of the agronomy and plant genetics faculty.
Frank Peck, who had served as a faculty member in the Division of
Agronomy and Farm Management since 1912, succeeded A.D. Wilson as
director of extension in 1921.
Myron Armour was appointed extension specialist in forage crops
management in 1942 and served until 1953.
Rodney A. Briggs succeeded Armour as extension forage crops specialist
in 1953. He also served as a director and secretary of MCIA from
1956 to 1958 and taught agronomy courses before becoming superintendent
of the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station,
Morris, in 1958.
Edwin Jensen was appointed extension specialist in small grains and
weed science in 1954. He left Minnesota to join the faculty of the University
of Nevada in 1956.
William F. Hueg, Jr., was appointed extension specialist in forage
crops in 1957. He became associate director of the agricultural experiment
station in 1962.
In 1911 the Better Farming Special Trains, popularly known as "Good
Seed Specials," were operated over seven railroads in Minnesota. These
trains were inaugurated and staffed jointly by extension and the farmers
institutes. Five trains were focused on seed grain; stops around the state
varied from less than an hour to all day. The average attendance at each
stop was 119.

49
Harley J. Otto was appointed extension specialist for corn, soybean
and seed production in 1958. In 1968 he changed to forage production
extension and concentrated on forage for beef animals until 1975. Otto
succeeded Briggs as secretary and director of MCIA and served in that role
until 1975, when he became executive secretary of the Minnesota Crop
Improvement Association. His title was later changed to president and chief
executive officer; he served in that capacity until his retirement in 1995.
James R. Justin served as extension forage specialist from 1962 until
he moved to Rutgers University in 1967.
Gerald R. Miller was extension weed specialist (corn and soybeans)
from 1964 until 1983 when he became agriculture program leader in
extension and later became associate dean for extension.
Ervin Oelke served as extension small grains specialist from 1968 until
1972, when wild rice and specialty crops were added to his responsibilities.
Oelke was instrumental in establishing the Center for Alternative Plant
and Animal Products and served as its director for several years prior to his
retirement in June 2000.
Dale R. Hicks was named extension corn and soybean specialist in
1968. He coordinated corn/soybean management research studies in
cooperation with branch station agronomists and other extension specialists.
Hicks taught an undergraduate applied statistics course in field plot
design from 1980 until 1998.
Oliver E. Strand came from a county agent position to the department
as extension weeds specialist in 1969. He was responsible for weed control
in forage crops, pastures and small grains and taught an undergraduate
course in morphology and identification of crops and weeds. He died
in 1983.
Roy Thompson served as extension small grains specialist from 1972
until 1978, when he became assistant director of the agricultural experiment
station.
Neal Martin was appointed extension forage crops specialist in 1974.
He initially had responsibility for dairy forages but added the beef animal
forage work when Harley Otto left. Martin was instrumental in organizing
the Minnesota Forage and Grassland Council and worked with that group
until he became director of the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center in
Madison, Wisconsin, in February 1999.
Leland Hardman, appointed extension soybean specialist position in
1976, also was responsible for extension and applied research activities on
certain lesser-grown or alternative crops. Hardman is publication coordinator
for the experiment station’s Varietal Trials of Farm Crops publica-

50
tion; he presently deals with extension education issues related to biotechnology
and teaches two undergraduate courses.
Randall G. Jeppson served as extension small grains specialist from
1980 to 1981, when he went to Pioneer HiBred International; he later
held administrative positions at Cargill and Monsanto. The small grains
position was lost due to retrenchment and the duties were assigned to
other faculty.
Bradley J. Majek served as extension weeds specialist from 1980 until
leaving for a similar position at Rutgers University in 1981. Majek was
developing a research and education program on black nightshade, which
was becoming a major problem in soybeans.
Richard Behrens served as extension weeds specialist for a three-year
period (1983-1986) prior to his retirement. His move from a full-time
research position was necessary because of Strand’s death and Miller’s
transfer to extension administration.
Beverly Durgan, who became extension weeds specialist for small
grains in 1985, was the first extension agronomist to be hired on a split
appointment, 75% extension and 25% applied research. She taught the
undergraduate morphology and identification of crops and weeds course.
In 2000 she became associate dean for research and outreach in the
College of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Sciences.
Jeffrey Gunsolus was named extension weeds specialist for corn and
soybeans (75% extension, 25% research) in 1986. Gunsolus is publication
coordinator of the Cultural and Chemical Weed Control bulletin.
Michael Schmitt served as extension corn specialist from 1987 to
1989 when Hicks was on assignment in Rabat, Morocco. He is now extension
soil fertility specialist in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate.
Roger Becker came in 1987 as extension weeds specialist for forage
and non-cropland (75% extension, 25% research). He now works in weed
management in horticultural field crops, primarily sweet corn and peas,
and water-quality-related herbicide issues.
Jochum Wiersma was hired in 1997 as extension small grains specialist
assigned to the Northwest Research and Outreach Center,
Crookston. This new position was partially funded by the Minnesota wheat
and barley councils.
Seth Nave was hired in 1998 as extension soybean specialist. This
new position was initally funded by the Minnesota Soybean Research and
Promotion Council.
Paul Peterson was hired in 2000 as extension forage specialist.

Chapter 7
Alfalfa Breeding and
Pathology Research
The discovery, testing and acceptance of
Grimm alfalfa was a major step in the establishment of forage crop production
in Minnesota. Wendelin Grimm, a migrant from Germany to
Carver County in 1857, brought with him a small lot of alfalfa seed. For
more than 30 years he continued to collect seed from the surviving plants
and by 1895 had established a winterhardy alfalfa strain. The variety possessed
excellent winterhardiness, good yield potential and very satisfactory
forage quality. Grimm alfalfa production gradually moved north as land was
opened and satisfactory seed was produced, greatly expanding the utilization
of this crop in the northern states and Canada.
The picture changed strikingly in 1924 when Dr. F.R. Jones, USDA
plant pathologist, isolated and demonstrated in Wisconsin that bacterial
wilt caused rapid stand losses in wilt-susceptible varieties, such as Grimm.
Nonetheless, the term “Minnesota Grimm” was magic to the ears of the
forage producers in most northern states, and Canada. During the late
1930s and early 1940s 10 to 12 million pounds of alfalfa seed was produced
annually in northern Minnesota. Large quantities of red clover,
sweet clover and alsike clover also were produced.
In 1946 H.K. Hayes, then chief of agronomy and plant genetics, and
H.L. Thomas arranged for lifting, potting and transporting to the St. Paul
campus 25 plants from each of seven varieties that had been seeded several
years earlier in a variety trial at the Morris Experiment Station. Plant
stands in all plots were relatively thin, and the plants might be assumed to
be satisfactory for breeding studies. (The varieties from which plants were
selected were Grimm, Ladak, Ranger, Cossack, Hardistan, Orestan and a
seed lot designated as Northern Common.)
By Professor Emeritus D.K. Barnes, USDA-ARS alfalfa improvement project, who joined the
department in 1969 and retired in 1995, and Laddie J. Elling.

52
Laddie Elling arrived in Minnesota in April 1946 and began work
under Dr. Thomas on the forage project, rooting and growing alfalfa stem
cuttings as the basis for maintaining plants of various clones. This project
became the subject of Elling's master’s thesis.
THE RESEARCH PROCEDURE (1946-1965)
The plan followed by Hayes, Thomas and Elling was to select, evaluate
and combine clones into synthetic strains. Adequate evaluation for disease
resistance, winterhardiness, forage yield and combining ability would
be necessary (the Tysdal plan).
The first step is making and rooting stem cuttings to establish clones,
testing clones for resistance to bacterial wilt and other diseases, and developing
procedures for maintaining and evaluating clones for future studies.
The early medium for rooting stem cuttings was vermiculite, which
was sterile, had good water-holding capacity, and was easily obtained and
handled. Another method, suggested by Canadian workers, was to construct
a metal trough, 2” x 2” x 20’, run water over the bottom of the
trough and place cuttings in the trough. This method was not useful at
Minnesota, possibly because of the low temperature of the water from the
campus well. The cuttings did not develop disease and the stems seemed
to remain clean, but roots seldom developed.
Cuttings from all 175 plants were made in September 1946 and transplanted
in soil in greenhouse benches. Those with adequate numbers were
inoculated with the bacterial wilt organism (Corynebacterium insidiosum)
and transplanted to the field in 1947. One location was the C-4 Range on
University Farm; the second location was in a garden on the Glen Bergan
farm, north of Williams, Minnesota. The Bergan farm location was chosen
because it was in the alfalfa seed producing area, and we assumed this location
would have adequate seed production potential. Very little seed was
produced, introducing us to the need for seed production studies. Later
evaluation of these plants suggested that many were not resistant to bacterial
wilt, and the most resistant variety, Ranger, showed numerous clones
susceptible to wilt. This was a surprise to some as we expected this variety
to produce all wilt-resistant plants. Later studies showed that a heterogeneous
population, such as most alfalfa strains, would contain both resistant
and susceptible plants.
During 1947 and 1948 crosses between clones were made without
emasculation to study the combining ability of the clones. A small piece of
blotter paper shaped as a +v,+ was very effective in transferring pollen
from flowers of one plant to flowers of another. Seed set was good, and
with adequate pollen little self-pollination occurred.

53
In 1948, clones and strains were studied for bacterial wilt reaction.
The first major bacterial wilt variety trial was transplanted on the
Rosemount plant pathology farm in 1949 and maintained through the
winter of 1949-1950. The surviving plants were lifted, the roots cross-sectioned
and each plant evaluated for reaction to the disease. We later recognized
that many susceptible plants died during the winter. This gave an
exaggerated resistance reading for that strain (Du Puits, a very susceptible
variety). Varietal trials for bacterial wilt evaluation have been continued
each year.
Production of alfalfa seed outside the region of adaptation caused concern
regarding the purity and performance of a seed lot so produced. This
led into the work we call “trueness-to-type” test: Seed in the spring, maintain
during the summer, clip plants back in early September and permit to
make fall growth. The less-hardy plants exhibit greater plant growth. These
trials were made on numerous seed lots from 1953 to 1958 to give
Minnesota seedsmen and regulatory personnel opportunity to observe the
variability in certified and noncertified seed lots. The fall dormancy test has
been used for various trials for 40 years.
In 1955 a USDA-ARS research plant pathologist position was established
at St. Paul to work on alfalfa diseases. Fred Frosheiser accepted the
position in October 1956. Areas of studies involved bacterial wilt and several
foliar diseases, including common leaf spot and spring blackstem. Most
research was in cooperation with Laddie Elling, plant breeder in the
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics.
Research generally was directed at solving applied problems involved
with alfalfa production in Minnesota and with selection for increased disease
resistance. Bacterial wilt and fall dormancy trials proved that seed produced
on two clones under cages was not necessarily cross-pollinated.
Specifically, two clones, C-902 and Minn-247, greatly different in type,
showed most of the seed to be the result of self-pollination. These results
greatly weakened the possibility of simply planting clones in the field and
expecting hybrid seed to be produced.
Inspiration for better variety testing and the rapid increase of alfalfa
varieties produced by commercial organizations suggested the expansion
of variety testing, and inclusion of experimental strains on a fee-per-test
basis. This procedure was initiated in 1961 but changed in 1965 because
the number of commercial varieties submitted was nominal compared to
the number being released. Thereafter all varieties favorably reviewed by
the Certified Alfalfa Review Board and being sold in Minnesota were
grown at experiment station expense. Experimental entries were still
accepted on a fee basis.

54
In 1956 the University of Minnesota hosted the National Alfalfa
Improvement Conference; The conference later became an international
event.
THE USDA COMMITS TO A FULL-TIME POSITION
In 1965, the USDA / ARS announced it wished to place a full-time
alfalfa breeder, a USDA research geneticist position, at the St. Paul
Station. It seemed unnecessary to have two individuals on this project. At
this time the Experiment Station had money and the need for research on
northern Minnesota grass and legume seed production. Consequently,
Elling was transferred from the alfalfa research to the grass-legume seed
production project effective July 1, 1965.
Robert E. Stucker (now retired) came to St. Paul in 1965 to head the
alfalfa-breeding project. Monies from the Elling position were used to hire
a U of M research technician. In addition, the department agreed to supply
a vehicle and a $1,500 annual budget. The Frosheiser and Stucker
positions were established with a common USDA budget and the project
became known as the Minnesota USDA Alfalfa Breeding Project. The primary
areas of pathological research in 1968 were bacterial wilt, alfalfa
mosaic virus and Phytophthora root rot. Genetics research explored self
incompatibility.
In 1969 Bob Stucker resigned the USDA geneticist position and Don
Barnes, who had been an undergraduate laborer and graduate student on
the project from 1953 to 1959, transferred from Beltsville, Maryland, to
become project leader. Both Froshheiser and Barnes were comfortable
with many of the previous methods of operation and chose to continue the
previous project structure.
The total USDA
operating budget for
both scientists, about
$2,800 in December
1968, was increased
to about $7,000 by
1970.
Alfalfa root evaluation; from left, Duane Smith,
Don Barnes, Laddie Elling and Fred Frosheiser.
The primary area of
research during this
period was Phytophthora
root rot. The
first resistant variety,
Agate, was released in
1973, along with

55
resistant germplasms that became the basis for several industry varieties.
The screening and evaluation techniques developed at Minnesota became
standards.
During this period the primary pathology research was with Fusarium
wilt and Rhizoctonia solani, with lesser emphasis on bacterial wilt,
Phytophthora root rot and AMV. Clones with adequate winterhardiness,
good performance, acceptable disease resistance and other characteristics
were combined to produce experimental synthetic strains. Ramsey, a winterhardy
disease-resistant variety, was released in 1973. Although Ramsey
appeared to be a good variety it was not well-accepted by the trade.
REORGANIZATION
The USDA went through reorganization in 1972. Project leaders took
this opportunity to write a review of the project and to develop three CRIS
projects in order to provide more basic thrusts in both pathology and
genetics. Consequently, the USDA alfalfa research group was strengthened
by the addition of two plant physiologists, Carroll Vance and Gary
Heichel. Vance, Heichel and Barnes developed a major program around
the goal of improving the nitrogen fixation potential of alfalfa. The pathology
research also became involved with the N 2
fixation research by demonstrating
that pathogens affected nodulation. The emphasis of the alfalfabreeding
project changed from a primarily pathology-oriented research
program to a more physiological research program.
In 1979 it became necessary to rewrite the USDA project objectives
again. The new project emphasized breeding for improved physiological
efficiency. During this period evidence began to accumulate that a nematode
problem existed on alfalfa in northeastern Minnesota. Frosheiser conducted
a few studies on the problem; Barnes recruited David Nelson, a
graduate student in plant breeding, to analyze the nematode problem and
begin studies on host plant resistance. Both Frosheiser and Barnes encountered
personal problems during this time; consequently it was not their
most productive period. Frosheiser learned that he had lung cancer in July
1982, retired in March 1983 and died in October 1983.
RESTRUCTURING ALFALFA RESEARCH IN THE 1980s
The pathology portion of the project had reduced visibility by the time
of Dr. Frosheiser’s retirement in 1983 and some consideration was given
to terminating the position. However, meetings between the research
directors from most private alfalfa breeding companies, the USDA, and the
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station supported the need to contin-

56
ue some pathology assistance for conducting the annual disease evaluations
and to support the alfalfa-breeding program.
The monies available from the Frosheiser position were not sufficient
to establish a new research scientist position. A short-term solution was to
establish a GS-9 support scientist position under the supervision of a
research geneticist. This position was established and Judy Thies was hired
in March 1984. Thies had conducted her M.S. research on nematodes
under Dave MacDonald, begun her Ph.D. program under Fred Frosheiser
in 1982, and worked on the project as a graduate research assistant during
1983. Her good work record and expertise in nematode research
helped bring her the offer of the position.
Judy Thies received her Ph.D. and continued on the USDA-ARS
Alfalfa Project until June 1992, when she accepted a position as nematologist
for the U.S. Vegetable Research Lab, Charleston, South Carolina. By
the time she left, the project had achieved national recognition for research
on developing alfalfas with resistance to the root-lesion nematode. Two
resistant germplasms were developed and a field-screening program was
established at Grand Rapids for industry germplasms. A laboratory evaluation
procedure was also developed.
The USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit at St. Paul received a
new project titled, “Develop alfalfa to increase N 2
fixation and reduce nitrogen
losses to the environment” in 1991. Dr. JoAnn Lamb was hired to
lead this project in cooperation with Barnes, Michael Russell and Vance.
This was the first project in the world to breed plants capable of removing
nitrogen from soil and water below the root systems of cereal crops. In
1986 the N 2
fixation research resulted in the release of ‘Nitro’ alfalfa,
which was the first legume variety selected for enhanced N 2
fixation and
N 2
assimilation. The project also released the first ineffective nodulation
mutants, which are used worldwide in N 2
fixation research.
In 1991 the USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit redirected the
plant physiology position formerly occupied by Gary Heichel to a project
titled “Molecular improvement of alfalfa disease resistance and plant
microbe interactions,” with emphasis on disease and nematode resistance.
Dr. Deborah Samac, hired as lead scientist for this project, was housed in
the Department of Plant Pathology. This position complements the project
“Physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms regulating microbial-host
plant interactions,” led by Carroll Vance, and “Mechanisms
whereby cell wall phenolics limit forage fiber digestion in the rumen of
dairy cattle,” led by Hans Jung.
The USDA-ARS alfalfa project underwent major reorganization after
Judy Thies left in 1992. Without plant pathology leadership the alfalfa project
terminated all disease fee tests for the alfalfa industry. The alfalfa yield

57
fee test program, guided by Duane Smith since 1965, was turned over to
Craig Sheaffer and Neal Martin.
THE CONTINUING IMPORTANCE OF ALFALFA RESEARCH
Because of the increasing importance of sustainable agriculture and
the maturing of the industry alfalfa breeding programs, the original USDA-
ARS alfalfa project has been redirected toward developing alfalfas to
enhance crop rotations. This includes breeding alfalfa for non-animal uses,
including paper pulp, biomass for energy production and alfalfas for liquid
fuel production. Annual alfalfas (medics) are also being developed for uses
as smother crops, erosion control and a nitrogen source. The forage (alfalfa)
program at St. Paul, conducted by both USDA and University of
Minnesota scientists, has grown from modest beginnings in the 1950s to
a million-dollar-per-year effort with more than 30 scientists, support personnel
and graduate students. The St. Paul breeding and pathology
research program has been recognized for its contributions to Minnesota,
U.S. and world forage production. More than 30 graduate students
received degrees while working on the project; most of them are still
involved with forage legume research in U.S. and world agriculture.
A TRIBUTE TO FRED FROSHEISER
During the 26 years Fred Frosheiser was employed in the USDA alfalfa
pathology position, he served the American taxpayer very well. Alfalfa
scientists around the world considered him the dean of alfalfa pathologists.
Dr. Frosheiser was a low-key, practical person who enjoyed solving applied
problems. He was instrumental in developing or refining many of the alfalfa
selection procedures used in breeding for improved disease resistance.
His contributions in understanding and developing Phytophthora root rot
resistance are classical.
Unfortunately, many scientists in his own department failed to recognize
his contributions or the stature he had obtained outside of the department.
Fred Frosheiser was part of a cooperative effort with the alfalfa
breeder that conducted annual evaluations for bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt,
and Phytophthora root rot resistance for public and private alfalfa entries.
This program became the “standard test” for most alfalfa scientists
—D. K. Barnes

58
H.L. Thomas worked in forage
and turf grass breeding in the
department from 1945 to 1969.
Nancy Ehlke, legume and grass
breeder, in evaluation field of blue
wild indigo (Baptisa australis).
Wendelin Grimm farm in Carver County in 1924, on the day a monument
to Mr. Grimm and the alfalfa variety named for him was dedicated there.

Chapter 8
Barley Improvement
Barley breeding at the University of Minnesota
began at the turn of the 20th century, when modern plant breeding
had its origin. In 1901 Minn 184 barley (later released as Manchuria) was
selected from a mixed lot of seed introduced from Manchuria. Minsturdi,
the first Minnesota barley variety of hybrid origin, released in 1922, resulted
from the cross “South American x Manchuria,” made in 1909. Sixteen
additional barley varieties were developed and released during the period
1918 to 2000.
Two of the 18 varieties, Manchuria and Peatland, were introductions
to the Minnesota region. Two others, Regal and Forrest, were developed
in cooperation with Canadian researchers. The first nine were feed barleys
and all but three of the others were industry-approved malting barleys.
Seventeen were six-row types, and one, Svansota, was a two-row barley.
BARLEY RESEARCH: A TEAM EFFORT
H.K. Hayes, L. Powers and F.R. Immer were early barley researchers
and/or project leaders. J.W. Lambert led the barley project from 1946 to
1961. D. C. Rasmusson joined the barley team in 1958 and became project
leader in 1961 when Lambert shifted exclusively to soybeans.
Through the years, barley research at Minnesota has been characterized by
a team effort. Early barley breeding was a cooperative effort involving the
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and USDA
researchers. USDA’s H.V. Harlan was a cooperator with H.K. Hayes in
the early breeding efforts. Cooperation in barley improvement between
MAES and USDA personnel extended from 1901 to about 1930.
By Professor D.C. Rasmusson, a member of the department faculty since 1961.

60
The MAES team effort has included breeders, geneticists, plant pathologists,
agronomists and plant physiologists. C.R. Burnham contributed for
many years in the area of barley cytogenetics. Important contributions
were made by plant pathologists J.J. Christensen, E.E. Banttari and R.W.
Wilcoxson. Cooperating agronomists, including R.0. Bridgford, R.F. Crim,
R.L. Thompson, E.A. Oelke, Dennis Warnes, J.V. Wiersma. D.N. Moss
and later S.R. Simmons, were active for several years in barley physiology
and ideotype research.
BARLEY VARIETIES DEVELOPED
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
CI or PI Year
Variety Number Released Agency Breeder Special Traits
Manchuria CI 2330 1918 MAES — High yield
Minsturdi CI 1556 1922 MAES & USDA — Stiff straw
Svansota — 1926 MAES & USDA H.V. Harlan Two-row
Velvet CI 4252 1926 MAES & USDA — Smooth awn
Peatland CI 5267 1926 MAES & USDA — Resistance to
stem rust and
scab
Glabron CI 4577 1929 MAES & USDA H.V. Harlan Smooth awn,
stiff straw
Regal CI 5030 1931 MAES & USDA H.V. Harlan Smooth awn,
stiff straw
Mars CI 7015 1945 MAES F.R. Immer Early maturity,
stiff straw
Forrest CI 9187 1957 MAES & Canada J.W. Lambert Stiff straw
Cree CI 9187 1957 MAES & Canada J.W. Lambert Stiff straw
Manker CI 15549 1974 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Straw strength,
kernel number
Morex CI 15773 1978 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Malt extract,
4-day malt
Robust PI 476976 1983 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Kernel
plumpness
Excel PI 54207 1990 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Grain yield,
malt extract
Stander PI 564743 1993 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Resistance to
lodging
Royal PI 576855 1994 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Semidwarf
MNBrite PI 603050 1998 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Resistance to
scab and kernel
discoloration
Lacey — 2000 MAES D.C. Rasmusson Improved
and K.P. Smith malting quality

61
COOPERATION WITH INDUSTRY
A highly significant event for barley breeding research at the University
of Minnesota occurred in 1956 when a sizable grant for barley improvement
was provided by the Malting Barley Improvement Association. Until
this time barley research was carried out on a part-time basis by individuals
with responsibility for more than one crop. The grant permitted hiring
D.C. Rasmusson and D.R. Westerberg. Westerberg, research plot coordinator,
added expertise and continuity to barley work for 34 years, from
1959 to 1993. The industry grant, which continues today through the
American Malting Barley Association,
is shared by the departments of
agronomy and plant genetics and
plant pathology.
Primary goals in barley breeding
from the beginning were to increase
grain yield, improve lodging resistance
and add resistance to disease. In
recent decades enhancing malting
and brewing quality has received high
priority. Two smooth-awn varieties,
Velvet (released 1926) and Glabron
(released 1929), were developed D.C. Rasmusson
specifically to overcome irritation and
harshness associated with rough awns that would “climb up pant legs” and
cause sores in mouths of animals. Except for Cree and Manker, all varieties
released after Glabron have smooth awns. Morex, released in 1978, and
Robust, released in 1983, were the first Minnesota varieties to be strongly
preferred on a region-wide basis by maltsters and breweries.
From 1980 to 1984 Morex was grown on nearly twice as many acres
as any other barley variety in the United States and was the most popular
variety in Idaho from 1988 to 1992. Robust was grown on about one-half
of the acreage in the primary six-row malting barley producing area of the
Midwest – North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota – from 1985 to
1999, and was especially popular in Minnesota, where it frequently
accounted for more than three-fourths of the barley acreage.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BARLEY RESEARCH
A report published by agricultural economists at the University of
Minnesota (Macagno, L.F.; W.B. Sundquist and D.C. Rasmusson, 1992),
which focuses on Morex and Robust barley, provides an estimate of returns
in the tri-state barley area from research that resulted in Morex and Robust.

62
The estimate is a $297 million return on a $9.2 million research and
extension expenditure for the period 1979 to 1989.
This investment resulted in a benefit/cost ratio of more than 32:1 and
a 91% annual internal rate of return on investment. Approximately 72%
of the benefit was attributed to increases in grain yield and malt extract; the
remaining 28% was due to reduced malting time and superior performance
of Morex in the malting process.
OTHER BARLEY RESEARCH TEAM CONTRIBUTIONS
Minnesota barley breeders and plant pathologists, with their counterparts
at North Dakota and Wisconsin, were unusually successful in achieving
durable resistance to two diseases. The most spectacular case was
breeding for resistance to stem rust. Kindred, released in 1942 in North
Dakota, Mars, released in 1945 in Minnesota, and all barley varieties that
have followed to date possess resistance to stem rust due to the Rpgl(T)
gene. This nearly one-half century of protection against races of stem rust
may be a record for durable resistance in cereal crops.
The second highly successful resistance breeding effort provided protection
against spot blotch from the time of release of Dickson in North
Dakota and Cree in Minnesota until today. Providing resistance to spot
blotch for more than 25 years is highly valued; this disease was usually
ranked first or second in importance among midwestern barley diseases.
Inheritance and breeding methodology studies on barley were common
in the first part of the century, as were cooperative studies focusing
on disease resistance. H.K. Hayes, F.R. Immer and L. Powers all published
basic papers on barley. Later, J.W. Lambert published on malting quality
and agronomic traits. D.C. Rasmusson and colleagues published papers
with emphasis on malting quality, diseases and breeding methods. Ideotype
breeding, a principal area of basic emphasis and publication over several
years, was cooperative with D.N. Moss and S.R. Simmons.
The graduate education effort of the project has been sizable, and
graduate students have done a large share of the research leading to publications.
D.C. Rasmusson advised more than 70 graduate students, including
special-program Moroccan students, from 1961 to 1999.
K.P. Smith joined the barley project in 1998, filling a transition position
anticipating the planned retirement of D.C. Rasmusson in 2000. This
appointment was made possible by support and funding from the American
Malting Barley Association, the Minnesota Barley Growers Association,
and the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Smith is incorporating
molecular genetic approaches into the barley-breeding program.

Chapter 9
Corn Improvement
It is not entirely correct to state that corn
improvement in Minnesota began when H.K. Hayes joined the staff in
1915. Prior to that date other staff members, prompted by the research
publications of Shull in 1908, 1909, 1910 and 1911, of East in 1908 and
1909, and of East and Hayes in 1911, began making and testing the value
of crosses between varieties. The first attempt to inbreed maize in
Minnesota was by Hutcheson and Olson in 1914. Many local strains of
Minnesota 13 corn had been developed by farmers and were recognized
by specific names, such as the Haney and the Morris strains. Before the
advent of hybrid corn most farmers carefully selected outstanding ears of
corn at harvest time for use as seed for the following year.
The development of inbred lines for subsequent use in hybrids began
in 1915, the first year of Hayes' appointment. The only sources of germ
plasm were open-pollinated varieties such as Minnesota 13, a yellow
endosperm variety; Rustler white dent; Northwestern dent, a red-pericarp
early-maturing variety; Pearl flint and various other flint corn varieties. In
this first summer of research Hayes followed the concepts he had developed
in Connecticut, specifically choosing several varieties from which
inbred lines would be developed in order to enhance the likelihood of
hybrid vigor because the parents of a hybrid originated from many different
sources.
The term “genetic diversity” as related to hybrid vigor was not commonly
known in 1915. Not until 1917 did Jones, successor to Hayes at
lver J. Johnson, a member of the Division of Agronomy and Plant Genetics staff from 1928
to 1939, was directly associated with H.K. Hayes in the corn improvement project and wrote
the account of the work from 1915 to 1940. Professor Dale R. Hicks, a member of the
department faculty since 1968; Professor Emeritus James C. Sentz, faculty member from
1954 to 1971; and Robert H. Peterson, department member from 1952 to 1996; provided
the account of the work from 1940 to the present.

64
Connecticut, formulate an acceptable explanation of heterosis. Earlier
studies on variety crosses reported by Collins (USDA) in 1910 had clearly
shown that hybrids between varieties that differed widely in origin produced
the highest yields. The decision by Hayes in 1915 to create inbred
lines from several sources was well-founded on data available at that time.
It is regrettable, from a historic viewpoint, that there is no record of the
number of plants selected and selfed or the number of self-pollinated plants
that survived subsequent selections at harvest time. One can safely conclude
that Hayes began this new program on a scale large enough to permit
discarding inferior plants and those with poor ear and seed characteristics.
It was not known then that only about 1% of the initial inbreds usually
survived long enough to be used in later crosses.
Shortly after the corn-breeding program in Minnesota was started
there was a major expansion of interest in other states by the USDA and
by some of the leading seed companies. It can be safely stated that an
expanded corn improvement program started by Hayes in a state near the
fringe of the Corn Belt had stimulated research on this crop worldwide. It
is not surprising that the prestige of H.K. Hayes also led to the recognition
of his leadership in breeding other crops.
In Minnesota the period from 1915 to 1920 was devoted largely to
self-pollination and selection to develop inbred lines for future use as parents.
It was a common practice to wait until inbreds were relatively homozygous
before testing their value as parents of hybrids. Extensive studies with
progenies from crosses of naturally self-pollinated crops (such as wheat) had
led to the practice of waiting until the F 5
generation before considering a
line to be sufficiently homozygous to enter it in yield trials. It was assumed
that the same practice should be followed for inbred lines of corn.
From 1915 to 1920 Hayes was the author of only one research publication,
and that on his previous work in Connecticut on the inheritance
of mosaic pericarp color. But important events were underway elsewhere.
D.F. Jones, who succeeded Hayes in Connecticut, made his historic publications
on the double-cross plan for producing hybrid corn seed on an economical
basis by using single crosses rather than inbreds as parents. Jones
also proposed that hybrid vigor was due to the dominance of linked growth
factors. This explanation of heterosis was in reality an extension of previous
explanations published by Dr. Bruce in 1910.
This double-cross plan for producing hybrid corn seed so greatly
impressed Andrew Boss, then chief of the Division of Agronomy and Farm
Management, that he concluded there should be an expansion of research
on hybrid corn. This conclusion resulted in the establishment, in 1920, of
a corn breeding program at the Waseca branch station, which was closer

65
the center of corn production in southern Minnesota. This expansion in
hybrid corn research made it necessary to develop later-maturing inbred
lines and to add staff at Waseca. Fortunately, the Waseca station had
enough land to support this expansion.
THE EARLY YEARS WITH EXPERIMENTAL
HYBRIDS: 1920-1925
Between 1920 and 1925 many Corn Belt states expanded programs
to capitalize on the background research by East, Shull, Hayes and Jones,
which led to conferences among staff to exchange viewpoints and update
their colleagues on progress. Not only were these early corn breeder conferences
important to those involved; they also established a new format
for exchanges of data and research concepts that ultimately became the
pattern for other crop conferences. During the 1930s the Hybrid Corn
Industry Research Conference became the first large-scale meeting for
public and private company corn breeders.
One can only speculate on how the future of corn breeding might have
developed during the 1920s without a small group of leaders – Hayes in
Minnesota, Stadler in Missouri, Lindstrom in Iowa, Kiesselbach in
Nebraska, Holbert in Illinois and Richey in the USDA. These early scientists
did not have the data from corn-breeding research available to those
who succeeded them.
During the early 1920s the expanding corn breeding program in
Minnesota, especially at Waseca, fostered the addition of Harvey
Brewbaker to the staff. He came as a graduate assistant with a B.S. degree
in 1921, completed the M.S. degree in 1923 and the Ph.D. degree with
Hayes in 1926. Hayes was becoming more deeply involved in wheat
breeding; adding Brewbaker relieved him of some responsibilities in the
corn project.
Several important facts emerged during this early period. Use of openpollinated
varieties as source material for inbreeding produced inbred lines
with many defects, such as susceptibility to lodging, generally poor vigor,
reduced pollen production and a wide array of single-gene or simply inherited
recessive abnormalities in chlorophyll production rarely observed in a
cross-pollinated variety. In the late 1920s the concept of testing inbred
lines to determine their general or specific combining ability had not yet
been used as a technique in corn inbred evaluation. Breeders observed that
some inbred lines consistently produced above-average performance in
crosses while other lines either performed poorly or were inconsistent. The
principle of difference in combining ability was recognized but unnamed. It
also was recognized that while the possibility of making diallel crosses

66
among inbreds was realistic in terms of numbers and facilities required for
testing, the large number of double crosses that could be made and tested
exceeded available funds and facilities. The obvious solution to these breeding
dilemmas was to study the relationship between numerous characteristics
of inbred parents and the extent to which the parental means were
related to yield of their crosses and to similar characters in their hybrids.
Corn breeders made many studies, but only those conducted in Minnesota
will be discussed here.
The first study in Minnesota was made by Nilsson-Leissner, a postdoctorate
student, from Sweden, under the direction of H.K. Hayes. The
inbreds in this study were from two groups, 14 from dent corn and 9 from
flint corn varieties. These inbred lines were considered to be the best available;
all had been selfed for four or more years. Characters measured
included yield, ear length, number of kernel rows, percentage of second
ears per plant and plant height. All characters of the inbreds, except percentage
of second ears, were positively and significantly correlated with
yield of their F 1
crosses. Jorgensen and Brewbaker conducted a second
study at the Waseca station using only inbred lines from Silver King dent
corn. All characters of the inbreds were positively and significantly correlated
with yield of their F 1
crosses. These two landmark studies were
reported in the Journal of the Agronomy Society in 1927.
These two early studies verified that choosing the most desirable
inbred lines as potential parents of hybrids was a good selection procedure
to be used in a breeding program. Unfortunately, at this early stage in corn
breeding the use of general and specific combining ability as tools for
choosing inbred lines for testing their performance in hybrids and the use
of single-cross data for predicting yields of double and three-way crosses
had not yet been formulated. These two studies in Minnesota set the pattern
for similar research studies and conclusions at several other experiment
stations.
An added and obvious value of this early research was the choice of
inbreds for use in producing experimental double crosses for trials. By the
late 1920s the corn-breeding program at University Farm had chosen
inbreds for producing the first three Minnesota double crosses, Minhybrids
401, 402 and 403. Preliminary work was underway to increase by hand
pollination the seed supply of the Minnesota 13 inbreds numbers 11 and
14, the Rustler inbreds 15, 16, 19 and 20, and the Northwestern Dent
inbreds numbers 21 and 22.
F.R. Immer joined the staff in 1929 and did his major research on corn
breeding at the Waseca branch station with some additional time on a startup
project breeding sugarbeets. This change allowed Brewbaker to return
to the corn-breeding program at University Farm where he relieved Hayes

67
of routine corn-breeding responsibilities, allowing him more time for
administration, advising students and addressing pressing problems in
wheat breeding.
New concepts in corn breeding were rapidly emerging at the end of
the 1920s. It was known that the program needed inbred lines with greater
genetic diversity than could be obtained by using existing open-pollinated
varieties as a source of better vigor and improved lodging resistance. Hayes
envisioned developing new and improved inbreds by following the basic
principles employed in breeding self-pollinated crops.
Corn breeders elsewhere had developed a few outstanding inbreds and
made them available to the Minnesota program. Because these new lines
generally matured too late for use in hybrids adapted to Minnesota they
were used in crosses with the best local inbreds for subsequent selection in
F 2
and later generations. These crosses provided a large number of new
inbreds designated as “second cycle inbreds.” Also it was then recognized
that the inbreds used in Minhybrid 401 would be difficult to increase unless
the parent lines were improved. The backcross method of breeding in
wheat was used, and each of the six inbreds in Minhybrids 401 and 402
were backcrossed to the other parent: (11 x 14) 11, (11 x 14) 14 and so
on. In retrospect, this was a poorly designed program because the result
might be improvement of the inbred parents with a very small likelihood of
changing their performance in hybrids.
THE 1930 – 1940 DECADE
Harvey Brewbaker resigned as corn breeder in spring 1930 to establish
a sugarbeet-breeding program with a large sugar company in
Colorado. Although I (Iver Johnson) had not completed my doctorate thesis
research, all other requirements had been completed. This position was
offered to me and I accepted. New concepts in corn breeding were emerging
and research on corn was expanding in both the public and private sectors.
That farmers should buy hybrid seed rather than using their own seed
had not yet become an established principle, and who would produce certified
seed of corn hybrids developed by the Minnesota Agricultural
Experiment Station (MAES) had not yet been determined.
Two important events marked the beginning of this period in the
1930s. Double-cross seed of Minhybrid 401 had been produced under
contract with a grower from foundation single-cross 11x14 in isolated plots
off Snelling Avenue, north of the State Fair grounds. The other single
cross, 16x20, was produced in isolation west of Minneapolis. Sufficient
seed of Minhybrid 401 was produced to permit about 200 on-farm comparisons
in which the farmer planted four rows of Minhybrid 401 near the

68
center of a field planted with his own selected seed. Ralph Crim, extension
agronomist, was in charge of soliciting cooperating farmers and overseeing
these demonstration plantings.
In the fall 50 hills of the farmer’s seed were harvested and weighed,
and 50 hills of Minhybrid 401, separated only by one row of each kind,
also were harvested and weighed. These demonstration plantings gave the
farmers an opportunity to directly determine on their own farms if this new
idea of buying hybrid seed corn was worthwhile. In nearly every comparison
the hybrid outyielded the farmer’s own seed source, was more uniform
in maturity, and had less lodging and fewer broken stalks. The value of
hybrid corn had been demonstrated, at least to these cooperating farmers.
The second important action came from the belief that commercial
hybrid seed production of Minnesota hybrids would be accomplished by a
few certified seed producers who should produce enough seed for their
own use and a surplus supply to sell to their neighbors. The research staff
agreed that a training program should be initiated with a few of the leading
farmer crop improvement members. Sufficient foundation single-cross
seed for producing Minhybrid 401 had been produced to permit 24 growers
to plant 1 acre each of the two parents.
Interested farmer cooperators volunteered and extension and research
personal visited each of them, giving specific instructions on isolation,
planting and detasseling. My special grower was George Rauenhorst, from
near Olivia, a prominent member in the Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association. In my first visit on his farm his young son Robert was with
him. George told his son, “Listen carefully to what the professor is saying
because this will be your job this summer.” Indeed, Bob did listen carefully
and eventually became the owner of the Rauenhorst Bellows Seed Co., a
large producer, processor and sales company of hybrid seed corn. The
concept of having a few certified seed producers produce hybrid seed corn
for Minnesota did not prove to be successful.
The growing season of 1930 was characterized by the worst drought
in Minnesota history. To save the corn research nursery, water from the
campus water tank was hauled to the nursery and the pollination crew
worked barefoot in the water and mud. We learned that limited soil moisture
was not the only reason for plant damage but that high temperature
also caused tassel and leaf damage. My first summer as a corn breeder was
a trying one. Fortunately, there was a good supply of reserve seed from the
1929 nursery to maintain all of the inbred lines.
In the early 1930s the dent corn program consisted largely of inbreeding
selections from crosses between our own inbreds and a few of the better
inbreds from breeding programs in other states, with special emphasis
on lodging resistance.

69
SWEET CORN AND POPCORN BREEDING
A breeding project for sweet corn and popcorn was initiated during
the 1930s and 1940s. We cooperated with the Minnesota Valley Canning
Co., Le Sueur, in return for a grant to employ a graduate assistant to work
with me on sweet corn breeding. We began developing inbreds from
Golden Bantam, a popular variety for home garden use and for commercial
production for the fresh corn market. To provide genetic diversity a
smaller number of inbreds was developed from Country Gentleman, a
much larger and later-maturing white endosperm type. Country
Gentleman was fertile in both florets in each spikelet of the ear inflorescence,
which completely eliminated distinct kernel rows. Even in the
1930s the concept of using inbreds with different endosperm color to
enhance genetic diversity was an accepted procedure. It was surprising that
the inbreeding depression so strongly evident in dent corn was not as great
in sweet corn. Ten of the best Golden Bantam inbreds were chosen in the
S 4
generation and a diallel series of F l
crosses made among them.
The evaluation of sweet corn hybrids presented a different problem.
Pericarp tenderness, sweetness in flavor, ear size and kernel color at prime
time for canning were nearly as important as yield. Prime time for consumption
or canning usually was 20 days after silking. To properly evaluate
sweet corn hybrids an experimental laboratory was established in the
laboratory of the Farm House. We used a can-sealing machine given to us
by the Minnesota Valley Canning Co., a pressure cooker, and an ingenious
device for creating a vacuum in the closed can. We produced two cans of
vacuum-sealed sweet corn harvested 20 days after silking date from each
replication in the yield test. Surplus prime and washed sweet corn was
gladly accepted by staff members and their neighbors. The results of our
research on sweet corn were published in the Agronomy Journal in 1936.
An interesting and very valuable study was made on the inheritance of
pericarp tenderness in sweet corn. H.K. Hayes obtained seed (from his
brother in Connecticut) of a very early and small-eared white endosperm
sweet corn called Hayes White “with the most tender kernels” of any sweet
corn. This seed was planted in our nursery. We obtained a “puncture
tester” that measured the amount of pressure required to break through a
membrane and used it to measure pericarp thickness 20 days after pollination.
By carefully removing a small portion of husk, testing for puncture
resistance and replacing this husk portion over the ear, we could obtain
desired data and still allow the ear to mature with only a few damaged
seeds. Hayes White truly had a very tender pericarp, requiring 40% less
pressure to puncture than Golden Bantam lines. This variety was crossed
to the parental lines in our Golden Bantam hybrids and successively backcrossed
to them with single-plant puncture testing.

70
A preliminary study indicated that the inheritance of pericarp tenderness
was conditioned by relatively few genes; thus this quantitatively inherited
character could be managed in a backcross program. By 1940 we had
recovered several lines after backcrossing and selfing that had pericarp tenderness
essentially equal to that of Hayes White. These lines were made
available to commercial sweet corn breeders. Tender pericarp hybrids such
as Silver Queen derived their pericarp tenderness from our original work.
Popcorn was not as important a crop in Minnesota as in Iowa. The
most desired variety was Japanese Hulless, which had very short multiplerowed
ears that were often semi-branched at the tip. Plants were small and
had weak stalks; this variety truly needed to be improved. While we did not
have an extensive program in popcorn breeding it was large enough to
develop inbreds that had better stalk strength and longer, well-shaped ears.
The hybrids from the best lines resulted in the release of single-cross
Minhybrid 250, a widely used Japanese Hulless with popping qualities
acceptable to the trade. From other research on popcorn we demonstrated
to commercial poppers the importance of proper moisture content,
12.0 to 12.5%, which results in maximum popping volume and good size
and shape of the popped kernel.
An important achievement of the 1930s was the release for seed production
of a new hybrid, a three-way cross, designated Minhybrid 301. Its
parentage was M11 x M14 as the female parent and B164, an inbred
obtained from Henry Wallace, as the male parent. This was the first all-yellow-endosperm
hybrid to be released by Minnesota. Because B164
matured 10 days later than M11 x M14 and Minhybrid 401, this release
was better adapted to Southern Minnesota. The problem for hybrid seed
producers was that B164, the pollen parent, needed to be planted about
10 days earlier than M11 x M14, the seed parent, to ensure an overlap in
silking and pollen-producing dates. B164 was a vigorous inbred with excellent
pollen production, a necessity for a pollen parent in hybrid seed production.
B164 also became the first inbred to be released large-scale to the
foundation seed project and Minnesota hybrid seed producers.
THE DILEMMA OF HAVING TOO MANY GOOD INBREDS
The system of developing source material from hybrids begun in the
late 1920s became the major breeding program objective for the 1930s.
As a result, more than 100 new inbreds were available as parents of new
double-cross hybrids. This large group of inbreds was used in a top-cross
program with the Morris strain of Minnesota 13 as the tester. The inbreds
also were grown in the yield trials to evaluate possible relationships
between inbreds and their top-cross performance. It became evident that

71
it would be difficult to select the best inbreds from these large numbers.
Some of these could be used as parents of double crosses, but a smaller
number based on combined top cross and inbred yields might be chosen
as parents in a diallel. The thought also emerged that it should be possible
to use single-cross data to predict the yield of a double cross. In this prediction,
among the six possible single crosses with the four inbreds the data
from the two-parent single cross would not be involved in this yield estimate.
In terms of numbers, one could make and test the possible 190 single
crosses made with 20 of the best inbreds among the more than 100 in
the top cross and inbred line trials but it would be impossible to make and
test the more than 14,000 double crosses that could be made from these
20 selected inbreds. After careful thought this concept was discussed with
H.K. Hayes, whose response was, “This idea is so obviously correct that
you should write it up and publish.”
I believed that supporting data were required from experimental trials
in which single-cross and double-cross data from several double-cross predictions
all came from the same trials. This required producing seed of the
three possible double crosses from each combination of four inbreds from
available single-cross seed. Consequently, this concept did not become verified
until tested in yield trials in 1935 and published in 1936. When the
paper was ready to be submitted to the Agronomy Journal, H.K. Hayes
urged that C.W. Doxtater, then conducting the corn-breeding project in
Waseca, be senior author, “Because he needed to have a publication in the
Journal.” By now the work by Jenkins in 1934 had become the first publication
on methods of predicting double-cross yields. It is unfortunate that
I did not publish the proposal without supporting data as Hayes suggested.
RESEARCH ON DISEASE RESISTANCE
In the waiting period during the development of the second series of
inbreds there was opportunity to initiate new studies with members of the
plant pathology department on breeding for resistance to seedling root rots
and to corn smut. We had retained a considerable number of inbred lines
from various origins as well as early generation lines from crosses. J.J.
Christensen, plant pathologist, and I (Iver Johnson) worked together on
this project. We found that inbreds were quite specific in the location and
size of their smut galls. Smut galls above the ear caused a much greater
loss in yield than those below the ear because they became the sink for
translocation. Of course, large galls caused greater yield loss than small
galls. Although none of our inbred lines were entirely smut free, differences
among them suggested the possibilities of breeding for at least partial resistance
to this disease.

72
In the greenhouse during winter we conducted extensive studies evaluating
inbreds for levels of infestation with seedling root rots caused by
Fusarium and Penicillium. Christensen produced pure cultures of the two
pathogens and seed of inbreds was infested and grown in sand-filled benches
at about 15°C. As might be expected, none of the inbreds was entirely
free from damage but some lines were less susceptible to one of the
pathogens than to the other, indicating partial levels of tolerance. Near the
end of a series of evaluations Dr. Christensen made the comment, “I wonder
what would happen if we infested susceptible inbreds simultaneously
with both pathogens” We did so, and to our surprise some of the doubleinfested
lines were nearly disease free. Antibiosis and antibiotics were not
then fully known; to our discredit, we had made a very important discovery
and didn’t know it.
RELATED PHYSIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY STUDIES
We were also concerned with the need to improve the lodging resistance
in corn. Lodging susceptibility was mostly due to a poor secondary
root system. One method of measuring differences in root growth was to
measure the pressure needed to pull a corn plant out of the soil. We set up
a tripod with a 200-pound spring scale and pulleys and attached the scale
with rawhide to the lowest above-ground node of corn plants. Differences
in resistance to pulling among inbreds were large, and closely related to
number and angle of their secondary roots. We concluded that we could
quantify lodging resistance without waiting for the proper combination of
rain-soaked soil and wind to cause lodging.
The general assumption that leaf area and plant yield are positively
associated may not always be true for plants in which the products of photosynthesis
are translocated to the developing grain. In one yield trial of
single crosses we estimated leaf area by counting the total number of leaves
per plant and measuring the length and width near the base of the leaf arising
at the ear node. Differences among crosses in number of leaves per
plant among this group of hybrids were not significant but differences in
area of the ear node leaf among hybrids were large. At that time in the
1930s the procedures presently used for leaf area measurements had not
been developed. Our best estimate without removing the leaf was the product
of length x width x 0.75. We did not find a significant correlation
between this measurement of leaf area and grain yield. Data from other
studies made at a later date have confirmed that leaf area may not be a limiting
factor in grain yield.

73
CORN RESEARCH FROM 1940
The earlier period in corn breeding at the Universtity of Minnesota
ended when Iver Johnson accepted an offer from Iowa State University to
expand its state-supported research in farm crops, lead graduate student
programs in plant breeding and initiate new research projects. Johnson
expressed regret about leaving the corn-breeding program and the many
promising new inbreds and in being unable to have a part in completion
and use of the new agronomy building. Ernest H. Rinke (1940-65) and
Emmett L. Pinnell (1942-57) next led the corn-improvement project.
Developing inbreds and combining them to produce high-performing
hybrid varieties, the primary objective of corn improvement, led to research
on determining the most effective and efficient methods to generate and
evaluate inbreds with superior performance and combining ability.
Open-pollinated varieties in Minnesota were generally early maturing
selections from Corn Belt germplasm and early northern flints. The first
inbreds selected from these local open-pollinated varieties were limited in
their genetic diversity. To accommodate work with the later-maturing
open-pollinated varieties adapted to southern Minnesota and facilitate
introduction of later-maturing Corn Belt materials that could not be successfully
accommodated in the shorter seasons at St. Paul, a major breeding
nursery was established at the Southern Experiment Station, Waseca,
and led by Pinnell. Rinke directed the St. Paul station corn work. The work
at Waseca concentrated on materials adapted to southern Minnesota; work
at St. Paul concentrated on materials adapted to the northern two-thirds
the state. Many studies involved both regions, and yield testing was cooperative.
Marley Gehring was the technician with Pinnell; Nels Olmeim was
the technician with Rinke.
Pinnell and Rinke cooperated in the initial “early x late” program in
which early crosses
were made at
Waseca and selection
was done at
St. Paul. Highly
promising inbred
lines released by
other experiment
stations in the
Corn Belt were
crossed to a
source of earliness
and the progeny
were backcrossed Early corn crew at Waseca Station.

74
to the late inbred parent for two or three generations, with stringent selection
for earliness followed by selection for improved combining ability. The
result was an early version of the recurrent parent; many of these new lines
had performance superior to the recurrent parent.
These procedures involving both Waseca and St. Paul nurseries were
effective and widely employed in the program by the mid-1950s to derive
pedigreed lines for efficient evaluation and development of productive double-cross
and single-cross hybrids. The most important inbred lines released
from this program probably were A632 selected from B14 and A619
from Ohio 43. The single-cross hybrid A632 x A619 was a very successful
hybrid for the Minhybrid seed producers in Minnesota. The same hybrid,
or closely related versions, also were produced by several commercial
corn-breeding companies.
Susceptibility to stalk and root lodging was a serious problem. Locally
adapted open-pollinated varieties, such as Minnesota 13 and Northwestern
Dent, were highly susceptible to stalk and root lodging, which plagued earlier
breeders in the generation of inbred lines. When viewing flattened and
broken inbred plots at Waseca after a particularly bad late-season storm in
the late 1940s, F. R. Immer was reported to have exclaimed “I thought it
would be bad, I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think it would ever be
this bad!”
Selection among inbreds for stronger inbred line root systems by measuring
pulling resistance started in the 1940s and continued through the
1950s. Stalk lodging correlated with Fusarium infection was selected
against by artificial infection after pollination and evaluation of fungal
growth in the pith prior to senescence. An internode below the ear was
punctured with an ice pick and a Fusarium-infected toothpick was inserted.
Resistance was scored by the degree of spread in the stalk just prior
to senescence. This work was carried out in both the Waseca and St. Paul
nurseries in cooperation with the Department of Plant Pathology, which
selected and prepared the Fusarium toothpick cultures.
European corn borer infestations, resulting in stalk breakage and
dropped ears, were a serious problem in some years. Selection for resistance
was a collaborative effort with the Department of Entomology, which
provided borer egg masses collected from the natural populations of caged
moths. Eggs were inserted into the leaf whorls when corn was at the kneehigh
stage and resistance was scored following pollination by rating the
extent of leaf feeding.
Concepts of general and specific combining ability of inbreds were
established during the early 1940s. Minnesota corn breeders were leaders
in developing and utilizing top-cross testing procedures for identifying

75
superior inbreds and single-cross testing for generating double-cross
hybrids. These procedures were well established by the early 1950s,
improving the efficiency of inbred selection and derivation of double-cross
Minhybrids with maturities adapted to Minnesota’s growing seasons. These
early Minhybrids were made available to seedsmen; they set performance
standards for the rapidly developing hybrid seed corn industry.
Recurrent selection was first proposed in the mid 1940s as a method
to increase the frequency of favorable alleles prior to inbred development.
Quantitative gene action and variety and population studies at North
Carolina and Iowa in the late 1940s and early 1950s increased awareness
of and information on genetic effects associated with hybrid vigor in corn.
Quantitative and population improvement methods were emphasized in
the Minnesota corn improvement program started by James C. Sentz,
beginning in 1957.
Sentz had completed graduate degrees at North Carolina State
University before taking a USDA soybean genetics position at St. Paul in
1954. Sentz assumed leadership of the corn-improvement program at
Waseca in 1956, following Pinnel’s departure to become chair of the
University of Missouri field crops department. Sentz managed the Waseca
corn nursery and Southern program trials from 1957 until 1971, continuing
pedigree development and evaluations of improved inbred lines and
superior hybrids. About one-third of the program involved identification
and development of corn populations and implementation of various mating
systems estimating genetic and environmental parameters relative to
hybrid superiority. Quantitative measures were increasingly used across the
program to better use available genetic variability.
Sentz also extended application of quantitative methodologies to the
department and college by developing and teaching two graduate courses,
quantitative inheritance and experimental design. Consequently, he worked
with numerous plant breeding students on quantitative issues related to
their research and with others on research design and statistical analyses,
often serving on graduate committees.
Both Rinke and Pinnell took short-term assignments with the FAO in
the 1950s to help establish corn-breeding programs in southern Europe.
Due to these interactions, the department hosted several corn breeders
from that region for professional studies during the late 1950s and early
1960s. These international exchanges also extended the use of Minnesotadeveloped
corn germplasm to the major corn-growing areas of Europe.
Rinke served as acting department head in 1963-64 when W.M.
Myers became the first dean for University international programs.
Following Herbert W. Johnson’s appointment as department head Rinke
became director of research at Northrup King Co., and the senior project

76
leader position was open for a time. William Compton was hired for the
St. Paul corn-breeding position in 1965 and the Waseca position eventually
was discontinued. R.H. Peterson assumed the applied breeding work
and continued in it until 1996. Sentz took a two-year leave of absence in
1966-68 as a Cornell University visiting professor in corn breeding with
the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. In 1971 he joined the
Office of International Agricultural Programs serving the Institute of
Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics.
Compton accepted a corn-breeding position at the University of
Nebraska in 1967. Robert E. Stucker, a faculty member in the department,
then assumed the corn-breeding leadership and continued through 1971,
when he took a new position as statistical consultant. Jon L. Geadelmann
was recruited from Iowa State University to lead the project in 1972.
Although the corn-breeding program underwent several changes in mid to
late 1960s, the department remained committed to population improvement
and quantitative methodologies. A new position in corn physiology
created in 1978 was filled by Robert J. Jones, who studies the efferts of
temperature stress on kernel development.
Geadelmann left in 1987 to become northern corn research director
for Holdens Foundation Seeds. Steve Openshaw, his successor, left to
work for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. in 1992. Robert Stucker
returned and served as project leader until he retired in 1995. Because of
budget reductions, the corn improvement program was then terminated as
an MAES project. An effort to reestablish the project was initiated immediately.
With significant leadership from department faculty and corn farmers,
financial support was sought and obtained from the corn-breeding
industry and the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. This effort resulted
in reestablishment of a faculty position in corn breeding funded by an
endowment made possible by a grower–industry–University partnership.
Rex Bernardo filled the position in 2000.
In the late 1960s double-cross hybrids, the invention that made commercial
hybrid corn feasible, were being replaced by single-cross hybrids.
First- and second-generation inbreds were generally low yielding, smallseeded
and lacking sufficient vigor to economically produce single crosses.
Recombination and selection of inbreds accumulating favorable genes,
however, created inbred lines that produced high yields of commercially
acceptable seed. These hybrids were preferred for their superiority compared
with their double-cross counterparts. Although some of the first single-cross
hybrids were initially less resilient and suffered under environmental
stresses, their wide adaptation was soon assured. The single-cross
Minhybrid 4201 was generated by combining the high-yielding larger seeded
A619 inbred with A632. It was superior in performance and stability

77
over a wide range of environments and set early single-cross hybrid standards
for the industry. As single-cross hybrids became the rule, cornfields
became much more uniform in height, tassel and silk extrusion, ear height
and other characteristics.
H.K. Hayes was a strong proponent of an “early release” policy as
stated in the corn seed stocks announcement:
Inbred lines of corn developed by the University of Minnesota will be released
to the public when they have been proven of superior combining ability for
yield and other characters....This policy has been adopted by the University of
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in an attempt to make research
results from the University’s corn improvement project more effectively and
readily available for general farm benefit.
In contrast, programs in other states often delayed release of inbreds
until they had been used in experiment station hybrids for 3 to 5 years.
Between 1950 and 1996 many inbreds and several germplasm pools were
released to the corn-breeding industry. These inbreds played a significant
role in the production of top-performing hybrids and were used in subsequent
breeding programs. A survey in the late 1970s indicated that
Minnesota inbreds were used in enough commercial hybrids to plant 21%
of the U.S. corn acreage. Inbred A632 was the most widely used inbred in
the United States and A619 was number four. A632 and A619 were also
used significantly in foreign countries.
RELATED COLLABORATION, CONTRIBUTIONS
AND RESPONSIBLITIES
The Minhybrid Growers Association (MGA) was formed in the 1940s
to increase and distribute seed of inbreds and hybrids released by the cornimprovement
program. The MGA was very important in providing quality
seed corn of early hybrids adapted to Minnesota conditions and continued
to be an active and important group until the early 1970s. Eighty
seedsmen in the MGA met regularly with project personnel to discuss the
inbreds and hybrid combinations they would grow and sell to Minnesota
corn growers.
MGA members continued to grow and sell Minhybrids through the
1970s, but disbanded when the corn project stopped releasing and naming
Minhybrids. Although the inbreds released by the corn program were
used extensively by private seed companies, the MGA was important
because its members marketed inbreds and hybrids identified with the
agronomy and plant genetics department and the MAES. MGA leaders
included Charlie Simpson, John Evans, Henry Liechew, Hubert Anderson,
Carl Pinney, Carl Borgeson, and Bert Enestvedt. Ward Marshall of the

78
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association and Harley Otto of the department
also worked with and supported the MGA.
The 1939 Minnesota Legislature enacted a law requiring maturity tests
for all corn hybrids sold in Minnesota and that they be labeled using the
Minnesota relative maturity system. The MAES was designated official testing
agency for the corn-maturity testing program, which continues to this
day. Six maturity zones were established, ranging from 81 days in the
north to 116 days in the south. Replicated trials are conducted at a minimum
of three locations per year in each zone. Hybrids are entered in the
zone in which they are intended to be grown. A hybrid is assigned a tentative
maturity rating after one year of testing and a permanent rating after
three years of testing. These trials, their analyses and the resulting publications
were supervised by Gertrude Joachim, Forrest Troyer, and Robert
Peterson, assisted by many graduate and undergraduate students.
In 1956 the corn-improvement program began testing commercial
hybrids for agronomic performance in order to provide farmers an unbiased
evaluation. This testing program was discontinued in 1968 but reinstated
on a fee-basis in the 1990s.
Experiments conducted in Southern Minnesota in 1962-64 and
reported in Minnesota Farm and Home Science (1965) concluded that
grain yields increased by utilizing narrow (20 inch) rows and high plant densities.
Additional research on other corn production technologies was initiated
in the late 1960s when Dale R. Hicks joined the department as extension
agronomist in 1968. He led the corn management committee, which
brought scientists from several disciplines together to focus on corn production
problems. Corn management studies were conducted throughout
the state. The committee designed several studies that resulted in significant
changes in corn production practices; for example, the average planting
date changed from late May to early May because of the results of
planting-date research. Earlier planting has drastically increased grain
yields and grain quality, and has reduced drying costs for Minnesota corn
producers.
Through the years many students who went on to make important
contributions to the seed corn industry were trained in the corn-breeding
project. Of all University of Minnesota Ph.D. graduates who have written
a thesis on some aspect of corn breeding or cytogenetics, about 30 have
worked for private industry and about 40 have worked for universities or
international centers. Several have been or are research directors or hold
other management positions in the private and public sectors. Also, many
who earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy have been employed by
the corn seed industry in various positions.

Chapter 10
Flax Improvement
Flax was a crop of increasing importance to
Minnesota in the 1880s. When a disease causing flax plants to wilt threatened
to ruin the flax-growing industry in the Windom area in 1889, O.C.
Gregg, chairman of the farmers institutes, suggested that Otto Lugger, the
University’s botanist and entomologist, go there to study the disease. In
spring 1890 Governor W.R. Merriam appointed Lugger, with permission
of the board of regents, “To make all necessary experiments and to find,
if possible, a remedy against this disease.”
Lugger, whose experience in flax culture had been gained in Europe,
where the disease symptoms also were known, noted in the first biennial
report of the agricultural experiment station (page 19), “that the so-called
disease was not caused by the exhaustion of the soil, nor by any parasitic
organism, but that it could be produced at will by the addition of old flax
straw to any soil in which flax was to be grown.”
J.H. Shepperd, a student at Minnesota who later became president of
the agricultural college at North Dakota, saw and long remembered
Lugger’s greenhouse experiment in St. Paul during the winter of 1890-91.
Lugger had grown three small plots of flax on clean virgin soil. Bed 1, the
control, was untreated and grew healthy flax. In bed 2, watered with an
infusion made by soaking wilt-infected flax straw in warm water, the plants
were wilted or dead. Bed 3 was watered with the same infusion as bed 2,
except the infusion had been boiled. Flax in bed 3 was as healthy as that
Compiled by Professor Emeritus V.E. Comstock based on personal experience and department
records, experiment station reports, proceedings of the Flax Institute and the Institute’s The
History of the Linseed Oil Industry in the United States, and “Improvement in Flax,” by A.C.
Dillman in USDA’s Yearbook of Agriculture, 1936, pp. 745-784. Comstock joined the department
faculty in 1954 and retired in 1984. He was a member of the USDA-ARS flax investigation
project from 1954 to 1972, serving as the project leader from 1957 until its transfer to
North Dakota in 1972.

80
FLAX VARIETIES DEVELOPED AT MINNESOTA
Variety
Release date
Variety
Primost 1900
Redwing 1916
Winona 1922
Chippewa 1923
Redson 1943
Biwing 1943
Crystal 1944
Minerva 1949
Dakota (joint) 1949
Redwood 1952
Arny 1961
Marine 62 1962
Windom 1962
Nored 1968
Norstar 1969
Culbert 1975
Verne 1985
Release date
in bed 1, the control. Lugger acknowledged that he did not know what he
had except that “it evidently was ‘alive’.” Lugger published A Treatise on
Flax Culture, Experiment Station Bulletin 13, in 1890. In his opinion, no
direct remedy for flax wilt seemed possible and “a proper rotation of
crops,” which translated to a flax crop about every 10 years, was the only
way to prevent losses. Lugger, more interested in insects than diseases, did
not follow up his experiments to identify the disease-causing organism.
In 1893, when Shepperd went to North Dakota as agriculturist for the
experiment station, he told H.L. Bolley, the botanist, that he wished to
grow a plot of flax continuously, year after year, “until something happens.”
This he did, on plot 30, beginning in the summer of 1893. The
yield of flax on the plot decreased each year from 1895; in 1900 all the
plants were dead by the Fourth of July. Professor Shepperd then turned
the plot over to Bolley.
In 1900 Bolley had determined that a parasitic fungus caused flax wilt.
He described the fungus and named it “Fusarium lini,” and the disease
“flax wilt,” in 1901. Unknown to Bolley, a Japanese researcher had
reported in 1896 that wilt of flax was caused by a Fusarium fungus. Bolley
deliberately planted flax in plot 30 and patiently selected survivors from
which to develop selections resistant to the disease, a classic work in the
history of crop improvement.
Back at Minnesota, Willet Hays had begun the selection of flax by the
“centgener method;” that is, by comparing the progeny of selected individual
plants grown in squares of 100 plants each. By this method he developed
Primost (Minnesota No. 25) from a single plant selected in 1894. So far as
is known, Primost was the first pure-line flax variety produced in the United
States. Hays distributed seed of Primost from about 1900 to 1904.
Professor Bolley went on to develop “North Dakota Resistant No.
114” the first wilt-resistant strain of flaxseed in the world. Thereafter
Minnesota and North Dakota, major flax-growing states, would lead in the

81
development of varieties resistant to flax wilt disease. In early years of the
twentieth century little work was done on cross-breeding or hybridization
of flax; the priority was to develop varieties resistant to wilt.
The 21st annual report of the experiment station, which noted “that
plans have been completed for electric lighting of the campus,” stated that
21,800 plants of flax were grown for experimental work between July 1,
1912, and June 30, 1913. By comparison, there were 23,000 oat plants,
7,300 corn, 56,900 spring wheat and 53,700 barley.
A flax wilt nursery established at Minnesota in 1913 by J.J.
Christensen, plant pathologist, was used in selection of wilt-resistant varieties
of flax. Norman Borlaug, later to become a Nobel laureate, compiled
data for his thesis from work in the nursery plots.
Following the release of Primost in 1900, all flax variety improvement
efforts at Minnesota have been a cooperative effort between agronomists
and plant pathologists. Redwing, developed by selection by H.K. Hayes
and plant pathologists E.G. Stakman and H.D. Barker, was the first wiltresistant
oilseed flax variety developed at Minnesota. Redwing was released
in 1916, followed by Winona in 1922 and Chippewa in 1923.
A.C. Arny began reselection of Redwing in 1925, purifying the variety
for flower color and testing for yield and wilt resistance. The reselection
was released in 1930, and Redwing remained on the recommended
list in Minnesota for many years. Arny led flax development at Minnesota
from the mid 1920s until the mid 1940s, making many crosses involving
Redwing, Bison and other varieties in attempting to develop disease-resistant
flax strains of high oil content and a superior drying quality of oil.
Redson and Biwing, released in 1943, and Minerva and Dakota in 1949,
were largely a result of Arny’s work.
J.O. (Joe) Culbertson came to Minnesota in 1937 as USDA-ARS sugarbeet
investigations leader and later became leader of the flax improvement
project. Culbertson led development of the Uniform Regional Flax
MINNESOTA FLAX ACREAGE
Year Acres
Year
1890 475,000
1895 716,000
1900 650,000
1905 500,000
1910 380,000
1915 170,000
1920 358,000
1925 740,000
Acres
1930 742,000
1935 702,000
1940 1,590,000
1945 1,067,000
1950 1,217,000
1955 843,000
1960 584,000
Year Acres
1965 444,000
1970 407,000
1975 250,000
1980 125,000
1985 50,000
1990 14,000
1995 9,000
Minnesota’s record flax year was 1948, when 1,661,000 acres were harvested.

82
Nursery, in which, by 1945, flax varieties were evaluated at 29 locations
in the midwestern United States and in Canada.
Culbertson served until 1957, when he transferred to the USDA-ARS
Oilseeds and Industrial Crops Research Branch, Beltsville, Maryland. He
worked with Arny in development of the varieties Minerva and Dakota,
released Redwood in 1952, and developed the varieties Arny, Marine 62,
Windom, Nored and Norstar, which were in test programs when he left
and were released later. He served from 1955 to 1966 as president of the
Flax Institute, an industry group based in Minneapolis that evolved from the
Flax Development Committee, which was formed in 1910 to provide
financial support for flax research and sponsored annual institutes to bring
flax researchers together.
V.E. Comstock joined the flax project in 1954 and led it from
Culbertson’s departure until 1972, when USDA consolidated its Upper
Midwest flax research work at the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment
Station. J. Harlan Ford, who came to Minnesota to do graduate work
under R.S. Dunham, joined the flax project as USDA research agronomist
in 1960 and served until the USDA project closed. He became agronomist
at the Southwest Experiment Station, Lamberton, where he served until
his retirement in 1995.
Following USDA’s withdrawal of the flax project from St. Paul in
1972, Comstock continued flax improvement work in the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics on a part-time basis until his retirement in
1984, when the project was closed. He worked with Culbertson on the
development of Arny, Marine 62 and Windom, developed Culbert and
Verne, the latter in varietal tests at the time of his retirement and named
in tribute to him when released in 1987. Comstock succeeded Culbertson
as president of the Flax Institute in 1966 and served until 1975.
From about 1940 until USDA transferred its flax work to North
Dakota, the agronomy department was repository to the world collection
of flax seed, Seed samples came here from throughout the world, were
grown in isolation in a greenhouse, then increased in field nurseries. There
the lines were evaluated for disease reaction and agronomic, botanical and
seed-quality traits. That data and seed samples of several thousand accessions
were available to flax researchers worldwide on request.
Weed control, a major problem in flax culture, was greatly aided by
R.S. Dunham’s work leading to the introduction of MCPA, which proved
superior to 2,4-D for controlling weeds in flax and did much to solve the
weed-control problem. R.G. Robinson also did extensive work with weed
control in flax.

Chapter 11
Forage Management
Quality and Utilization
Because of the importance of forages for livestock
feeding and soil conservation there has been a long history or forage
management research within the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment
Station. While many individuals have been associated with forage management
research, a few names stand out because of their long tenure and
significant contributions. In the early years, the few personnel were relatively
nonspecialized and conducted research in many areas.
Research was underway at the University Farm in St. Paul in the late
1880’s. Experiment Station Bulletin 2, April 1888, by James Dodge,
chemist, presented results from testing of the yield and quality of corn varieties
for silage. In 1890, in Experiment Station Bulletin 12, Meadows and
Pastures in Minnesota, Willet M. Hays, agriculturalist, summarized research
indicting that timothy was the best tame grass for southern
Minnesota pastures and red top was best for wet areas. Red clover was a
preferred legume, while alfalfa was still considered experimental. However,
in 1900, Hays and Andrew Boss made a three-day trip with the station
team of horses to the Grimm farm in Carver County, Minnesota. They
were impressed by the persistence and winterhardiness of Grimm’s alfalfa
and Hays concluded that “We finally have an alfalfa for the east.” In 1903
he authored Press Bulletin 20, in which the new alfalfa was named
“Grimm.”
Particularly noteworthy was the extensive work on alternative crop
rotations that sought to demonstrate that continuous wheat and corn cropping,
a common practice, was inefficient and degrading to the environment.
In Minnesota Experiment Station Bulletin 125, 1912, Willet Hays
By Professors Craig N. Sheaffer, G.C. Marten and W.F. Wedin. Sheaffer has been a member
of the department faculty since 1977, Marten was a faculty member and USDA-ARS forage
management project leader from 1962 to 1989, and Wedin was a faculty member and
USDA-ARS forage management project leader from 1957 to 1961.

84
and others reported that over a 10-year period, a 5-year rotation, including
small grains, clover-timothy, and corn, was more profitable than continuous
cropping or grain rotations without legumes. Other reports indicated
that soybeans for forage and seed, and sweet clover, were studied as
rotation components.
A.C. ARNY
A.C. Arny joined the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management
(field crops section) as an assistant agronomist in 1909. His 37-year career
covered research on diverse topics and his research program reflected the
dramatic changes in modern agriculture, from the early golden age when
horses were commonly used through two world wars and a major depression.
Arny was a hardworking and prolific agronomist, who studied forages
but also cropping systems, weed control, plant physiology, as well as crop
variety evaluation. Much of his work was aimed at improving the efficiency
of agriculture for Minnesota farmers. He often spread results of his
research through experiment station and extension division publications.
Arny’s research and teaching were critical in promoting alfalfa as the
most important forage legume in Minnesota. In 1912 he evaluated several
alfalfa varieties and found that Grimm persisted while other varieties
failed. He wrote an early history of Minnesota Grimm alfalfa in the 1922
Minnesota Farmers Institute Annual. In 1937 he wrote the first comprehensive
management guide, Alfalfa in Minnesota, Agricultural
Extension Division Special Bulletin 104, that summarizes his research and
includes topics such as variety selection, inoculation, methods of seeding,
planting depth and seed production.
Arny also studied alfalfa physiology and contributed to our knowledge
of factors affecting winterhardiness. He co-advised the Ph.D. research by
Steinmetz (1926) and Tysdal (1931) that helped established the relationship
between alfalfa carbohydrate root reserves and winterhardiness and
the impact of environmental factors on cold hardening in alfalfa. This
work, along with others, forms the basis for our current recommendations
on fall cutting and winter survival of alfalfa.
Perennial grasses have always been important to the forage industry
in Minnesota, and Arny often evaluated traditional species such as timothy,
smooth bromegrass and Kentucky bluegrass. He was the first Minnesotan
to extensively study reed canarygrass as a forage species. Experiment
Station Bulletin 252, Reed Canarygrass, summarized his research and
challenges for the relatively new crop in 1929. Arny noted that reed
canarygrass palatability was sometimes limited, but it would be 40 years
later that G.C. Marten identified sources of poor palatability.

85
Arny continued traditional crop rotation research. For example,
Extension Bulletin 170, Crop Rotation Investigations, 1917, reported a
greater net return when timothy-clover was included in a rotation than for
cropping only small grains and corn. He also did extensive evaluation of
sweet clover varieties and developed recommendations on their use as
green manure crops in rotations. He further studied the use of sudangrass
as an emergency forage in crop rotations.
Arny also conducted pasture management studies. He studied the renovation
of Kentucky bluegrass pastures and the impact of continuous grazing
on pasture productivity. In 1945 he was
author of an unique paper on use of the inclined
point quadrant for estimation of botanical composition
of pastures.
During the period 1909 to 1946 other
Minnesota scientists were conducting other
important forage research. For example, in
1927 F.W. McGinnis authored Special Bulletin
113, Hay Making in Minnesota, that details
procedures for production and preservation of
high-quality alfalfa hay. At that time long, loose,
hay was commonly stored in stacks. McGinnis A.C. Arny
indicated that haystacks should hold from 10 to
15 tons and be compact, symmetrical, and peaked to keep out moisture.
H.K. Hayes, the venerable Minnesota plant breeder, independently developed
a research project on growth habits and feeding quality of pasture
plants. The level of cooperation that existed between Arny and Hayes is
not documented.
A.R. SCHMID
A.R. Schmid conducted forage management research from 1946 to
1977. Schmid, who completed an M.S. (1942) and Ph.D. (1943) under
Arny, had served with the U.S. Navy near the end of WWII. He was assisted
for many years by A. Steen and conducted many trials in cooperation
with branch experiment station personnel. In addition to research, Schmid
was actively involved in teaching undergraduate courses in forage management
and coached the crops judging team. His research, as Arny’s, was
focused on providing fundamental production information to producers in
the state.
Schmid conducted critical research on increasing the establishment of
alfalfa, which became a major crop in Minnesota during his tenure, but
establishment was challenging. His research showed that newly developed

86
herbicides were an effective alternative to companion crops. He also conducted
research on other factors that we now know greatly influence alfalfa
establishment. These include band seeding, seeding depths, seeding
rates and soil compaction. His work with graduate student A.R. Tewari
documented the importance of summer seeding date and plant development
for winter survival of alfalfa.
Schmid evaluated newly developed sorghum-sudangrass hybrids as
annual forage crops. These hybrids yielded as well as traditionally grown
sudangrass, but had high HCN concentrations. His work with graduate student
D.R. Rabas and colleague G.C. Marten showed that high HCN concentration
of sorghum species was associated with a lack of palatability by
cattle and sheep.
He conducted exhaustive investigations focused on determining the
optimum grasses and legumes and grass-legume mixture for diverse environments
and uses. He studied traditional legumes, such as alfalfa and red
clover, relatively new legumes, such as birdsfoot trefoil and crownvetch,
and grasses such as timothy, smooth bromegrass, orchardgrass and
Kentucky bluegrass.
Because farmers are often faced with low productivity from permanent
pastures, Schmid studied strategies to enhance productivity by inclusion
of legumes. His original work studied alternative tillage approaches
and frost seeding. He later conducted the first evaluations of herbicides
such as Roundup and Paraquat to suppress old sod during pasture renovation.
With N.P. Martin, he conducted extensive statewide research on new
approaches to pasture improvement using newly developed equipment in
combination with herbicides.
WALTER F. WEDIN
W. F. Wedin was appointed to a new position in the department as
research agronomist USDA on May 1, 1957. This cooperative position
of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and Humid Pasture and
Range Investigations, Forage and Range Research Branch, ARS, USDA,
had been proposed by W.M. Myers, then head of the Department of
Agronomony and Plant Genetics. Wedin’s immediate USDA supervisor
was Mason Hein, Beltsville, who was soon succeeded by D.E. McCloud.
Wedin worked in cooperation with A.R. Schmid, but also sought and
realized cooperation with scientists in the departments of animal husbandry,
dairy husbandry and soils. He hired an agricultural aid, P.
Westerberg, secured equipment for the project and located land for new
experiments, primarily at the Rosemount station. A main cooperator (facil-

87
itator) at Rosemount who was very instrumental to the future success of the
project was Rollin Denniston, assistant superintendent.
A cooperative project on utilization of grass and legume-grass pastures
by dairy cows with J. Donker, dairy scientist, began in 1957. Objectives
were to: 1) maximize income through milk production on pastures in the
North Central Region; 2) determine effects of forage mixtures, management,
and supplementary grain feeding on milk production; 3) determine
effects of the several variables on pasture composition; and 4) correlate
agronomic pasture production evaluations with other techniques such as
the the chromogen–chromic oxide method.
Pasture research for sheep began in 1958 in cooperation with R.
Jordan, animal scientist. An experiment on annual species for emergency
temporary pastures was established at Rosemount. Annual forage crop
mixtures tested under grazing by early-weaned lambs were: 1) all-summer
pasture (oats-rape together), 2) a two-pasture combination of early-summer
peas followed by late-summer solid-seeded corn, and 3) a combination of
early-summer oats-peas, followed by late-summer sudangass. Solid-seeded
corn with several variations of oats-rape interseeding was evaluated via
sheep grazing in 1960. Additional research on perennial pastures for finishing
early–weaned lambs on pasture was established in fall 1958.
In addition to grazed-pasture research, Wedin conducted research on
promising forage species and management variables that would influence
the efficiency of grazing at Grand Rapids and Rosemount. A legume-nitrogen
study was conducted in cooperation with W.F. Hueg, Jr., extension
agronomist–forages, and G.C. Marten.
Graduate students assisting with the research over these years were G.
C. Marten, W.J. Moline, and E. Wong Lee (Korea). Wedin left USDA in
March 1961 to become associate professor of agronomy at Iowa State
University, Ames.
GORDON C. MARTEN
Gordon C. Marten conducted research from the initiation of his graduate
work in 1958 (Ph.D. thesis completion in 1961) through his 28 years
as a research agronomist for USDA-ARS at the University of Minnesota
(1961-1989). He completed his ARS career as a senior executive (associate
director of the Beltsville area) from 1989 to 1996 and returned to
Minnesota as adjunct professor emeritus in 1996.
During his active research career he employed several outstanding
support personnel, including technicians and scientists. These included
Paul Westerberg, Craig Edwards, James Halgerson, Christina Lacey,

88
Randy Ellingboe and Eric Ristau. He also served as research leader of the
ARS Plant Science Research Unit at St. Paul from 1972 to 1989 and as
coordinator of the National Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS)
Forage Research Project Network, which from 1983 to 1989 included scientists
from nine states as full members and eight additional states and several
foreign countries as associate members.
Nearly all of G.C. Marten’s research was collaborative with other
agronomists, animal scientists, soil scientists, plant pathologists, entomologists,
biochemists and plant physiologists, or plant breeders and geneticists
at the University of Minnesota or in several other states. He strongly
believed in interdisciplinary research, and nearly all of his accomplishments,
published in more than 200 journal articles or other scientific
papers, reflect this belief. Marten led or co-led research with other scientists
or his graduate students that resulted in the following most significant
accomplishments:
1 He devised a method for mapping recurring grazing patterns by dairy cattle
as a way of quantifying the significance of selective grazing induced by
animal excreta. He then demonstrated that: a) the problem of rejection
of “dung-spot” herbage by cattle can be overcome by spraying the spots
with sweet flavors, b) a formerly accepted plant P/N imbalance causal
theory was invalid, and c) the factor(s) causing the problem is associated
with the dung itself (especially odor) and is not inherent in the forage.
2 Marten documented that prevention of grain formation will reduce the
maize plant’s efficiency and reduce yield of fodder digeststib1e dry matter
by 20% or more. Therefore, maximum fodder yields and highest
silage quality will be obtained by breeding and growing male-fertile
instead of male-sterile (high sugar) cultivars. Previous false advertising by
seed companies that male sterile maize provided higher silage yields and
better silage ceased as a result of this research, which was later confirmed
by the University of Nebraska.
Marten collaborated with plant breeders to document that genetic variability
exists for several forage quality traits of silage maize and that
breeding for improved maize stover quality as well as grain yield is superior
to breeding for grain yield alone. They found, however, that whereas
brown midrib-3 mutant germplasm improved stover digestibility, normal
germplasm offered more potential for silage maize breeding because
bm-3 is genetically associated with reduced grain and fodder yields.
3 Marten collaborated with soil scientists in a massive research program
that established the potential of perennial cool-season grasses, maize,
and maize interseeded in reed canarygrass sods as practica1 alternatives
to remove N, P and other excess elements from municipal wastewater
effluent and sludge. Reed canarygrass was the best species for removing

89
N from effluent and it was the most adaptable of numerous forages to
fluctuations in harvest management in effluent renovation systems.
4 Marten and his Ph.D. student (Simons) provided conclusive evidence that
concentration of total basic alkaloids is highly negatively correlated with
palatability of reed canarygrass. Other of Marten’s students determined
the influence of environmental factors on reed canarygrass alkaloids.
This finding was a major breakthrough in that it answered a long-asked
question about the cause and remedy for periodic palatability problems
with this widely adapted and high-yielding species. Palatability differences
among reed canarygrass genotypes and their associated alkaloid
differences proved to have a substantial biological significance for grazing
sheep and cattle. These classic experiments by Marten and his animal
science colleagues provided the first concrete evidence that palatability
differences of forage plants can be more important than yield
and/or concentration of nutrients in determining grazing animal performance
and economic returns per unit of land.
The animal performance evidence gave impetus to Marten’s collaborative
breeding work with a University of Minnesota grass breeder
(Hovin) and an industry breeder (Kalton) to reduce alkaloids in reed
canarygrass. Those efforts led to selection of MN-76, (a low-alkaloid,
tryptamine-carboline-free germplasm) and to the industry cultivars
Palaton and Venture (also low-alkaloid, tryptamine-carboline-free) that
provided substantially greater sheep gains than other commercially available
cultivars. Low-alkaloid cultivars of reed canarygrass are now recommended
throughout the nation and internationally as a result of this
research.
5 Through his technique research he fostered improved methods in forage
and grazing experiments:
✔ Marten documented that daily gain per animal and seasonal animal gain
per hectare can be validly obtained by use of either “put-and-take” stocking
or properly controlled “fixed” stocking in grazing experiments. This
finding dissolved a long-standing disagreement between Americans and
Australians concerning which of the two approaches leads to valid results.
✔ He co-led the NC64 Regional Research Committee, which developed
and verified two in vitro rumen fermentation procedures, the second of
which (direct acidification method) became internationally recognized as a
uniquely efficient substantial modification of the classical TiIley and Terry
approach. He was senior author of the invited (1980) publication of these
procedures in Standardization of Analytical Methodology for Feeds by
the International Development Research Center and International Union
of Nutritional Sciences (Canada). The direct acidification method was still
routinely used and cited in several journals in 2000.

90
Karl Fischer moisture-testing apparatus, most precise method for testing
moisture content of forages then available, in use in the department
in the 1970s.
✔ Marten and cooperators obtained clear evidence that NIRS can efficiently
evaluate chemical composition and digestibility of alfalfa and
other forage species and that several species can be included simultaneously
in a single calibration equation without substantial loss in accuracy.
This evidence prompted use of NIRS by many research labs internationally
and led to endorsement of NIRS as an alternative method to gain lab
certification for measurement of quality of alfalfa hay by the National
Alfalfa Hay Testing Association.
These results were referenced in the Hay Testing Laboratory
Certification Manual of 1984 published by the National Hay
Association and the American Forage and Grassland Council. Leading
public extension and private industry forage programs that utilized “relative
feed value” and hay grades in ration-balancing and hay auctions
(including those in Minnesota) were still heavily relying on NIRS in 2000.
The USDA-ARS Agric. Handbook No. 643, Near Infrared Reflectance
Spectroscopy (NIRS): Analysis of Forage Quality, of which Marten was
the senior editor, was also routinely used and cited in 2000.
✔ He directed studies of small grain forage crops (Ph.D. research of
Cherney and Brink) and led cooperative research with R. Andersen to
demonstrate that oat, the most popular companion crop used to establish
alfalfa, has inferior forage-quality to barley and to the majority of
annual weeds that commonly invade seedling alfalfa.

91
6 Marten and Jordan showed that non-bloat-inducing birdsfoot trefoil has
great potential in sheep grazing systems if it is used either in immature
or stockpiled pure stands to partially substitute for the higher-yielding
alfalfa, which must be mixed with lower-quality grasses to prevent bloat.
He and F. Ehle, USDA animal scientist, revealed that cattle may often
gain more weight when they graze pure stands of birdsfoot trefoil compared
to alfalfa, and that birdsfoot trefoil may produce as much or more
beef per hectare as alfalfa without the risk of bloat or the need to use
insecticides often required for grazed alfalfa.
They also disclosed that cicer milkvetch contains an unknown antiquality
constituent(s) that causes palatability problems and inferior daily
gains by grazing cattle, even though cicer milkvetch has superior generalized
nutritive value compared to several other alternative legumes. It
was further revealed between 1987 and 1990 that the anti-palatability
or other anti-quality constituent(s) in cicer milkvetch can cause severe
photosensitization of both grazing cattle and sheep. This work alerted
plant breeders in Minnesota and Colorado to the potential for removing
the anti-quality constituent(s) by breeding. It also aroused additional
cooperative photosensitization research by veterinary and medical scientists.
The plant breeding research was still in progress in 1997.
7 Marten directed research (including the thesis of Vough) that revealed
that the use of crude protein as the then (1971) primary estimator of forage
quality of marketed hay and of ruminant rations can be misleading
because of the influence of temperature and moisture conditions during
alfalfa growth. They further established that fiber components can be
more reliably used to give valid digestibility prediction of forages grown
in diverse climates and that the highest quality hay crops are likely to
occur in cool, dry climates.
This information was later confirmed by other researchers and was
used by the National Hay Marketing Task Force of the American Forage
and Grassland Council to establish equitable and uniform hay marketing
standards in the United States. The Task Force eliminated the use of
crude protein and adopted acid detergent fiber (ADF) as an estimator of
energy value of marketed hay. ADF was still being used in the calculation
of relative feed value of hay in 2000.
8 Marten’s additional collaborative research with plant breeders illustrated
the potential of breeding oats and reed canarygrass for increased forage
quality. Individual genetic improvement programs showed the heritability
of several forage quality components of oats, in vitro digestibility of
reed canarygrass, cell wall constituents of reed canarygrass, total indole
alkaloids of reed canarygrass, and hordenine and gramine of reed
canarygrass.

92
9 Marten’s last notable effort during his 28 years as a research agronomist
was accomplished in collaboration with colleagues C. Sheaffer and R.
Jordan. He led investigations that first evaluated kura clover as a grazing
legume in northern climates. Its extraordinary persistence, ability to
spread and very high forage quality showed the great potential of kura
clover for pasture. Marten’s original plots at Rosemount still existed 20
years after establishment. This research served as a stimulus for kura
clover breeders to continue long-term efforts to produce cultivars that
have better seedling vigor and better seed production.
CRAIG C. SHEAFFER
Craig C. Sheaffer has conducted research and taught in the department
since 1977 when he succeeded A.R. Schmid. He taught courses in
forage crop management, introductory agronomy and sustainable agriculture.
He has served as director of graduate studies for the agronomy and
sustainable agriculture graduate programs. Much of his research program
has been collaborative with other scientists located on the St. Paul campus
and at branch stations (research and outreach centers). Inspired leadership
of field and laboratory activities was provided by several civil service staff:
Douglas Swanson, Jim Halgerson, Salli Weston, Eric Barberg and Eric
Ristau, with able assistance by many undergraduate and graduate students.
Craig Sheaffer evaluating a field of kura clover.

93
Sheaffer led efforts in promoting development and use of new
legumes for cropping systems. He collaborated with G. Marten and R.
Jordan in first documenting the value of kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum)
as a grazing legume in the northern United States, and he has conducted
research to understand factors limiting its establishment and production.
His research with P. Seguin and M. Russelle first documented the N fixation
potential of kura clover. His research has spawned the development
of public and private sector breeding programs and a seed production
industry. With N. Ehlke and L. DeHaan he developed populations with
improved seedling vigor and herbage production.
Sheaffer has also been a leader in promoting use of annual legumes in
cropping systems. He participated with D. Barnes in the development of
Nitro, a high N-producing, nondormant alfalfa (Medicago sativa) that has
been widely used by organic farmers as an annual in crop rotations. He
worked with O. Hesterman , a Ph.D. student, and M. Russelle, USDA soil
scientist, in understanding the contribution and economics of using annual
alfalfa in rotation. Most recently, he was the first to evaluate use of annual
medics (Medicago spp.) in Corn Belt cropping systems and has made
considerable progress in understanding their morphological traits and biological
N fixation. His international reputation as a leader in this field was
attested to by his invitation to be a plenary speaker on legumes in cropping
systems at the 18th International Grassland Congress.
Sheaffer is a nationally recognized expert on management of alfalfas
and other legumes. He has been invited to write chapters in the Alfalfa
Science and Technology Monograph; in the CSSA, ASA, and SSA
Trilateral Workshop on Persistence of Forage Legume; in Forages (5th edition),
a commonly used textbook; and other reference texts. He has developed
numerous publications in this area and was among the first to show
root lesion nematode as a major cause of poor legume stand persistence
in the northern United States, variation in persistence of legumes in CRP
programs, alfalfa physiological and morphological responses to soil moisture
effects, effects of temperature and photoperiod on multifoliolate leaf
expression by alfalfa varieties, and effects of cutting during the seeding year
on alfalfa establishment.
Sheaffer has been a leader in evaluating alfalfa forage quality and yield.
He developed standardized forage quality testing procedures for the North
American Alfalfa Improvement Conference. He also led a team that developed
a field test for rapidly determining alfalfa variety winterhardiness.
These tests are now used to verify variety traits for the Alfalfa Variety
Review Board and in state variety testing programs. With N. Martin and P.
Peterson, he has led the statewide Minnesota Alfalfa Variety Testing

94
Program, which supplies information on variety yield, quality, potato
leafhopper resistance, and winterhardiness to producers and the industry.
In addition to legumes, Sheaffer has had a significant program on annual
and perennial grasses for forage. He was part of a team led by D.
Rasmussen that developed Royal, a high-quality forage barley. His pioneering
research on quackgrass as a forage grass led to a breeding program at
the University of Minnesota. He has led efforts on research and promotion
of reed canarygrass as a forage grass for mixtures with legumes. Finally, he
has studied the impact of management variables, such as N fertilization and
population, on the yield and quality of new corn silage hybrids.
NEAL P. MARTIN
Neal P. Martin was a forage extension specialist from 1974 to 1999.
He also had a significant applied research program focused on transfer of
new technology to producers. He led development of NIRS technology for
rapid on-farm testing of forage quality. Because of his efforts, this technology
is now routinely used in laboratories. He also was a pioneer in pasture
renovation research using new technology. He studied effects of various
factors including seeding date, herbicide rate and equipment to
enhance the effectiveness of pasture renovation.

Chapter 12
Forage and Turf Seed
Production in
Northern Minnesota
Forage and turf crops, both grasses and legumes,
offer a challenge to modern agriculture. For the small grains, flax
and most other crops, the seed and crop for consumption can be and are
produced in the local field and can be used for either purpose.
On the other hand, many forage and turf crops are perennial and it is
seldom efficient to produce seed in the area where the crop is best utilized.
Further, many crops perform very well in an area that is not a satisfactory
seed-producing area. For example, Kentucky bluegrass for turf and lawns
will produce well in lawns in an environment that is not a quality seed-producing
area. Also, an area that does not use the seed may be a very efficient
and economical producer, as in the case of perennial ryegrass,
Kentucky bluegrass and alfalfa.
The discovery, testing and acceptance of Grimm alfalfa was a major
step in the establishment of forage crop production in Minnesota.
Wendelin Grimm, who immigrated to Carver county, Minnesota, from
Germany in 1857, brought with him a small lot of alfalfa seed. He collected
seed from the surviving plants for more than 30 years, and by 1895
had established a winterhardy alfalfa strain, greatly expanding the utilization
of this crop in the northern states and Canada.
Grimm alfalfa seed production in Minnesota began in Carver county
and gradually moved north as land was opened and satisfactory seed was
produced. However, in 1924, Dr. F.R. Jones, USDA pathologist in Wisconsin,
isolated and showed that bacterial wilt would rapidly destroy stands
of Grimm alfalfa, which was very susceptible to the disease. Jones’s discovery
would eventually lead to alfalfa research at Minnesota.
By Laddie J. Elling and Professor Nancy J. Ehlke, a member of the department faculty since
1986.

96
Grimm seed production continued to move north until by 1940-1941
there was major production in Minnesota. The term “Minnesota Grimm”
was magic to the ears of forage producers in most northern states and
Canada. During the late 1930s and early 1940s some 10 to 12 million
pounds of alfalfa seed was produced annually in northern Minnesota, along
with large quantities of red clover, sweet clover and alsike clover seed.
During World War II (1941-1945), flax and other crops were in
demand and prices were high. Farmers were known to buy land and pay
for it from the first crop of flax they produced. This factor, along with a
change in climate from the dry 1930s to the more humid 1950s, caused a
decisive decrease in legume seed production. In response to these changes,
a group of growers and businessmen in northern Minnesota requested
funds from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Commission to
support research on small-seeded legume seed production. This support,
which ranged from $30,000 to $40,000 per year, was used to support
existing projects in agronomy, entomology, plant pathology and soils.
Local and University
committees met to discuss
research projects
and results of past trials.
These discussions usually
preceded or followed
local meetings in Roseau,
Warroad or Baudette,
where results were reported
to seed growers
from the area. This collaborative
research led to
some productive research.
A few major findings
from these studies
include:
• Pollination was critical
in the production of
legume seed.
H.K. Hayes (left), Carl Borgeson and E.C.
Stakman with excised alfalfa shoots used to
produce seed in greenhouse, late 1940s. Photo
courtesy of Dr. K.J. Frandsen, Denmark.
• Wild pollinators were
not sufficient during this
time to ensure good seed
production of alfalfa and
the clovers.

97
IRON RANGE RESOURCES FUNDING COMMITTEE, 1952
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
President – Gustav Kveen, Roseau
Vice-President – Peter Shoberg,
Roseau
Secretary-Treasurer – Charles
Christianson, Roseau
Directors:
Robert (Bob) Bergland, Roseau
Elvin Hedlund Roseau
AREA ADVISORY MEMBERS
Albert Gillie, Williams
Ivan Mostoller, Deer River
Charles Raitz, Kelliher
Paul Tangierd, Bagley
E.M, Saul, Crookston
Lee Munger, Warren
Russel Youngren, Hallock
Adrian Brule, Red Lake Falls
Oscar Brule, Red Lake Falls
Oscar Breiland, Thief River Falls
Tony Grebenc, Cook
Eino Lahti, Meadowlands
Selvin Erickson, Ross
D.B. Fanklin, Roseau
Richard Radway, Roseau
(county agent)
Seth Gavelin, Roseau
Archie R. Lee, Roseau
UNIVERSITY COOPERATORS
The following worked as a loosely
organized committee cooperating
with the funding committee:
Agronomy
L.J. Elling,
cultural practices and varieties
R.S. Dunham,
weed control in seed fields
Entomology
F.G. Holdaway, harmful insect
work and coordinator
A.G. Peterson,
harmful insect work
R.L. Fischer, pollinating insects
*B.A. Haws, pollinating insects
*Ken Tucker, pollinating insects
Plant Pathology
M.F. Kernkamp, disease effect on
seed production
Soil Science
P. M. Burson, soil fertility and seed
production
*Haws and Tucker succeeded Fischer
• Honeybees were effective pollinators in alsike, red and sweet clover, but
not in alfalfa.
• Honeybees, effective in California, and alkali bees and leaf-cutter bees,
effective in certain areas of the west, were ineffective in Minnesota due to
cool and humid weather.
In 1965 the project direction was changed to include grasses and
legumes. Elling transferred from the alfalfa project to the grass and legume
seed production project in northern Minnesota. Allan Peterson (entomology),
John Grava (soils) and Richard Behrens (weed control) continued their
cooperation. Donald Wyse (perennial weed control) was added to this
group in 1974, and Elling and Wyse were left to continue the work after
Peterson and Grava retired.

98
In 1953 Carl Borgeson, foundation seed project, carried a sample of
Kentucky bluegrass seed to Gustav Kveen for possible increase and evaluation.
This became the Park variety, which performed far beyond expectations
and became the major variety for production in northern Minnesota.
Silvertop was recognized as a serious problem in Kentucky bluegrass
production. Alan Peterson found the cause to be the Capsus bug. This
insect hatched at the approximate time Kentucky bluegrass headed. Two
major controls were effective, 1) burning the fields after harvest, and/or 2)
spraying with Malathion as the Capsus bugs emerged.
Studies on timothy, fescue species, reed canarygrass, orchardgrass,
red clover, birdsfoot trefoil and miscellaneous species also were conducted.
Birdsfoot trefoil production with a new variety, Norcen, was developed.
Varieties of timothy, Kentucky bluegrass and several other species were
studied for production in northern Minnesota.
Harley J. Otto, extension agronomist, and C. S. Garrison, USDA,
cooperated in bringing foreign varieties to northern Minnesota for evaluation
and production. The varieties of several species have been grown very
successfully and their seed certified under the OECD certification plan.
Excellent cooperation by growers and businessmen in the area contributed
greatly to the success of the program. For more than 20 years the
local groups provided land at no cost for research in the area.
Elling retired in 1985 and Nancy J. Ehlke was chosen to lead the seed
production research in northern Minnesota. Donn J. Vellekson, senior
research plot coordinator, provides leadership for the field-based research
program at Roseau; he is assisted by many undergraduate students.
The goal of Ehlke’s research is to develop better seed-production management
strategies for new and existing species and to continue evaluation
of new species and varieties of grasses and legumes for seed production
potential in northern Minnesota. Emphasis has been placed on developing
production practices that integrate appropriate variety selection, weed control
practices, fertility requirements, production practices and residue management
strategies for numerous species, including birdsfoot trefoil, kura
clover, cicer milkvetch, perennial ryegrass, reed canarygrass, fine fescues,
Kentucky bluegrass and native prairie species.
In 1998, the University of Minnesota received a gift of 40 acres from
Mrs. Peggy Magnusson for a permanent research farm dedicated to grass
and legume seed at Roseau. The College of Agricultural, Food, and
Environmental Sciences, in cooperation with the Northern Minnesota
Forage Turf Seed Advisory Board, built a structure on the farm that houses
equipment and provides office space for the seed production research
project and the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.

Chapter 13
Forage Breeding
and Genetics
Horace L.Thomas was hired as a forage and
turf grass breeder in 1945. He was active in grass and legume breeding,
but concentrated on smooth bromegrass, red and white clover and
Kentucky bluegrass. Thomas spent a portion of his career developing
improved smooth bromegrass varieties and, during the 1950s, led a large,
regional research project on smooth bromegrass. He also was recognized
for teaching graduate level statistics courses in the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics to students across the broad disciplines of
the biological sciences. He also contributed significantly to graduate education
and advised numerous students, including M.W. Pedersen, J.R.
Cowan, L.J. Elling, W.R. Kneebone, L.R. Robinson, D.H. Timothy and
T.A. Yungbluth.
Thomas worked with M.F. Kernkamp, Department of Plant Pathology
and Botany, to select smooth bromegrass plants with improved resistance
to root rot caused by Rhizoctonia solani, and to leaf spot diseases caused
by Helminthosporium species. This research culminated in release of Fox
smooth bromegrass by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
(MAES) in 1968.
Thomas also worked with red and white clover. He was primarily interested
in self-incompatibility and the potential for developing new varieties
of red clover by capitalizing on the development of inbred lines for use in
hybrid varieties. His primary breeding objective in white clover breeding
was to develop ladino-type varieties with improved winterhardiness. This
research culminated in the release of Minn A white clover germplasm by
Thomas and A.W. Hovin in 1974.
Thomas’s most significant contribution to Minnesota agriculture was
the development of Park Kentucky bluegrass. Park was released by the
By Professor Nancy J. Ehlke.

100
MAES in 1957 to the Northern Minnesota Bluegrass Growers Association,
which was formed in the Roseau area to produce and market high-quality
Park seed.
In the process of developing the variety Park, Thomas extensively
evaluated 281 single-plant collections made by H.K. Hayes in 1937 from
throughout Minnesota for total biomass production and seasonal distribution,
disease resistance and crude protein concentration. The best 15
apomictic clones were selected and combined to form the variety Park,
which was superior in disease resistance and seedling vigor to the currently
available Kentucky bluegrass varieties in the Midwest. Park is the major
variety in seed production in northern Minnesota, comprising more than
95% of the Kentucky bluegrass acreage; it has produced millions of dollars
for the economy of northern Minnesota.
Arne W. Hovin was hired in 1969 to lead the forage grass breeding
and genetics research project. He played an influential role in developing
new forage grasses with high yield and quality and in the development of
plant breeding methodologies that would facilitate the more rapid development
of improved varieties of cool-season forage grasses for Minnesota.
While the primary species in Hovin’s plant-breeding program was reed
canarygrass, he also had active breeding programs in orchardgrass and
quackgrass. Hovin’s project also trained many graduate students during his
12 years on the faculty. Three of his students are currently successful grass
breeders; they are Reed Barker, USDA-ARS; Michael Casler, now at the
University of Wisconsin; and Petter Marum, senior forage breeder for the
entire country of Norway.
Hovin worked to improve the forage yield, forage quality and seed
yield of reed canarygrass. In cooperation with G.C. Marten, USDA-ARS,
he developed reed canarygrass populations with reduced concentrations of
indole alkaloid, which influence animal intake and utilization. This research
was groundbreaking because it definitely linked animal performance with
poor palatability and plant chemical composition. These efforts led to the
release of MN-76, a low-alkaloid, tryptamine-carboline-free germplasm,
which is the basis for the development of all public and commercial lowalkaloid
varieties of reed canarygrass. In addition to selecting for low alkaloid
concentrations, Hovin’s grass-breeding program developed grasses
with improved forage quality and forage intake based on improved in vitro
digestibility and reduced cell wall constituents. His pioneering efforts in the
use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy in his breeding program has
influenced the efforts of other grass breeders in the development of new
varieties of grasses with improved forage quality.
Hovin, in conjunction with G.H. Heichel, USDA-ARS, was instrumental
in developing artificial vernalization techniques for reed canary-

101
grass. This technique of inducing flowering in young plants allowed Hovin
to obtain two generations of seed in one year, doubling the efficiency of
evaluating traits on initial forage growth. In addition to his groundbreaking
research on reed canarygrass, Hovin developed advanced breeding populations
of orchardgrass with improved winterhardiness of medium maturity
and brought more than 600 quackgrass genotypes from 40 counties in
Minnesota for forage yield-potential evaluations.
Nancy Jo Ehlke has conducted plant breeding research, outreach and
teaching in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics since 1986,
when she was hired to continue the work of Laddie Elling and Arnie Hovin.
She has taught graduate level courses in quantitative genetics and plant
breeding and is responsible for research and outreach to the grass and
legume seed producers in northern Minnesota. Most of her research program
is collaborative with other scientists located on the St. Paul campus
and at the research and outreach centers. Donn J. Vellekson, senior
research plot coordinator, leads the research program. He is assisted by
many graduate and undergraduate students.
Ehlke’s plant breeding program concentrates on small-seeded alternative
legumes, indigenous legumes, and turf grasses adapted to the North
Central Region of the United States. She utilizes traditional selection procedures
coupled with molecular biology and tissue culture techniques. She
chooses species that have the greatest potential for seed production in
northern Minnesota and are adapted to forage or turf production practices
in Minnesota and the North Central Region of the United States.
Certified birdsfoot trefoil seed production in northern Minnesota is limited
by severe infestations of Canada thistle [Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.],
a competitive perennial broadleaf weed. Ehlke initiated a recurrent selection
program for glyphosate tolerance in birdsfoot trefoil in the greenhouse
in 1987 in cooperation with Donald Wyse. Adequate levels of field tolerance
were obtained after six cycles of greenhouse selection. Two populations
with the highest levels of tolerance to glyphosate were released as the
varieties Nueltin and Roseau exclusively to Norfarm Seeds, Inc. in Roseau,
Minnesota. These varieties are in large-scale field plantings to determine
the proper management strategies for seed production in northern
Minnesota.
Cicer milkvetch (Astragalus cicer L.) is an important, long-lived perennial
forage legume in the Great Plains and northern United States. It has
palatability problems, however, and produces anti-quality components that
can lead to photosensitization reactions in ruminant animals. Direct screening
of populations for these components is not feasible. Ehlke developed a
selection protocol in cooperation with Craig Sheaffer and Gordon Marten,
USDA-ARS, utilizing grazing sheep to identify vigorous palatable plants

102
from the world collection of cicer milkvetch. They demonstrated that the
high-palatability population was significantly better utilized by grazing
sheep because of inherent differences in forage palatability, not to differences
in forage nutritive quality. Norfarm Seeds received the exclusive production
and marketing rights to HiPal cicer milkvetch; seed production is
concentrated in northern Minnesota.
Kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb.) has the potential to
become an important pasture species in Minnesota. Poor seedling vigor is
a characteristic of most such small-seeded forage legumes, and establishment
problems have resulted in limited grower acceptance. A breeding
program was established to improve seedling vigor. Two M.S. students
have been working on this part of the selection program, which uses
restricted phenotypic selection to alter root-to-shoot ratios and to increase
top growth in the greenhouse. Evaluation of populations for seedling vigor
in the field have proved that greenhouse selection can improve seedling
vigor and stand establishment in the field.
Ehlke’s research group, in cooperation with David Somers and Donald
Wyse, developed a tissue-culture system for Kentucky bluegrass that is successful
with a wide range of Kentucky bluegrass varieties. Because of limited
success with hybridization and the lack of new traits from plant collection
germplasm, somaclonal variation induced by tissue culture could be a
method of introducing greater genetic variation in Kentucky bluegrass.
Ehlke is presently using turf plots to evaluate Kentucky bluegrass lines
from tissue-culture-derived plants for the presence of useful somaclonal
variations. Differences in disease susceptibility, color, texture, growth habit,
dormancy and inflorescence production have been observed in these nursery
plots. Seed increases are being done for five lines in northern
Minnesota, with the overall goal of developing high-turf-quality varieties of
Kentucky bluegrass that consistently produce good seed yields in northern
Minnesota.
Winterhardiness is important for production of perennial ryegrass turf
and seed in Minnesota. Only an older, unacceptable, turf variety, NK-200,
has sufficient winterhardiness for seed production in northern Minnesota.
To meet the growing market for perennial ryegrass, Ehlke’s program is
developing winterhardy turf quality varieties of perennial ryegrass that produce
consistently high seed yields in northern Minnesota. Three populations
are in seed increase in northern Minnesota for consideration as
potential varieties. These new varieties should have a significant impact on
the market for perennial ryegrass seed by increasing its area of adaptation.

Chapter 14
Genetics,
Genetics,
Cytogenetetics,
Cytogenetics,
and Biotechnology
The Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics at the University of Minnesota is steeped in a tradition of highquality
genetics research. From the early studies on inheritance of disease
resistance to recent studies on molecular genetics and biotechnology, the
department has fostered extensive contributions in genetics pertaining to
the improvement of plants. Students trained in the department have made
major contributions in their careers, including the first person to actually
observe a gene in the electron microscope.
Much of the tradition of high-quality genetics research has its roots in
the earliest days – 1915 – when H.K. Hayes came to the University of
Minnesota to teach genetics and plant breeding. This was not long after
the rediscovery of the principles of genetics. He brought the first application
of Mendelian principles to the Division of Agronomy and Farm
Management. Studies were initiated right after his arrival on the genetic
nature of stem rust resistance in wheat, in conjunction with the Division of
Botany and Plant Pathology. Many research studies followed on the genetics
of disease resistance and plant morphology, such as the inheritance of
spike density in barley.
In 1928 Hayes became chief of the new Division of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics. In 1952 Will Myers became the head and the name of division
was changed to the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, the
name that survives to this day. Hayes taught an undergraduate-graduate
course in genetics and started a genetics seminar on genetics and cytogenetics
problems. Much of the information discussed in the genetics seminars
was published in 1921 as a farm crops plant breeding publication.
Hayes taught advanced genetics for many years until C.R. Burnham joined
By Ronald L. Phillips, a member of the department faculty since 1968, Regents Professor
and McKnight President's Chair in Genetics.

104
the staff in 1938 to take charge of the cytogenetics lab. A chromosome
analysis lab had been established in 1917. F. Griffee was the first to see
barley chromosomes – at least first in the United States – in those early
days.
Burnham took over the graduate courses in genetics and cytogenetics
soon after his arrival. Perhaps the most significant teaching tool was the
textbook developed by Hayes, Immer and Smith entitled Methods of Plant
Breeding. This text was translated into several languages and served as the
most important plant breeding text for many years. Immer brought expertise
in statistics that added a high degree of rigor to experimentation in
plant breeding and genetics. This rigor fostered high-quality research and
contributed to the standards of excellence that have been an integral part
of life in the department. Lambert later taught intermediate genetics for
several years.
Many early students and faculty contributed toward the rich heritage of
genetics in the department (personal notes of H.K. Hayes), including P.J.
Olson, R.J. Garber, F. Griffee, H.E. Brewbaker, F.R. Immer, I.J. Johnson,
R.P. Murphy, E.H. Rinke. L. Powers, F.J. Stevenson, W.M. Myers, C.R.
Burnham, H.K. Shultz, C. Borgeson, Y.S. Tsiang, E. Pinnell, D.C. Smith,
E. Heyne, H.L. Carnahan, E.D. Putt, E.F. Frolik, L.C. Saboe, K.T. Payne,
L.S. Wortman, M.A. Ibrahim, W.A. Russell, H.H. Kramer, L.J. Elling, H.L.
Thomas, A.H. Moseman, J.O. Culbertson, K. Quisenberry, O.S. Aamodt,
E.H. Ausemus and many others.
H.H. Flor, a student majoring in plant pathology with a physiology
minor who took courses in the department, went on to formulate one of
the most important hypotheses in the history of plant pathology: that for
every resistance gene in the host there is a corresponding avirulence gene
in the pathogen. Oscar Miller, a student of Burnham’s, accomplished what
most thought was impossible – to actually see a gene with one’s own eyes
(via electron microscopy); he interpreted its structure in terms of gene
organization and function. The photograph of a ribosomal RNA gene that
Miller published in Science is now in well over 100 textbooks.
Burnham was a key genetics professor for many decades. He taught
in-depth courses in advanced genetics and cytogenetics, chaired seminars,
and presented a course on the planning of experiments where he introduced
the concepts of maximum likelihood, minimum numbers required to
test a specific hypothesis, and LeRoy Powers’ ideas on how to analyze a
quantitative trait by qualitative genetics methods. Burnham was a true
scholar and gentleman, but also a very hard worker who expected no less
from his students. As a result, four of his students have been elected to
their respective national academy of sciences, considered the highest
honor short of winning the Nobel Prize. These include Ken Kasha, elected

105
to the Royal Society of Canada, and John Axtell, Oscar Miller and Ronald
(Ron) Phillips elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Burnham himself had trained with the best of the best. He studied with
R.A. Brink at the University of Wisconsin, who discovered the phenomenon
of paramutation in corn. It was there that he figured out the relationship
of semi-sterility to chromosome translocations. He then worked at
Cornell with R.A. Emerson and was a colleague of George Beadle, Nobel
Prize winner for the one-gene-one-enzyme hypothesis, Barbara
McClintock, Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of jumping genes (known
as transposable elements), and Marcus Rhoades, who discovered many
cytogenetic phenomena including neo-centromeres. A famous 1929 photograph
shows Burnham, Rhoades, Emerson, McClintock and Beadle at
Cornell University with corn-pollinating bags stuck under their belts.
After becoming a full professor in 1943, Burnham was a Gosney
Fellow at California Institute of Technology (1947-1948). He also was a
visiting professor at Purdue University for one semester in 1961-1962.
His research on chromosome translocations was world renowned. Over
the years, Burnham advised nearly 50 graduate students.
In the 1960s the application of DNA and molecular biology/molecular
genetics was recognized as an important part of teaching and research
in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Leon A. Snyder had
spent a sabbatical leave at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, and afterward incorporated
considerable molecular genetics into his teaching. He later (1985)
published a genetics text as senior author with D. Freifelder, University
California – San Diego, and D.L. Hartl, Washington University School of
Medicine, formerly at the University of Minnesota.
Burnham published a cytogenetics text in 1962. His course and text
were unique in that they coupled complex inheritance data with the behavior
of normal and aberrant chromosomes. His course was considered one of
the toughest in the department, but students knew that they had the opportunity
to form a base that would serve them for many years into the future.
R.S. Caldecott, of the department, taught a radiation genetics course
that brought together information on the principles of mutagenesis related
to radiation and its application to biology and plant improvement. F.T. Kao
was a student of Caldecott’s working on mutagenesis in wheat. He went
on to work with Puck in the area of human genetics and made major contributions
in human cell genetics. Alfalfa genetics was quite strong in this
department for many years. Clement, Stucker and Barnes all contributed
significantly to this area.
The Genetics Center was formed about 1960 and the graduate program
in plant genetics became part of an interdisciplinary graduate pro-

106
gram. Since the preliminary exams were now formulated by a diverse faculty
across both campuses of the University, the nature of a student’s
preparation had to change to be much more comprehensive in genetics.
This caused some consternation at first, but probably led to the training of
students more capable of functioning in the future when genetics underwent
such a dramatic increase in knowledge and information.
The College of Biological Sciences was formed in 1965. Subsequently
the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology was established, with
responsibilities for the teaching of genetics at the University. That department
assumed responsibility for the teaching of basic genetics. Roger
Kleese continued to teach undergraduate genetics during this time, however.
Cytogenetics teaching has remained in the department, with Phillips
taking over responsibility for the course from Burnham in 1970. Phillips
places an emphasis on student learning by videotaping each lecture, since
1970, and having those tapes available for student review. Phillips and
Burnham, in 1977, edited a book useful in teaching cytogenetics containing
many benchmark papers (Vol. 6, Benchmark Papers in Genetics
Series). In 1998 Phillips initiated a web site for the course.
Starting in the mid to late 1960s, the Department of Agronomy and
Plant Genetics added an emphasis on cell and tissue culture and molecular
genetics to the mainstay of plant genetics and its applications to plant
improvement. Roger Kleese had done a thesis under Ken Frey at Iowa
State on the use of immunology in assessing plant genetic variation and
came to the University of Minnesota with an interest in basic genetics.
Studies on quantitative genetics were quite extensive in the department
during the 1960s through the early 1990s. Heritability estimates,
along with measures of additive, dominance, and epistatic gene effects,
were performed for numerous traits in various species, mainly by plant
breeders and their students. Ralph Comstock, Department of Animal
Science and later head of the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology,
had led the development of quantitative genetics applied to plant breeding
and stimulated in-depth teaching and research. Robert Stucker assumed a
full-time position teaching/consulting in statistical applications to plant
breeding and developed and taught courses emphasizing the application of
quantitative genetics to plant breeding.
Ron Phillips had received a Ph.D. in genetics with Burnham and then
studied at Cornell on a postdoctoral fellowship with Adrian Srb, a fungal
geneticist who had one of the most popular genetics texts and often spoke
at plant breeding meetings about what was new in genetics. Phillips was
hired in 1967 to eventually take Burnham’s position upon his retirement.
One of the early accomplishments was to locate on the chromosome the
genes involved in the machinery for the synthesis of all proteins in a cell,

107
called ribosomal RNA genes. This was the first time these genes had been
localized in plants. Surprisingly, the accompanying molecular biology
experiments indicated there were thousands of these genes, all located at
the nucleolus organizer region.
H.W. Johnson, department head during this time, encouraged the
application of the new genetics to plant breeding. He had learned about
plant tissue culture and cell fusions and wondered about the appropriateness
of such technologies for an agronomy department. After visiting with
Phillips, the decision was made to add a postdoctoral scientist to study with
Phillips on plant tissue culture. Ed Green was appointed to that position,
which later was made into an assistant professor position, once significant
progress was obvious on the regeneration of corn plants from cells and the
in vitro selection of improved protein quality types.
In 1975 Green and Phillips published a paper on the regeneration of
corn from cells in tissue culture. This was the first report on the regeneration
of corn and led to progress on the regeneration of other cereals.
Today’s methodologies for the genetic engineering of corn all introduce
DNA into cells and then regenerate plants using this technology. Even the
most common corn cell lines used today in genetic engineering were developed
in the department by Charles (Chuck) Armstrong, a graduate student.
One of the original assumptions in plant tissue culture research was
that regenerated plants would be exact clones of the parent used to initiate
the culture. Phillips and several of his graduate students soon recognized
that this was not the case and set out on a number of studies in an
attempt to understand the basis of the so-called somaclonal variation.
Mutations, chromosome breakage, transposable element activation, quantitative
genetic variation and changes in DNA methylation were all shown
to be prevalent among tissue culture regenerants. DNA methylation is
implicated in epigenetic control of gene expression; that is, gene expression
that is not controlled by the primary DNA sequence but by modifications
of the DNA. Several genes related to DNA methylation and chromatin
structure are currently being isolated.
Wild rice breeding and genetics has been an emphasis in the department
since the early 1960s. Anson Elliot, Robert Stucker, and Raymond
Porter and students studied the genetics of wild rice, especially shattering
resistance, as part of their breeding program. Paul Yagu had observed the
chromosomes of wild rice. Phillips and postdoctoral scientists Grombacher,
Kennard and Jackson worked on the molecular genetics of wild rice, publishing
the first molecular genetic map in 1999. They found that wild rice
and white rice (Oryza sativa) genomes were highly colinear, indicating that
genetic information in white rice would be transferable to wild rice.

108
The development of molecular genetic marker maps and the placement
of major genes onto the maps were emphasized in the research of
several faculty in the department during the 1990s, including the programs
of recently hired faculty Jim Anderson and Kevin Smith. Phillips and a professor
from the University of Florida (Vasil) edited a 1994 book, DNA-
Based Markers in Plants, presenting methods and extensive maps for
about 20 species.
Bob Heiner developed Era and other varieties of wheat in the department
as a cooperative Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and
USDA-ARS endeavor. He also performed extensive cell cycle studies during
the early 1970s using tritiated thymidine attempting to correlate cell
cycle parameters to plant variety performance in wheat.
Burle Gengenbach joined the department faculty in 1972 in the area
of physiological genetics. He helped elucidate the basis of Texas-type cytoplasmic
male sterility in corn through study of the behavior of this trait in
plants selected from cell and tissue culture. He also applied tissue culture
techniques to the selection of improved protein quality corn. Over the
years, Gengenbach demonstrated various aspects of the biochemical pathways
concerned with the synthesis of certain essential amino acids in corn.
This work included the department's first gene isolation and sequencing.
He also developed a kernel culture technique that has become an important
feature in physiological research.
He developed a course on the cellular and molecular genetics of crop
plants that related the new genetics to plant improvement. This course
provided students with plant examples of various genetic principles and
techniques taught in other courses but which were presented with bacteria,
yeast, or other organisms as models. Gengenbach became head of the
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics in 1999.
Howard Rines joined the faculty in 1976 as a USDA-ARS oat geneticist
working closely with the oat breeder, Deon Stuthman, and genetics colleagues
Ron Phillips and David Somers. Rines has contributed to the molecular
genetic analysis of disease resistance and other traits such as dwarfness,
grain quality and agronomic characteristics. Oat plants were first
regenerated from tissue culture by Cummings, Green and Stuthman. Tom
McCoy, working with Phillips and Rines, showed that chromosome breakage
was the principal cytogenetic event occurring in oat tissue culture, a
result soon repeated for several other species.
Rines developed methods to produce oat haploids through anther culture
and more recently via crosses between oat and corn; both of these
achievements were first accomplished in Rines’ laboratory. Rines, Phillips,
and their postdoctoral scientists and graduate students discovered that the
oat haploids from oat by corn crosses retained one to four corn chromo-

109
somes in about one-third of the plants. With this discovery they developed
a highly efficient method for mapping corn genes that had been isolated in
genomics projects around the country. Rines also worked with David
Somers in developing the first transgenic oats.
A formal research program on molecular biology applied to economic
plants was formulated by the agricultural experiment station in 1980.
The stimulus for highlighting this activity followed the successful team
research, recognized by NSF, involving Irwin Rubenstein, Department of
Genetics and Cell Biology, and Phillips, Gengenbach and Green. For several
years, starting in 1977,
they organized national
symposia held on the
University of Minnesota
campus and edited four
proceedings books: Molecular
Genetic Modification
of Plants, 1977; The Plant
Seed: Development, Preservation,
and Germination,
1979; Molecular
Biology of Plants, 1979;
and Genetic Improvement
of Crops, 1980.
Howard Rines and Ron Phillips with oatcorn
cross, first accomplished in Rines'
laboratory.
In 1985 the state legislature funded an expanded version of the program
and it was renamed the Plant Molecular Genetics Institute (PMGI).
This institute recruited Joachim Messing from the University of California–
Davis to be an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry.
Considerable research was performed by this team on amino acid synthesis
and storage proteins of corn. PMGI now involves about 25 professors
in several departments of the College of Biological Sciences and the
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences.
David Somers joined the staff in 1984 following a postdoctoral study
with E.C. Cocking, a pioneer in plant protoplast research. Somers has
worked on tissue culture and the development of transgenic methods. His
lab was the first to create interspecific hybrids in Lotus via protoplast
fusions with an interest in transferring resistance to seed shattering to
Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil). He has selected several traits including
resistance in corn to acetyl-co A carboxlase inhibitor herbicide using
various tissue culture systems. Somers has collaborated extensively with
other geneticists to implement gene transfer research and to isolate genes
of interest for gene transfer, including the gene controlling the first step
leading to fatty acid synthesis.

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Somers has developed techniques for the genetic engineering of oats
and soybeans and has introduced several new traits currently under field
test. Somers accepted an endowed chair in molecular genetics in the
department in 1993.
Somers’ vacated position was filled by Maria Gallo-Meagher in 1994
to conduct molecular genetic studies of wheat and barley. Since 1997 this
position has been occupied by Gary Muehlbauer, who is focusing on molecular
aspects of Fusarium head blight and molecular mapping in wheat
and barley. The molecular genetic research by Somers in soybean and oat
and by Muehlbauer in wheat and barley provides an essential linkage with
applied breeding programs for collaborative studies in these crops.
Carroll Vance, USDA-ARS, and his group of colleagues have contributed
significantly to the understanding of the biochemical pathways
involved in nitrogen fixation, the genetic steps that may be limiting, and
the means to modify the trait by molecular genetics techniques.
At this time there is considerable excitement about the application of
cell and molecular genetics to plant improvement. The Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics is a major contributor. Phillips, while serving
as chief scientist of the USDA from 1996-1998 (half time) chaired a
White House committee to develop a plan for the future development of
plant genomics. Major NSF, USDA and other grants have been received
by members of the department to advance this area of work. At the same
time, the public is expressing concern about the safety of food and possible
ecological risks that might be associated with products derived through
genetic engineering. Several members of the department are contributing
to public education in this area, trying to present both points of view and
giving the perspective of plant geneticists and breeders.
A recent development is the funding of a new microbial and plant
genomics building that will be completed in 2002. A Center for Microbial
and Plant Genomics has been formed, with Phillips as the first director.
The center will foster research, education and outreach in the area of
genomics. Phillips received the first McKnight Presidential Chair given by
the University of Minnesota (2000) to support the development of
genomics at the University.
Genetics applied to plant improvement clearly has a rich history at the
University of Minnesota. Faculty and students in the department have been
at the forefront and have provided a robust environment for education,
research, and extension. With the dramatic increase in genetics knowledge
and the increasing need for applying scientific principles to agriculture, the
genetics, cytogenetics and biotechnology activity in the department will
continue to be central to our mission.

Chapter 15
Oat Improvement
Oat acreage in Minnesota quickly expanded
from 165,000 in 1866 to a million-plus by 1884 and to more than 3 milion
by 1912. Acreage peaked at 5.4 million in 1945 and a record yield of
242 million bushels with an average yield of 45 bushels/acre. A record 70
bushels/acre was achieved in 1985 and 1992. Minnesota’s present oat
acreage is less than one-tenth that of 1945, with much of the current crop
likely grown on more marginally productive land. As producers switch to
more attractive crops they plant them on their more productive fields. If
the land base used to produce the oat crop in 2000 were comparable to
that of the record year of 1945, today’s average state yield might well
approach 100 bushels/acre.
Experiments begun by W.M. Hays in 1889 produced the first reported
results of oat improvement efforts at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment
Station (MAES). Rate, date, depth of seeding, seeding with and without
field peas, and planting implements were the variables in the two-year
study reported in the 1892 MAES annual report.
An important experiment was conducted in 1893. As a part of a larger
study of methods of preparing land for oats, seeding dates of April 18,
April 29 and May 11 were superimposed. The night after the April 18 planting,
“six inches of snow fell and remained until April 28.” The resulting average
yields of 47.6, 37.6 and 25.4 bushels/acre for the three dates revolutionized
planting time for oats in Minnesota. The report of this research in
the 1893 MAES annual report concludes with advice still valid today:
This experiment suggests that in our extensive system of farming a great
loss is sustained annually by leaving the seeding of oats until all other grain
is seeded. It has been our experience that the sooner most of the small
grains are put into the ground after the frost is out the better.
By Professor Deon D. Stuthman, a member of the department faculty since 1966.

112
Hays and others accumulated seed of a number of commercially available
oat varieties to conduct an oat variety trial at two locations in
Minnesota and one in North Dakota in 1894, and at the two Minnesota
locations in 1895. A severe drought in 1894 hindered obtaining good
experimental results. At least 75 entries were evaluated for days to maturity,
lodging, plant height, straw yield and grain yield. The results were
reported in the 1895 MAES annual report, pages 352-3.
Much of the effort Hays directed to oat improvement during the
remainder of his tenure was focused on fine-tuning the cultivation of oats,
variety evaluation, and genetic improvement through plant selection within
selected commercially available varieties. Based on these variety evaluations,
seed of a few better performers was increased and distributed within
the state. The plant selection efforts resulted in the release and distribution
of Minota, probably midway in the first decade of the 1900s.
The 1907 MAES annual report mentions a need to give more attention
to oats, likely prompted by the dramatic increase in acreage to more
that 2 million acres. The oat section of the 1909 MAES annual report
(page 379) begins:
The oat crop is increasing in importance to the Minnesota farmer. In many
sections of the state where wheat is no longer the stable crop the oat crop
has taken its place. As a crop it fits in well with the standard rotation and is
in good demand in the market. With average yields of 50 bushels or more
per acre it is a more profitable crop than any of the other grains.
Two new reselections, Minn #281 and Minn #289 were released and distributed
to growers in 1910.
In 1914 T.B. Hutcheson, who was head of the cereal breeding section
of the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management, had begun a new
project, the improvement of small grains through hybridization and by supplementary
selection. “Especial attention is given to isolating plant characters
and to studying their behavior in light of the Mendelian hypothesis,”
Hutcheson wrote. This project truly set the stage for the productive career
of H.K. Hayes, who was hired in 1915 to replace Hutcheson. Hayes
immeasurably influenced oats in Minnesota, the University of Minnesota
agronomy group and plant breeding of all crops everywhere.
About this time Sir Ronald Fisher, British mathematician, published his
landmark work on statistics and experimental design. Before Hayes arrived
most of the yield plots were one-fortieth acre in size. In 1918 he decided
that the end-trimmed middle two rows of replicated four-row plots were
reliable for evaluating grain yield. While this was not the end of the big
plots, smaller ones would increasingly replace them.

113
A paragraph in the 1920 MAES annual report (page 34) gives a good
summary of the objectives of Minnesota’s oat research efforts for the next
decade:
In the oat investigations, the chief studies are an attempt to produce a higher
yielding variety by crossing two of the highest yielding varieties now grown,
and an attempt to produce a high yielding variety resistant to stem rust. As
second and third generations are being grown this coming year, results of considerable
interest will be available after the end of the crop season. The production
of non-lodging varieties is one aim in the breeding studies.
As a result of these breeding efforts the variety Gopher was released
and distributed to growers in 1923. Gopher enjoyed many years of widespread
production and is the oldest long-term check variety in USDA’s uniform
midseason oat performance nursery. Performance in this nursery is
considered the final evaluation before release of new varieties intended for
production in the Upper Midwest.
Several important changes in oat improvement research took place in
the late 1920s. In 1926 a sub-project, improvement of oats, was created
in agronomy, and a counterpart, pathology of oats, was created in the
Department of Plant Pathology and Botany. In 1927, because of a severe
crown rust epidemic, pathological efforts were divided between crown rust
and stem rust, which previously had received most of the attention.
Probably more importantly, Matthew B. (Matt) Moore joined the plant
pathology staff. He had a profound effect on Minnesota oats, oat pathology,
and, specifically on the lives of the 3,000 to 4,000 undergraduate students
who took his beginning plant pathology course.
The variety Anthony was released to growers in 1929 and Minrus was
released in 1931. Both Anthony and Minrus were resistant to prevalent
races of stem rust. In 1931 H.C. Murphy discovered the exceptional
source of crown rust resistance in Bond, an Australian variety. The
Minnesota team of Hayes and Moore made the first successful (resulting in
varieties) crosses with Bond in 1931.
Bonda and Mindo were released in 1946, 15 years after the cross with
the Bond parent was made. Two additional Bond progeny, Zephyr and
Andrew, were released in 1949. Of the four, Andrew was by far the most
widely grown and the longest in commercial production. It is the oldest
long-term check in USDA’s early oat performance nursery, which provides
the final evaluation for new oat varieties intended for the more southerly
parts of the Midwest spring-oat production area.
All of these releases were especially important because of a new (in
1945) and devastating disease caused by Helminthosporium victoriae.
This new disease was directly linked to the Victorian (Australian) source of
crown rust resistance, and every oat variety with Victorian resistance was

114
susceptible. Bonda and Mindo were good stop-gap varieties and saved the
crop. The respite was only temporary; a new race of crown rust, 45,
defeated the Bond crown rust resistance gene in 1950 and the oat
research community had to start the breeding process all over.
Shortly before Hayes retired in 1952, two other important and closely
related aspects of the oat improvement project took shape. One was the
funding of oat graduate student research assistantships by the Quaker Oats
Company (QOC). Beginning with William Kehr in 1947, most oat graduate
students have enjoyed financial and moral support from QOC for all or
part of their graduate study.
Considering that oat breeding was but one of his many assignments
the contributions of H.K. Hayes to oat breeding and oat improvement cannot
be overstated. In tribute, he was presented the Distinguished Service to
Oat Improvement Award.
W.M. Myers succeeded Hayes as both department head and oat project
leader. Because Myers had a heavy travel schedule, including international
assignments, Francis S. Koo, one of his Ph.D. students, assumed
the day-to-day leadership of both oat and rye improvement.
Compared to the Hayes era, the Myers era was relatively quiet for oat
improvement. A notable personnel addition was B.J. Roberts, who joined
the USDA Cereal Rust Lab staff in 1954 to work on oat stem rust. The
Myers, Moore and Koo group released three varieties, Minland in 1955,
Minhafer in 1957 and Minton in 1959. Minhafer was widely grown in the
United States and in Australia, the latter because Minhafer seedlings were
frost resistant.
A significant event during this period was the establishment of the
buckthorn nursery on the St. Paul campus (1953). Despite considerable
and vociferous opposition to his proposal, Matt Moore prevailed. The nursery,
which was expanded in 1965, provides an alternate host for crown
rust; it is one of several in the United States, including one near the campus
of the University of Wisconsin – Madison and another near Aurora,
New York. The St. Paul nursery was initially planted so that breeding material
grown near the bushes would theoretically be exposed to virtually all
crown rust virulence for the entire world.
Genotypes with effective levels of resistance in this nursery almost
always had lower average disease scores when grown in international oat
rust nurseries. Further, the resistance was often not race-specific and thus
not as easily defeated by a new virulence gene. The St. Paul buckthorn
nursery is still in use today.
Although Moore spent most of his research time on crown rust, he
established (1952) that red leaf and blue dwarf are virus-caused diseases

115
transmitted by aphids. While blue dwarf has never been a serious threat,
red leaf (caused by the barley yellow dwarf virus) is now recognized as a
major threat to oat production worldwide.
Koo left the University for Puerto Rico in July 1961, Myers retired in
1963 and Roger Kleese, a graduate student with K.J. Frey at Iowa State,
joined the department in December 1962 and spent part of his time leading
the oat improvement project. The project continued with a rather low
level of activity. Fortunately for Minnesota oat producers, the oat-breeding
effort at Wisconsin was in its prime for producing outstanding varieties,
which generally were well adapted to Minnesota.
In the mid-1960s growers persuaded the MAES to again develop oat
varieties for Minnesota, and in October 1966 Deon Stuthman, who had
earned a Ph.D. at Purdue, joined the department as a full-time oat breeder/geneticist.
Stuthman inherited some good material in various stages of
development from Kleese, who had turned his full attention to biochemical
genetics. Although Stuthman had done his thesis research on alfalfa at
Purdue, he had been an undergraduate employee of the grain-breeding
program at Nebraska, which included oats, and thus had some previous oat
experience.
Stuthman joined forces with Olin Smith, a Ph.D. student already in the
department, who had gained considerable experience in small-grain breeding
at Oklahoma State prior to coming to Minnesota. James Stage, a former
southern Illinois dairy farmer, was hired as oat project technician in
1967. Stage made many significant and valuable contributions during
more than 27 years on the project.
During this time Roberts joined the International Center for
Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT) in Mexico. The important oat
crop near Mexico City was decimated by stem rust in 1966. Roberts learned
about the problem while negotiating with CIMMYT and essentially volunteered
the help of the Minnesota oat program and the rust lab. A three-way
relationship was established in 1968: INIA, later INIFAP, from Mexico; the
rust lab people and Stuthman from MAES. This relationship was funded
mainly by QOC. The primary contact in INIA was Uriel Maldonado, who
had recently completed an M.S. degree with Frey at Iowa State.
The effort was initiated using a single source of stem rust resistance,
CI 3034, identified in the rust lab earlier as having good adult plant, but
not seedling, resistance to all of the races of stem rust tested. The resistance
of CI 3034 was effective in Mexico, but the plants were so poorly
adapted to the relatively short day lengths of Mexico that it was nearly
impossible to get them to flower so crosses could be made there.

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Thus, Tippecanoe, a Purdue variety, was used as a bridge to achieve
proper adaptation. Progeny from the first backcross to Tippecanoe were
sufficiently well adapted to allow crossing in Mexican field conditions, both
winter and summer. Stuthman made at least one trip to Mexico annually
from 1967 through 1994, along with at least one person from QOC in
Chicago, to oversee the cooperative breeding effort. This effort produced
a number of stem-rust-resistant derivatives, including Diamante and
Carma, that were ultimately used in commercial oat production near
Mexico City to supply QOC’s plant there with grain to make oat products
for the local market.
Soon after Roberts left for CIMMYT, Paul Rothman transferred to the
cereal rust lab from Stoneville, Mississippi, where he had been working on
winter oats for the south. He combined some useful winter-oat germ plasm
with rust resistance from Avena sterilis and an octoploid oat he had developed
while at Mississippi for ploidy bridging purposes. He ultimately produced
some very useful rust-resistant germ plasm, overcoming very high
levels of sterility.
In 1968 Stuthman launched recurrent selection for grain yield, which
became the backbone of his plant breeding research. Starting with 12 varieties
or advanced breeding lines chosen for their high yield potential, and
considering diversity for both maturity and pedigree, these parents were
crossed in all possible combinations except two, producing 64 different
combinations. Ten F 2
seeds per combination were advanced to homozygosity
in the greenhouse via single seed descent (SSD) and the resulting
640 lines were evaluated for grain yield in replicated hill plots at one location.
For the next and succeeding cycles, 21 parents were chosen, first
based on average family (combination) performance and then the best line
from each of the 21 selected families. These selected parents were then
crossed in a circulant partial diallel with each parent participating in 6
crosses for a total of 63 combinations. Ten seeds per combination were
again advanced via SSD and the rest of the cycle completed. Cycle-eight
progeny will be evaluated for grain yield in the summer of 2001. Estimates
of grain yield increase for the first seven cycles ranged from 35% to more
than 40%. Until his retirement in 1994, Jim Stage made virtually all of the
necessary crosses for this recurrent selection program.
Graduate students, beginning with Jim Radtke in 1981 and including
Thomas Payne, Phil Bregitzer, Gary Pomeranke, James Reysack, Nicholas
Haugerud, Hakima Bahri, David De Koeyer, Dennis Dolan and Gilberto
Sosa, all studied some aspect of this recurrent selection scheme, or modifications
thereof, for their thesis research.
During the late 1960s and into the 1970s the oat project attempted
to transfer the putative high protein levels of Avena sterilis into well adapt-

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ed backgrounds to improve the protein content of commercial varieties.
H.C. Murphy screened the A. sterilis collection from Israel and found that
some accessions had considerably elevated protein levels.
The interspecific hybrid approach was abandoned after a decade
because the transfer proved to be difficult, if not impossible, and because
there was no premium for high protein. Several other successful varieties,
including Starter, with ordinary protein levels but containing A. sterilis in
their pedigree, may have performed well because of the added genetic
diversity.
High-protein varieties, such as Dal from Wisconsin and Proat from
Minnesota, were obtained from crosses involving only A. sativa types.
Proat was grown by some livestock producers attracted to its high protein
level.
During the time of intense effort to increase oat protein content the
USDA established an oat quality laboratory in conjunction with its barley
quality laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin. All U.S. oat-breeding programs
working on protein content sent samples to the Madison laboratory for
protein analysis.
Matt Moore’s long and brilliant career came to a formal close with his
retirement in 1973. His efforts especially on crown rust resistance, his first
love, did not cease, however. He continued to spend countless hours in his
buckthorn nursery observing the crown rust reactions of test materials
Deon Stuthman (left), Edyardo Licon and Matt Moore examining rustinfected
oat field near Chapingo, Mexico, in 1981.

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OAT VARIETIES RELEASED BY MAES
Cultivar Year Source Comment Breeder
Minota 1903-10 Land race re-selection Boss
Minn #281 1910 Selection from Minn #6 Boss
Minn #289 1910 Selection from Minn #289 Boss
Gopher 1923 Kherson/60 day Hayes
Anthony 1929 White Russian x Victory Hayes
Minrus 1931 White Russian x Victory Hayes
Bonda 1946 Bond x Anthony Hayes/Moore
Mindo 1946 Bond/3/Minota/White Hayes/Moore
Russian/2/Black Mesdag
Zephyr 1949 Bond x Anthony Hayes/Moore
Andrew 1949 Bond x Rainbow Hayes/Moore
Minland 1955 Landhafer/3/Mindo/2/ Myers et al.
Hojira/Joanette
Minhafer 1957 Andrew/2/Hojira/ Myers et al.
Joanette/3/Landhafer
Otter 1970 LMHJA/Rodney Yield Stuthman et al.
Lyon 1977 Lodi/Portage Yield, lodging Stuthman et al.
resistance
Moore 1978 Lodi derivative Yield, rust Stuthman et al.
resistance
Benson 1979 Portage/Burnett Good yield Stuthman et al.
Preston 1982 Otee/Dal Early Stuthman et al.
Proat 1983 Dal/Lyon High protein Stuthman et al.
Starter 1986 Dal derivative Early, stiff Stuthman et al.
Premier 1990 Wisc 1986-1/Noble Good grain Stuthman et al.
quality
Milton 1994 Porter cross Grain yield Stuthman et al.
Pal 1994 Marathon//Froker/ Forage and Stuthman et al.
Noble derivative
forage
establishment
Jim 1996 WI2977-1/MN77151//Ogle Yield, early Stuthman et al.
Richard 2000 Newdak/MN86209 Yield, lodging, Stuthman et al.
and disease
resistance
throughout each growing season until ill health stopped him. He initiated
what now is a major effort on “slow rusting” at MAES. In recognition of
his many contributions to the oat community, Moore received the
Distinguished Service to Oat Improvement Award. As a further tribute, the
1984 issue of the Oat Newsletter was dedicated to him. His legacy, as that
of Hayes, will continue.

119
Following Moore’s retirement several personnel reassignments were
made to cover oat pathology needs. Paul Rothman assumed the formal
responsibility for crown rust in addition to his stem rust efforts. Roy
Wilcoxson assumed responsibility for all smut work, which intensified
because a very popular variety, Froker, had just become susceptible to a
new race of smut. Soon other varieties also were found to be susceptible.
Wilcoxson refined the smut test protocol and eventually was testing breeding
material from other programs as well. With the increased attention
given to reducing reliance on chemicals, including seed treatments, smut
resistance was added to many lists of oat-breeding objectives.
During a major USDA-ARS reorganization in the early 1970s, Lee
Briggle, oat investigations leader, was transferred from Beltsville,
Maryland, to St. Paul. Roughly two years later in another reorganization
he moved back to Beltsville. During his short time in Minnesota he hired
Richard Halstead for technical support. Halstead has made numerous contributions
to the Minnesota project.
Following Briggle’s return to Beltsville, the ARS opened a new position
on oat genetics at St. Paul, which was filled by Howard Rines in 1976.
His arrival initiated a productive ARS-MAES relationship that has included
sharing space and personnel on a regular basis.
In 1976 Donn Cummings, a graduate assistant on the project who
worked in the laboratory of C.E. Green, first reported regenerating oat
plants from tissue culture. This reported ability launched a new area of
research for the project and provided graduate students Tom McCoy and
Lynne Dahleen with the opportunity to further characterize qualitatively,
quantitatively and cytogenetically the somoclonal variability of the plant
lines derived from the regeneration process.
In summary, regeneration in oats did not produce clones, but rather
was more similar to mutagenesis. The regenerative ability was important
later as tissue culture cells became good recipients in the gene-transfer
process.
Using traditional breeding methods, the breeding project produced a
series of popular varieties, starting with Lyon in 1977, Moore in 1978,
Benson in 1979 and Preston in 1982. Preston, then Starter and finally
Pal, were released as varieties especially well suited for use as companion
crops to facilitate establishment of forage crops, specifically, alfalfa.
Robert Nielsen evaluated several combinations of oat and alfalfa varieties
for differences among oat varieties in their suitability as companion crops,
but the differences were not large enough to attempt selection among oat
genotypes.

120
In late 1989 a new effort, funded by the QOC and entitled “Development
and utilization of RFLP maps in oats,” was launched with R.L.
Phillips and Stuthman as co-leaders. Rines was also a major cooperator on
this effort. There was an expectation that once the oat genome map was
densely populated with markers the breeding program could easily use the
map markers to track loci of interest and increase the selection efficiency.
The process is known as “marker-assisted selection (MAS).” Unfortunately,
creating the map became a bigger task than first thought and the effort was
scaled down considerably after a decade of effort. The reality of MAS in
oats remains a challenge.
While using MAS in oat improvement is not yet a reality, the progress
made in the creation of the map is a notable benefit to oat research. There
were 560 markers in the first published version of the map and about
1,200 for the next version. Qualitative characters, such as dwarfness and
disease resistance genes, have been mapped, a major oil locus was found
and QTLs for several traits have been identified. A major complication
regarding matching chromosomes and linkage groups is the large amount
of translocations in the oat genome. This non-parallelism probably is the
major obstacle to effective use of MAS in oats.
One permanent benefit of the increased funding from QOC was the
ability to use New Zealand’s Crop and Food (similar to our USDA-ARS)
facilities for a winter nursery, which permitted harvesting two field crops
each year. This development became especially beneficial because New
Zealand’s nursery, whose latitude is similar to that of central Minnesota, is
useful for actual selection as well as generation advance and seed increase.
In September 1989 Dr. Gary Fulcher arrived from Ottawa, Canada, to
fill the General Mills Land Grant Chair in Cereal Technology in the
University’s Department of Food Science and Nutrition. Fulcher quickly
added both physical and compositional aspects to the grain quality dimension
of the oat project. He also brought a new tool with him, digital image
analysis, which greatly facilitated measuring kernel size and shape.
David De Koeyer, a graduate assistant on the project, quickly took
advantage of this technology to measure changes in kernel size and shape
that had occurred during the recurrent selection process. His objective was
to explain the changes in the grain that occurred as a result of the intense
and repeated effective selection for grain yield. De Koeyer later used molecular
markers then available for oats to evaluate changes in genetic diversity,
and also in the frequency of the markers themselves following seven
cycles of recurrent selection for grain yield. He reported six genomic
regions putatively associated with the increase in grain yield using recurrent
selection.

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OAT ACREAGE AND PRODUCTION
STATISTICS FOR KEY YEARS
Harvested Yield
Year Acres b/A Production, bu. Comment
1866 165,000 25.0 4,125,000 First reported statistics
1884 1,190,000 35.5 42,245,000 First time > 1 million acres
1912 3,030,000 39.5 119,685,000 First time > 3 million acres
1921 4,249,000 23.0 97,727,000 First time > 4 million acres
1934 4,582,000 19.0 65,930,000 Drought
1945 5,392,000 45.0 242,640,000 Record acreage and production
1958 3,836,000 54.0 207,144,000 Maximum yield to date
1965 3,004,000 54.5 163,718,000 Maximum yield to date
1968 3,289,000 60.0 197,340,000 Maximum yield to date
1977 2,060,000 68.0 161,840,000 Maximum yield to date
1985 1,100,000 70.0 77,000,000 Maximum yield to date
1988 751,500 33.0 24,800,000 Drought
1992 500,000 70.0 35,000,000 Maximum yield to date
Several varieties of consequence were released between 1990 and
2000; Premier in 1990, Milton in 1994, Jim in 1995 and Richard, named
for Richard Halstead, long-time USDA technical support staff member for
our program, in 2000. In its first season, Richard has been well received
by seed growers.
Premier had excellent grain quality and likely would have become very
popular had it not succumbed to crown rust almost immediately after it was
released. Milton has become widely grown. Jim had a good yield record in
Minnesota prior to release, but then inexplicably developed yield troubles.
Jim continued to yield well in Iowa and South Dakota and became more
widely grown in those two states. Both Jim and Milton were named in
recognition of James Milton Stage.
Minnesota varieties have good smut resistance, so they do not require
chemical seed treatment to protect them from the disease. Roy Wilcoxson,
who made major contributions to our smut testing and breeding efforts,
retired in 1991. In 1994 Ruth Dill-Macky succeeded Wilcoxson on the
plant pathology faculty and assumed responsibility for the smut efforts.
The cooperative effort with Mexico was terminated in the mid 1990s
and Stuthman’s Latin American involvement switched from Mexico to an
ongoing oat research effort in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay funded
primarily by QOC. Stuthman replaced Robert Forsberg on the South
American team and was soon joined by Ron Barnett from the University
of Florida. This arrangement provided access to several South American

122
test locations where crown rust continues to be a major issue. This access
became a very important component of an effort to shift the Minnesota
approach to breeding for genetic protection for crown rust.
Beginning in 1989, at least one effective major gene for crown rust
resistance was defeated for at least four consecutive years. During two of
those years crown rust was a major threat to oat production in Minnesota.
Consequently, Don McVey was asked by the administration of the cereal
rust laboratory to devote some of his time to evaluating slow crown rusting
in oats, beginning with the 1996 growing season.
This decision, combined with the new involvement in South America
and availability of the New Zealand winter nursery, was very timely. In the
short time of five years, the Minnesota program became a primary source
of slow crown rusting germ plasm for the world. McVey looks for a few
small pustules on flag leaves of plants inoculated with a mixture of races
when the plants are in the boot stage of development. Matt Moore’s insight
and persistence inspired this method.
Today the oat-breeding program focuses on varieties that will function
better in sustainable cropping systems. Consequently, variety trials have
been established on three pesticide-free farms, two of which are certified
organic farms. Our objective is to develop varieties better equipped to deal
with disease and weed pests that pose production hazards to the crop
grown without purchased inputs. An example is the search for oat genotypes
that compete more successfully with grassy weeds, such as green and
yellow foxtail. This research is done at the Morris Research and Outreach
Center in cooperation with Frank Forcella of USDA’s soil and water laboratory
at Morris. We also seek varieties that produce a more valuable grain
than just a commodity.
Other faculty, both in the department and related disciplines in other
departments, have made major contributions to oat research and graduate
student education by co-advising graduate assistants. These faculty
have given students access to expertise, technology and equipment that
has markedly enriched their thesis research.

Chapter 16
Soybean
Improvement
The soybean was introduced into Minnesota
in the early part of the 20th century, when it was grown as a hay crop or
green manure crop. In the early 1900s the University of Minnesota evaluated
a number of soybean varieties from other areas in the world for their
adaptability to Minnesota conditions and their use by Minnesota farmers.
Several varieties were released cooperatively by the Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station and USDA before 1922. All were pureline
introductions from plant introductions. The varieties that were named
and released were Habaro, Chestnut, Minsoy, Soysota, Elton and
Minnesota Manchu. After the initial varieties were released the activity with
regard to soybean breeding and soybean varieties was very limited.
Soybean research was directed mainly toward production and utilization
aspects.
AFTER WORLD WAR II, 1946-1960
The soybean was a minor or alternative crop until its production was
encouraged as part of the war effort in World War II; there was no breeding
activity during the early years of the century. J.W. Lambert joined the
faculty in 1946 and began renewed breeding efforts in the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Because no crosses had been made,
Lambert turned to the ongoing breeding programs in place at the
University of Illinois by the USDA, and at Iowa State University.
The cooperation with the program at the University of Illinois was the
beginning of a relationship that lasted more than 20 years. Among the
populations received from Illinois was a cross of Lincoln x (Lincoln x
By Professor J.H. Orf, a member of the department faculty since 1981.

124
Richland), which was distributed to several states. In Minnesota, Renville,
the first variety released from a cross of two lines, was from this population.
Renville, released in 1953 and adapted to central and south-central
Minnesota, had improved yield and higher oil content than varieties previously
grown.
Since soybeans are very sensitive to day length – a given variety is
adapted to a 50- to 100-mile north-south band – the breeding project has
attempted to develop varieties for the various areas of the state. Varieties,
pedigrees and the year of release of varieties that have been developed and
released by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station are shown on
pages 126-127. The various varieties were developed for specific areas of
the state, for specific end uses, and/or to address specific disease or production
problems.
Several researchers were involved with soybean variety testing in the
early years of the century. The first leader of the soybean breeding and
genetics project was J.W. Lambert, who served from 1946 to 1982. He
also was project leader for barley breeding from 1946 to 1961, when he
decided to devote his full-time effort to soybeans. The acreage of soybeans
had grown significantly and had then surpassed barley acreage.
J.H. Orf joined the soybean-breeding project in 1981 to begin the
transition to project leadership in 1982. He continues as project leader in
2000.
INCREASED FUNDING FOR RESEARCH, 1960-2000
As the acreage of soybeans grown in Minnesota increased there was
increased pressure to appropriate more funds for soybean research. In
1960 the Minnesota legislature passed the soybean special, which allocated
$50,000 for soybean research. This funding enabled the hiring of one
person to work on soybean genetics, and another to work on soybean
physiology and technical support for the research projects. Mauritz Linder
was hired as the technician on the soybean breeding and genetics project
with these funds and continued in that position until 1986. Phil Schaus
became the head technician after Linder’s retirement and remains so
today.
In 1965 the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association voted to assess
a voluntary checkoff for the research and promotion of soybeans. Over the
years the soybean breeding and genetics project has been the recipient of
substantial grant support from the Minnesota Soybean Research and
Promotion Council for breeding and other research efforts, as well as for
research equipment.

125
J.W. Lambert and J.H. Orf in soybean experimental plot, early 1980s.
COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
The soybean breeding and genetics project has always been a cooperative
team effort. Besides the USDA personnel there has been continuous
cooperation with breeders from surrounding states and Canadian
provinces, which has led to the joint release of numerous varieties adapted
to Minnesota. Within Minnesota there has been cooperation with
geneticists, plant pathologists, agronomists, plant physiologists, weed scientists,
molecular biologists, biochemists, animal scientists, soil microbiologists,
soil scientists, food scientists and entomologists. Agronomists at the
branch stations have always been part of the team effort in developing soybean
varieties for Minnesota.
PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME
One of the main efforts of the soybean-breeding project that continues
today is the development of early-maturing varieties adapted to the various
maturity zones in Minnesota. Improved yield has always been a primary
goal of the project. In the early years there was a greater effort on
improving oil content; however, in recent years the emphasis has shifted
to protein content. Ideally, producers would like high-yielding, high-oil,
high-protein varieties.
As soybean acreage increased and soybeans were grown more frequently
in the crop rotation, diseases became of greater concern.
Phytophthora root rot became a concern of many producers in the early

126
SOYBEAN VARIETIES SELECTED
AND RELEASED BY THE MINNESOTA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Variety Method of Development Year Released
Habaro Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Chestnut Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Minsoy Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Soysota Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Elton Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Minnesota
Manchu
Pure-line selection from introduction Before 1922
Renville Selection from Lincoln x (Lincoln x Richland) 1953
Traverse Selection from Lincoln x Ottawa Mandarin 1965
Clay Selection from Renville x Capital 1968
Norman Selection from Acme X Hardome 1969
Anoka Selection from [Lincoln x (Lincoln x Richland)] 1970
Ada Selection from Merit x Norman 1972
Steele Selection from Blackhawk x Harosoy 1972
Swift Selection from {[L x R)] x Korean} x {L x (L x R)] x Capital)} 1972
Wilkin Selection from Merit x Harosoy 1972
Evans Selection from Merit x Harosoy 1974
Hodgson Selection from Corsoy x {[L x (L x R)] x PI 180501} 1974
Grande Selection from Anoka x Magna 1976
Hodgson 78 Selection from Hodgson7 x Merit 1978
McCall Selection from (Acme x Chippewa) x Hark 1978
Simpson Selection from Steele x Hodgson 1982
M70-187 Selection from Merit x [Clark x (Scott2 x Peking)] 1982
Ozzie Selection from Wilkin x Hodgson (yellow hila) 1983
Dawson Selection from Evans x Hodgson (yellow hila) 1983
Selection from [Evans x (Merit x Lee)] x
Chico {[(Capital x Renville) x Corsoy] x 1983
[(Blackhawk x Capital) x Kogane-Jiro]}
Sibley Selection from (Evans x Steele) x Hodgson 1986
Dassel Selection from Evans x (Clay x Altona) 1986
Glenwood Selection from Evans x [(Provar x (Amsoy x PI 248404)] 1987
Kato Selection from [Evans x Hodgson (yellow hila)] x Century 1989
Sturdy Selection from [Evans x Hodgson (yellow hila)] x Century 1989
Minnatto Selection from Evans x PI 437267 1989
Proto
Selection from [(Chippewa 64 x PI 261475) x
PI 189880] x [(PI 261475 x Pridesoy II) x Provar]
1989
Kasota Selection from ([Evans x ([Lincoln2 x Richland) x
Korean] x [Renville x Capital])] x Clay) x Vickery
1990

127
Variety Method of Development Year Released
Bert
Selection from [(Renville x Capital) x Corsoy] x
([Korean x [(Lincoln x Richland) x Lincoln) x
([(Lincoln x Richland) x Lincoln) x Capital)] x
Amsoy 71) x [(Corsoy x Wayne)] x Hodgson]
1991
Leslie Selection from Hodgson 78 x Pella 1991
Agassiz Selection from Simpson x (Clay x Evans) 1992
Lambert
Selection from {Evans x [Wayne6 x Clark 63) x
Amsoy 71]} x {[Merit x (Traverse x PI 196163)]
x Hodgson 78}
1992
Parker
Selection from [(Corsoy x Wayne) x ({Mack x
[Wayne x (Clark x Adams)]} x Cutler)] x Dawson
1992
Alpha Selection from Fayette x McCall 1992
Selection from [(Evans x {[(Lincoln2 x Richland) x
Hendricks Korean] x [Renville x Capital)]} x (Clark x Harosoy)] x 1994
({Evans x [Grant x (Lincoln x Hawkeye)]} x Simpson)
Faribault
Selection from {Hodgson 4 x [(Corsoy x Wayne) x
(Chippewa x Higan)]} x (Williams x PI 209332)
1994
M87-1567 Selection from M70-187 x (Williams x PI 87631-1) 1994
Toyopro
Selection from (Dawson x {Provar x [Lincoln2 x
Richland) x PI 180501]}) x {[(Sioux x Harosoy) x 1995
(Sioux x Harosoy)] x [(PI 261475 x Pridesoy II) x Provar]}
Black Kato Black-seeded selection from Kato 1995
Glacier Selection from McCall x Altona 1995
Granite Selection from Sibley x BSR 101 1995
Freeborn Selection from Ozzie x Fayette 1995
MN0301
Selection from Maple Donovan x ({[Merit x (Harosoy x
Norchief)] x [Traverse x PI 196163]} x {Merit x Beeson})
1997
Selection from [((Corsoy x Wayne) x {Mack x [Wayne x
MN1301
(Clark x Adams)] x Cutler}) x {Hodgson4 x [Corsoy x
Wayne) x (Chippewa x Higan)]})] x [Peterson Px20 x
1997
(Hodgson4 x Merit)]
UM3 Selection from Natto x (Chico x PI 437296) 1997
Surge Selection from (Hack x Zane) x Kato 1997
Stride Selection from Hack x Lambert 1997
MN1401 Selection from BSR 101 x Kato 1998
MN0901 Selection from [Evans x (Hodgson x Wells)] x Leslie 1999
MN1801 Selection from Kasota x Kenwood 1999
MN0902CN Selection from Jack x Alpha 2000

128
1970s. Varieties with Phytophthora resistance were developed and rereleased.
Resistance to Phytophthora continues to be an important criterion
for release today.
The soybean cyst nematode (SCN) was discovered in Minnesota in
1979. Today, it is a problem in many of the major southern Minnesota
soybean-producing areas. Several varieties with SCN resistance that help
producers manage SCN populations have been released. Resistance to
iron deficiency chlorosis has received attention over the years, and several
chlorosis-resistant varieties have been released.
Research on nodulation and nitrogen fixation has been a long-standing
cooperative area with scientists from soil microbiology. Non-nodulating
lines as well as lines with improved nitrogen fixation have been developed.
Other more basic research projects have been carried out over the years,
depending on the interests of cooperators and availability of grant funds.
The Minnesota soybean breeding project was the first project in the
department to establish a winter nursery program. The first overwinter
increases were in Mexico and Central America; the nursery then was
moved to Chile. The Chile nursery has been valuable for graduate education
as well as more rapid variety development.
Numerous genetic and breeding methodology studies carried out by the
soybean breeding project have led to improved varieties and germplasm
that has benefited breeders in both the public and private sector.
Graduate student education has been a continuing part of the project
and remains so today.

Chapter 17
Weed Science
Coates P. Bull, Andrew Boss and A.C. Arny
taught courses that included weed control and identification from about
1910, but there were no specific weed science programs in research,
teaching or extension. From about 1920 weed control was an important
aspect of courses and farm meetings. From 1923 to 1928 Arny was
superintendent of the intercollegiate crops contests, which included weed
identification.
Arny began testing chemicals for control of several species of perennial
weeds and found sodium chlorate to be the most effective. In 1932 he
conducted research on the fluctuation of carbohydrate levels in the roots of
five perennial weed species. His work on the seasonal variation in root
reserves of several perennial weed species established when to use tillage
and/or chemicals for optimum weed control.
State-federal research on tillage for field bindweed control was the first
major weed control research effort to receive federal support. In 1935
L.M. (Chuck) Stahler was hired by the USDA to conduct research on control
of field bindweed on a 160-acre farm at Lamberton, Minnesota. The
farm had been abandoned because of field bindweed infections and was
condemned by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Stahler lived in
Lamberton, operated the farm, and supervised the research in cooperation
with H.K. Wilson, Division of Agronomy and Plant Genetics; the Weed and
Seed Division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; and A. H.
Larson and R.B. Harvey, sections of agricultural botany and plant physiology,
Division of Plant Pathology and Agricultural Botany. Optimum formulations
and rates and times of application of sodium chlorate on field
By Professor Emeritus Orvin C. Burnside, former department head, who joined the department
faculty in 1985 and retired in 1998.

130
bindweed were determined, and tillage, competitive cropping, crop
sequence and pasturing for control of field bindweed were evaluated.
A federal-state project on the use of tillage for field bindweed control
was conducted at the Minnesota location at Lamberton and at other locations
in Idaho, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. A major objective was to determine
the optimum cultivation interval for the eradication of field bindweed.
The cultivation interval was found to vary with season and location. With
the introduction of 2,4-D in the mid 1940s the use of tillage for field
bindweed control became obsolete. In the final years of the federal-state
field bindweed project most of the effort was directed toward establishing
the effectiveness of 2,4-D for the control of broadleaf perennial weeds.
L.M. Stahler and R.S. Dunham, who arrived in 1945, were research leaders
of the Minnesota 2,4-D project.
W.W. Brookins, followed by M.L. Armour in 1942, were involved in
weed control as part of their agronomic extension duties, but there also
was more direct interaction between the public and the weed research faculty.
Weed control and identification were a part of several undergraduate
agronomy courses in both the College and the School of Agriculture.
Major teaching efforts were involved in short courses such as Farm and
Home Week, the Flax Institute, Minnesota and Northwest Crop
Improvement Association meetings, and the Minnesota Weed and Seed
Inspectors Short Course, which provided two or more weeks of instruction
every winter on the St. Paul campus, mostly in agronomy classrooms.
While the Weed and Seed Division of the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture organized the program and conducted the state regulatory
enforcement sessions, the identification, weed control and crop production
sessions were taught by H.K. Wilson, R.S. Dunham, R.G. Robinson and
A.H. Larson.
The first comprehensive bulletin on weed control, Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 36, was published in 1942.
Publication of the weed seedling identification bulletin, Minnesota
Experiment Station Bulletin 397, in 1947, coincided with the advent of
large-scale spraying to selectively kill weeds in crops. Previous weed identification
publications had dealt with flowering or mature plants; these
growth stages were too late for selective spraying with herbicides.
Field bindweed tillage control work was nearly completed by 1941.
Research was then directed to other nongrass perennial weed species from
1942 to 1944, with emphasis on the less widespread species that Minnesota
Department of Agriculture personnel wished to eradicate. Weed
and seed inspectors located the problem weed areas. The group that conducted
the trials was led by Stahler and included H.K. Wilson, A.H. Larson,
R.G. Robinson and C.H. Schafer, chief of the Weed and Seed Division;

131
and occasionally others such as Jack Hyland of Pacific Coast Borax and
R.B. Harvey. Species to be controlled included such weed species as
Austrian field cress, leafy spurge, horse nettle, poison ivy and wild radish.
Lawn weed control research was an agronomy department responsibility
until 1945 when R.B. Harvey developed a large project on lawn and
golf course weed control.
Research on control of annual weeds was begun by R.G. Robinson,
then a graduate student, in the fall of 1942 with greenhouse screening trials
of Sinox for control of about 50 species of annual weeds. He began
research on the viability of weed seeds in manure in 1943. Robinson's contributions
to weed science extended throughout his career. The availability
of Sinox fostered a major weed research effort, led by H.K. Wilson, on
postemergence harrowing versus Sinox for annual weed control in small
grains and flax.
R.S. Dunham and his students began weed research as a recognized
separate project in the agronomy department. Dunham studied weed seed
biology, weed control in agronomic crops and control of selected weeds.
R.G. Robinson developed weed control practices for the "new crops" he
studied.
Tillage and crop rotation research, begun in 1944 at Waseca, Morris,
Sacred Heart and Danube, included comparisons of August plowing, fall
plowing and surface tillage in preparation for flax production. Crookston
was added to the locations in 1946, and Danube and Sacred Heart were
dropped. The trials were completed in 1955 and reported in Minnesota
Technical Bulletin 230, 1958.
The herbicide 2,4-D became available for testing in 1946 and dominated
research effort for the rest of the decade. Formulations, rates, dates,
volumes, preemergence and postemergence applications, varietal differences,
morphological effects and other factors were studied. R.S. Dunham
was chiefly responsible for the early introduction of MCPA, which proved
to be superior to 2,4-D in crop safety in oat and flax. Many weed species
were screened in MCPA versus 2,4-D trials.
TCA and Dalapon were found to selectively kill annual grass weeds in
flax. The flax weed control work from 1946 to 1949 changed flax from
Minnesota's weediest field crop to the cleanest grain-drill-sown annual field
crop (See NCW Research Reports, 1948-50). Dunham's flax research
from 1946 to 1948 and Robinson’s work from 1949 to 1958 were summarized
for the NCWCC.
Publication by Robinson in Agronomy Journal (41:513-18, 1949) of
the number of viable weed seeds in Minnesota soils was the first published
report in the United States showing the magnitude of the weed seed prob-

132
lem in soil. This knowledge contributed to a change from the old concept
of weed eradication to the present concept of weed control. Robinson’s
reports in the Agronomy Journal (41:483- 84 and 513-18, 1949) of the
use of hand-weeded plots to measure competitive effects of weeds in crops
led to use of this technique worldwide by scientists and industry.
Robinson also was the first to publish plans for a research plot sprayer
using constant rather than decreasing spray pressure Agronomy Journal
(42:57-58. 1950), which led to the adoption of this improvement in research
sprayers throughout North America.
R.S. Dunham developed weed control research at the outstate branch
stations to evaluate herbicides and crop rotations for weed control. In
1945 he became the first project leader in weed science and taught the
first weed control course. He also developed a training course for county
weed inspectors. Dunham also taught agronomy and small grains courses;
consequently, his weed control teaching and research was a part-time
effort.
In the late 1940s a weed committee was appointed with Dunham as
chairman. The committee had representatives from forestry (Henry
Hansen), botany and plant pathology (Thor Kommedahl) and horticulture
(Robert Nylund). Its purpose was to coordinate weed science teaching,
research and extension activities within the Institute of Agriculture,
Forestry and Home Economics. This group developed the first extension
weed control bulletin.
The first use of smother crops for biological weed control and soil erosion
control in an oilseed crop was reported by R.G. Robinson in the
Agronomy Journal (46:278-81) in 1954. This concept became used in
weed management nationwide.
More practically, the department introduced the concept of using
directed rather than over-the-top sprays for weed control in corn, which
also was reported by R.G. Robinson in the Agronomy Journal (48:35-37,
1956). The first data showing the fallacy of repeated preplanting tillage of
soil in the spring to kill successive waves of emerging weeds upset common
recommendations throughout the U.S. corn-soybean belt (Robinson,
Agronomy Journal, 48:493-95. 1956).
Minnesota was the first to anticipate weed control and other problems
in diverting cropland from surplus production to idleness and to conduct
weed management research on them. This long-time study, begun in 1956
on both one-year and long-time diversions and completed in 1968, is still
the most comprehensive scientific base for management and restoration of
diverted acres. In addition to the weed and soil erosion control aspects, this
research identified and found the cause of what is now called the "fallow

133
effect," to which corn is often susceptible while sunflower and many other
crops are not (Robinson, Agronomy Journal, 60:619-22 and 62:770-
772, 1970). Robinson’s research also showed that crop cover is better for
the following crop than nonseed-producing annual weed cover (Agronomy
Journal, 62:770-72. 1970).
Dunham retired in 1958. He had served as secretary-treasurer of the
North Central Weed Control Committee (NCWCC) in 1948 and as president
in 1949. In 1956 he was elected to honorary membership in the
organization. Harley J. Otto arrived as extension agronomist in 1958.
Agronomist R.N. Andersen came to the department in 1961 to conduct
USDA weed control research in sugarbeets. Richard Behrens, who succeeded
Dunham in 1958, was the first faculty member to work full time in
weed science.
In 1959 H.J. Otto began supplying packaged herbicides, plot plans,
and instructions for extension agents to establish local demonstration plots
on various weeds and crops, but mostly on corn and soybean fields.
R.G. Robinson became project leader for "new and alternative crops"
and led research in weed control for them.
Minnesota researchers were the first to suggest and show the value of
herbicide mixtures to increase the control spectrum and the consistency of
control (Robinson et al., Weeds 12:77-79, 1964). The mixture concept
was not favored by either industry or many weed scientists at the time. This
research was contemporary to the first use of vegetable oils to replace
petroleum oil in pesticide sprays, reported by R.G. Robinson in Soybean
Digest (30:14-15, 1970). Bio Veg, manufactured by Bar-zen Inc., Minneapolis,
was the first commercial surfactant to use vegetable instead of
petroleum oils.
Applied weed control research emphasized the evaluation of herbicides
for use in agronomic crops. County demonstration trials provided
important information on crop tolerance and weed control efficacy of both
widely used and new herbicides. This information, as well as data from
more detailed studies at the outstate branch experiment stations, was used
in developing herbicide recommendations for use by Minnesota farmers.
Potential problems of herbicide persistence, crop injury symptoms, and the
timing and rates of application were studied. Basic studies during this period
involved the uptake, translocation and fate of herbicides including
dalapon, phenoxyacetic acids, atrazine and EPTC.
R.N. Andersen received recognition for the outstanding article in the
journal Weeds in 1962.

134
R.N. (Bob) Andersen in weed nursery at Rosemount station in the 1970s.
In 1964 G.R. Miller became the department's first full-time extension
weed science specialist. He assumed responsibility for the weed control
demonstration trials from H.J. Otto, and for all weed science extension
publications.
One year later the USDA’s ARS built a weed science laboratory on the
St. Paul campus. R.N. Andersen developed a unique weed nursery at the
Rosemount Agricultural Experiment Station, which he used to evaluate
new herbicides as they became available. This nursery provided a valuable
means of determining the relative effectiveness of herbicides on 12 important
weed species.
In 1967 R.N. Andersen, USDA, assumed responsibility for soybean weed
control research and terminated research on sugarbeet weed control,
Richard Behrens served as president of the Weed Science Society of
America and O. E. Strand became a half-time weed science extension specialist
while completing his Ph.D.
R. Behrens served as chairman of the plant physiology faculty from
1968 to 1970. O.E. Strand completed his Ph.D. in 1969 and assumed
responsibility for weed identification requests, small grain and forage weed
control extension programs, and teaching a weed and crop identification
course.
Since 1960 any approved herbicide clearances in sunflower, fieldbean,
fieldpea, millet, wild buckwheat, annual canarygrass, grain sorghum, adzu-

135
ki and other crops has been based at least partly on field data and residue
samples by Robinson. Tolerances of dozens of species of potential crops
to common herbicides were determined.
Comprehensive trials of tillage control of volunteer sunflower and volunteer
proso millet in crop sequences were conducted by Robinson and
reported in the Agronomy Journal (77:288-91 and 77:612-16, 1985,
and 70:1053-1056, 1978).
During this period considerable effort was directed toward the control
of some of the more troublesome weeds. For the first time, weed scientists
were allowed to develop weed infestations at the branch experiment stations
by seeding such weeds as wild oat or by root cuttings of such weeds
as Canada thistle, or through appropriate cultural practices. These uniform
weed infestations were of great value in weed competition and herbicide
efficacy studies.
Two new troublesome grassy weed species, wild proso millet and
woolly cupgrass, were identified. These species were tolerant of the triazine
herbicides and developed into heavy infestations where the triazine
herbicides were used repeatedly for many years. Other weed species
receiving special attention were yellow nutsedge, wild sunflower, white
cockle, leafy spurge and American germander.
Research of a more basic nature during this period identified the
extreme sensitivity of grassy weed shoots to trifluralin vapors.
Pretreatment environment, light, temperature and humidity conditions
were found to have little influence on the response of plants to 2,4-D.
Glyphosate translocated to and accumulated in the tips of quackgrass rhizomes
but did not accumulate in buds close to the treated mother shoot.
These buds survived glyphosate treatments and resulted in quackgrass
recovery.
Extensive studies with dicamba confirmed that vapor injury to nearby
sensitive crops may occur for several days after dicamba applications.
Studies with glyphosate indicated that its herbicidal effectiveness is reduced
if plants are wet with dew or rain at the time of application.
Excellent stands of Canada thistle were established in one year's time
by transplanting Canada thistle plants, started from root segments in the
greenhouse, at 6-foot spacings in the field. Canada thistle competition with
corn and with soybean was compared. The vigor of Canada thistle and
yield loss due to it was greater in soybean than in corn.
A. Dexter was hired with responsibility for sugarbeet weed control
extension and research. This position was unique in that Dexter was hired

136
WEED SCIENCE PERSONNEL
Service
Full-Time
Began/ Area of % Time Weed Science
Ended Name Responsibility Commitment Equivalents
1910 A.C. Arny Teaching 10 0.10
1927 H.K. Wilson Teaching 25 0.35
1944 L.M. Stahler Research 100 1.35
1945 R.S. Dunham Teaching/research 75 2.10
1948 R.G. Robinson Research 25 2.35
1945 H.K. Wilson Retired – 2.10
1946 A.C. Arny Retired – 2.00
1948 L.M. Stahler Retired – 1.00
1958 R.S. Dunham Retired – 0.25
1958 R. Behrens Teaching/research 100 1.25
1961 R.N. Andersen Research, USDA 100 2.25
1964 G.R. Miller Extension 100 3.25
1969 O.E. Strand Extension/teaching 100 4.25
1970 A. Dexter* Research/extension 50 4.75
1974 D.L. Wyse Teaching/research 100 5.75
1980 B.J. Majek Extrension 100 6.75
1981 B.J. Majek Resigned – 6.75
1983 J.W. Gronwald Research, USDA 100 6.75
1983 G.R. Miller To extension administration 5.75
1983 O.E. Strand Deceased – 4.75
1984 C.R. Eberlein Teaching/research 100 5.75
1986 R.G. Robinson Retired – 5.50
1985 B.R. Durgan Extension 100 6.50
1986 J. Gunsolus Extension 100 7.50
1986 R. Behrens Retired – 6.50
1987 R. Becker Extension 100 7.50
1989 C.E. Eberlein Resigned – 6.50
1989 B. Maxwell Teaching/research 100 7.50
1989 R.N. Andersen Retired – 6.50
1989 D. Buhler Research, USDA 100 7.50
1990 O.C. Burnside Research/teaching 100 8.50
1992 D.L. Wyse To 50% sustainable agriculture 50 8.00
1993 D. Buhler Transferred to Iowa – 7.00
1992 B. Maxwell Transferred to Montana – 6.00
1994 J.W. Gronwald Left weed science – 5.00
1994 N. Jordan Teaching/research 100 6.00
1994 G. Johnson Research 100 7.00
1998 E. Dyck Teaching/research 40 7.40
*A. Dexter had a joint Minnesota/North Dakota appointment, commiting half his time to
each state.

137
jointly by the University of Minnesota and North Dakota State University
and covered sugarbeet weed science activities in both North Dakota and
Minnesota.
R. Behrens was elected WSSA Fellow and NCWCC honorary member
in 1973.
D.L. Wyse was appointed to a new position as a full-time weed scientist
with teaching and research responsibilities in 1974. He taught weed
control, and conducted research in perennial weed control and in weed
control in grass seed production in northern Minnesota.
R. Behrens initiated a new course, advanced weed science, in 1976.
The weed science research team increased to three with the addition
of J.W. Gronwald. Herbicide evaluation research and studies on specific
troublesome weeds increased, but the county weed control demonstration
trials were terminated in 1980.
In studies of the influence of post-treatment rainfall on the effectiveness
of 2,4-D treatments, ester formulations reached maximum herbicidal
effectiveness if rainfall did not occur for an hour or more after treatment.
Amine formulations required a 24-hour pre-rainfall period to reach maximum
herbicidal effectiveness.
Computer programs were developed for processing data from herbicide
evaluation trials and for selecting the appropriate herbicide to use on
specific weed populations in corn, soybean and small grains.
The loss of carbamate herbicidal effectiveness with repeated annual
use was demonstrated in field experiments.
B.J. Majek was hired to a new position as a full-time weed science
extension specialist responsible for soybean weed control in 1980; he
resigned in 1981. O.C. Burnside was elected president of WSSA in 1986.
J.W. Gronwald was hired to a new USDA position as a weed science plant
physiologist with responsibilities on mode of herbicide action research in
1983.
Weed science extension activities were disrupted with the sudden
death of O.E. Strand in 1983 and G.R. Miller's transfer to extension
administration in 1983. R. Behrens assumed full-time weed science extension
responsibilities. C.E. Eberlein, a full-time weed science teacher and
researcher, succeeded R. Behrens who retired in 1986.
R.G. Robinson retired in 1986. His weed science activities on new
and alternative crops were discontinued.
G.R. Miller was elected president of NCWCC in 1986. B.R. Durgan
was appointed to a full-time weed science teaching, extension and research

138
position to replace O.E. Strand. Durgan taught weed and crop identification
and assumed weed science research and extension activities on small
grains.
J. Gunsolus was appointed to a full-time weed science extension and
research position to succeed G.R. Miller in 1986. Gunsolus assumed corn
and soybean weed control research and extension duties.
R. Becker was hired as full-time weed science extension and research
in pasture, forage, and non-cropland weed control and water quality issures
in 1987. C.E. Eberlein resigned in 1989 and was succeeded by B.
Maxwell. R.N. Andersen retired in 1989 and was succeeded by D. Buhler
in a USDA full-time weed science research position.
In 1990 Orvin Burnside stepped down as department head to serve
full-time as a weed scientist in teaching and research. In 1992 Don Wyse
accepted a half-time appointment as executive director of sustainable agriculture.
B. Maxwell resigned in 1992 to go to Montana State University,
and D. Buhler, USDA-ARS, was transferred to Iowa. Buhler was not
replaced, and the weed science greenhouse and headhouse became a facility
for forage breeding.
The 1990s brought an emphasis on the impact of weed management
on the environment, with research on reduced tillage, the impact of herbicides
on water quality and a reinforcing of the biological nature of weed
control. John Gronwald transferred within USDA-ARS in 1994, shifting
from weed science to biological control. Nick Jordan joined the faculty in
1994 in a teaching/research position with an emphasis on weed ecology.
Roger Becker assumed responsibility for weed control in several key horticultural
crops (potatoes, peas and sweet corn) and research on biological
control of purple loosestrife and other perennial weeds.
Weed research and outreach activities were strengthened by the addition
of department faculty at research and outreach centers. Gregg
Johnson joined the Southern Research and Outreach Center, Waseca, in
1994, emphasizing site-specific weed management and weed population
dynamics. Elizabeth Dyck was employed in 1998 on a joint appointment
between Southwest State University, Marshall, and the University of Minnesota.
In addition to teaching at Marshall she conducts research on weed
management in organic cropping systems at the Southwest Research and
Outreach Center, Lamberton

Chapter 18
Wheat Improvement
Efforts to develop the best varieties of wheat
adapted to the state began soon after the Minnesota Agricultural
Experiment Station was established. In 1888 and 1889 agronomist W.M.
Hays and cereal chemist D.N. Harper collected about 200 varieties or samples
of wheat from various sources — the best varieties then grown in
Minnesota and other states; samples from U.S. consuls in Hungary, Russia
and elsewhere in Europe; and from experiment stations, grain merchants
and individuals in Canada.
Harper, the station chemist, analyzed many of the varieties, “to determine
whether any ... were superior to our own.” He found some of interest,
“but none more valuable than our Fife and Blue Stem.” By Dec. 31,
1898, 552 varieties or samples of wheat had been entered in the station’s
variety history book. Several came from Minnesota farmers, most came
from foreign countries and other states; 49 were listed as originated, 6 of
them cross-bred. The table (next page) shows the complete list of released
varieties from the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, often
released jointly with the USDA-ARS.
Collecting and Testing Varieties of Wheat by W.M. Hays and
Andrew Boss, Station Bulletin 62, issued in 1899, chronicles the early
years of wheat variety testing and breeding. “Plant breeding is in infancy,
and plans for extensively and scientifically breeding this crop had to be
devised rather than copied,” they wrote. While Gregor Mendel had published
his important laws of heredity in 1866, their full significance was not
realized until much later.
“The method of planting and selecting wheat in the field crop nursery,
when first begun in 1892, was crude in many ways,” wrote Boss and Hays.
By Professor Emeritus Robert Busch, USDA-ARS spring wheat improvement project leader
from 1978 to 2000. He retired from the department faculty in 2000.

140
VARIETIES RELEASED FROM COLLABORATIVE
USDA-ARS / UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
WHEAT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS
Class of Wheat Name Year of Release
Durum
Spelmar

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Preparation for seeding
wheat research plots.
“The important feature of dealing with the individual plant in selection was,
however, fully recognized, and not only the yield but the quality of the grain
and other characteristics, were taken into account in selecting plants to
become the mother of varieties,” they noted.
Wheat breeding in those early years consisted mostly of selection from
landraces and, in the late 1890s and early 1900s, of making relatively simple
crosses and backcrosses of varieties with desirable traits. The 10th
annual report of the experiment station, 1901-02, notes that Minn. No.
163 wheat (Improved Fife) was distributed in 1899, “and a second newly
bred wheat, No. 169 (Haynes Bluestem), was distributed in spring 1902.”
A third wheat release, No. 188, described as “an early wheat of good yielding
quality,” was noted in the 14th annual report, 1905-06. All of these
releases were selection from noted landraces. In the early 1900s, breeding
effort was directed toward soft winter wheats, hard winter wheats and
spring wheats, as well as some work on durum wheats.
While cooperation in plant breeding with the USDA was first mentioned
in the experiment station’s 1901-02 annual report, 1907 is generally
acknowledged as the beginning of the cooperative wheat-breeding program
between the station and USDA. Minard, a hard red winter wheat,
and Glyndon, a hard red spring wheat, both released in 1915, were the

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first Minnesota/USDA wheat releases. Mindum, a durum was released in
1917 and Minturki, a hard red winter wheat, was released in 1919.
Stem rust epidemics had become a serious problem and no rust-resistant
bread wheats were available. The situation looked bleak because the
only wheats with stem rust resistance were emmers, einkorn and some
durums. E.C. Stakman, who came to the University in 1909 as an instructor
in plant pathology and later headed that department, began research
to identify various races of stem rust and their ability to infect specific
wheat varieties. Data he collected led to a cooperative effort between plant
pathologists and agronomists to develop rust-resistant wheat varieties.
While it was then generally believed that genetic factors would not permit
combining the rust resistance of the emmers, einkorns and durums
with the quality of the bread wheats, the unexpected occurred. From many
thousands of hybrid plants resulting from a cross between Iumillo durum
and Marquis wheat in 1915, four selections combined the bread wheat
characteristics of the Marquis parent with the high stem rust resistance of
the durum. One of these lines became Marquillo, a hard red spring wheat
released in 1928. Marquillo survived stem rust epidemics well but was
unpopular because of the poor color of its flour.
Under the leadership of H.K. Hayes, who came to Minnesota from the
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station as plant breeder in 1915,
another selection from a Marquis/Iumillo cross was crossed with a selection
from a cross of Marquis with Kanred, a hard red winter wheat immune to
many races of stem rust discovered since 1916. Years later, in 1934,
Thatcher, the best product from this series of crosses was released.
Thatcher came through the stem rust epidemics of 1935 and 1937 virtually
unscathed and rose to great popularity. Thatcher was grown on about 17
million acres in the United States and Canada in 1941, was still the principal
spring wheat grown in North America in 1951, and continued to be the
leading variety in acreage in Montana as late as the mid 1960s.
While Thatcher had strong resistance to stem rust, it was highly susceptible
to leaf rust and scab. E.R. Ausemus, who came to the department
in 1929 under a USDA appointment to head the hard red spring wheat
improvement project, was instrumental in development of Newthatch,
released in 1944. He and Stakman described the genesis of Newthatch in
the Oct. 15, 1944, issue of Minnesota Farm and Home Science:
Thatcher was crossed with Hope, a variety bred in South Dakota by crossing
Marquis with Yaroslav Emmer. Although Hope was not a good wheat,
it did have resistance to leaf and stem rust and several other diseases. To
retain all of Thatcher’s good characters while adding leaf rust resistance to
it, the backcross method was used, which simply means that Thatcher was

143
crossed with Hope and then the hybrid was bred back to Thatcher for two
successive generations. Newthatch was obtained from these backcrosses by
selecting plants that were resistant to leaf and stem rust.
The battle against stem rust continued unabated during the 1940s and
1950s and led to the introduction of stem rust resistant wheats from Kenya
for crossing with wheats adapted to the Upper Midwest. Other significant
wheats were introduced from Brazil for resistance to leaf rust. Ausemus led in
the development of Lee, released in 1951, Willet in 1954, and Crim in 1963.
He also provided lines and germplasm for his successor, Robert Heiner.
In 1965 Heiner released Chris, which occupied the majority of acreage
in Minnesota and about 20% of the acreage in North Dakota as well. It was
the first variety to incorporate adult leaf rust resistance from Frontana, a
variety with high protein and excellent leaf rust resistance introduced from
Brazil. This cross was especially significant because almost all Minnesota
released varieties since Chris have possessed adult leaf rust resistance from
Frontana. Frontana also possessed genes for high protein, a trait also present
in Chris. Chris became the bread-making quality standard for the industry
during its very successful production.
Heiner also released Polk wheat in 1968, which had very high baking
quality but did not have as high a protein as Chris and offered little additional
agronomic merit.
Era and Fletcher, released in 1970, were selections from the same
cross. Both were semidwarf in stature, the first spring wheat semidwarf
varieties released by a public institution in the spring wheat region. These
semidwarf varieties offered improved lodging resistance over the commonly
grown tall wheat varieties.
Era was at least 25% higher yielding than Chris, the leading variety,
and had better lodging resistance and comparable disease resistance. But
Era had poorer bread-making quality than Chris, with more than 2 percentage
points lower protein, low water absorption of the flour and lower
loaf volume.
Fletcher, the sister line released simultaneously with Era, was about
15% lower in yield but had higher protein and better bread-making quality.
Unfortunately, Fletcher did not possess sufficient adult leaf rust resistant
genes and developed susceptibility to leaf rust. Fletcher could not compete
against the high yield of Era, which became the dominant variety in
Minnesota occupying over 70% of the acreage and up to 10% of North
Dakota’s acreage for several years. Era remained the leading variety in
Minnesota from 1973 through 1983, primarily because of high yielding
ability.

144
Heiner was responsible for the release of Kitt in 1975, a mediumyielding
semidwarf variety with medium protein and good bread-making
quality. Kitt occupied about 15-20% of Minnesota’s acreage but the producers
continued to grow mainly the Era variety. Kitt is notable because of
its excellent leaf spotting disease resistance and resistance to both leaf and
stem rust. To replace Era with Kitt required a protein premium in the marketplace,
but the protein premium incentives were insufficient to grow the
lower-yielding variety.
Robert Heiner left the USDA-ARS wheat breeding position in 1977
but the germplasm from this program provided the basis for continued hard
red spring wheat development.
Angus, a sister line of Kitt, was
released from Minnesota in 1975
after Heiner left. Susceptibility to
bacterial leaf blight, bronze chaff
color (which producers thought
indicated rust), and lower yield
than Era all prevented wide-scale
adoption by producers.
Disease-resistance breeding
for leaf and stem rust were of
major importance during this
period. Donald McVey, USDA-
ARS plant pathologist, collaborated
to screen the wheat germplasm
for resistance throughout
the period of Heiner’s leadership
of the wheat breeding project
and was the co-author on most of
the later varieties released.
Robert (Bob) Busch, wheat breeder
from 1978 to 2000.
Robert Busch became leader
of the USDA-ARS hard red
spring wheat genetics and breeding
program in1978 and led it through 1999. Donald McVey again was a
close collaborator for improving stem and leaf rust resistance and was coauthor
on all varieties released during Busch’s leadership.
Marshall was released in 1982 and in 1984, only one year after major
seed increase, was seeded on more than 2.5 million acres. Marshall was
the leading variety in Minnesota from 1983 through 1990, grown on more
than 70% of Minnesota’s wheat acreage. Marshall also became the leading
variety in North Dakota from 1985 through 1987, occupying more than

145
33% of its acreage. During its peak production years Marshall occupied
more than 5 million acres in the United States.
Wheaton, released in 1983, occupied about 20% of the Minnesota
acreage at its peak. Although higher yielding, it had trouble competing
with Marshall. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT) in Mexico entered Wheaton and several sister lines in its international
yield nurseries because of their high stable yields and rust resistance.
This germplasm became available to international breeding programs
through these nurseries. A Minnesota selection, MN72131, which
was not released in Minnesota, was tested by CIMMYT in South America
and released as Cordillera 4 in Paraguay in 1986 because of its excellent
disease resistance.
Potential new varieties had to exceed Marshall for high stable grain
yield, which was a very difficult assignment. No new varieties were released
until introduction of Vance and Minnpro in 1989. Both had improved protein,
leaf rust resistance and baking properties, but were little improved in
yield.
Norm, released in 1992, during its increase year exceeded 100
bushels per acre on an increase field of more than 20 acres. Although
Norm had been tested in an inoculated Fusarium head blight (scab) nursery
for several years, the scab epidemic of 1993 demonstrated its susceptibility
to growers.
Scab became the main focus of the wheat breeding programs in the
Upper Midwest when 1993 losses for wheat and barley in Minnesota,
North Dakota and South Dakota approached $1 billion. The wheat breeding
program had started a screening nursery for scab in 1986, but wheat
lines are difficult to evaluate for partial resistance. The breeding program
worked collaboratively with Roy Wilcoxson, plant pathology, but major
progress for partial resistance was difficult to obtain. Wheat lines from
China were identified as having superior resistance and some hybridization
was done in 1989.
The massive epidemics of scab continued in 1994, with the Red River
Valley suffering huge losses in yield and quality. Roy Wilcoxson retired and
Ruth Dill-Macky became the collaborating plant pathologist, with the primary
emphasis of research focused on scab. Scab continued to be a problem
in 1995 as well and has become an important wheat disease in more
than 12 states because of wet weather and cropping system changes.
Verde, a semidwarf variety released in 1995, possessed high yield and
resistance to the rusts and foliar diseases but was moderately susceptible to
scab. BacUp, released in 1996, possessed high resistance to scab spread in
the spike from a Japanese variety and the ability to maintain seed weight or

146
kernel tolerance to scab. It also had very high protein (2 percentage points
higher than other spring wheat varieties) and high test weight. Because of
relatively low yield and lodging problems it was recommended to farmers
for limited production in areas prone to severe possibilities of scab.
HJ98 was named for Herbert W. Johnson, a former agronomy department
head, and the year it was released. HJ98 is a semidwarf with
high yield, medium protein and a medium-high level of resistance to scabspread
in the spike. It does not possess high levels of kernel tolerance to
scab but performs well under field conditions.
McVey was released in 1999 as the first variety with high levels of
resistance to scab spread in the spike and very high yield under both scab
and no-scab conditions. McVey, which possesses resistance from Chinese
varieties, is suitable primarily in the northern portion of the Red River
Valley because it is late maturing. McVey is lower than desired in protein
and has relatively low test weight.
Jim Anderson arrived in 1998 to lead a state-funded wheat-breeding
program and Robert Busch retired in 2000. The USDA-ARS position,
when refilled, will continue work on wheat genetics and germplasm
enhancement.
E. Ausemus, R. Heiner, and R. Busch were each coordinators for the
Hard Red Spring Wheat Uniform Regional Performance Nursery while
employed by the USDA-ARS and stationed at the University of Minnesota.
This nursery is valuable to wheat breeders in the Upper Midwest because
wheat is grown at about 20 locations in 7 states and 2 provinces in
Canada, enabling breeders to evaluate their elite lines across widely varying
environmental conditions in one year. It also enables an interchange of
elite germplasm among the wheat breeders in the spring-wheat region.
An additional uniform testing nursery was initiated in the spring wheat
region in 1995 to allow wide-area testing for scab resistance of germplasm
and to serve as a germplasm exchange at six locations. This nursery
enables most breeding programs to evaluate the germplasm under their
own growing conditions and is highly important for the rapid introduction
of newer sources of scab-resistant germplasm into public and private
breeding programs in the Upper Midwest and Canada.

Chapter 19
Wild Rice Breeding
And Production
Domestication of naturally occurring wild rice
(Zizania palustris L.), in the upper midwestern United States and central
areas of southern Canada has intrigued botanists and others since the late
1700s. In 1852 Joseph Bowron in Wisconsin envisioned that “cultivation
of wild rice could be profitable, by having dams so as to flood the land at
pleasure.” In 1853 Oliver Kelly, founder of the National Grange, in
Wisconsin said “There are thousands of acres in state that may be sown
with this crop to good advantage.” Between 1906 and 1950 the USDA
collected seed and grew wild rice at Beltsville, Maryland.
In 1951 a conference was held on the St. Paul campus to discuss wild
rice problems and formulate means of solving them. Twenty-three attended,
including R.G. Robinson of the Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics, and a tentative program for research and investigation of wild
rice in Minnesota was developed. The proposal included the establishment
of a breeding program. Funding for the overall program was not obtained
and the group disbanded in 1956 or 1957. Robinson, however, worked
with the Godward Brothers near Merrifield, Minnesota, in their efforts in
the early 1950s to grow wild rice in specially designed fields (paddies).
Alfred Rogosin, a graduate student in botany, did some research on wild
rice in the early 1950s.
Erwin Brooks, a graduate student in agronomy and plant genetics during
1963-1964, received a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to study
wild rice on Native American reservations. Brooks and Paul Yagu, a geneticist
and an assistant in the agronomy and plant genetics department,
worked with Algot Johnson, a wild rice grower near Waskish, Minnesota,
By Professor Emeritus Ervin A. Oelke, who joined the department faculty in 1968 and retired
in 2000, and Raymond A. Porter, research associate, North Central Research and Outreach
Center, Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

148
where they made some plant collections from a field planted with a lake
type of wild rice. These selections, grown at the St. Paul campus in 1964,
appeared to be more resistant to seed shattering than the lake type; they
were the beginning of the wild rice breeding programs. Funds were not
available for a wild rice breeding program at the University, so Brooks was
given one-third of the seed, one-third went to Yagu and the other third
stayed at the University. Yagu later gave his seed to Johnson.
Brooks founded the Manomin Development Co., intending to develop
varieties. The company hired a plant breeder who found more “nonshattering”
plants in some lakes and developed a few varieties. The company
no longer develops varieties but is actively growing wild rice. No breeding
program was immediately started at the University and all of the seed was
lost. Johnson, with the help of Franklin Kosbau, Waskish, Minnesota, continued
to increase the nonshattering seed, which eventually became the
late-maturing, nonshattering variety “Johnson.”
Franklin Kosbau started his own selection program for shattering resistance
and found more nonshattering plants in his production fields. Kosbau
formed a relationship with Karl Kaukis, a plant breeder with Green Giant,
Le Sueur, Minnesota, which was interested in marketing wild rice as a
frozen food and wanted to develop its own varieties. In 1965 and 1966
Green Giant provided some funding for disease research on wild rice to
Tom King, a University plant pathologist. When Green Giant discontinued
its breeding program Kaukis gave half of the genetic material to Franklin
Kosbau and the other half to the University.
Ervin Oelke, an agronomist with rice production experience, was hired
by the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics in June 1968. In July
1971 the legislature appropriated funding for production and breeding
projects. Oelke started wild rice production and seed physiology research
in 1972 and was named coordinator of wild rice research at the University.
Kaukis gave Green Giant’s seed to Oelke, who planted it on the St. Paul
campus in spring 1972. Anson Elliott, the new wild rice breeder joined the
faculty that summer.
PLANT BREEDING RESEARCH
Anson Elliott utilized the Green Giant seed as the beginning genetic
pool of wild rice for the department’s long-term wild rice breeding program.
He later obtained genetic material from Manomin Development
Co., Kosbau Brothers, Algot Johnson and other growers. He also collected
seed from various Minnesota lakes and rivers.
Elliott left the Department in December 1977 and Robert Stucker
assumed leadership of the wild rice breeding program in 1978. When

149
Wild rice research paddies at North Central Research and Outreach Center,
Grand Rapids.
Stucker switched responsibilities to statistics in 1989 Raymond Porter
became leader of the wild rice breeding program. He is the present wild
rice breeder and is located at the North Central Research and Outreach
Center, Grand Rapids.
Ronald Phillips began mapping genes of wild rice in 1987 to assist the
breeding program. He has found that similar genes in wild rice and rice
(Oryza sativa) are located in similar locations of the respective chromosomes.
The initial objectives of the breeding program were to develop varieties
with increased shattering resistance, leaf disease resistance, earlier
maturity, more lodging resistance and more tiller synchrony. These objectives
are true for the breeding project today, with the addition of fixing the
nonshattering genes and developing varieties with nondormant seed that
can be stored in dry conditions.
The breeding program has developed and released five varieties since
1972. Growers developed four varieties between 1968 and 1974, and one
later, the exact date unknown. The table that follows describes all of the
wild rice varieties developed in Minnesota.

150
WILD RICE VARIETIES DEVELOPED IN MINNESOTA
Variety
Description
Johnson
M1
K2
M3
Netum
Voyager
Meter
Petrowski
Franklin
Purple Petrowski
Tall, late, some non-purple panicles.
Released by Algot Johnson in 1968.
Medium to late maturity.
Developed by Manomin Development. Co. in 1970.
Early to medium maturity, medium to high yield.
Developed by Kosbau Bros. in 1972.
Medium to late maturity, has a mixture of gynoecious
and monoecious panicles. High yield. Developed by
Manomin Development Co. in 1974.
Early maturity, low to medium yield.
Developed by Minnesota Agricultural
Experiment Station in 1978.
Short to medium height, early maturity,
and medium to high yield. Released by
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1983.
Short height, very early maturity and reduced
foliage in the canopy. Large seed size and low to
medium yield. Released by Minnesota Agricultural
Experiment Station in 1985.
Medium to late maturity, high yield. Up to 50% of
plants can have bottlebrush panicle type. Developed
by K & D Wild Rice.
Medium to early maturity, more shattering resistant
than other varieties. Released by Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station in 1992.
Medium height and maturity, high yield.
Moderately high fungal brown spot resistance.
High seed-shattering resistance and lodging
resistance. Heterogeneous panicle types with
different degrees of purple. Released by Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station in 2000.
PRODUCTION/PHYSIOLOGY RESEARCH
William Brun investigated temperature influences on seed germination
and nitrogen response on plant growth from 1966 to 1971. Oelke investigated
production aspects, such as weed management, water depth, control
of volunteer seed and plants, nitrogen response, plant population, simulated
hail damage and harvest dates from 1972 to 2000. During this time

151
he also studied day length and temperature influences on flowering of four
species of wild rice, morphological development, seed germination, seed
dormancy and seed storage.
Much of the production and physiology research was done in collaboration
with the wild rice team, which included plant pathologists T. King,
M. Kernkamp, J. Percich and R. Nyvall; soil scientists J. Grava and P.
Bloom; agricultural engineers J. Strait, C. Schertz and J. Boedicker; and
entomologists A. Peterson and D. Noetzel. All had some funding at various
times from the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.
The graduate education effort from 1972 to 1992 resulted in 13 graduate
students receiving either a Ph.D. or M.S. degree. Visiting scientist Ill
Do Jin, Korea 1993, added significantly to our understanding of temperature
and day length response of wild rice.
INDUSTRY COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
Wild rice growers were instrumental in obtaining state funding from
the legislature beginning in 1972. A checkoff program was initiated with
the subsequent formation of a Minnesota Paddy Wild Rice Research and
Promotion Council (now Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council). Dollars
from this continuing checkoff program support research. Growers also
were instrumental in obtaining federal funding for the breeding program
since 1991. Growers have implemented many management practices
developed through University research.
Minnesota wild rice production increased from 36,000 pounds of
processed grain in 1968 to about 6,000,000 pounds in 1999. Value to
growers in 1999 was about $9 million; much of the production is in a few
northern counties. Nearly all acreage today is planted to the nonshattering
varieties developed by the University of Minnesota or others.
The newest variety released, Petrowski Purple, yields 16 percent higher
than Franklin and is the first one with some resistance to fungal brown
spot disease, one of the most serious diseases in wild rice. Petrowski Purple
will reduce the cost of chemical control.
The domestication process of wild rice at Minnesota has influenced
national and international wild rice production. California in 1999 produced
over 12 million pounds. Australia and Hungary have begun growing
wild rice.

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From left, Henry Schummer, wild rice technician, Raymond Porter and Ervin
Oelke in wild rice research paddy at North Central Research and Outreach
Center, Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Chapter 20
New and
Uncommon Crops
Robert G. Robinson started research on sunflower
and fieldpea in March 1948. By the early 1950s the project had
expanded to include potential crops for Minnesota and all Minnesota field
crops not researched by other projects or agencies. The objectives of the
project from its inception until 1986 when Robinson retired were:
• To be a source of information about crops that were not the responsibility
of other projects.
• To research production practices, cultural and chemical weed control,
plant breeding, and crop utilization of uncommon field crops
already grown in Minnesota, and of potential crops.
• To stay ahead of public need by having test data on varieties, herbicides
and production practices before questions arose.
• To evaluate new ideas of crop production using uncommon crops as
test species.
Complete production information based on the project’s research
were published on adzuki, amaranth, annual canarygrass, buckwheat,
camelina, canola, comfrey, crambe, crownvetch, fababean, fieldbean, fieldpea,
grain sorghum, lentil, lupine, millet, mustard, naked-seeded pumpkin,
peanut, rape, rye and sunflower. Other crops on which research results
were published include quinoa, ragi, teff, niger, sesame, flax, vetch, safflower,
oilseed radish, and potential industrial and pulp crops. A total of
225 species in 26 botanical families were evaluated for field crop potential
from 1948 to 1985.
Data with recommendations on all varieties of uncommon crops sold
in Minnesota were published annually prior to planting. This was accom-
By Professor Emeritus Robert (R.G.) Robinson, who joined the department faculty
in 1948 and retired in 1986.

154
plished by offering companies free testing of all varieties and hybrids to be
offered for sale the following year in Minnesota.
Government approval of herbicides in sunflower, millet, grain
sorghum, annual canarygrass, fieldbean, fieldpea, adzuki, and buckwheat
were at least partially based on field data and residue samples from the
uncommon crops project.
About 300 publications, including more than 50 in scientific journals,
resulted from project research. Some of these contributed the following
new or revised basic crop production and utilization principles:
• Use of winter rye and other crops to interseed in soybean for biological
weed control (Agronomy Journal 1954).
• Benefits of crop rotation over monoculture involves more than nitrogen,
disease control or insect control (Agronomy Journal 1966).
• First compressed-air field plot herbicide sprayer (Agronomy Journal
1950).
• First and perhaps the only published agronomic research that supplies
the data, formula, and procedure and suggests that the reader
sample the data and test the author’s concept and conclusion (Crop
Science 1965).
• The growing-degree-day or heat unit concept is not a valid comparison
among different latitudes, because it can be made to increase or
decrease depending on the temperature base used (Crop Science
1967)
• The internationally accepted common name for all Vicia faba subspecies,
including broadbean, horsebean, tickbean, and the English
field bean is fababean, originated by the project for the title of its 1968
AES production bulletin.
• First to agronomically research the diversion of crop land from surplus
crop production to idleness and its return to crop production
(Agronomy Journal 1968, 1970).
• First to recognize and determine the cause (phosphorus deficiency)
of retarded growth of the corn crop but not the sunflower crop following
black fallow. It is now called the “fallow syndrome” (Agronomy
Journal 1970).
• Recognized the potential of herbicide mixtures when it was discouraged
by industry and overlooked by weed scientists (Weeds 1964).
• First use of vegetable oils to replace petroleum adjuvants in herbicide
sprays. This research directly led to Bio Veg, made in Minneapolis,

155
R.G. Robinson explains sunflower research project at a branch station
field day.
and other commercial products in addition to tank-mix usage by farmers
(Soybean Digest 1970, Economic Botany 1975).
• First in the United States to use complete amino acid profiles rather
than the major protein to calculate nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors
(Agronomy Journal 1975,1978). Additional published research
by Robinson confirms that many interspecies protein comparisons and
labeled protein concentrate levels of feeds are scientifically imprecise.
• Coined the term and introduced the concept of “artifact autogamy”
in plant breeding and pollination (Crop Science 1980).
• First comparative data showing that amino acid composition of bean
seed did not differ among compost, inorganic nitrogen or irrigation
treatments but protein concentration was greatly affected by such
treatments (Agronomy Journal 1983).
Data from the project’s 1961 variety trials at Rosemount were the first
published in the United States showing that Russian sunflower varieties
produced satisfactory yields of seed of 40% oil. The USDA distributed
these data to all U.S. experiment stations and by 1962 experiment stations
researching sunflower increased from only a few to nearly all. The high-oil
germplasm and many years of successful Minnesota production of
nonoilseed sunflower, based on project research, led to Cargill of
Minneapolis starting sunflower oilseed production in 1966 and to Sun
Plant Products of Gonvick, Minnesota, building the first U.S. sunflower oil

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extraction plant in 1967. Until the mid-1970s Cargill and other companies
used existing linseed oil plants to process sunflower.
Annual canarygrass was found best adapted to northwestern
Minnesota, and Minnesota became the leading state in production and
conditioning for export in the 1960s and early 1970s. Most production
later moved to North Dakota and then to Canada. But Minnesota varieties
Alden, Keet and Elias continued to be used and still account for nearly all
North American annual canarygrass production.
Following Robinson’s retirement in 1986 the Interdepartmental Center
for Alternative Plant and Animal Products became the major source of
information on new and uncommon crops for the public, businesses and
entrepreneurs. Agronomist E.A. Oelke served as director of the center
from 1992 to 2000. The center publishes a quarterly magazine, Bio
Options, on new and uncommon crops, livestock and products.
The project remaining in the department was also expanded with additional
funding and the addition of professional technician L. Fields. The
project’s focus narrowed to ecological and production research on a few
species and was terminated after 5 years when its leader, D.H. Putnam,
became a professor at the University of California.
VARIETIES RELEASED FROM PROJECT BREEDER SEED
Variety
Year Variety
Year
Arrowhead sunflower 1954 Alden annual canarygrass 1973
Mingren sunflower 1964 Keet annual canarygrass 1979
Pearl rye 1964 Elias annual canarygrass 1983
Van Lochow rye 1964 Minoka adzuki 1980
Minnesota horsebean 1968 Minnesota 1 grain sorghum 1963
Petite tickbean 1975 RS 455 grain sorghum 1976
Caribou rye 1954 M-A4 grain sorghum 1976
Elk rye 1959 Giant American Buckwheat 1977
Rymin rye 1973 Procon fieldpea 1986
Snobird proso millet 1976
Minsum proso millet 1980

Chapter 21
Branch Agricultural
Experiment Stations
Early work away from University Farm in St.
Paul, testing a collection of about 200 samples of wheat, began in 1890
on the March and Spaulding farm at Warren. In 1891 one-twentieth-acre
plots were grown at Glyndon for yield tests. The horticultural society also
had use of land in several parts of the state.
Edward Porter, first director of the Minnesota Agricultural Station
(1885-1896), appealing for additional testing and research areas, wrote
this in the station’s 1888 annual report:
Minnesota embraces an area of 84,000 square miles or nearly 54,000,000
acres. It is 381 miles long and 250 miles wide, covering 4 degrees of longitude
and 6 degrees of latitude. Within this domain there is a great diversity of
soil, climate and productions, and as a consequence many of the results of
experimental work obtained at any one station will not be conclusive for all
sections of the state. Such problems as acclimation of plants, grains, grasses,
trees, shrubs and fruits and their adaptations to varying conditions of soil and
climate, can only be satisfactorily solved by many repetitions of experiments
in different localities.
Porter’s branch station recommendation, was “insistently” supported
by W.M. Hays, professor of agriculture and vice-chairman of the experiment
station (1893-1904). The 1895 legislature passed a bill providing for
the establishment of experimental sub-stations in the state.
The establishment of stations throughout the state for agronomic and
other research has played an important part in Minnesota’s agricultural
development. These units have been known at various times as substations,
branch stations and schools of agriculture; today they are known as
By Roy L. Thompson, professor emeritus, who served as agronomist at the west-central station,
as a member of the department faculty and as assistant director of the agricultural experiment
station.

158
“Research and Outreach Centers” and the title of the administrator has
been changed from “superintendent” to “head.”
The participation of farmers and other cooperators has been crucial
for much of the agronomy department research; the branch stations have
served as a two-way conduit for area agriculture. They have helped to gain
departmental and other assistance for local problems, disseminated seed
and management information, and, in general, served as the local
University representative.
Sometimes local organizations failed to understand the close working
relationships and importance of the various University units collaborating
in solving the problems of farmers in greater Minnesota. A representative
of one of these organizations said, “What has the University ever done
The station is the one that has helped us.” While local visibility and contact
is important, without the basic work of the central units of the University
much less would be accomplished. The importance of this close relationship
was emphasized in the 1980s when the Department of Agronomy
and Plant Genetics became the tenure home for station agronomists.
COTEAU FARM, LYND
Plans for a sub-experimental farm on 0.C. Gregg’s “Coteau Farm,”
near Lynd, in Lyon County, were laid by Hays in 1893. The 1895 experiment
station annual report indicates continuation of experimental work
that began there in 1894. An 1899 report of experimental work observed
that subsoiling for numerous crops does not pay, recommended
bromegrass as a grass, and stated that timber belts can be grown on any
prairie farm, even in the southwestern Coteaus. A soil moisture study in
this limited-moisture area was greatly aided by the invention of an electronic
conductivity measurement device perfected by Milton Whitney, chief
of USDA’s Division of Soils, Washington, D. C.
Coteau Farm, named for the nearby Coteau range of hills, was owned
by 0.C. Gregg, a prominent community leader and early director of the
farmers institutes. Torger A. Hoverstad, a graduate of the College of
Agriculture, planted the 1895 crop but left to assume charge of the new
station at Crookston in July 1895. Win. G. Smith, a junior in the College
of Agriculture, succeeded Hoverstad at the farm. He continued in that
position for at least three years and later worked in the soils department.
Smith was followed by W. C. Palmer and in 1901 by D.A. Gaumnitz, who
in 1904-05 was appointed assistant animal husbandman at St. Paul.
Work at the Coteau farm was planned centrally and implemented
under an agreement with Mr. Gregg who provided land, teams, facilities
and some equipment for crop management research purposes. The

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University provided overall planning leadership and Hoverstad was to manage
the research work on the farm. This appears to be the initial start of
off-campus field crop research on a more or less continuing basis.
Research at Coteau Farm was discontinued after 1903 because of the difficulty
of doing experimental work on a facility researchers could not control.
About that same time the sandy soils of the northeast and the heavy
soils of the northwest were being developed. Residents of these and other
areas of the state believed that numerous problems needed attention and
that a sub-experiment station could assist.
NORTHWEST STATION, CROOKSTON
W.M. Hays had recommended sites for stations near Crookston and
Grand Rapids, and James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern
Railroad, gave a conditional gift of 476.61 acres of land to the University
for use as a sub-station at Crookston in 1895. Not until 1939 was clear
title obtained for the original soggy sod. Due to high water, Superintendent
Hoverstad’s workmen had to wear high boots to mud-in the planting of
trees, an attempt to reduce the “bare feeling” of the open prairies. A
Minnesota wheat variety No 163 (Glyndon) was planted with many other
crops and varieties in 4-foot x 4-foot plots in 1896; Glyndon proved superior
to Fife and Haynes Bluestem, commonly grown at the time.
Flooded fields, drought and hail were frequent problems. The driest
year on record, 1908, resulted in little water flow in the drainage research
studies, but in 1914 the station was flooded. Flooding problems were corrected
with completion of drainage ditch 99 in 1920. Varietal trials, soil
drainage, alfalfa growing, black stem rust, manure application, seeding
rates for small grains and use of pure seed were just a few of the research
areas covered at the station.
NORTH CENTRAL STATION, GRAND RAPIDS
Itasca County donated 370 acres and a Mr. Morrison and Mr. Brown
donated 80 acres in 1896 for the establishment of the Northeast (later
named North Central) Experiment Station, near Grand Rapids. The
University paid $3,500 for buildings and land improvements; 60 acres of
the land were under cultivation. Warren P. Pendergast was appointed
superintendent and started development plans immediately. Drainage of
part of the land was needed. Research priorities included how to clear the
heavily wooded land for cultivation, establishing research for the kind of
crops for pastures and their management, and crop variety testing. Due to
an unfortunate accident while horseback riding Pendergast was injured and
died in 1897.

160
He was succeeded by Herman H. Chapman, a forester, who started a
study on tree spacing and growth rates that continues today. Numerous
cropping and varietal studies also were conducted. Trials showed that the
application of farm livestock manure doubled the yield of fodder corn and
root crops. Changing seed from one location to another was credited with
an advantage in yield. Speltz did not yield as well as barley. Potatoes yielded
225 bushels/acre in 1911 and 306 bushels/acre in 1913 and 1914.
Rutabagas were shown to be more reliable than potatoes for livestock feed.
In 1919 soybean, corn and sunflower was the order of preference of crops
grown and used for silage.
Apparently dynamite was readily available at that time, as both
Crookston and Grand Rapids tried it in research tests. Grand Rapids reported
that the less-expensive lower grade 27-30% material worked as well for
stump removal as the higher grade. It also was a relatively cheap way of
clearing land. In a subsoiling trial at Crookston in 1911 dynamited and
plowed land produced the highest corn silage yield. The question of the
value of subsoiling by various means has been explored numerous times at
different stations, especially as different equipment became available.
WEST CENTRAL STATION, MORRIS
The West Central School and Experiment Station originally was a mission
school used by a Catholic order. The U.S. government operated an
Indian school there several years; it was closed in 1908. W.M. Hays, then
assistant secretary of agriculture, promoted transfer of the property for use
as an experiment station and President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill
transferring the property, 292 acres and buildings, to the State of
Minnesota. The Minnesota legislature passed a bill enabling establishment
of a school of agriculture and experiment station there in 1909. To work
out funding details, correct building problems and ensure a good start,
opening of the school was delayed until fall 1910. E.C. Higbie was hired
as superintendent and about 100 students were registered for the Oct. 3,
1910, term. No experimental work was done until 1911.
To supplement the 292 original acres, the University purchased an
adjoining 74.5-acre parcel. By 1917 the only original building still on the
campus was the agronomy building. It was later remodeled for use by the
music department and remains on campus today as Minority Resource
Center and has been placed on the National Register of Historic places. In
1915 when Paul Miller was the agronomist, the farm was “made over” and
“supported luxuriant fields of alfalfa and clean fields of corn and grain,”
with several hundred plots set up for experimental purposes.

161
Field day at West Central Experiment Station.
In 1917 Paul E. Miller became superintendent and T.E. Odland was
named agronomist. Roy 0. Bridgford succeeded Odland in 1918 and continued
in that position until 1956. In 1885 D.T. Wheaton, a Morris resident,
became the first official station weather observer for the U.S.
Weather Bureau. After 34 years of recording temperature and precipitation,
Bridgford took over the “official daily task;” he was succeeded by Roy
L. Thompson in 1956. Weather data collection at the station, now an
automated process, continues today.
With an average yearly precipitation of about 24 inches and only
about 17 inches during the April-August cropping season, crop management
was somewhat different than in eastern Minnesota. Small grains,
corn and forages made up the mixed cropping programs for most of the
area farms, which also had livestock. Variety tests, manure application
rates, weed control, rotations and numerous other types of research were
initiated. Selection made from early-maturing Minnesota 13 corn was an
attempt at corn improvement before the advent of inbreeding and production
of hybrids. Later the station pioneered in helping farmers produce
hybrid seed.
A trial evaluating the use of rock or acid phosphate fertilizer with or
without manure on wheat, oats, corn and clover was started in 1914 and
continued until 1959. It showed the need for acid phosphate fertilizer,
demonstrated the value of manure and showed a lack of response to rock
phosphate. In 1920 seven soybean varieties were tested, with yields of

162
16.3 to 34.9 bushels per acre. Chestnut, Elton and Soysota seed was distributed,
but soybean interest quickly dropped off due to lack of use and
markets. Some soybeans were grown in combination with corn for “hogging
off.” Winter wheat and rye trials were started in 1921.
Early fieldwork was done with horses but in 1919,”The best tractor
exhibition in west-central Minnesota” was held at the station. Each of 10
different models of tractors plowed for over two hours with two- or threebottom
plows for a demonstration. This was only one of the many attractions
held to provide information and interest in the station. Attendance at
the 1921 field day was reported to be from 1,700 to 1,800.
NORTHEAST AND SOUTHERN DEMONSTRATION FARMS
The legislature of 1911 made provisions for the establishment of two
demonstration farms where local problems, such as cutover land in the
north and drainage in the south, could be explored. Andrew Boss, chief of
the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management, was responsible for
organizing the two farms.
NORTHEAST STATION, DULUTH
The site near Duluth purchased for the northeast station consisted of
three land pieces totaling 252 acres. George Pauley, a graduate of the
School of Agriculture, was hired to act as farmer and resident superintendent.
Mark J. Thompson, a graduate of the school and the college of agriculture,
took charge in 1913 as resident superintendent. Only a small
amount of the land was cleared, which had priority with the construction
of two cottages, two barns, a hog house, milk house and machine shed.
The 1918 report indicated 12 acres was cleared. The use of 20% and 30%
dynamites showed a cost of 3.91¢/stump and 10.93 ¢/stump, respectively.
Land clearing was followed by land evaluation of crop growth, testing
of crop varieties, evaluation of timber and crop returns, as well as other
appropriate studies.
SOUTHERN STATION, WASECA
Establishment of the Southern Experiment Station, at Waseca, began
with the committee selecting the present site and purchase of 240 acres of
land for $125/acre. Professor Boss set out to show that a well-managed,
general-purpose farm with livestock could be a profitable venture. Albert
Hoverstad, a graduate of the School of Agriculture, was hired as manager
and operations began in 1913. Originally 200 acres of the south farm was
to be a demonstration farm operated as a practical, money-earning enter-

163
prise. The north 40 was to be the experimental farm. Because of poor
drainage and other factors, operations drifted away from the demonstration
concept and experimental work expanded. “Seed increases, corn
research, and forage experiments seemed more important than cash
crops,” wrote R.G. (Bob) Hodgson, appointed superintendent in 1917.
The Waseca station was the site for much of the early corn-breeding
project; the 10,000 plots required around 40 acres each year. While H.K.
Hayes was in charge of the early work, individuals from the agronomy
department were assigned to live in Waseca and manage the work during
the summer.
Small grain varietal trials and forage crops have been important
research areas. Alfalfa planting methods were developed and it became the
most common forage crop in the area. Work with M.C. Hansen, Waseca
county agent, devised machinery for harvesting and cleaning phalaris
grass, which was called reed canarygrass in a bulletin written by A.C. Arny.
Planting and harvesting methods had turned canarygrass into a valuable
hay and pasture grass, especially for low areas.
Five acres of sugarbeets were grown in 1919 in a cooperative test with
the Mason City, Iowa, plant of American Crystal Sugar Company. Previous
work supervised by H.F. Postel had shown good quality beets grown around
Albert Lea in cooperation with that town’s Commercial Club. Sugarbeet
research continued for several years. A breeding program conducted by J.0.
Culbertson and Andrew Downie resulted in taproot tip-rot-resistant strains
that later were increased for seed for the Upper Midwest.
ROSEMOUNT STATION
The Rosemount facility is unique among the experiment stations.
Because it is relatively close to the St. Paul campus it was seen as an extension
of the campus experimental fields and livestock facilities without academic
faculty assigned to it. The history of this valuable research resource
is also different from that of any of the other stations.
In 1942 the U.S. government acquired 12,000 acres of land near
Rosemount for construction of a munitions plant to manufacture gunpowder.
Owners were moved off, the land cleared, the plant built, roads, security
fences, electrical and water systems installed, and the plant operated in
part for only a few months. In 1947 the federal government returned
4,000 acres to the original owners. The other 8,000 acres, with buildings
and improvements, were conveyed to the University. Physical planning was
responsible for 6,550 acres and Theodore H. (Ted) Fenske, director of field
operations, St. Paul campus, supervised the 1,450 acres assigned to the
Institute of Agriculture. The government retained rights of re-entry until

164
1967, when the Institute was assigned an additional 1,250 acres. Another
400 acres was made available later; the balance of the land was retained in
a centrally controlled unit called the Rosemount Research Center.
The original operational plan for the station was for each department
to have assigned areas for field and livestock research, with a general operations
unit handling large-scale field operations. Agronomy utilized one of
the areas for long-term alfalfa development work that, among many other
studies, resulted in the release of the varieties Agate and Nitro. Agate was
the first variety bred for Phytophthora root rot resistance; Nitro was bred
for increased nitrogen fixation and accumulation.
Corn, soybean and oat breeding projects also utilized and made excellent
use of field space. Weed control workers had the luxury of an abundance
of space. Because of the difficulty of having “good” populations of
weeds for test purposes, weed control work was often conducted in widely
separated or isolated locations. Here researchers were able to obtain
desired weed populations, plant corn, soybean or other crops across the
large uniform weed areas, and evaluate test material for control efficiency.
Collaborative work testing forage productivity between the leaders in
the livestock units and agronomy was another advantage of relatively sufficient
space. Wild rice research and other “uncommon crop” research was
done at the station.
Agronomist R.G. Robinson noted that L.J. Elling managed the agronomy
department’s Rosemount funds, including equipment procurement,
from 1950 to 1965, when he transferred to the grass-legume seed production
project.
Robinson was the first professional agronomist associated with the
Rosemount station, the only one with trials there in 1948, the station’s first
year of operation. He conducted the small grain, flax, soybean, uncommon
crops and weed control trials with the several project leaders. He also was
in charge of spraying all crop fields of small grain on the agronomy and
soils farms in 1948. He and Merl Swanson, of the general farm staff,
sprayed about 100 acres divided into plots 33 feet wide by the length of
the fields with formulations, dosages and rates of 2-4D, and, in smaller
plots, of 2,4,5-T. Robinson noted that all treatments gave satisfactory control
of nongrass weeds but only 2,4,5-T controlled the wild rose.
SOUTHWEST EXPERIMENT STATION, LAMBERTON
The Southwest Minnesota Crop Improvement Association, organized
in 1946 by farmers and seed growers to lobby for an experiment station
to serve the 14 southwest counties, had its request fulfilled in 1959. The

165
legislature appropriated $80,000 and a committee selected a 240-acre
farm near Lamberton, which was purchased for $76,000. In September
1959 R.G. Robinson planted winter wheat and rye plots on the farm. In
January 1960 Wallace W. Nelson, soils agronomist at the northeast station,
moved to the southwest station as superintendent.
From 1947 until 1959 Robinson had been evaluating varieties and
weed control measures on annual crops on about 10 acres of farmers’
fields located in these southwest counties. The station was established to
provide a permanent location to evaluate crops and cropping systems that
may have potential for that area. Over the years it has tested varieties and
management of any crop that might have shown promise – common crops
such as small grains, corn, soybean, flax, sorghum, sunflower, dried edible
beans and buckwheat, and some of the not-so-common crops, such as
cannabis, teff, lupine and rape.
The absence of livestock reduced some of the options for growing
fields of forage or pasture crops but has not hindered the evaluation of a
wide array of forage crops and management systems. In fact, a sod airplane
landing strip was established with a variety test of grasses. The need
for more plot land and relatively little use resulted in plowing it up.
Weed control work has always been an important part of the program.
Studies of crop plant root growth and development by washing slices of
soil taken from the root region produced widely acclaimed demonstrations
for field days and other public events. Soil compaction, nitrogen movement
and leaching are among the many other studies conducted there.
RELATED RESEARCH FACILITIES
Agronomy department research to serve the 8 million acres of sandy
soil in Minnesota continued from 1919 until the 1930s at the Coon Creek
experimental fields in Anoka County. From 1947 to 1956 R.G. Robinson
conducted research with oat, rye, sunflower, sorghum, pulse and many
other crops on dryland soil in Anoka, Sherburne, Wright and Stearns
counties. Increasing use of irrigation on Minnesota’s sandy soils led to the
experiment station’s rental of the Sand Plains Research Farm in Sherburne
County near Elk River from1965 to1975, and at Becker from 1976 to the
present. Agronomy, soil science, plant pathology, horticulture, agricultural
engineering, and entomology departments conduct research there. Fred
Bergsrud, agricultural engineer, began irrigation research on the Staples
Area Vocational-Technical Institute’s irrigation farm in the 1960s.
Agronomist Roy L. Thompson began department research on the farm in
the 1970s.

166
Laddie J. Elling started research on forage crops in northwestern
Minnesota in the 1950s and developed much support for the department.
His work led to the establishment of a research field at Roseau in the
1960s. Research on forage crops, grain crops, oilseed crops and weed
control is conducted at Roseau.
STATION GROWTH
Most of the stations had more land than they could use effectively
when they were established. In many cases the land may not have been the
type best suited for research or even production, but with the equipment,
labor and power available it was adequate. With the coming of tractors and
other machinery, including some mechanization of plot equipment, there
was need for more land. Rotations and land selectivity for management
systems or production fields for livestock resulted in all stations improving
the land they had and then acquiring adjacent properties, often after renting
for a while. The termination or transition of the schools of agriculture
to college programs allowed more time for specialists at the station,
improving research quality and quantity.
The west central station purchased the farm east of campus and across
the road from land already owned. The headquarters offices of the station
were moved and new crop and livestock facilities constructed. The move
permitted use of better land for research purposes, although it took a while
to organize the cropping programs. Crookston acquired land to the north of
the station and moved its operational headquarters there. Grand Rapids
moved part of the forage program for beef to a new farm a short distance
from the station as there was no land available closer. Wild rice occupied a
considerable amount of land and forestry interests increased. The southern
station at Waseca had developed an excellent livestock program but the variability
and quantity of manure produced was a problem. Manure use on
experimental plots resulted in lack of uniformity for the expanded variety
and management test programs and its application on nonexperimental land
was resulting in high nitrogen levels. A farm southwest of the station was
acquired to study manure utilization and handling methods.
The southwest station, at Lamberton, was fortunate to have a farm
adjacent to the station that had not been treated with chemicals or commercial
pesticides for weed or insect control. The rental of that 168-acre
farm permitted setting in place an unique study of levels of input management
and the long-term effect of such practices on the soil and its environment,
as well as on yields or related problems. Four levels of treatment
were involved on rotations of corn-soybean and corn-soybean-oat-alfalfa.
The area involved was large enough to permit almost normal field-scale
tractor mechanization. The management systems included 1) no input

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(nothing added other than seed and tillage), 2), organic input (manure as
fertilizer and organic weed control), 3) low-purchase input (banded fertilizer
and herbicides and cultivation for weed control), and 4) high-purchase
input (broadcast fertilizer, herbicides and insect control).
The most recent work has been site-specific crop management. This
research involves the use of global positioning satellite technology with
computer-guided field equipment for fertilization, planting and weed control
utilizing combine measurements during harvest.
BRANCH STATION CONFERENCES
The years during World War I, 1917-1919, affected the University in
many ways. During this time there were numerous staff changes, leaves of
absence and other changes. Some comments from experiment station
annual reports illustrate concerns and opportunities:
There should be more complete separation of men for experiment station
work. In the past the demand for instructors in college and school work has
drawn heavily at times on the experiment station staff. (1917)
Teaching duties of the staff were reduced because practically the entire male
student body was enrolled in the special war training courses of the Student
Army Training Corps. (1918)
Cooperation between the agronomy department and branch stations, as
well as among the branch stations, has been an important reason for the
success of agricultural developments in Minnesota. This probably can be
said for other departments as well.
The emphasis of a statement made in 1918 was the forerunner of the
station conferences that provided continuity and collaboration between
individuals and programs for many years:
An informal conference group of research workers in agricultural chemistry,
horticulture, farm crops, plant breeding, plant pathology, plant physiology
and plant insect pests was started during the year, with such excellent results
in stimulating mutual interest in the work of these several fields of science
that the organization of a definite plant science group in the near future is
plainly desirable. It is probable that if such a conference group is organized
it will include workers in plant science from other departments of the
University as well as members of the various divisions of the Experiment
Station who deal with problems in the general field.
The question of demonstrations versus research is not new. In 1916
Boss explained the purpose of putting the 200-acre demonstration farm
first at Waseca. In 1917 Otto Bergh pointed out the difference between
demonstrational work and experimental work, showing that experimental

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Soybean breeder J.H Orf at a station fall field day.
and investigational work must precede demonstrational work. Owing to
the regional differences and local conditions, it is important that substations,
from the beginning, do work that is mainly investigational and experimental
insofar as local conditions are important factors, he explained. The
substations should, he added, avoid duplication or repetition of work on
projects undertaken by the central station except insofar as regional differences
and local conditions might affect the results. He suggested the possible
advantage of utilizing men part time for investigational work at substations
and part time for extension work in the same community. At the
same conference, chairman R.W. Thatcher stated that a method of uniform
testing had been prepared and would be submitted to substation
agronomists for adoption.
At a Dec. 3, 1918, meeting of the agronomy and farm management
staff, chairman Boss explained the duties of various sections of the division:
Plant Breeding: Producing or improving varieties
Farm Crops: Variety plot testing at University Farm and substations
Crop Production and Seed Distribution: Distributing approved seed
to farms
Crop Improvement: Conducting a system of registration
Division Staff: Selecting of seed approved for registration. It was
specified that varieties developed at the experiment station be designated
by a name supplemented by a Minnesota number.

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CROP AND ACREAGE ASSIGNED FOR INCREASE, 1920
Spring Winter
Wheat Wheat Oat Barley Soybean Rye
Variety, Variety, Variety, Variety, Variety, Variety,
Station Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres
St. Paul Mindum 15 Minhardi 15 Victory 15 Minn 184 10 Chestnut and No.2 5
Marquis 10 Minn 845 10 Minsoy 2
Waseca ––– Minturki 15 Iowa 103 10 Minsturdi 5 Habaro 2
Morris Marquis 15 ––– Minota 15 ––– ––– –––
Crookston Mindum 15 ––– Iowa 103 15 Swansota 5 ––– –––
Grand
––– Minturk 15 ––– Minn 184 5 ––– No.2 5
Rapids
Duluth ––– ––– Minn 281 5 Minn 184 5
In 1919 Conrad Selvig from Crookston reported that rust was affecting
wheat yields. Bluestem wheat yielded 3.5 bushels/acre while Mindum
470 yielded 24 bushels/acre. E.C. Stakman pointed out that the barberry
eradication program should be pushed because there were far more barberries
than had been thought.
“The production of improved varieties or improvement of commercial
sorts now grown is one of the main purposes of the Experiment Station,”
stated a Dec. 30, 1919, conference report. The branch stations played an
important part not only in the testing of these varieties but in the initial
increase and distribution of the material to farmers in the area. The plan
given for the 1920 central and substation seed increase included field selection
and the leaving of a 1.5-foot alley every 16 feet in the field for roguing
for mixtures, diseases and weeds. The chart shows the crops assigned
to each station for seed increase in 1920. The seed increase was for distribution
to any farmer who would then grow registered seed.
The corn improvement and increase program also involved the branch
stations. Each station was designated as a producer and breeder of one
special variety selected by the central and sub-station workers. The process
would include selection of 100 ears, test in ear-to-row trials, and remnants
of the 25 highest-yielding ears planted in a special seed plot with seed
again selected from plants in hills with perfect stands. The seed plot plan
continued for four years, the ear-to-row trials were repeated and the seed
from increase fields was sold.

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The following lines were suggested as worthy of being bred by the stations:
St. Paul
Minn. No. 13, Rustlers White Dent
Morris
Northwestern Dent
Waseca
Silver King
Crookston Squaw Flint
Grand Rapids Selected Flint
Discussions at crop conferences or planning meetings involved which
varieties were to be recommended, increased for possible release, needed
further testing, and other considerations important to the uniform and efficient
operation of a widely dispersed organization. The information exchange
between individuals and units ensured delivery of quality material
and information to the public.
At the Jan. 7, 1924, meeting, barley selection II-20-10 was considered
the best of 17 selections and better than Manchuria (Minn 184).
There would be no need to continue to test the other 16 lines and the
space would be used for testing rust-resistant wheat lines. Minnesota barley
No. 447 was approved for naming as Velvet. Bergh from Grand Rapids
had a strain of yellow dent corn the group approved to be added to the
recommended list under the name of Moccasin.
At the Dec. 9, 1924, meeting the increase of 80 bushels of Velvet barley
was allocated only to Minnesota stations. Flax strain No. 91 was named
Redwing, but because the seed for the increase came from a variety test
none of the seed increased in 1925 was to be distributed until a careful
study of purity was made. Agronomists recommended dropping Emmer
from the spring wheat trials and spring wheat was dropped from tests at
Grand Rapids and Duluth. Elmer Clark, from Crookston, emphasized that
an alfalfa situation called for a closer check on certified seed producers.
The annual conference in January 1926 indicated interdepartmental
cooperation; it signaled the start of 5-foot rows for rust testing because
there were 196 selections of wheat to test for rust reaction. The future of
hybrid corn seemed to be indicated by the report of a 30% increase in yield
from “double crosses” of a selfed line both in 1924 and 1925. Selvig from
Crookston reported a number of Gehu flint lines selfed 2 years and several
Minnesota 13 lines selfed 1 year. Roy Bridgford from Morris would have
150 to 200 strains selfed 1 year.
The January 1927 conference decided that a pamphlet should be published
giving favorable or unfavorable information concerning varieties,
recommendations and regional importance or other factors as soon possible
after the conference. This was the start of what became known as the
varietal trials bulletin. Station seed prices per bushel were also set: Oats

171
$.75, barley $1.50, flax $3, soybean $3, wheat $2, and grain sacks either
$ .40 or $ .45. Emerald rye, a selection out of Swedish (Minn No. 1), was
recommended for increase and named.
In 1928 a committee was appointed to consider methods and formulate
a policy to work with county agents in identifying quality farmers for
allocation of new seed varieties. The goal was to make large enough lots
of seed available so the recipients could afford to take a real interest in the
increase as good clean seed and its wider distribution. This was the start of
the county crop improvement associations and seed distribution system.
Another problem that would surface periodically at recommendation
or branch conferences was that of handling a new selection of superior
yield but deficient in some other quality. Progress wheat, developed in
Wisconsin, was considered for recommendation as a poultry feed but withdrawn
from consideration because of the unsatisfactory flour quality. In the
1950s a wheat was developed that also had good agronomic characteristics
but was faulted by a high protein content that did not translate into the
normal milling, dough handling and baking characteristics associated with
high-protein wheat. The variety had been named, seed increases had been
made and seed was ready for distribution when the conference decided that
releasing it would disrupt the entire wheat marketing system. Several of the
stations were seriously affected by the decision because they had considerable
investments in conditioning and preparing the seed for release.
Nonetheless, the seed was not allowed to enter seed channels.
An 1895 report contains a wheat-breeding philosophy that expressed
the recommendations made in 1970 when Era wheat was released:
We are using as foundation stocks mainly superior hard wheat. While we
must choose wheat of high quality so as to increase rather that decrease the
fame of the northwest for No. 1 hard grades, we must keep constantly in
mind the fact that the farmer gets more money per acre out of his crop of
wheat because of a few bushels more yield per acre, even if he suffers a loss
of grade.
The decision to release Era was not easy and the government, the
market and neighboring states all initially agreed with the milling and baking
trade’s decision that it should be discounted in the marketplace.
Because of Era’s superior yield capacity it quickly led in acreage grown.
With increasing supplies the trade modified its processing systems and
found Era to be satisfactory.
Official experiment station varietal recommendations were made at
the annual Crops and Soils Conference with the branch experiment stations
until the 1950s when an interim committee was appointed to evaluate
the data before the conference. The conference did not always approve
the interim committee’s suggestions, which led to some heated debates.

172
An interdepartmental varietal recommendation committee of individuals
working with the crops was established in the 1960s; it made varietal recommendations
for several years.
The Varietal Trials of Farm Crops bulletin was the most widely distributed
publication to result from the activities of the conferences. It provides
a comprehensive history of performance and characteristics of crops
grown in the Upper Midwest. For many years varieties were categorized as
recommended or otherwise, but such recommendations became impractical
as the number of commercial varieties available increased. Farmers
today still value the varietal trials report but are willing to make their own
evaluations.
STATION PERSONNEL
Over the years many individuals have led the direction or implementation
of agricultural research at branch station locations. In early years the
superintendent was responsible for the direction of all activities at the station.
As agricultural schools were begun the staffs were increased to
include individuals with specialized backgrounds. Initially most had degrees
in agriculture; later the degrees included agronomy or soils, or both, and
more recently other specialties. Headings show the original station name
and date established. The administrators are shown categorically as superintendents
although their actual title may have varied due to circumstances,
and those whose responsibilities included agronomy are listed. Since 1998
all stations have been known as research and outreach centers.
COTEAU FARM, LYND,
1894-1903
O.C. Gregg, owner and
superintendent
Research Responsibility Period
Torger A. Hoverstad 1894–1895
W.G. Smith 1895–1898
D.A. Gaumnitz 1901–1902
Gaumnitz was appointed assistant in animal
husbandry at St. Paul in 1904–1905.
NORTHWEST STATION,
CROOKSTON, 1895
Superintendents
Period
Torger A. Hoverstad 1895–1905
William Robertson 1905–1910
Conrad Selvig 1910–1927
Austin A. Dowell 1920–1937
Thomas M. McCall 1938–1956
Bernard E. Youngquist 1956–1983
Larry J. Smith 1983–1983

173
Agronomists
Period
Otto I. Bergh 1912–1914
F.L. Kennard 1915–1918
A.M. Christensen 1918–1920
Elmer R. Clark, 1920–1940
pure seed specialist
Raymond S. Dunham, 1921–1945
agronomist
Olaf C. Soine, 1945–1974
agronomist and soil scientist
Freeman F. Johnson 1963–1966
James L. Lofgren 1967–1971
Larry J. Smith, 1971–1978
general agronomy
Larry J. Smith, 1978–1978
sugarbeet management
John V. Wiersma, agronomist 1978–1978
Jochum J. Wiersma, 1995–1978
small-grains specialist
NORTHEAST
SUB-EXPERIMENT FARM,
GRAND RAPIDS, 1896
The name was changed to North Central
Experiment Station in 1913 when a station
was started at Duluth.
Superintendents, specialty Period
Warren H. Pendergast 1896–1897
Herman H. Chapman, forestry 1898-1904
A.J. McGuire, dairy 1904-1914
Otto L. Bergh, soils 1914–1930
Raymond L. Donovan 1930–1940
Donald L. Dailey, 1940–1950
animal husbandry
C.L. Cole, animal husbandry 1950–1956
William Matalamaki 1956–1978
Joe Rust, animal husbandry 1978–1985
Robert F. Nyvall, 1985–1991
plant pathology
David L. Rabas, agronomy 1991–
Agronomists
Period
Don Anderson,
North Central School
Otto Swenson 1926–1942
(first full–time agronomist)
Clem H. Griffith 1942–1963
Richard Anderson 1963–1970
David L. Rabas 1970–1991
Russ Mathison 1991–1991
Raymond Porter 1991–1991
WEST CENTRAL
EXPERIMENT STATION,
MORRIS, 1910
Superintendents
Period
E.C. Higbie 1910–1919
P.E. Miller 1919–1938
T.H. Fenske 1938–1947
A.W. Edson 1947–1958
H.G. Croom (interim) 1958–1959
R.A. Briggs 1959–1961
R.A. Smith 1961–1982
L.K. Linder (interim) 1982–1983
R. Vatthauer 1983–1991
G. Lemme 1992–1999
Gregory Cuomo 2000–1991
Agronomists
Period
P.E. Miller 1911–1916
Theodore Odland 1917–1918
Roy O. Bridgford 1918–1956
Roy L. Thompson 1956–1967
Sam Evans 1963–1995
(soils and agronomy)

174
WEST CENTRAL
EXPERIMENT STATION,
MORRIS, 1910
Agronomists (continued) Period
Dennis Warnes 1969–1995
Gregory Cuomo 1996–2000
Frank Forcella, USDA–ARS 1985–1991
adjunct professor
NORTHEAST
DEMONSTRATION AND
EXPERIMENT FARM,
DULUTH, 1912–1966
George Pauley was farmer and resident
superintendent in 1912 and Mark
Thompson served from 1913 to 1966.
Wallace Nelson served as agronomist
from 1952 to 1959.
SOUTHERN
DEMONSTRATION AND
EXPERIMENT FARM,
WASECA, 1912
The station began operation in 1913;
its name was changed to Southern
Experiment Station in 1925.
Superintendents Period
Torger A. Hoverstad, 1913–1918
resident manager
R.G. (Bob) Hodgson 1919–1960
Deane Turner 1961–1963
Edward Frederick 1964–1970
Richard Anderson 1970–1990
David Walgenbach 1990–2000
Agronomists
Period
John Thompson 1953–1967
William Lueschen 1968–1993
Gregg Johnson 1994–1991
ROSEMOUNT EXPERIMENT
STATION, 1949
Superintendents
Period
Albert C. Heine 1949–1965
Clifford L. Wilcox 1965–1990
Kenneth Walter 1990–2000
David Walgenbach 2000–1991
SOUTHWEST
EXPERIMENT STATION,
LAMBERTON, 1960
Superintendents
Period
Wallace Nelson 1959–1993
William Lueschen 1993–1995
Pauline Nickel 1995–1995
Agronomists
Period
Harlan Ford 1973–1995
Paul Porter 1994–2000
Elizabeth Dyck 1997–2000
Lori Falkner 2000–2000
SAND PLAIN RESEARCH
FARM, ELK RIVER
1965–1975, BECKER
FROM 1976
Glen Titrud, administrative director

Chapter 22
Minnesota
Crop Improvement
Association
On August 2, 1903, professors Coates P.
Bull and Willet M. Hays issued a call to Minnesota farmers for a meeting
to organize an association for breeding and improving field crop plants.
While their appeal was to all farmers, it was especially to growers of
improved varieties for sale as seed. Bull and Hays wrote that they wished
to give “systematic encouragement to the use of pedigreed seeds.”
The meeting was held at the Territorial Pioneers Log Cabin on the
State Fair grounds September 2, 1903, during the Minnesota State Fair,
and the organization was named “Minnesota Field Crop Breeders
Association” (MFCBA). Individual members were to “breed plants and not
leave it all to the experiment station,” and to maintain the purity of the
varieties and strains originated at University Farm. The membership fee
was set at $1 per year, where it remained for more than 60 years.
In 1903 Minnesota had 1.8 million acres of corn, 2.5 million acres of
oats, 1.3 million acres of barley, 4.3 million acres of wheat and 655,000
acres of flax. No soybeans were grown.
At the organizational meeting 0.C. Thompson of Farmington was
elected president; W.M. Hays, secretary; and B.L. Jenks, Stillwater, treasurer.
The executive committee consisted of Thompson, Hays and Jenks,
and three more who were elected: L.B. Bassett, Rushmore; Fred Meier,
Sleepy Eye; and G.W. Eastman, Crookston.
The association’s first annual meeting was held January 12-13, 1904,
at the Masonic Temple in Minneapolis. It included a seed show, which
would be a part of every annual meeting until 1943. When the Agronomy
Compiled by Laddie J Elling. A History of the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association
1903-1963 by H.L. Thomas provided much of the information for that period. Later information
is mainly from The Minnesota Seed Grower, MCIA’s bimonthly newsletter.

176
Building was constructed in 1940-1941, rooms 104 and 106 were specifically
planned to accommodate these seed shows.
The principal objectives, published in the constitution and bylaws
adopted at the first annual meeting, were:
• To collect and disseminate information concerning the growing, harvesting,
storing and handling of seeds of the staple field crops.
• To improve the yield and quality of all field crops by selection and
breeding.
• To encourage better and more thorough methods of cultivation.
• To publish transactions of all meetings and other information of
interest to field seed growers.
• To aid in the organization of subordinate and auxiliary organizations
throughout the state.
The first authentic record of seed certification in the United States, so
far as is known, was a 1906 shipment of 1-pound bags of Grimm alfalfa
seed, with documented proof of varietal purity, from the Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station to a Colorado seed firm.
In January 1908 the Agricultural Association of Minnesota, which
dealt with horticultural crops and potatoes, was merged with the MFCBA,
whose articles of incorporation were then amended to include field and
garden crops rather than field crops only.
The secretary’s report of the 1912 annual meeting noted that, “There
has been started this year in Minnesota a movement which may be roughly
known as the pure seed movement, cooperation of the experiment station
and the MFCBA… This contemplates inspection during the growing
season.” Field inspection was begun that year and the first directory of
those having inspected and approved seed for sale was published.
At the January 1913 annual meeting the organization’s name was
changed to Minnesota Crop Improvement Association (MCIA). No mention
of improvement of horticultural crops, including potatoes, is found in
annual reports after that year. Resolutions at the 1914 annual meeting,
held in Mankato, included a request for enactment of a state seed law.
Grimm Alfalfa and Minnesota 13 corn were the outstanding accomplishments
of the Association’s early years in promoting improved crop
varieties. Minnesota 13 corn, acquired from a St. Paul seed firm in 1893,
became the most widely grown open-pollinated corn in the Northern Corn
Belt.
Andrew Boss, vice director of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment
Station, proposed a new function for MCIA at the January 1919 annual

177
meeting, in St. Cloud. The University’s Division of Farm Management,
Agronomy and Plant Genetics was well into systematic plant breeding, testing,
selection and increase. Seed of many new and improved varieties had
been distributed, much of it accompanied by a certificate of purity. The
concept was that farmers would make seed of these varieties available to
their neighbors. The problem was that after a couple of years the crop was
so contaminated by weeds or other crop seed that it was unfit for use as
seed. The station had neither the funds nor the people to follow its seed
stocks into the field, inspect them and certify their purity and value, nor did
Boss regarded those tasks to be the station’s proper function. He proposed
that MCIA undertake the system of field and bin inspection and registration
and certification of seed already in place in Michigan and in
Canada. A fee system was established to make the system self-supporting
so far as field inspectors and related costs were concerned, but all MCIA
administrative work was performed by the experiment station.
In 1920 the station published the first official set of rules for seed certification
in Minnesota, known as the Inspection and Registration of
Farm Seeds pamphlet. Three classes of seed were defined: Pedigreed,
Registered and Certified. These rules evolved into present-day certification
standards.
In 1923 Cottonwood county agent Ralph F. Crim was appointed the
University’s first full-time extension agronomist. While extension records
show Crim’s appointment as half time extension and half time as secretary
of MCIA he does not appear in MCIA records as secretary until 1926.
MCIA organized the first annual field day at University Farm in 1926
so members could see varietal comparisons and exchange viewpoints. This
was the forerunner of the experiment station summer and fall field days.
The “Minnesota Plan of Seed Distribution,” introduced in fall 1928,
provided for county allocations by a committee of six selected by the vice
director of the experiment station. Approved growers for production of
registered seed were to be selected by the county agent, extension agronomist
and the county crop improvement committee, with county crop
improvement committees designating distribution of the releases within the
county. In April 1928 the association began publication of The Minnesota
Seed Grower, a bimonthly newsletter to members, who were encouraged
to write articles for it. This they did for several years, but the content eventually
became a staff production. The Seed Grower continues today.
In the late 1920s the Northwest Crop Improvement Association was
organized by members of agricultural business firms in northwestern
Minnesota. Its emphasis was on “the improvement of agriculture,” specifically
on solving problems related to crop quality, especially stinking smut.

178
A crop specialist, H.R. (Si) Sumner, was employed to conduct educational
programs. In 1929 Sumner and Ralph Crim initiated the Premier Seed
Grower award. Andrew Boss was elected the first Honorary Premier Seed
Grower in 1930. The honorary award is given to recognzie non seed
growers for meritorious service to crop improvement.
The first certification of hybrid corn was in 1933, when 16 growers
certified about 928 bushels of Minhybrid 401 seed. Certification by hybrid
corn growers increased rapidly and certification of the open-pollinated varieties
decreased at about the same rate.
Until his retirement in 1935, August D. Haedecke was in charge of
seed certification seed-stocks increase and seed sales for the MCIA. He was
succeeded by Carl Borgeson.
Ward Marshall became MCIA’s first paid employee when he was hired
in 1944 to take over the seed registration and inspection duties, enabling
Borgeson to concentrate on seed-stocks increase and sales. Marshall’s
appointment was the first move to make MCIA a separate entity, financially
independent of the experiment station. In 1946 Albert Flesland, a
seed analyst, was added to the MCIA staff. His role was to establish a seed
laboratory to supplement work of the state seed laboratory, then housed
on the campus, and to help with field inspection. Allen A. Virta joined the
MCIA staff as assistant seed analyst in 1947.
Coates P. Bull served as secretary of Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association from 1905 to 1920.

179
ACRES CERTIFIED OF SELECTED CROPS
Crop 1937 1938 1941 1942 1991 1993 1998
Barley 1,754 1,723 693 816 32,070 26,253 14,392
Open-
Pollinated 2,095 1,305 197 181 — — —
Corn
Hybrid
Corn
850 5,064 5,042 8,694 4,681 7,928 7,471
Flax 796 1,261 2,367 5,218 48 92 370
Oat 1,302 805 1,444 1,257 7,357 9,145 7,410
Spring
Wheat
8,096 2,118 810 639 52,560 90,181 57,272
Soybean 109 38 287 1,087 70,068 57,746 69,905
In 1945 the board of regents approved construction of a $60,000
agronomy seed stocks building, with construction funds to come from the
seed stocks revolving fund. In 1948 the regents approved construction of
the MCIA building on campus, which cost $51,207.84. It was funded by
a gift of $24,500 from MCIA, the balance from the seed stocks revolving
fund. Around 1950 a $28,000 addition to the seed stocks building was
constructed to house MCIA offices and the seed laboratory. Construction
costs were paid from the seed stocks fund. This building was extensively
renovated and remodeled in the 1980s.
In 1955 the state legislature designated MCIA the official certification
agency for agricultural field seeds, except seed of potatoes, produced in
Minnesota.
In 1960 the Northwest Crop Improvement Association and Rust
Prevention Association merged to form the Crop Quality Council.
In October 1967 MCIA and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment
Station signed a memorandum of understanding designating MCIA the
Foundation seed production and distribution agency for the state. This act
transferred a function that had been carried out by the agronomy department
for decades, and effectively completed separation from the experiment
station of the functions for which Willet Hays and Coates Bull had
called the meeting to organize the Minnesota Field Crop Breeders
Association some 64 years earlier. The memorandum specifies that:
In consideration of the services rendered by personnel in the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics and other station personnel, and the use of
the facilities of the foundation seed stocks building, MCIA will allot to the
department funds in the Foundation seed budget considered by the association
to exceed the needs of the operation of the project, plus a reasonable
reserve. These funds are to be used in general support of the program related
to crop improvement.

180
This memorandum of understanding continues in effect, as does the
close working relationship between MCIA and the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics. At the same time, MCIA’s Foundation seed
department provides contract production services for several private seed
companies.
In 1997 the state legislature also designated MCIA Minnesota’ s official
noxious-weed-free forage and mulch certifying agency. In conjunction
with its official seed and weed-seed-free certification services, MCIA now
provides its members with identity preserved and quality assurance programs
and pre-variety certification of forest reproductive materials and
native grasses and forbs. At year 2000 the volume of seed certified generally
is declining while use of identity preserved and quality assurance services
is growing.
MANAGERS OF MINNESOTA
CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
Ward Marshall’s service to MCIA began in June 1944, when he was
appointed to handle the seed registration and inspection. Realistically, this
role made him manager in fact, while not in title, of the association. He
was named manager in 1957 and served until his sudden death in 1975.
During Harley Otto’s tenure the title was changed to president and chief
executive officer.
Manager
Period
Ward H. Marshall 1957-1975
Harley J. Otto 1975-1995
Gary M. Beil 1995-
SECRETARIES OF MINNESOTA
CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
From the founding of MCIA in 1903 until the appointment of Ward
Marshall as manager in 1957 the association was managed mainly by its
secretary, who has been elected by the board of directors. From that time
of Marshall’s appointment as manager the secretary’s official function has
been to keep minutes of the board of directors and annual meeting and to
serve as a member of the executive committee. From 1903 until the election
of William Wendlandt in 1996, except for Andrew Boss who represented
the agricultural experiment station, the secretary has been a member
of the agronomy department. Both Wendlandt and Dahlager are seed
growers.

181
Secretary
Period
Willet M. Hays 1903-1905
Coates P. Bull 1905-1920
T.E. Odland 1920-1921
August D. Haedecke 1922-1925
Ralph Crim 1926-1928
Andrew Boss 1929-1933*
Ralph Crim 1934-1953
Secretary
Period
Carl Borgeson 1954-1955
Rodney Briggs 1956-1958
Harley J. Otto 1959-1975
Lawrence (Larry) Smith 1975-1996
William (Bill) Wendlandt 1996-1998
Howard Dahlager 1998-
* In A History of the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association 1903-1963, author H.L.
Thomas explained that, “Andrew Boss held the position 1929 to 1933 but Crim under the
title of consulting agronomist, carried most of the work load."
Early seed evaluation was done is this St. Paul campus seed laboratory.

182
AGRONOMY FACULTY PRESENTED WITH
MCIA’S HONORARY PREMIER SEEDSMAN AWARD
Name
Year Name
Year
A.C. Arny 1947 Herbert W. Johnson 1968
E.R. Ausemus 1946 J.W. Lambert 1956
Carl Borgeson 1958 W.M. Myers 1961
Andrew Boss 1930 *Wallace W. Nelson 1984
*Roy O. Bridgford 1949 Harley J. Otto 1964
Coates P. Bull 1936 James H. Orf 1992
Orvin Burnside 1990 Donald C. Rasmusson 1973
Robert Busch 1985 Ernest H. Rinke 1963
Ralph F. Crim 1942 Robert G. Robinson 1980
J.O. Culbertson 1952 A.R. Schmid 1970
Ray S. Dunham 1950 Lawrence H. Smith 1983
Laddie J. Elling 1980 *Larry J. Smith 1993
Harlan J. Ford 1994 Deon D. Stuthman 1981
A.D. Haedecke 1934 Horace L. Thomas 1965
H.K Hayes 1944 Roy L. Thompson 1990
Robert E. Heiner 1974 *Dennis Warnes 1986
William F. Hueg, Jr. 1964
* Branch station personnel

Chapter 23
Centers and Institutes
The Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
has a long and distinguished history of working with scientists in other
departments and outside the University. In the early years individual scientists
initiated such work as they recognized the need for expertise beyond
their own specialties. Project leaders regularly sought and utilized the
expertise of entomologists, plant pathologists and soil scientists in their
crop improvement work.
More recently the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental
Sciences (COAFES) and the University have created centers meant to foster
broader interdisciplinary working relationships. More than 30 such centers
now operate within COFAES; agronomy and plant genetics faculty
have been most active in the two that follow.
CENTER FOR ALTERNATIVE PLANT AND
ANIMAL PRODUCTS (CAPAP)
CAPAP was created to focus University resources on new and emerging
opportunities to help diversify Minnesota’s agricultural economy. This
first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary center organized in 1986 provides access
to University resources by delivering information, networking services and
development support to the public. It encourages policies and programs
that reduce risks associated with diversification. Diversification options
include both crop production and processing and marketing opportunities.
Department faculty members were very active in establishing this center
and continue to serve in various aspects of its work. The center is administered
by a steering committee made up of one faculty member from each
By Professor L.L. Hardman and Helene Murray, coordinator of MISA programs.

184
department in the college; Dan Putnam and Craig Sheaffer have represented
agronomy and plant genetics. Ervin Oelke served on the steering
committee in the past and was the center’s most recent director.
Faculty from agronomy and plant genetics assisted in the planning and
development of three very successful national symposia on new crops the
center co-sponsored: “Research, Development and Economics of New
Crops” (1990); “Exploration, Research, and Commercialization of New
Crops” (1993); and “New Opportunities and New Technologies for New
Crops” (1996). Department faculty also led the development of 7 of the
first 17 publications the center distributed and participated in several study
teams the center assembled to assess the feasibility of various new crops
and processing possibilities for Minnesota.
MINNESOTA INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE (MISA)
Kent Crookston started early research and educational programs in
sustainable agriculture in the Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics. He began working with groups advocating sustainable agriculture
in the 1980s, helping them to identify their research and educational needs
and encouraging them to make those needs known to the appropriate
University faculty. Crookston served as leader of the department’s sustainable
agriculture program prior to becoming head of agronomy and plant
genetics in 1990.
In 1987 the Minnesota Food Association, Joint Religious Legislative
Coalition, Land Stewardship Project, Organic Growers and Buyers
Association and The Minnesota Project came together to develop the
Sustainers Coalition (SC). This group was interested in correcting what
they viewed as resistance by COAFES to research, education and extension
initiatives in sustainable agriculture and wanted to encourage
COAFES’s efforts in sustainable agriculture research and education.
A joint task force composed of representatives of the SC and selected
faculty and administrators of COAFES discussed each other’s concerns
during a series of seminars in the summer of 1988. The Minnesota
Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) was established after a series of
planning sessions and public meetings. The first board of directors was
appointed in February 1992 and COAFES committed $200,000 to
$300,000 per year to support MISA efforts for the next four years. MISA
was to be governed by a 15-member board of directors, 9 nominated by
the SC and 6 nominated by the COAFES, with the stipulation that at least
7 of these directors must be sustainable agriculture farmers.

185
The Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics continues to be a
major supporter of MISA by providing office space for staff and administrative
support. Donald Wyse, weed scientist in the agronomy department,
assumed a half-time appointment as MISA executive director in 1992.
Helene Murray serves as the MISA program coordinator. MISA presently
has a major presence in Hayes Hall, where the department provides space
for several MISA employees and a large information distribution center.
A graduate minor in sustainable agriculture systems was developed
with MISA funding. M.S. and Ph.D. candidates first complete their coursework
and then serve a 10-week internship with producers, nonprofit organizations
or government agencies that work on sustainable agriculture
issues. COAFES offers an undergraduate minor in sustainable agriculture,
as well. MISA has provided opportunities for interested undergraduate students
to participate in internships with sustainable agriculture practitioners.
Kent Crookston and Deon Stuthman have served on the MISA board
of directors; Gregg Johnson currently serves as a board member. Craig
Sheaffer developed the graduate minor in sustainable agriculture now coordinated
by Nick Jordan.

186

Appendix A
Awards and Recognition
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
AND HONORARY DOCTORATE RECIPIENTS
Earned Outstanding Honorary
Name Degree* Achievement Award Doctorate
Aamodt, Olaf S. 1922 1970
Arakeri, H. R. 1949 1978
Barnes, Donald K. 1958 1996
Boss, Andrew Faculty 1945**
Booth, Ernest G. 1928 1983
Chang, Te Tzu 1959 1985
Dewey, Douglas R 1956 1987
Elling, Laddie J. 1950 1999
Frolik, Elvin F. 1948 1973
Gandrud, Ebenhard 1934, B.S. 1979
Goulden, Cyril H. 1925 1970
Harrington, James B. 1924 1971
Hartwig, Edgar E. 1937, B.S. 1976
Heyne, Elmer G. 1952 1986
Hueg, William F., Jr. Faculty 1998***
Izuno, Takumi 1960 2000
Johnson, Iver J. 1932 1972
Kasha,Kenneth J. 1962 1999
Kirk, Lawrence E. 1927 1955
The Outstanding Achievement Award may be conferred on graduates or former students of
the University who have attained unusual distinction in their chosen fields or professions or
in public service, and who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership on a
community, state, national or international level. The list includes graduates of the department
who may or may not have been faculty members. An honorary degree is the highest
award conferred by the University of Minnesota and is given to an individual who has
achieved acknowledged eminence in cultural affairs, public service or a field of knowledge and
scholarship.
* Degree is Ph.D. unless otherwise indicated.
**Honorary Doctor of Science – conferred for contributions to knowledge.
***Honorary Doctor of Laws – conferred for public service.

188
Earned Outstanding Honorary
Name Degree* Achievement Award Doctorate
Kramer, Herbert H. 1946 1968
Marvin, William S. 1939, B.S. 1992
Miller, Oscar 1960 1994
Moseman, A. H. 1944 1958
Myers, W. M. 1936 1951
Newlin, Owen 1954 1995
Putt, Eric 1950 1988
Quisenberry, Karl 1930 1970
Robertson, David W. 1928 1957
Swenson, Stanley P. 1936 1974
Troyer, A. Forrest 1964 1998
Tsiang, Y. S. 1942 1962 1996***
White, William J. 1940 1986
Wortman, Sterling 1950 1975
Xu, Guanren (Harry K.J. Hsu) 1950 1986
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
OF FACULTY, GRADUATE STUDENTS AND STAFF
SPECIAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
National Academy of Science (USA)
R.L Phillips 1993
Siehl Prize for Excellence
in Agriculture
D.C. Rasmusson 1996
AMERICAN SOCIETY
OF AGRONOMY (ASA)
Agronomic Education Award
L.H. Smith 1970
(Discontinued in 1978)
Agronomic Resident Education
Award
V.B. Cardwell 1984
Agronomic Service Award
I.J. Johnson 1970
H.W. Johnson 1985
Novartis Crop Protection
Recognition Award
(Formerly CIBA-Geigy Award in
Agronomy)
N.P. Martin 1982
S.R. Simmons 1984
M.A. Schmitt 1991
N. J. Ehlke 1996
Agronomic Extension Education
Award
D.R. Hicks 1986
N.P. Martin 1990
E.A. Oelke 1994
Agronomic Achievement Award –
Crops
J. W. Lambert 1983
D.C. Rasmusson 1990
R.H. Busch 1998

189
Robert E. Wagner Award for
Efficient Agriculture
D.R. Hicks 1991
Crop Science Teaching Award
V.B. Cardwell 1996
Crops and Soils Magazine
Journalism Award
(Discontinued in 1987)
R.K. Crookston 1981, 1984
M.A. Schmitt (with joint authors)
1987
Stevenson Awards (1948 -1953)
H.H. Kramer W.M. Myers
ASA Honorary Membership
H.H. Kramer 1978
ASA Fellows
H.K. Hayes 1927
A. Boss 1932
R.J. Garber 1933
A.C. Arny 1935
O.C. Aamodt 1937
I.J. Johnson 1945
H.K. Wilson 1946
W.M. Myers 1948
T.E. Odland 1948
E.R. Ausemus 1952
H.H. Kramer 1955
R.P. Murphy 1955
L.R. Powers 1959
A.H. Moseman 1960
J.W. Lambert 1962
E.H. Rinke 1962
H.W. Johnson 1963
E.L. Pinnell 1964
C.R. Burnham 1968
F.J. Stevenson 1968
W.F. Wedin 1970
D.N. Moss 1973
L.H. Smith 1973
J.L. Lebsock 1974
D.C. Rasmusson 1974
W.F. Hueg, Jr 1975
G.C. Marten 1975
D.K. Barnes 1976
G.H. Heichel 1980
G.L. Jones 1980
R.L. Phillips 1980
L.J. Elling 1982
D.R. Hicks 1982
O.C. Burnside 1983
B.G. Gengenbach 1987
D. D. Stuthman 1987
V.B. Cardwell 1988
N.P. Martin 1988
R.H. Busch 1989
R.K. Crookston 1992
R. E. Heiner 1992
S.R. Simmons 1992
E.A. Oelke 1993
C.C. Sheaffer 1994
C.P. Vance 1995
D.D. Buhler 1997
J.H. Orf 1997
H.W. Rines 1997
W.E. Lueschen 1998
R.J. Jones 1999
D.A. Somers 1999
ASA Presidents
H.K. Hayes 1935
O.S. Aamodt 1948
I.J. Johnson 1956
W.M. Myers 1958
H.H. Kramer 1966
D.N. Moss 1986
G.H. Heichel 1998
V.B. Cardwell 2000
CROP SCIENCE SOCIETY OF
AMERICA (CSSA)
DEKALB Genetics Crop Science
Distinguished Career Award
D.C. Rasmusson 1994
R.L. Phillips 1997
Young Crop Scientist Award
C.C. Sheaffer 1985
D.A. Somers 1989
J.A. Anderson 1998
R. Bernardo 1999

190
Crop Science Research Award
D.K. Barnes 1987
(co-awardees follow)
G.H. Heichel 1987
C.P. Vance 1987
R.L. Phillips 1988
Crop Science Teaching Award
V.B. Cardwell 1996
NCCPB Genetics and Plant
Breeding Award for Industry
J.L. Geadleman 1999
Gerald O. Mott (Graduate Student)
Scholarship
J.M. Shaver 1997
J. Mudge 1999
CSSA Fellows
In 1985 all prior ASA Fellows were
also granted status as CSSA Fellows.
Consequently, all ASA Fellows in the
earlier listing, from H.K. Hayes in
1927 through O.C. Burnside in
1983, are also CSSA Fellows.
B.G. Gengenbach 1987
D.D. Stuthman 1987
R.H. Busch 1989
C.P. Vance 1989
E.A. Oelke 1991
R.K. Crookston 1992
S.R. Simmons 1992
R.E. Heiner 1993
R.J. Jones 1995
H.W. Rines 1996
V.B. Cardwell 1997
J.H. Orf 1997
CSSA Presidents
H.H. Kramer 1957
R.P. Murphy 1962
D.N. Moss 1977
G.H. Heichel 1992
V.B. Cardwell 1994
R.L. Phillips 2000
WEED SCIENCE SOCIETY OF
AMERICA (WSSA)
WSSA Fellows
R. Behrens 1973
R.N. Andersen 1983
G.R. Miller 1987
O.C. Burnside 1989
C. Eberlein 1998
WSSA Presidents
R. Behrens 1967-68
O.C. Burnside 1986-88
NORTH CENTRAL WEED SCIENCE
SOCIETY
Honorary Members
R.S. Dunham 1956
R. Behrens 1973
O.C. Burnside 1980
R.N. Andersen 1983
G.R. Miller 1988
The Honorary Member designation
became Fellow in 1995
Fellows
W.E. Lueschen 1996
Presidents
R.S. Dunham 1949
O.C. Burnside 1975
G.R. Miller 1984
Distinguished Achievement Awards
J.L Gunsolus–Young Scientist 1990
D.D. Buhler – Research 1993
R.N. Andersen – Service 1994
B.R. Durgan – Education 1996
R.E. Becker – Education 1997

191
RECIPIENTS OF CIVIL SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD
Name Year Assignment
Mauritz Linder 1986 Soybean breeding plot supervisor
Teresa Schoeder 1987 Undergraduate teaching scientist
Susan Miller 1988 Alfalfa physiology scientist
James Halgerson 1989 Forage research scientist
Thomas Warnke 1990 Field and facilities administrator
Avis Kunkel 1991 Department administrator
Eric Ristau 1992 Forage research scientist
Judy Slyter 1993 Department principal accountant
Gary Linkert 1994 Wheat and wild rice breeding scientist
Lynne Medgaarden 1995 Teaching support office supervisor
Jeff Roessler 1996 Corn physiology scientist
Kathleen Storey 1997 Molecular genetics scientist
Kate Plaisance 1998 Biochemistry and physiology scientist
Douglas Miller 1999 Extension education scientist
Jean Swanson 2000 Department executive secretary
RECIPIENTS OF H.K. HAYES
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Name
Year
William E. Kuhn 1973
Sheldon E. Blank 1974
Donn P. Cummings 1975
Steve R. Simmons 1976
Donald R. Viands 1977
Thomas J. McCoy 1978
James E. Miller 1979
Charlotte Eberlein 1980
Steven A. Thompson 1981
Josephine C. Heindl 1982
Oran B. Hesterman 1983
Debra M. Lee 1984
Patrick M. Hayes 1985
Virginia M. Peschke 1986
Name
Year
Beth Nelson Schreiber 1987
Margaret A. Egli 1988
Lori Marshall 1989
Brent W. Delzer 1990
Shawn M. Kaeppler 1991
Todd L. Krone 1992
Sandra C. Milach 1993
Philip M. Schwab 1994
Blair L. Waldron 1995
Jonathan M. Shaver 1996
Michael S. Olsen 1997
Joann Mudge 1998
Cristine Handel 1999

192

Appendix B
Master of Science
Graduates
Name Year Advisor(s)
Aamodt, Olaf S. 1922 H.K. Hayes
Abadie, Tabare de Leon 1992 R.H. Busch
Abernathy, Harold L. 1989 R.K. Crookston
Abou El-Fitouh, Hosni 1964 H.L. Thomas
Afukawa, Joe J. 1981 R.K. Crookston
Agble, William K. 1953 E.H. Rinke
Ahmed, Khurshid 1990 B.G. Gengenbach
Akposoe, Mathias K. 1967 J.C. Sentz and W.A. Compton
Albrecht, Ken 1978 E.A. Oelke
Alcantara, Elifas 1987 D.L. Wyse
Ali, Syad Mahboob 1964 E.H. Rinke
Al-Saady, Nadya 1996 H.W. Rines
Ambrose, William B. 1966 E.H. Rinke and J.C. Sentz
Anderson, Laurel E. 1953 R.S. Dunham
Anderson, Michael P. 1985 G.H. Heichel
Anderson, Phyllis M. 1985 S.R. Simmons
This list was compiled with care from information that could be found. Unfortunately, the
records are incomplete and though painstaking work was done in compilation there can be
no assurance that this is a complete list or that each individual listed has, in fact, received the
M.S. degree.

194
Anderson, Richard H. 1967 R.S. Dunham
Anderson, Richard W. 1946 R.S. Dunham
Andrews, John E. 1950 H.K. Hayes
Arakeri, Hanumappa R. 1948 A.R. Schmid
Armstrong, Charles L. 1984 C.E. Green
Arny, Albert C. 1918 E.M. Freeman and A. Boss
Arten, Oliver M. 1952 A.R. Schmid
Axtell, John D. 1965 C.R. Burnham
Ayisi, Kingsley 1991 D.H. Putnam
Aylesworth, John W. 1948 J.W. Lambert
Azizi, Mohammad R. 1975 D.K. Barnes
Baerg, Roger J. 1991 J.W. Gronwald
Baihaki, Achmad 1973 J.C. Sentz
Bakki, Fridtjov 1935 L.R. Powers
Bank, Fridtjo V. 1935 L.R. Powers and H.K. Hayes
Bari, Ghulam 1956 E.R. Ausemus
Barker, Reed E. 1971 D.C. Rasmusson
Barnes, Donald K. 1958 J.O. Culbertson and J.W. Lambert
Barrons, Keith C. 1935 H.K. Hayes and L.R. Powers
Basigalup, Daniel 1990 D.K. Barnes
Batra, Krishan K. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Beck, Bruce E. 1972 L.H. Smith
Benbelkacem, Abdelkader 1982 D.C. Rasmusson
Benner, Michael S. 1986 R.L. Phillips
Bensin, Basil M. 1912 A. Boss
Benson, Laura 1988 S.R. Simmons
Berke, Terry 1987 J.L. Geadelmann
Bertges, William J. 1973 L.J. Elling
Bertram, Robert B. 1978 D.D. Stuthman
Blank, Sheldon E. 1974 R. Behrens

195
Block, Lawrence G. 1984 R.L. Phillips
Blumenthal, Dana M. 1999 N.R. Jordan
Boerboom, Chris M. 1987 D.L. Wyse
Borgeson, Carl 1932 H.K. Hayes
Borst, Harold L. 1920 A.C. Arny
Bothun, Robert E. 1953 J.O. Culbertson
Boukerrou, Lakhdar 1984 V.E. Comstock
Boukhari, Mohammed 1981 C.C. Sheaffer
Boze, Larry K. 1985 R.E. Stucker
Breegemann, Ronald A. 1998 J.H. Orf
Bregitzer, P. Phillip 1985 D.D. Stuthman
Brewbaker, Harvey E. 1923 H.K. Hayes
Bridgeford, Roy O. 1930 H.K. Hayes
Brink, Geoffrey E. 1983 G.C. Marten
Brophy, Laura S. 1985 G.H. Heichel
Brown, William J.N. 1942 R.B. Harvey and H.K. Wilson
Burke, Thomas W.L. 1929 H.K. Hayes and F.T. Wahlan
Burnside, Orvin C. 1958 R.S. Dunham
Bussan, Albert J. 1995 O.C. Burnside
Byron, Dennis F. 1979 J.W. Lambert
Cabrera, Maximo I. 1959 W.M. Myers and E.R. Ausemus
Cantrell, Roy G. 1979 J.L. Geadelmann
Capettini, Flavio 1994 D.C. Rasmusson
Cargo, William 1956 A.R. Schmid
Carlson, Arne E. 1940 H.K.Wilson and R.B. Harvey
Carlson, Dale R. 1981 W.A. Brun
Carlson, Joann Mary 1992 D.L. Wyse and N.J. Ehlke
Carnahan, Howard L. 1947 H.K. Hayes
Carter, Edward L. 1981 W.A. Brun and G.W. Randal
Carter, Paul R. 1980 C.C. Sheaffer

196
Casler, Michael D. 1979 A. Hovin
Castell, Claudia V. 1999 D.D. Stuthman
Chang, Ming-Sung 1936 H.K. Hayes and F.R. Immer
Chang, Tien-Ding 1970 L.A. Snyder
Chao, Ren-Yong 1937 H.K. Wilson
Chapko, Louis B. 1984 D.C. Rasmusson
Cheetham, Ronald D. 1967 T. Sudia
Chen, Hong-Yu 1938 A.C. Arny
Cheo, Song-Lin 1938 H.K. Hayes
Christensen, Dean W. 1983 D.D. Stuthman
Christian, C. Stuart 1932 H.K. Hayes
Chu, Kwang-Hwan 1949 H.K. Hayes and J.O. Culbertson
Ciha, Alan J. 1973 W.A. Brun
Clark, Edward M. 1955 C.R. Burnham
Clark, Elmer R. 1932 H.K. Hayes
Clark, J. Allen 1923 H.K. Hayes
Clarke, S.E. 1925 H.K. Hayes
Claus, Jon S. 1974 R.G. Robinson
Clotaire, Frantz 1991 J.H. Orf
Coe, Edward H., Jr. 1951 C.R. Burnham
Copeland, Philip J. 1983 R.K. Crookston
Coral-Quintero, Efren 1982 R.E. Stucker
Cordoba, Baldomero O. 1949 H.L. Thomas
Coronel, Abdel 1954 W.M. Myers
Corselius, Kristen L. 2000 S.R. Simmons
Cortazar, Rene S. 1943 H.K. Hayes
Corzo, Antonio H. 1952 E.L. Pinnell
Cowan, J. Ritchie 1942 H.K. Hayes
Cralle, Harry T. 1979 G.H. Heichel
Crockett, Ron P. 1978 R.K. Crookston

197
Crookston, R. Kent 1970 D. Moss
Cross, John E. 1959 R.E. Comstock and J.C. Sentz
Curran, James M. 1916 C.P. Bull
Cuykendall, Charles H. 1965 G.C. Marten
Czaplewski, Steven J. 1980 D.C. Rasmusson
Da Silva, Ady Raul 1946 C.R. Burnham
Das, Kumadabhiram 1951 C.R. Burnham
Dassenko, Jack 1951 A.R. Schmid
Davidson, Craig G. 1984 D.L. Wyse
Davis, Douglas W. 1992 H.W. Rines
DeHaan, Lee 1999 C.C. Sheaffer and N.J. Ehlke
DeHaan, Robert L. 1992 D.L. Wyse and N.J. Ehlke
De Koeyer, David L. 1992 D.D. Stuthman
Delaney, Dennis J. 1980 V.B. Cardwell and L. Smith
DeLoughery, Richard L. 1977 R.K. Crookston
Delzer, Brent W. 1989 D.A. Somers and J.H. Orf
De Menezes, Osvaldo B. 1947 H.K. Hayes and E. Rinke
Den Hartog, Gerald T. 1950 J.W. Lambert
Dessouky, S.M. 1948 E.H. Rinke
Diedrick, Theodore, J. 1983 C.E. Green
Doley, William P. 1983 D.C. Rasmusson
Doran, David L. 1973 R.N. Andersen
Dorchester, Charles S. 1923 A.C. Arny
Dotson, Stanton 1986 D.A. Somers
Doty, Edwin L. 1955 A.R. Schmid
Doxtator, Charles W. 1930 H.K. Hayes
Dreger, Raymond H. 1967 R.L. Cooper and W.A. Brun
Dunham, Raymond S. 1933 H.K. Hayes and A.C. Arny
Eaton, Dana L. 1981 R.H. Busch
Ehr, Timothy G. 1986 R.N. Andersen

198
Elbehri, Abdelfatah 1991 V.B. Cardwell
Elders, Arthur T. 1925 W. Southworth and H.K. Hayes
Elling, Laddie J. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Enstrom, Walter G. 1953 A.R. Schmid
Ernst, Paul D. 1990 R.J. Jones
Eta Ndu, Jacob 1989 S.J. Openshaw
Everson, LeRoy E. 1948 R.S. Dunham
Fabrizius, Martin A. 1993 S.J. Openshaw
Fairbanks, Daniel T. 1985 J.H. Orf
Fehr, Walter R. 1962 J.W. Lambert
Feil, Cindy L. 1984 R.K. Crookston
Feng, Joseph C.Y. 1971 W.A. Brun
Ferguson, Albert C. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Ferriss, Ronald S. 1978 J.L. Geadelmann
Fick, Gerhardt N. 1966 D.C. Rasmusson
Finn, Gary A. 1978 W.A. Brun
Fischbeck, Gerhard W. 1951 H.K. Hayes
Fischer, Jonathan W. 1992 D.C. Rasmusson
Foley, Timothy C. 1983 J.W. Lambert and J.H. Orf
Fontaine, Burr R. 1994 D.L. Wyse
Foote, Wilson H. 1946 H.K. Hayes
Ford, J. Harlan 1959 R.S. Dunham
Ford, Leola E. 1949 C.R. Burnham
Forsyth, J.L. 1936 F.R. Immer
Fortich, Filomeno 1954 C.R. Burnham
Fowler, Charles W. 1968 D.C. Rasmusson
Fox, Carl A. 1975 D. Moss
Frisch, David A. 1987 B.G. Gengenbach
Fry, Thomas A. 1992 B.R. Durgan
Gandrud, Dale E. 1973 R.N. Andersen

199
Garber, Edward D. 1942 C.R. Burnham
Garber, Ralph J. 1917 H.K. Hayes and A.C. Arny
Gebhardt, David 1990 D.C. Rasmusson
Genrich, Kimberly C. 1995 C.C. Sheaffer and N.J. Ehlke
Gerrish, Everett E. 1954 E.L. Pinnell
Ghobrial, Helmy K. 1967 C.R. Burnham
Ghose, Suva 1962 W.M. Myers
Gibson, Andrew H. 1965 R.S. Caldecot
Goodrich, Chester L. 1966 J.C. Sentz
Graham, Geoffrey I. 1992 R.L. Phillips
Greder, Rodney R. 1983 J.H. Orf and J.W. Lambert
Green, Alan W. 1990 D.C. Rasmusson
Gregori, Tamara Newlin 1979 J.L. Geadelmann
Griffee, Fred 1920 H.K. Hayes
Groat, Randall G. 1978 C.P. Vance
Gross, Daniel H. 1979 J.L. Geadelmann
Grotbeck, Ross C. 1968 L.H. Smith
Groya, Frederick L. 1980 C.C. Sheaffer
Gruber, Teresa A. 1986 D.D. Stuthman
Guldan, Steven J. 1984 W.A. Brun
Hageman, Larry H. 1980 R. Behrens
Hagman, Jeffrey L. 1973 G.C. Marten
Haines, William E. 1932 A.C. Arny and H.K. Hayes
Hall, Darl M. 1932 H.K. Wilson
Halling, Blaik P. 1979 R. Behrens
Hanft, Jonathan M. 1982 R. Wych
Hannah, Alvin E. 1950 E.R. Ausemus
Hanson, James C. 1974 D.C. Rasmusson
Hanson, Wayne H. 1950 A.R. Schmid
Hardies, E.W. 1924 F.A. Krantz and A.G. Tollas

200
Harig, Gustav 1931 H.K. Hayes
Harker, Neil K. 1981 R.N. Andersen
Harrington, James B. 1922 H.K. Hayes and E.C. Stakman
Hartloff, Holly 1984 B.G. Gengenbach
Haugen, Jeffrey S. 1984 R.K. Crookston
Heal, Ronald R. 1949 A.R. Schmid
Heindl, Josephine C. 1980 W.A. Brun
Helgason, Sigurdur B. 1942 H.K. Hayes
Hellewell, Kendell B. 1994 D.C. Rasmusson
Herrett, Richard A. 1956 R.S. Dunham
Hexum, Daryl K. 1984 J.L. Geadelmann
Higgins, Floyd L. 1924 A.C. Arny
Highkin, Harry R. 1946 R.B. Harvey and C.R. Burnham
Hill, David S. 1978 D.R. Hicks
Hill, Elizabeth 1992 D.D. Stuthman
Hilliard, Joe H., Jr. 1968 D.C. Rasmusson
Hockensmith, Ryan L. 1990 C.C. Sheaffer and G.C. Marten
Hoeft, Eric V. 1998 D.L. Wyse
Holton, Robert L. 1965 R.S. Caldecott
Howe, Guy L., Jr. 1961 R.S. Dunham and R. Behrens
Hsu, Tien-Sih 1935 H.K. Hayes
Humphrey, Llewellyn M. 1931 H.K. Hayes
Ibrahim, Mohmoud A. 1950 C.R. Burnham
Immer, Forest R. 1925 H.K. Hayes
Intsiful, Josiah K. 1964 E.H. Rinke
Ives, Joseph D. 1958 H.L. Thomas
Jacobsohn, Ruben 1967 R.N. Andersen
Jellen, Eric W. 1988 R.L. Phillips
Jen, Yun-Hsiang 1949 J.W. Lambert
Jenner, Colin F. 1959 R.S. Dunham and R. Behrens

201
Jennings, Merlin R. 1957 A.R. Schmid
Jewett, Jane G. 1994 D.K. Barnes
Joachim, Gertrud S. 1945 C.R. Burnham
Johnson, Freeman K. 1961 J.W. Lambert
Johnson, Iver J. 1929 A.C. Arny
Johnson, Russell T. 1949 E.H. Rinke
Johnson, Scott S. 1985 R.L. Phillips and H. Rines
Johnson, Thomas J. 1951 E.H. Rinke
Jorgenson, Louis R. 1927 H.K. Hayes
Juan, Nestor Antonio 1989 C.C. Sheaffer
Jul, Guillermo 1943 C.R. Burnham
Kapusta, George 1957 R.S. Dunham
Kasim, Mahmood H. 1960 L.A. Snyder
Kebreau, Frederic 1931 H.K. Hayes and H.D. Baker
Kim, In Kwon 1956 E.R. Ausemus
Kirsch, Raymond 1999 E.A. Oelke
Kitchen, Boyd M. 1981 D.C. Rasmusson
Kladar, Thomas J. 1996 D.L. Wyse
Kneebone, William R. 1950 H.L. Thomas
Kohler, A.R. 1912 Probably A. Boss
Kraatz, Gary W. 1979 R.N. Andersen
Kramer, Herbert H. 1941 C.R. Burnham
Krenzer, Eugene G. 1973 D. Moss
Kuhn, William E. 1973 R.E. Stucker
Kurtzweil, Carl 1919 H.K. Hayes
Lambert, Robert J. 1958 W.M. Myers
Langseth, Paul A. 1976 D.D. Stuthman and L. Briggle
Larsen, Thomas E. 1977 R.N. Andersen
Lauer, Joseph L. 1983 S.R. Simmons
Lavoy, Jerry D. 1971 R. Behrens

202
Lawson, R. Mark 1978 J.W. Lambert and G. Ham
Lazaro, R. Constancio 1944 C.R. Burnham
Leaf, Janet Deutsch 1949 E.H. Rinke
Lee, Michael 1984 R.L. Phillips
Lee, Sang Hyon 1997 C.C. Sheaffer
LeGare, David 1996 D.C. Rasumsson
Lehman, William F. 1956 J.W. Lambert
Leif, John W. III 1989 E.A. Oelke
Leppink, Jeffrey D. 1989 D.C. Rasmusson
Lessard, Joseph R. 1960 R.G. Briggs
Lewis, William M. 1956 W.M. Myers and L.J. Elling
Liang, Tien-Jan 1946 F.K. Immer and H.K. Hayes
Lim, Johng K. 1960 E.H. Rinke
Lindquist, John L. 1994 B. Maxwell
Litterer, Lynn A. 2000 D.A. Somers
Loffler, Carlos M. 1980 R.H. Busch
Long, Jay 1986 D.K. Barnes
Lorenz, Russell J. 1957 A.R. Schmid and R.S. Dunham
Ludlow, Jeffrey A. 1978 D.C. Rasmusson
Lunden, Aksel P. 1924 H.K. Hayes
Magalhaes, Paulo C. 1984 R.J. Jones
Magarian, Diana Miller 1996 J. Lamb
Magnusson, Mark U. 1986 D.L. Wyse
Mainz, Michael J. 1981 R.K. Crookston
Maquieira, Silvia 1997 H.W. Rines
Marino, Antonio A. 1947 C.R. Burnham
Mariota-Trias, Fausto 1946 C.R. Burnham
Marshall, Lorelei C. 1987 R.H. Busch
Marten, Gordon C. 1959 W. Wedin and J. Donker
Martinson (Bjork), Krishona L. 2000 B.R. Durgan

203
Marum, Petter 1977 A. Hovin
Mathison, Russell D. 1989 C.C. Sheaffer and D. Rabas
Matowo, Peter R. 1981 R.K. Crookston
Mattos, Jose Alberto de 1948 H.K. Hayes
Maung, Khin 1950 H.K. Hayes
Maxwell, Carl A. 1982 C.P. Vance
McElroy, Jeffery L. 1997 D.C. Rasmusson
McFadden, A.D. 1941 Unknown
McFinnis, F.W. 1918 E.G. Montgomery
McGregor, Martin R. 1991 B.G. Gengenbach
McGregor, W. Grant 1929 H.K. Hayes
McLaughlin, John E. 1997 R.L. Phillips
Meints, Paul D. 1994 R.H. Busch
Menz, Kenneth M. 1969 D. Moss
Mercer, Kristen L. 2000 D.L. Wyse
Mercer-Quarshie, Hector 1966 J.C. Sentz
Metzer (Lee), Debra D. 1983 D.C. Rasmusson
Mickelson, Harold R. 1992 D.C. Rasmusson
Mikkelsen, Karl H. 1964 D.C. Rasmusson
Miller, David J. 1989 D.D. Stuthman
Miller, Douglas W. 1985 C.C. Sheaffer
Mir, Abdur Rahim 1961 E.H. Rinke
Miskin, Koy E. 1969 D.C. Rasmusson
Misra, Deva Narain 1960 L.A. Snyder
Mitchell, Melinda 1988 R.H. Busch and H.W. Rines
Mohamed, Aly Hamed 1953 C.R. Burnham
Moline, Waldemar J. 1961 W.F. Wedin
Montaldo, Alvaro 1945 F.J. Stevenson and R.V. Akeley
Mortimore, Glenn C. 1949 E.H. Rinke
Moynihan, Jones M. 1995 S.R. Simmons

204
Muenchrath, Deborah A. 1989 R.L. Phillips
Mukherjee, Debebrata 1964 L.A. Snyder
Murphy, Royse P. 1938 A.C. Arny
Murphy, Tim C. 1976 R.L. Phillips
Murzyn, Robert E. 1994 S.J. Openshaw
Myers, Robert 1985 W.A. Brun
Myers, Will M. 1934 A.C. Arny
Nag, Kshounish Chandra 1965 A. Schmid
Nalewaja, John D. 1959 R. Behrens
Ndiaye, Mamadou 1990 R.K. Crookston
Ndioro, Mbassa 1992 R.E. Stucker
Negash, Yohannis 1963 A.R. Schmid
Nelson, Curtis J. 1963 A.R. Schmid
Nelson, David L. 1982 D.K. Barnes
Nelson, Robert L. 1956 A.R. Schmid
Neubauer, Joseph 1966 H.L. Thomas
Nezamuddin, Syed 1948 A.R. Schmid
Nickel, Sister Esther 1988 S.R. Simmons and C.C. Sheaffer
Nielsen, Robert L. 1980 D.D. Stuthman and D.K. Barnes
Nielsen, V. Heeser 1926 H.K. Hayes
Nunez, Victor 1991 H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
Nustad, Linda L. 1975 W.A. Brun
Odland, Theodore E. 1920 A.C. Arny
Ogada, Festus 1964 E.H. Rinke
Okiror, Shadrach O. 1973 H.W. Johnson and D.C. Rasmusson
Olhoft, Paula M. 1996 R.L. Phillips
Oliger, Leopold S. 1971 G.C. Marten
Oliveira, Volnei 1987 C.V. Eberlein
Olivencia, Rafael A. 1950 H.K. Hayes
Olsen, Michael 1996 R.L. Phillips

205
Omar, Abdel Aziz M. 1954 E.R. Ausemus
Ong, Teh-tsi 1935 H.K. Hayes
Ordas, Amando P. 1973 R.E. Stucker
Page, Nathaniel J. 1988 R.E. Stucker
Pan, C.L. 1934 H.K. Hayes
Pang, Shyh-Jane Nancy 1971 D.K. Barnes
Parentoni, Sidney N. 1993 R.L. Phillips
Parks, James S. 1980 J.L. Geadelmann
Pasley, Sherman F. 1979 J.W. Lambert
Patterson, Thomas G. 1977 D. Moss
Pauly, Michael H. 1983 B.G. Gengenbach
Pavek, Joseph J. 1963 W.M. Myers
Payne, Thomas S. 1983 D.D. Stuthman
Pepe, John F. 1973 R. Heiner
Perlinger, Gary J. 1976 A. Elliott and D.C. Rasmusson
Person, Howard 1989 C.C. Sheaffer
Peschke, Virginia 1986 R.L. Phillips
Pester, Todd 1996 O.C. Burnside
Peterson, Glenn A. 1956 J.W. Lambert
Peterson, Michael A. 1980 D.K. Barnes
Peterson, Paul R. 1990 C.C. Sheaffer
Peterson, Rudolph F. 1931 H.K. Hayes
Pfund, John H. 1972 D.C. Rasmusson
Pi, Chung-Pen 1957 C.R. Burnham and L.A. Snyder
Pinnell, Emmett L. 1942 H.K. Hayes
Piper, Todd E. 1982 D.C. Rasmusson
Pirl, Donald L. 1976 W.A. Brun
Plehn, Steve J. 1992 J.H. Orf
Plessers, Arthur G. 1953 C.R. Burnham
Pointer, Leslie L. 1963 R. Kleese and J.C. Sentz

206
Polzin, Herbert W. 1966 A.R. Schmid
Potosnak, Robert G. 1961 E.H. Rinke
Prashar, Dharam P. 1955 L.J. Elling
Prigge, Sheila Lutz 2000 B.G. Gengenbach
Proytchoff, Gavril G. 1926 H.K. Hayes
Pryor, Gordon R. 1968 D.C. Rasmusson
Purcell, John M. 1960 E.R. Ausemus
Quinones, Ferdinana A. 1948 J.W. Lambert
Quisenberry, Karl S. 1925 H.K. Hayes
Rabas, David L. 1969 A.R. Schmid
Rabideau, Anne D. 1982 R.K. Crookston
Rachie, Kenneth O. 1952 A.R. Schmid
Raisanen, Keith A. 1983 E.A. Oelke
Ramirez, Delores A. 1958 C.R. Burnham
Ramloo, Macherla S. 1955 E.R. Ausemus
Ransom, Joel K. 1980 E.A. Oelke
Rauch, Thomas L. 1978 R.E. Stucker
Raupp, Carlos R. 1992 R.E. Stucker
Reece, Oscar E. 1945 H.K. Hayes
Reid, David A. 1938 F.R. Immer
Reuss, Scott A. 1996 J.L. Gunsolus
Reysack, James J. 1990 D.D. Stuthman
Rhodes, Carol A. 1981 C.E. Green
Riazi, Ardeshir 1976 A.R. Schmid
Rinke, Ernest H. 1939 H.K. Hayes
Roadfeldt, George G. 1942 H.K. Wilson and A.C. Arny
Robertson, David W. 1920 H.K. Hayes
Robertson, Lloyd L. 1940 Unknown
Robinson, Robert G. 1946 R.S. Dunham
Rodgers, Dan M. 1977 D.C. Rasmusson

207
Rogler, George A. 1942 H.K. Hayes and F.R. Immer
Romero, Nestor A. 1979 C.C. Sheaffer
Rosero, Manuel J. 1961 J.W. Lambert
Roslansky, David R. 1974 G.C. Marten
Ross, Gerhard A. 1962 R. Behrens, A.R. Schmid and
R.S. Dunham
Roth, Leo S. 1968 D.D. Stuthman
Rud, Orvin E. 1954 A.R. Schmid
Russell, Wilbert A. 1947 C.R. Burnham
Saboe, Lewis C. 1940 H.K. Hayes
St. John, Charles T. 1959 W.M. Myers
Sallah, Peter Yao K. 1983 J.L. Geadelmann
Sanchez, Hugo E. 1968 D.D. Stuthman
Schaub, Benjamin H. 1925 A.C. Arny
Schiele, Herbert S. 1978 D.D. Stuthman
Schmid, Alois R. 1940 A.C. Arny
Schultz, Herman K. 1937 H.K. Hayes and F.R. Immer
Schwab, Phillip M. 1993 D.K. Barnes
Schweitzer, Liang 1992 R.L. Phillips
Seetin, Mark W. 1976 D.K. Barnes
Selberg, Wayne A 1996 B.R. Durgan
Severson, Dale A. 1967 D.C. Rasmusson
Shafi, Mohammed 1959 J.W. Lambert and D.C. Rasmusson
Shaver, Johnathan M. 1995 B.G. Gengenbach
Shehata, Abdel-Rahim 1964 V.E. Comstock
Shelton, James P. 1921 H.K. Hayes
Shim, Jai Wook 1962 W.M. Myers
Shulstad, Orris H. 1950 R.S. Dunham
Siao, Fu 1934 H.K. Hayes
Siemens, Henry J. 1928 A.C. Arny

208
Smith, Jane A. 1982 C.E. Green
Smith, Larry J. 1968 R. Kleese
Snapp, Sieglinde 1986 C.P. Vance
Snyder, John R. 1967 R. Kleese
Sockness, Bradley A. 1985 D.K. Barnes
Spitzmueller, Joseph 1992 D.L. Wyse
Sprang, Colin (J.C.) 1959 E.L. Pinnell
Springer, Warren C. 1974 R.L. Phillips
Stafford, Roy E. 1962 W. M. Myers and R. Behrens
Stahl, Lizabeth A. 1996 D.L. Wyse
Start, Mary Ann 2000 H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
Steidl, Robert P. 1972 D.D. Stuthman
Stein, Otto L. 1952 E.H. Rinke
Steinmetz, Ferdinand H. 1921 A.C. Arny
Stelfox, Henry V. 1948 A.R. Schmid
Sterling, John D.E. 1948 E.H. Rinke
Stolenberg, David E. 1985 D.L. Wyse
Strand, Oliver E. 1966 R. Behrens
Stringham, Gary R. 1965 L.J. Elling
Sudjana, Achmad 1984 J.L. Geadelmann
Sun, Ching Po 1926 A.C. Arny
Sun, Von G. 1936 H.K. Hayes and F.R. Immer
Sunderman, Donald W. 1951 E.H. Rinke
Sutton, Lonnie M. 1971 R.E. Stucker
Swanson, A.F. 1923 H.K. Hayes
Sweeney, Hugh 1967 L. Snyder
Swenson, Stanley P. 1935 L.R. Powers
Tabata, Mamoru 1959 C.R. Burnham
Talbert, Kenneth E. 1978 R.K. Crookston
Tew, Thomas L. 1974 A. Hovin

209
Tewari, Gayatri Prasad 1954 A.R. Schmid
Therkilsen, Jay A. 1977 R. Behrens
Thompson, Donald B. 1949 Unknown
Thompson, John R. 1953 A.R. Schmid
Thompson, Mark J. 1912 A. Boss
Thompson, Roy L. 1959 R.G. Robinson
Thompson, Steven A. 1980 R.L. Phillips
Thysell, Joseph R. 1951 E.R. Rinke
Tri, Hutomo 1986 R.E. Stucker
Tsiang, Teh-Chi 1938 H.K. Wilson and H.K. Hayes
Tsiang, Yein Si 1940 H.K. Hayes
Tsu, Cheng Chiao 1940 H.K. Hayes and F.R. Immer
Tuberosa, Roberto 1985 R.L. Phillips
Tungland, Lee R. 1985 D.C. Rasmusson
Turcotte, Edgar L. 1957 C.R. Burnham
Twary, Scott N. 1988 G.H. Heichel
Valdivia, Vital 1963 J.W. Lambert
Valle-Razo, Georgina 1997 R.E. Stucker
Van Cleve, Katherine 1984 W.A. Brun
VanDee, Kevin L. 1993 D.L. Wyse
Vande Mortel, Emily 1998 N.J. Ehlke
Vande Mortel, Martijn 1999 R.A. Somers
Van Horn, Mark J. 1981 D.D. Stuthman
Vassar, Luke P. 1924 H.K. Hayes
Vather, Rosheila 1990 R.J. Jones
Viands, Donald R. 1977 D.K. Barnes
Vietor, Donald M. 1969 W.A. Brun
Viger, Paul R. 1989 C.V. Eberlein
Vladutu, Cristian I. 1996 R.L. Phillips
Vough, Lester R. 1969 G.C. Marten

210
Waddell, W.H. 1937 F.R. Immer
Wagner, Steve G. 1995 J.H. Orf
Wahid, M.A. 1949 R.S. Dunham
Waldecker, Mark J. 1982 D.L. Wyse
Ward, Nancy J. 1979 D.C. Rasmusson
Warner, Robert L. 1964 L.H. Smith
Warnes, Dennis D. 1960 A.R. Schmid
Warren, Francis S. 1948 E.H. Rinke
Weers, Benjamin P. 2000 D.C. Rasmusson
West, Charles P. 1978 N.P. Martin
West, David P. 1984 R.L. Phillips
Whitaker, David W. 1986 D.C. Rasmusson
White, Susan 1986 R.L. McGraw
Whiting, Kelly 1985 R.K. Crookston and W.A. Brun
Wiersma, John V. 1971 W.A. Brun and V.B. Cardwell
Wiese, Allen F. 1951 A. Schmid
Wiikikas, William 1940 F.R. Immer
Wilcox, Arthur N. 1922 H.K. Hayes
Wilcox, James R. 1959 J.W. Lambert
Williams, Scott E. 1983 D.C. Rasmusson
Wong, Charles Y. 1935 A.C. Arny
Wortman, Leo Sterling 1948 E.H. Rinke
Wright, Rhonda Lynne 1986 D.A. Somers and R.L. McGraw
Wu, Ju-Chi 1949 H. K. Hayes
Wu, Shao-Kwei 1936 H.K. Hayes
Yang, H.T. 1939 H.K. Hayes
Yoder, Kenneth N. 1971 R. Behrens
Yeh, Hough J. 1975 R. Behrens
Yeh, S.C. 1936 F.R. Immer
Young, Francis L. 1979 D.L. Wyse

211
Young, William I. 1966 D.C. Rasmusson
Yousufuddin, Mohammed 1960 A.R. Schmid
Yu, Pao-Lo 1954 J.W. Lambert
Zapata, Mario 1958 W.M. Myers and E.R. Ausemus
Zaremba, James R. 1984 R. Behrens
Zhang, Xianpin 1985 S.R. Simmons
Zhu, Van Ping 1995 C.C. Sheaffer
Ziegler, K.E. 1971 D.D. Stuthman
Zins, Amy B. 1989 D.L. Wyse
Zoebisch, Oscar C. 1950 E.H. Rinke
Zucula, Paulo F. 1989 R.K. Crookston

212

Appendix C
Doctor of
Philosophy Graduates
Name Year Advisor(s)
Aamodt, Olaf S. 1927 H.K. Hayes
Abadie, Tabare deLeon 1994 R.E. Stucker and F.D. Enfield
Abbasi, Feerose Husain 1945 H.K. Hayes
Afuakwa, Joe J. 1982 R.K. Crookston
Agble, William K. 1955 E.H. Rinke
Agundis, Omar 1966 R. Behrens
Albertsen, Marc C. 1980 R.L. Phillips
Ali, Mohamed A.M. 1977 D.C. Rasmusson
Ali, Syed Mahboob 1965 E.H. Rinke
Allen, Fred L. 1975 D.C. Rasmusson
Altman, David W. 1983 R.H. Busch
Andersen, Robert N. 1960 A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens
Anderson, David R. 1974 J.W. Lambert
Anderson, Laurel E. 1956 R.S. Dunham
Anderson, Michael P. 1988 G.H. Heichel and C.P. Vance
Andrews, John Edwin 1954 J.W. Lambert
Arakeri, Hanumappa R. 1949 R.S. Dunham
Armstrong, Charles L. 1986 R.L. Phillips
Asafo-Adjei, Baffour 1989 J.H. Orf
Aslam, Chaudhari M. 1956 E.R. Ausemus
Atkins, Irvin M. 1945 H.K. Hayes

214
Auckland, A. Keith 1974 J.W. Lambert
Ausemus, Elmer R. 1932 H.K. Hayes
Ayad, Mohamed A.G. 1948 H.K. Hayes and E.C. Stakman
Ayisi, Kingsley Kwabena 1994 C.P. Vance and D.H. Putnam
Aylesworth, John W. 1967 J.W. Lambert
Baffour, Asafo-Adjei 1989 J.H. Orf
Bahri, Hakima 1992 D.D. Stuthman
Baihaki, Achmad 1975 J.W. Lambert
Baker, Robert J. 1966 R.E. Comstock
Barham, Robert W. 1979 D.C. Rasmusson
Barker, Reed Edward 1972 A.W. Hovin
Basigalup, Daniel 1991 D.K. Barnes and R.E. Stucker
Beninati, Noel F. 1985 R.H. Busch
Benner, Michael S. 1988 R.L. Phillips
Benzion, Gary 1984 R.L. Phillips
Berdahl, John D. 1970 D.C. Rasmusson
Bertges, William J. 1976 R. Behrens
Bhardwaj, Bhup Dev 1965 W.M. Myers and L.J. Elling
Black, Donald S. 1969 R.E. Comstock and V.E. Comstock
Blank, Sheldon E. 1976 R. Behrens
Boerboom, Chris M. 1989 D.L. Wyse
Bolton, James L. 1947 F.R. Immer and C.R. Burnham
Booth, Ernest G. 1928 A.C. Arny
Bothun, Robert E. 1954 J.O. Culbertson
Boukerrou, Lakhdar 1986 D.C. Rasmusson
Bregitzer, P. Phillip 1989 D.A. Somers and H.W. Rines
Brewbaker, Harvey E. 1926 H.K. Hayes
Brick, Mark A. 1980 D.K. Barnes
Briggs, Robert W. 1963 E.H. Rinke
Brink, Geoffrey E. 1984 G.C. Marten

215
Brookins, Wallace W. 1940 F.R. Immer and H.K. Hayes
Brotslaw, Daniel J. 1988 R.H. Busch
Brown, William J.N. 1945 R.B. Harvey and H.K. Wilson
Buciarelli, Bruna 1996 C.P. Vance
Buckner, Robert C. 1955 W.M. Myers
Buehler, Robert E. 1990 B.G. Gengenbach
Buescher, Patrick J. 1978 R.L. Phillips and R.M. Braml
Bullock, William P. 1986 R.L. Phillips
Burnside, Orvin C. 1959 A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens
Bussler, Brett H. 1993 D.L. Wyse
Byrne, Ignatius 1971 D.C. Rasmusson
Byron, Dennis F. 1988 J.H. Orf
Campbell, Allan B. 1954 C.R. Burnham
Cantrell, Roy G. 1980 J.L. Geadelmann
Capettini, Flavio 1999 D.C. Rasmusson
Carangal, Virgilio R. 1966 E.H. Rinke
Carlson, Arne E. 1948 R.S. Dunham and R.H. Landon
Carlson, Dale R. 1983 W.A. Brun
Carnahan, Howard L. 1949 J.O. Culbertson
Carnes, Michael G. 1974 W.A. Brun and M.L. Brenner
Carter, Paul R. 1982 C.C. Sheaffer
Casler, Michael D. 1980 A.W. Hovin
Chafai, Ali El Alaoui 1986 S.R. Simmons
Chang, Sih-Chang 1941 H.K. Wilson
Chang, Te-Tzu 1959 W.M. Myers
Chaudhri, Muhammad Y. 1963 W.M. Myers and J.C. Sentz
Chen, Hong-Yu 1940 A.C. Arny and C.A. Pond
Cheng, Chung-Fu 1945 H.K. Hayes and C.R. Burnham
Cherney, Jerome H. 1980 G.C. Marten
Christensen, Dean W. 1984 J.L. Geadelmann
Chu, Kwang-Hwan 1950 J.O. Culbertson

216
Ciha, Allan J. 1976 W.A. Brun
Clark, Edward M. 1956 C.R. Burnham
Clarke, Sidney E. 1927 H.K. Hayes
Clay, Sharon A. 1986 E.A. Oelke
Commuri, Padmavathi 1997 R.J. Jones
Comstock, Verne E. 1959 J.W. Lambert and J.C. Sentz
Conway, Michael P. 1981 D.C. Rasmusson
Copeland, Philip J. 1990 R.K. Crookston
Cortazar, Rene S. 1962 A.R. Ausemus
Coultas, Jeffrey S. 1986 R. Behrens
Cowan, J. Ritchie 1952 H.L. Thomas
Craker, Lyle E. 1967 L.H. Smith
Cralle, Harry T. 1983 G.H. Heichel
Crockett, Ron P. 1979 R.K. Crookston
Crookston, R. Kent 1972 D.N. Moss
Culbertson, Joseph O. 1940 F.R. Immer
Cummings, Donn P. 1977 D.D. Stuthman
Cuykendall, Charles H. 1967 A.R. Schmid
Czaplewski, Steven J. 1982 D.C. Rasmusson
Daane, Adrian 1930 H.K. Hayes
Dahleen, Lynn S. 1989 D.D. Stuthman
Dahlstrom, Donald E. 1971 D.C. Rasmusson
Darwent, Albert Lloyd 1971 R. Behrens
Das, Kumadabhiram 1951 C.R. Burnham
Da Silva, Ady Raul 1954 C.R. Burnham and H.H. Hart
Davis, Michael H. 1993 S.R. Simmons
Degenhart, Nicholas R. 1990 D.K. Barnes
DeHaan, Robert Larry 1995 D.K. Barnes
De Koeyer, David 1996 D.D. Stuthman
Delzer, Brent W. 1992 R.H. Busch

217
Den Hartog, Gerald T. 1950 J.W. Lambert and H.K. Hayes
Dewey, Douglas R. 1956 W.M. Myers
Diamantis, Basil 1967 R.E. Comstock
Dickenson, Donald D. 1957 H.L. Thomas
Diedrick, Theodore J. 1985 B.G. Gengenbach
Dirks, Victor A. 1971 C.E. Gates
Dolan, Dennis James 1994 D.D. Stuthman
Dominguez-Valenzuela, Jose 1998 J.L. Gunsolus and G.A. Johnson
Dotray, Peter Anthony 1993 D.L. Wyse
Dotson, Stanton B. 1989 D.A. Somers
Douiyssi, Azzeddine 1995 D.C. Rasmusson
Doxtator, Charles W. 1936 H.K. Hayes
Eaton, Dana L. 1983 R.H. Busch
Eberlein, Charlotte V. 1981 R. Behrens
Egli, Margaret A. 1989 C.P. Vance and B.G. Gengenbach
Elling, Laddie J. 1950 H.L. Thomas
Elsayed, Farouk A. 1981 R.H. Busch
Engelen-Eigles, Gerard 1999 R.J. Jones
Erickson, Lambert C. 1962 R. Behrens
Escuro, Pedro B. 1959 W.M. Myers and J.C. Sentz
Eta Ndu, Jacob Tiku 1995 R.E. Stucker
Evans, John O. 1971 R. Behrens
Evenson, Kimberly Jane 1993 J.W. Gronwald and D.L. Wyse
Everett, Leslie A. 1982 R.E. Stucker
Everson, LeRoy E. 1950 R.S. Dunham
Fabrizius, Martin, A. 1995 R.H. Busch
Farnham, Mark W. 1988 D.D. Stuthman
Ferguson, Albert C. 1951 H.K. Hayes
Ferguson, David B. 1962 E.H. Rinke
Ferriss, Ronald S. 1980 J.L. Geadelmann
Figueroa-Ruiz, Rosana 1997 R.E. Stucker

218
Fike, William T., Jr. 1962 A.R. Schmid
Finn, Gary A. 1980 W.A. Brun
Fleming, Attie A. 1951 H.K. Hayes
Foote, Wilson H. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Forster, Jean Louise 1975 R.A. Kleese
Frelich, James R. 1972 G.C. Marten
Frey, Nicholas M. 1974 D.N. Moss
Frisch, David A. 1990 B.G. Gengenbach
Froehlich, Dan M. 1984 D.K. Barnes
Frolik, Elvin F. 1948 C.R. Burnham
Fuad, Jamal A.K. 1961 E.R. Ausemus
Garber, Ralph J. 1922 H.K. Hayes
Gbikpi, Pascal J. 1980 R.K. Crookston
Gebauer, Juan E. 1978 J.L. Geadelmann and J.W. Lambert
Gebhardt, David J. 1991 D.C. Rasmusson
Gebrekidan, Brhane 1969 D.C. Rasmusson
Gerrish, Everett E. 1956 E.H. Rinke and E.L. Pinnell
Ghobrial, Helmy K. 1968 C.R. Burnham
Giesbrecht, John 1959 E.H. Rinke
Gilmore, Earl C. Jr. 1967 L.A. Snyder
Givens, Jean F. 1974 R.L. Phillips
Goodrich, Chester L. 1969 D.C. Rasmusson
Gopinath, D.M. 1950 C.R. Burnham
Goulden, Cyril H. 1925 H.K. Hayes
Granger, Robert M. 1973 D.C. Rasmusson
Griffee, Fred 1924 H.K. Hayes
Griffith, Stephen M. 1986 R.J. Jones and M.L. Brenner
Groat, Randall G. 1982 C.P. Vance
Groya, Frederick L. 1982 C.C. Sheaffer
Gruber, Teresa A. 1989 J.L. Geadelmann

219
Guldan, Steven J. 1986 W.A. Brun
Hageman, Larry H. 1982 R. Behrens
Hall, Darl M. 1934 H.K. Wilson
Hall, Marvin H. 1987 C.C. Sheaffer
Halling, Blaik P. 1983 R. Behrens
Hanft, Jonathan M. 1985 R.J. Jones
Hannah, Alvin E. 1952 E.R. Ausemus
Hardman, Leland L. 1970 W.A. Brun
Harlan, Harry V. (D.Sc.) 1914 A. Boss
Harrington, James B. 1925 H.K. Hayes
Hasnain, Syed Z. 1948 H.K. Hayes and H.H. Hart
Hashim, Mohammed 1951 C.R. Burnham
Haugerud, Nicholas Gwin 1993 D.D. Stuthman
Hawf, Larry R. 1971 R. Behrens
Hayes, Patrick M. 1986 R.E. Stucker
Heerman, Rueben M. 1954 E.R. Ausemus
Heindl, Josephine C. 1983 W.A. Brun
Heinrichs, David H. 1952 H.K. Hayes
Helgason, Sigurdur B. 1953 C.R. Burnham and E.L. Pinnell
Hellewell, Kendell B. 1997 D.C. Rasmusson
Henderson, Merlin T. 1945 F.R. Immer
Henderson, Robert W. 1950 H.K. Hayes
Henson, Robert A. 1983 G.H. Heichel
Hernandez, Jose E. 1985 R.E. Stucker
Hernandez-Sierra, Arturo 1982 D.D. Stuthman
Hester, Alonzo J. 1970 D.C. Rasmusson
Hesterman, Oran B. 1984 C.C. Sheaffer
Hexum, Daryl K. 1984 J.L. Geadelmann
Heyne, Elmer G. 1952 E.R. Ausemus
Hibberd, Kenneth A. 1979 C.E. Green and W.A. Brun
Higgins, Floyd L. 1931 A.C. Arny

220
Highkin, Harry R. 1951 C.R. Burnham
Hilpert, Marion M. 1940 F.R. Immer and T.M. Currence
Hoffbeck, Mark D. 1989 D.D. Stuthman
Holland, Gregory J. 1991 S.J. Openshaw
Hotzman, Frederick W. 1980 R. Behrens
Hsi, Ching Heng 1951 J.W. Lambert
Hsu, Kuan Jen (Xu Guanren) 1950 H.K. Hayes
Hugie, William V. 1986 J.H. Orf
Humphrey, Llewellyn M. 1933 H.K. Hayes
Ibrahim, Mohmoud A. 1953 C.R. Burnham
Imbamba, Simeon K. 1969 D.N. Moss
Immer, Forest R. 1927 H.K. Hayes
Inman, Lawrence L. 1957 C.R. Burnham
Izuno, Takumi 1960 E.H. Rinke
Jackson, Ben Ray 1965 L.A. Snyder
Jacobsohn, Ruben 1970 R.N. Andersen
Jannink, Jean-Luc 1999 J.H. Orf
Jellen, Eric N. 1992 R.L. Phillips
Jeppson, Randal G. 1981 R.K. Crookston
Jessen, David L. 1984 D.K. Barnes
Jesus, Martinez-Gonzalez 1979 D.D. Stuthman
Joachim, Gertrud S. 1955 C.R. Burnham
Johnson, Elmer C. 1958 W.M. Myers
Johnson, Freeman K. 1964 C.R. Burnham and J.W. Lambert
Johnson, Iver J. 1931 A.C. Arny and H.K. Hayes
Johnson, Lauren D. 1992 D.K. Barnes
Johnson, Michael D. 1987 D.L. Wyse
Johnson, Richard R. 1974 D.N. Moss
Johnson, Russell T. 1950 E.H. Rinke
Johnson, Scott S. 1987 J.L. Geadelmann

221
Jones, Guy L. 1952 E.R. Ausemus
Jordan, Lowell S. 1957 R.S. Dunham
Jorgenson, Louis R. 1929 H.K. Hayes
Juan, Nestor Antonio 1991 C.C. Sheaffer
Kaeppler, Heidi 1990 D.C. Rasmusson
Kaeppler, Shawn M. 1992 R.L. Phillips
Kamanzi, Abdul 1992 R.E. Stucker
Kangasjarvi, Jaakko 1991 B.G. Gengenbach
Kao, Fa-Ten 1964 R.S. Caldecott
Karchi, Zvi 1958 W.M. Myers
Kasha, Kenneth J. 1962 C.R. Burnham
Kasim, Mahmood H. 1964 W.M. Myers
Kehr, William R. 1949 H.K. Hayes
Kenaschuk, Edward O. 1965 J.W. Lambert and L.A. Snyder
Khan, Shams-ul-Islam 1948 C.R. Burnham and A.O. Dahl
Kidder, Daniel W. 1986 R. Behrens
Kim, Doo Kyung 1971 J.W. Lambert
Kim, Tae San 1992 R.L. Philllips
Kirk, Lawrence E. 1927 H.K. Hayes
Kitchen, Boyd M. 1982 D.C. Rasmusson
Klevorn, Thomas B. 1983 D.L. Wyse
Klosterboer, Arlen D. 1971 R. Behrens
Kneebone, William R. 1951 H.L. Thomas and M.F. Kernkamp
Koble, Adam F. 1964 E.H. Rinke
Koo, Keh-Shing (Francis) 1950 H.K. Hayes
Kowles, Richard V. 1972 C.R. Burnham
Kramer, Herbert H. 1946 C.R. Burnham
Krenzer, Eugene G., Jr. 1974 D.N. Moss
Krone, Todd Lester 1994 R.L. Phillips
Kuhn, William E. 1974 R.E. Stucker
Kulkarni, Laxman G. 1934 H.K. Hayes

222
Kurvink, Karen D.A. 1976 J. Cervenka and R.L. Phillips
Laible, Charles A. 1964 E.H. Rinke
Lauer, Joseph G. 1985 S.R. Simmons
Lawn, Robert J. 1973 W.A. Brun
Lawson, Robert Mark 1980 J.W. Lambert
Ledent, Jean F. 1974 D.N. Moss
Lee, Debra Metzger 1986 D.C. Rasmusson
Lee, Eon Seon Jin 1991 J.W. Gronwald and C.P. Vance
Lee, Michael 1986 J.L. Geadelmann
Lehman, William F. 1956 W.M. Myers
Leisle, David 1963 E.R. Ausemus
Leonard, Warren H. 1940 F.R. Immer
Lepley, Charles R. 1970 D.N. Moss
Lewis, William M. 1957 W.M. Myers
Lim, Johng K. 1964 E.H. Rinke
Linden, Duane B. 1956 E.L. Pinnell
Livers, Ronald W. 1957 C.R. Burnham
Loeffel, Frank A. 1953 E.H. Rinke
Loffler, Carlos M. 1982 R.H. Busch
Luby, James J. 1982 D.D. Stuthman
MacDonald, Malcom D. 1959 C.R. Burnham
Macindoe, Stephen L. 1941 H.K. Hayes
Marquez-Ortis, Jose de Jesus 1993 D.K. Barnes
Marshall, Harold G. 1959 W.M. Myers
Marshall, Lorelei C. 1990 D.A. Somers
Marten, Gordon C. 1961 A.R. Schmid and J.D. Donker
Martinez-Gonzales, Jesus 1979 D.D. Stuthman
Martinez, Lorenzo M. 1952 E.R. Ausemus
Marum, Petter K. 1978 A. Hovin
McCoy, Thomas J. 1980 H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips

223
McElroy, Jeffrey L 1998 D.C. Rasmusson
McIndoe, Kenneth G. 1930 H.K. Hayes
McKenzie, Hugh 1963 E.R. Ausemus
McKenzie, Ronald I.H. 1957 J.W. Lambert
McMichael, Scott C. 1936 H.K. Wilson and R.B. Harvey
McMullen, Michael S. 1976 R.L. Phillips and D.D. Stuthman
McNeal, Francis H. 1953 E.R. Ausemus
Mehta, T.R. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Mekni, Mohamed S. 1977 D.C. Rasmusson
Meriwani, Yusuf N. 1985 D.L. Wyse
Michel, Kenneth E. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Mickelson, Harold R. 1993 D.C. Rasmusson
Milach, Sandra C. 1995 H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
Miller, James E. 1980 J.L. Geadelmann
Miller, John D. 1953 J.W. Lambert and J.J. Christensen
Miller, John H. 1957 R.S. Dunham
Miller, Oscar L. 1960 C.R. Burnham
Miller, Perry R. 1992 N.J. Ehlke and D.K. Barnes
Miskin, Koy E. 1971 D.C. Rasmusson
Mohamed, Aly Hamed 1954 C.R. Burnham
Monjardino, Paulo F. 1997 R.J. Jones
Moseman, Albert H. 1944 H.K. Hayes
Moshi, Alfred J. 1982 J.L. Geadelmann
Mudge, Joann E. 1999 J.H. Orf and N.D. Young
Muehlbauer, Gary J. 1994 D.A. Somers
Mukherjee, Debebrata 1965 L.A. Snyder
Mullen, Michael Stephan 1976 R.L. Phillips and D.D. Stuthman
Murphy, Royse P. 1941 H.K. Hayes
Murty, G.S. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Murzyn, Robert E. 1994 D.D. Stuthman
Mutisya, Frederick M. 1986 J.L. Geadelmann

224
Myers, Robert L. 1988 R.K. Crookston and V.B. Cardwell
Myers, Will M. 1936 H.K. Hayes
Nag, Kshounish Chandra 1967 A.R. Schmid
Nalewaja, John D. 1962 A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens
Neatby, Kenneth W. 1931 H.K. Hayes
Negi, Lakshmi Singh 1953 E.H. Rinke
Nelson, David L. 1985 D.K. Barnes
Nelson, Elton G. 1961 W.M. Myers
Nelson, Russell T. 1942 H.K. Wilson and R.H. Landon
Neuhausen, Susan L. 1986 J.H. Orf and P.H. Graham
Newlin, Owen J. 1954 E.H. Rinke
Nickel, Sister Esther 1993 R.K. Crookston
Niebur, William S. 1983 J.L. Geadelmann
Nielsen, Robert L. 1982 D.D. Stuthman
Northrup, Richard H. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Nustad, Linda L. 1976 W.A. Brun
Olhoft, Paula M. 1998 R.L. Phillips
Okiror, Shadrach O. 1975 D.C. Rasmusson
Olaoye, Gbadebo 1990 S.J. Openshaw
Oliveira, Aluzio B. 1993 D.C. Rasmusson
Olsen, Michael S. 1999 R.L. Phillips
Omar, Abdel-Aziz M. 1954 E.R. Ausemus
Osler, Robert D. 1951 H.K. Hayes
Ouattar, Said 1985 R.K. Crookston and R.J. Jones
Oussible, Mohamed 1986 R.K. Crookston
Page, Nathaniel J. 1991 R.E. Stucker and F.D. Enfield
Palm, Wallace E. 1984 R.E. Stucker
Pan, Chien L. 1935 H.K. Hayes
Parker, William B. 1990 D.L. Wyse
Parks, James S. 1980 J.L. Geadelmann

225
Pathak, Chandravadan H. 1952 R.S. Dunham and C.O. Rost
Patterson, Thomas G. 1979 W.A. Brun
Pauly, Michael H. 1986 R.H. Busch
Pawlowski, Wojciech 1996 D.A. Somers
Payne, Kenyon T. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Pazdernik, David Leonard 1995 J.H. Orf and P.H. Graham
Pearson, Laurie C. 1958 W.M. Myers
Pederson, Marion W. 1952 H.L. Thomas
Peel, Michael D. 1996 D.C. Rasmusson
Peralta, Alejandro 1997 L.H. Smith
Peschke, Virginia 1989 R.L. Phillips and B.G. Gengenbach
Peterson, Glenn A. 1957 J.W. Lambert
Peterson, Michael A. 1982 D.K. Barnes
Peterson, Paul R. 1993 C.C. Sheaffer
Peterson, Rudolph F. 1933 H.K. Hayes
Peto, Howard B. 1946 F.R. Immer and R.B. Harvey
Pfund, John 1974 D.C. Rasmusson
Phillips, Ronald L. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Pinkas, Leonard L.H. 1965 L.H. Smith
Pinnell, Emmett L. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Pinnisch, Russel M. 1996 R.E. Stucker
Plessers, Arthur G. 1954 C.R. Burnham
Pomeranke, Gary J. 1990 D.D. Stuthman
Powers, LeRoy 1931 H.K. Hayes
Pritsch, Clara 1999 C.P. Vance and D.A. Somers
Procopiuk, Ana Maria 1999 R.H. Busch
Pryor, Gordon R. 1977 L.H. Smith
Pullins, Emily E. 2000 S.R. Simmons and N.R. Jordan
Putt, Eric D. 1950 C.R. Burnham
Quakenbush, Laura S. 1983 R.N. Andersen
Quinones, Ferdinand A. 1954 E.H. Rinke and T.M. Currence

226
Quisenberry, Karl S. 1930 H.K. Hayes
Rabas, David L. 1970 A.R. Schmid
Rachie, Kenneth O. 1954 A.R. Schmid
Radtke, James A. 1981 D.D. Stuthman
Raleigh, Stephen M. 1934 H.K. Wilson
Ramage, Robert T. 1955 C.R. Burnham
Randall, Gene G. 1982 C.P. Vance
Ransom, Joel K. 1982 E.A. Oelke
Reece, Oscar E. 1949 H.K. Hayes
Reid, David A. 1963 J.W. Lambert
Reitz, Louis P. 1955 E.R. Ausemus
Rhodes, Carol A. 1984 R.L. Phillips
Richmond, Thomas R. 1948 H.K. Hayes
Riedl, William A. 1948 F.A. Krantz and H.K. Hayes
Riera-Lizarazu, Oscar 1996 H.W. Rines
Rinke, Ernest H. 1943 H.K. Hayes
Robert, Vincent J. 1998 D.D. Stuthman
Robertson, David W. 1928 H.K. Hayes
Robinson, David L. 1993 C.P. Vance
Robinson, Robert G. 1947 C.O. Rost and R.S. Dunham
Robison, Laren R. 1962 R.R. Wilcoxson and H.L. Thomas
Rogers, Thomas H. 1950 H.K. Hayes
Rohde, Charles R. 1953 E.R. Ausemus
Rooney, William L. 1992 H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
Rose, John L. 1970 J.W. Lambert
Rud, Orvin E. 1967 A.R. Schmid
Russell, Wilbert A. 1952 H.L. Thomas
Rzozi, Bennasseur S. 1993 D.L. Wyse
Saboe, Lewis C. 1942 C.R. Burnham
Sadiki, Mohammed 1990 D.K. Barnes

227
Salhuana, Wilfredo S. 1969 R.E. Comstock
Sallah, Peter Yao K. 1989 J.L. Geadelmann
Salmon, Samuel C. 1932 A.C. Arny and H.K. Hayes
Sandhu, Ranbir S. 1957 W.M. Myers and E.R. Ausemus
Schmid, Alois R. 1943 A.C. Arny
Schoenbeck, Mark 1997 C.P. Vance
Schreiber, Beth M.N. 1990 R.J. Jones
Schultz, Herman K. 1940 H.K. Hayes
Schwab, Philip M. 1995 D.K. Barnes
Sebern, Nancy A. 1981 J.W. Lambert
Seguin, Phillippe 2000 C.C. Sheaffer
Semeniuk, William A. 1943 C.R. Burnham
Setter, Timothy L. 1980 W.A. Brun
Shan, Baoshan 1996 J.H. Orf
Sharma, Jagdish N. 1950 R.S. Dunham
Shaver, Jonathan 1997 B.G. Gengenbach
Sheen, Shuh-Ji 1962 W.M. Myers
Shehata, Abdel-Rahim 1967 V.E. Comstock
Simmons, Steve R. 1977 D.N. Moss
Simons, Allan B. 1970 G.C. Marten
Singh, Narendra B. 1978 J.W. Lambert
Singh, Raghbir 1964 R. Behrens and A.R. Schmid
Singh, Rameshwar 1951 H.K. Hayes
Slinkard, Alfred E. 1957 J.W. Lambert
Smith, David Clyde 1934 H.K. Hayes
Smith, Edward L. 1962 J.W. Lambert
Smith, Glenn S. 1947 H.K. Hayes
Smith, Larry J. 1971 W.A. Brun
Smith, Olin D. 1969 R.A. Kleese
Snyder, John R. 1972 R.A. Kleese
Sorenson, Brent A. 1992 D.L. Wyse and W. Koskinen

228
Sosa-Dominguez, Gilberto 1996 D.D. Stuthman
Springer, Nathan M. 2000 R.L. Phillips
Stafford, Roy E. 1964 W.M. Myers
Stahler, Leonard M. 1941 R.B. Harvey and H.K. Wilson
Stamm, Elizabeth J. 1988 D.L. Wyse
Steinmetz, Ferdinand H. 1926 R.B. Harvey
Stevenson, Trueman M. 1937 H.K. Hayes
Stewart, George 1926 H.K. Hayes
Stitt, Rhea E. 1941 H.K. Hayes and H.K. Wilson
Stoltenberg, David E. 1988 D.L. Wyse
Stout, John T. 1973 R.L. Phillips
Strand, Oliver E. 1969 R. Behrens
Stringham, Gary R. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Strohm, Jerry L. 1966 J.W. Lambert and D.C. Rasmusson
Sullivan, Timothy P. 1972 W.A. Brun
Sunderman, Donald W. 1960 E.R. Ausemus
Surprenant, Jacques 1984 R.H. Busch
Sutton, Lonnie M. 1972 D.C. Rasmusson
Swann, Charles W. 1969 R. Behrens
Swenson, Stanley P. 1936 F.R. Immer
Tabata, Mamoru 1959 C.R. Burnham
Tandon, Roop K. 1948 R.S. Dunham
Teixeira, Mauro C. 1995 R.J. Jones
Teuber, Larry R. 1978 D.K. Barnes
Tew, Thomas L. 1977 D.C. Rasmusson
Tewari, Gayatri P. 1958 A.R. Schmid
Theurer, Jessop C. 1962 W.M. Myers
Thomas, Horace L. 1931 H.K. Hayes
Thompson, Steven A. 1982 J.L. Geadelmann
Timothy, David H. 1956 H.L. Thomas

229
Trimble, Michael W. 1985 D.K. Barnes
Troyer, A. Forrest 1964 W.M. Myers
Tsiang, Yein Si 1942 H.K. Hayes and R.H. Landon
Tuberosa, Roberto 1997 R.L. Phillips
Tuleen, Neal A. 1966 C.R. Burnham
Tungland, Lee R. 1987 D.C. Rasmusson
Turcotte, Edgar L. 1958 C.R. Burnham
Twary, Scott N. 1991 C.P. Vance
Tysdal, Hewitt M. 1931 A.C. Arny
Umbeck, Paul F. 1980 B.G. Gengenbach
Unander, David W. 1984 J.W. Lambert
Upadhyaya, Rajarama B. 1967 D.C. Rasmusson
Vacchani, Moti V. 1947 C.R. Burnham
Van beuningen, Leonardus 1993 R.H. Busch
Ventura, Yaacov 1959 E.H. Rinke
Viands, Donald R. 1979 D.K. Barnes
Violic, Alejandro 1963 E.H. Rinke
Vladutu, Cristian I. 1998 R.L. Phillips
Waldecker, Mark A. 1984 D.L. Wyse
Waldron, Blair L. 1997 N.J. Ehlke
Walgenbach, Richard P. 1980 G.C. Marten
Wandrey, Gregory G. 1988 R.E. Stucker
Wang, Kwei-Wu 1940 H.K. Hayes and E.C. Abbe
Wang, Yunxia 1988 B.G. Gengenbach
Ward, David J. 1961 J.W. Lambert
Warner, John N. 1950 E.H. Rinke
Warner, Lloyd C. 1963 R. Behrens
Warren, Francis S. 1949 H.K. Hayes
Wax, Lloyd M. 1962 R. Behrens
Webster, Orrin J. 1950 C.R. Burnham
Weir, John R. 1944 H.K. Hayes

230
West, David P. 1986 J.L. Geadelmann and R.L. Phillips
Westra, Philip 1980 D.L. Wyse
White, George A. 1961 A.R. Schmid and T. Kommedahl
White, William J. 1940 H.K. Hayes
Whiting, Kelly R. 1990 R.K. Crookston and W.A. Brun
Wiersma, Jochum J. 1995 R.H. Busch
Wiese, Allen F. 1953 R.S. Dunham
Wilcox, Arthur N. 1929 H.K. Hayes
Wilson, Neville L. 1993 R.E. Stucker
Woodward, Rollo W. 1946 C.R. Burnham
Wortman, Leo S., Jr. 1950 E.H. Rinke
Wu, Chao-Su 1950 E.R. Ausemus
Wu, Shao-Kwei 1939 H.K. Hayes
Yarrow, Gary L. 1985 W.A. Brun
Yawalker, Keshao S. 1953 A.R. Schmid
Yeo, Richard R. 1959 R.S. Dunham and A.C. Caldwell
Young, Francis L. 1981 D.L. Wyse
Yun, Song Joong 1992 D.A. Somers
Yungbluth, Thomas Alan 1966 H.L. Thomas
Zahour, Ahmed 1985 D.C. Rasmusson
Zhu, Yan Ping 1997 C.C. Sheaffer
Zinselmeier, Christopher 1991 R.J. Jones and M.E. Westgate
Zoebisch, Oscar C. 1950 E.H. Rinke

Appendix D
Doctor of
Philosophy Graduates*
ALFALFA
1926 STEINMETZ, FERDINAND HENRY
Thesis: Winter Hardiness in Alfalfa Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. R.B. Harvey
1931 TYSDAL, HEWITT MERLIN
Thesis: The Influence of Light, Temperature, and Moisture on the
Hardening Process in Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. A.C. Arny
1943 SCHMID, ALOIS RUDOLPH
Thesis: Chlorophyll and Carotinoid Concentrations in Alfalfa at Different
Stages of Development, and Pasture Grasses and Alfalfa Grown on Five
Soil Types*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.C. Arny
1947 BOLTON, JAMES LINDEN
Thesis: A Study of Combining Ability in Alfalfa in Relation to Certain
Methods of Selection
Major Advisers: Profs. F.R. Immer and C.R. Burnham
1950 ELLING, LADDIE JOE
Thesis: The Evaluation of Selected Alfalfa Clones
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas
1952 PEDERSEN, MARION WALTER
Thesis: Nectar Production in Alfalfa Clones as Related to Bee Visitation
and Seed Production, Including a Study of Techniques for Measuring
Nectar
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas
*Recipients are listed chronologically by crop or subject. An asterisk following a thesis title
indicates the entry is listed under more than one subject heading.

232
1957 LEWIS, WILLIAM MASON
Thesis: Combining Ability of Alfalfa Clones for Seasonal Growth
Responses and Forage Yield
Major Aviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1958 JOHNSON, ELMER CARL
Thesis: Inheritance Studies Including Reaction to Certain Foliage Diseases
in Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1958 KARCHI, ZVI
Thesis: Study on the Resistance in Alfalfa to Common Leaf Spot and on
the Relation of Infection Rating to Plant Color
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1958 PEARSON, LAURIE CLARENCE
Thesis: Predicting the Performance of Synthetic Varieties of Alfalfa from
Single Cross Data
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1962 THEURER, JESSOP CLAIR
Thesis: The Comparative Performance of Diallel Crosses of Alfalfa and
Their Related Second Generation Synthetics
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1965 BHARDWAJ, BHUP DEV
Thesis: A Study of Combining Ability in Alfalfa for Resistance to
Bacterial Wilt (Corynebacterium insidiosum ‘McCull’, H. L. Jens)
Major Advisers: Profs. W.M. Myers and L.J. Elling
1978 TEUBER, LARRY R.
Thesis: Breeding for Increased Nectar Production in Alfalfa
(Medicago sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1979 VIANDS, DONALD REX
Thesis: Selection Experiments on Nitrogen Fixation in Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1980 BRICK, MARK ANTHONY
Thesis: Morphology and Inheritance of Several Root Characteristics in
Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1980 WALGENBACH, RICHARD PAUL
Thesis: Influence of Climatic and Soil Factors on the Release of Soluble
Nitrogen and Protein From Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Cultivars*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten

233
1982 CARTER, PAUL RUSSELL
Thesis: Alfalfa Response to Soil Water Deficits*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1982 GROAT, RANDALL GENE
Thesis: Host Plant Metabolism of Symbiotically Fixed Nitrogen in Alfalfa
(Medicago sativa L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
1982 GROYA, FREDERICK LEONARD
Thesis: An Evaluation of Annual Alfalfa as a Nitrogen Source*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1982 PETERSON, MICHAEL ANDREW
Thesis: An Evaluation of the Relationship Between Seed Size and
Combining Ability in Crosses Among Diverse Alfalfa Germplasms
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1983 CRALLE, HARRY THOMAS
Thesis: Photosynthate Partitioning in Alfalfa Populations Selected for
High Nitrogen Fixation Capability
Major Adviser: Prof. G.H. Heichel
1983 HENSON, ROBERT A.
Thesis: Partitioning of Total N and Symbiotically Fixed N 2
in Soybeans
and Alfalfa*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.H. Heichel
1984 BRINK, GEOFFREY EMMETT
Thesis: Establishment of Alfalfa With and Without Barley or Oat
Companion Crops – Forage Yield and Quality and Alfalfa Persistence
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten
1984 FROEHLICH, DAN MICHAEL
Thesis: Determination of Heterotic Patterns for In Vitro Pollen-Tube
Length Among Diverse Alfalfa Sources
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1984 HESTERMAN, ORAN BRYCE
Thesis: Contributions of Alfalfa to a Subsequent Corn Crop: Agronomic
and Economic Evaluation*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1984 JESSEN, DAVID LEE
Thesis: Selection for Nodule Enzymes of Nitrogen and Carbon
Association in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes

234
1985 NELSON, DAVID LOREN
Thesis: Genetic Variability and Inheritance of Nitrate Reductase Activity
in Alfalfa and its Association with Forage Yield
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1985 TRIMBLE, MICHAEL WALTER
Thesis: Usefulness of Hill Plots in an Alfalfa Breeding Program for
Measuring the Effects of Cutting Management and Soil Nitrogen
Concentrations
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1987 HALL, MARVIN HENRY
Thesis: Partitioning and Mobilization of Photoassimilate by Alfalfa
Subjected to Water Deficits*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1990 DEGENHART, NICHOLAS RAY
Thesis: Selection for Traits Associated with Dinitrogen Fixation and
Nitrogen Assimilation in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1991 BASIGALUP, DANIEL HORACIO
Thesis: Development of a Core Collection for Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
Major Advisers: Profs. D.K. Barnes and R.E. Stucker
1991 JUAN, NESTOR ANTONIO
Thesis: Multifoliolate Alfalfa: Temperature, Photoperiod, and Harvest
Regime Effect on Plant Morphology, Herbage Yield, and Herbage
Quality*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1992 JOHNSON, LAUREN DEAN
Thesis: Morphology and Inheritance of Root Types in Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1993 MARQUEZ-ORTIZ, JOSE de JESUS
Thesis: Inheritance of Crown Traits and Biomass Partitioning in Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1993 WILSON, NEVILLE L.
Thesis: Nitrate Reductase Activity in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
Response to Bidirectional Selection and Evaluation of Nitrate Reductase
Activity and Forage Yield
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1995 DE HAAN, ROBERT L.
Thesis: Evaluation and Development of Annual Medicago Species for
Integration Into Corn and Small Grain Systems
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes

235
1995 SCHWAB, PHILIP M.
Thesis: Selection for Lignin and Cellulose Content in Alfalfa Stems
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
1997 ZHU, YANPING
Thesis: Dry Matter Accumulation, Nodulation, Dinitrogen Fixation, and
Nodule Strain Occupancy of Annual Medics
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
BARLEY
1914 HARLAN, HARRY VAUGHN
Thesis: Some Distinctions in Our Cultivated Barley With Reference to
Their Use in Plant Breeding
Major Adviser: Prof. A. Boss
1924 GRIFFEE, FRED
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance in Barley of Botanical Characters and
Manner of Reaction to Helminthosporium sativum
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1928 ROBERTSON, DAVID WIELD
Thesis: Linkage Studies in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1930 DAANE, ADRIAN
Thesis: Linkage Relations in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1936 SWENSON, STANLEY PRESCOTT
Thesis: Genetic and Cytological Studies on a Brachytic Mutation in
Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. F.R. Immer
1940 BROOKINS, WILLIAM WALLACE
Thesis: Linkage Relationship of the Genes Differentiating Stem Rust
Reaction in Barley
Major Advisers: Profs. F.R. Immer and H.K. Hayes.
1940 LEONARD, WARREN H.
Thesis: Inheritance of Fertility in the Lateral Spikelets of Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. F.R. Immer
1945 HENDERSON, MERLIN THEODORE
Thesis: Studies of Sources of Resistance and Inheritance of Reaction to
Leaf Rust (Puccinia anomala R.) in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. F.R. Immer

236
1946 WOODWARD, ROLLO WILLIAM
Thesis: The Inheritance of Fertility in the Lateral Florets of the Four
Barley Groups
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1950 DEN HARTOG, GERALD TUNIS
Thesis: Agronomic and Malting Quality Characters of Barley as Studied
in 10 Crosses Having Mars as a Common Parent
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Lambert and H.K. Hayes
1950 WEBSTER, ORRIN JOHN
Thesis: Genetics and Morphology of Rachis Internode Length in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1951 DAS, KUMADABHIRAM
Thesis: Cytogenetic Studies of Partial Sterility in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1951 HIGHKIN, HARRY ROBERT
Thesis: Physiological Studies of a Barley Mutant Lacking Chlorophyll B.
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1951 HSI, CHING HENG
Thesis: The Relationship of Various Agronomic and Malting Characters
of Barley as Studied in Ten Crosses Having Mars as a Common Parent
and in Two Generations
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1953 MILLER, JOHN DAVID
Thesis: Variability and Inheritance of Reaction of Barley to Certain Races
of Stem Rust
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Lambert and J.J. Christensen
1954 ANDREWS, JOHN EDWIN
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Loose Smut and to Stem
Rust in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1955 RAMAGE, ROBERT THOMAS
Thesis: The Trisomics of Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1957 LIVERS, RONALD WILSON
Thesis: Linkage Studies with Chromosomal Translocation Stocks in
Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham

237
1957 MCKENZIE, RONALD IAN HECTOR
Thesis: A Comparison of F 3
Lines and Their Related F 6
Lines in Two
Barley Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1957 PETERSON, GLENN ARTHUR
Thesis: A Statistical Evaluation of Early Generation Testing in a Barley
Cross Using Related F 3
, F 4
, and F 5
Lines Grown Simultaneously
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1957 SANDHU, RANBIR SINGH
Thesis: Mutagenic Effects of 2,4-D in Barley and Wheat
Major Advisers: Profs. W.M. Myers and E.R. Ausemus
1957 SLINKARD, ALFRED EUGENE
Thesis: The Relationships in Two Barley Crosses Between F 2
Plants and
Progenies Grown in Hills
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1961 WARD, DAVID JUSTIN
Thesis: Some Evolutionary Aspects of Certain Morphologic Characters in
a World Collection of Barleys
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1962 SMITH, EDWARD LEE
Thesis: Early Generation Testing of Diallel Crosses in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1963 REID, DAVID ALEXANDER
Thesis: Inheritance of Growth Habit and its Relationship to Winter
Hardiness and Other Characters in Spring x Winter Barley Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1964 JOHNSON, FREEMAN KEITH
Thesis: The Use of Chromosomal Interchanges to Locate Genes for Certain
Quality and Agronomic Characters in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and J.W. Lambert
1966 TULEEN, NEAL ASPLUND
Thesis: The Use of Tertiary Trisomics for the Orientation of Linkage
Groups in Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1967 UPADHAYAYA, RAJARAMA BELLE
Thesis: Heterosis and Combining Ability in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson

238
1969 GEBREKIDAN, BRHANE
Thesis: A Comparison of Three Methods of Evaluating Parental Varieties
for Use in Hybrids and Estimation of Heterosis in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1970 BERDAHL, JOHN DAVID
Thesis: The Effect of Leaf Area on Light Penetration, Photosynthesis,
and Grain Yield of Barley, (Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1971 BYRNE, IGNATIUS BYRNE
Thesis: Selection for SR-89 Content in Wheat and Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1971 MISKIN, KOY ELDRIDGE
Thesis: Inheritance and Physiological Effects of Stomatal Frequency in
Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1974 PFUND, JOHN HERMAN
Thesis: Optimum Culm Number in Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1975 ALLEN, FRED L.
Thesis: Importance of the Yield Trial Environment in Achieving Progress
From Selection
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1975 OKIROR, SHADRACH OKIROR
Thesis: Optimum Tiller Number in Barley: A Comparison
of Low- and High-Tillering Genotypes
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1977 ALI, MOHAMED AHMED MOHAMED
Thesis: Yield Performance of Semi-Dwarf Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1977 MEKNI, MOHAMED SALAH
Thesis: Effect of Tillering on Yield and Stability of Yield in Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1977 TEW, THOMAS LEROY
Thesis: Inheritance of Photoperiod Response in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson

239
1979 BARHAM, ROBERT WARREN
Thesis: The Inheritance of Photoperiod Response in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1981 CONWAY, MICHAEL PATRICK
Thesis: Yield Components as Parental Selection Criteria in Breeding for
Yield of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1982 CZAPLEWSKI, STEVEN JOHN
Thesis: Duration of the Grain-Filling Period and Grain Yield in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1982 KITCHEN, BOYD MCKEE
Thesis: Duration of Leaf Initiation, Spike Formation, Spike Growth, and
Rate of Spike Formation of Spring Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1985 LAUER, JOSEPH GERARD
Thesis: Carbon Partitioning, Morphological Development, and Canopy
Light Attenuation in Field-Grown Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. S.R. Simmons
1985 ZAHOUR, AHMED
Thesis: Effect of Semidwarf Character and Yield Components on Yield in
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1986 BOUKERROU, LAKHDAR
Thesis: Biomass Yield and Breeding for High Grain Yield in Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1986 CHAFAI, ALI, EL ALAOUI
Thesis: Contributions of Nonsurviving Tillers to the Growth of Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. S.R. Simmons
1986 LEE, DEBRA METZGER
Thesis: Kernel Number in Barley: Inheritance and Role in Yield
Improvement
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1987 TUNGLAND, LEE ROSS
Thesis: Utility of Six Germplasm Sources for Enhancing Grain Yield in
Minnesota Barleys
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1990 KAEPPLER, HEIDI FLEWELLING
Thesis: The Inheritance of Alpha-Amylase Activity in Barley
Major Advser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson

240
1991 GEBHARDT, DAVID JOHN
Thesis: Relationship of Kernel Weight and Morphology to Agronomic
and Malting Traits in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1993 MICKELSON, HAROLD ROGER
Thesis: Allometric Relationships in Six-Row Spring Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1993 OLIVEIRA, ALUÍZIO BORÉM DE
Thesis: Barley Starch Granule Traits: Genetic and Molecular Aspects
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson.
1995 DOUIYSSI, AZZEDDINE
Thesis: Genetics of Host Resistance to Net Blotch Disease in Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1996 PEEL, MICHAEL DEAN
Thesis: Enhancing Upper Midwestern Malting Barley by Introgression of
European Germplasm
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1997 HELLEWELL, KENDELL B.
Thesis: Yield Enhancement of Semi-Dwarf Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1998 MCELROY, JEFFREY L.
Thesis: Enhancing Midwestern Malting Barley by Introgression of Two-
Row Germplasm
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1999 CAPETTINI, FLAVIO
Thesis: Inheritance of FHB in barley
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
CORN
1927 IMMER, FOREST REINHART
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Ustilago zeae in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1929 JORGENSON, LOUIS ROBERT
Thesis: Brown Midrib in Maize and its Linkage Relations
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

241
1930 McINDOE, KENNETH GILLIES
Thesis: The Inheritance of the Reaction of Maize to
Gibberella saubinettii
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1931 THOMAS, HORACE LEROY
Thesis: Glossy Seedling (gls) in Maize and its Linkage Relations
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1934 HALL, DARL MERIDETH
Thesis: The Relationship Between Certain Morphological Characters and
Lodging in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Wilson
1936 DOXTATOR, CHARLES WILLIAM
Thesis: Studies of Quality in Canning Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1939 WU, SHAO-KWEI
Thesis: The Relationship Between the Origin and Characters of Selfed
Lines of Corn and Their Value in Hybrid Combination
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1940 WANG, KWEI-WU
Thesis: Some Phases of Heterosis of Corn
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Hayes and E.C. Abbe
1948 MURTY, GOLLAKOTA SURYANARAYANA
Thesis: Combining Ability in Corn of Parental Inbreds With Inbreds
Recovered From Backcrosses
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1948 PAYNE, KENYON THOMAS
Thesis: A Comparison of Combining Ability in F 2
and F 3
Lines of
Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1948 PINNELL, EMMETT LOUIS
Thesis: Genetic and Environmental Factors Affecting Corn Seed Viability
at Low Temperatures
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1949 REECE, OSCAR EARL
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Root and Stalk Rot in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1950 HSU, KUAN JEN (XU, GUANREN)
Thesis: Comparative Studies in Corn of the Development of Normal and
Dwarf Plants
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

242
1950 JOHNSON, RUSSELL TINGEY
Thesis: Combining Ability in Zea mays as Related to Generations of
Testing, Selection of Testers and Characters of the Inbred Line
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1950 WARNER, JOHN NORTHRUP
Thesis: The Application of Some Statistical Methods to the Study of
Quantitative Inheritance in Zea mays
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1950 WORTMAN, LEO STERLING, JR.
Thesis: The Inheritance of Cold-Test Reaction in Zea mays
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1950 ZOEBISCH, OSCAR C.
Thesis: Some Quantitative Characters in Zea mays
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1951 FLEMING, ATTIE ANDERSON
Thesis: Inheritance of Characters in Corn With Special Reference to the
European Corn Borer
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1951 SINGH, RAMESHWAR
Thesis: Inheritance in Maize of Reaction to the European Corn Borer
(Pyrausta nubilalis H.)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1953 HELGASON, SIGURDUR BJORN
Thesis: A Study of Genetic Factors and Techniques Affecting Cold-Test
Performance in Corn*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and E.L. Pinnell
1953 LOEFFEL, FRANK ALBERT
Thesis: Effectiveness of Individual Plant Selection in Zea mays L. for
Resistance to the European Corn Borer (Pyrausta nubilalis H.)
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1953 NEGI, LAKSHDMI SINGH
Thesis: Ear Development and Other Characteristics of Selected Strains of
Maize as Affected by European Corn Borer
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1954 NEWLIN, OWEN J.
Thesis: Inheritance of Fertility Restoration in Cytoplasmic Male Sterile
Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke

243
1955 AGBLE, WILLIAM KWESI
Thesis: The Inheritance of Maturity as Measured by Time of Silking; and
Other Character Associations in Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1956 GERRISH, EVERETT E.
Thesis: Studies of the Monoploid Method of Producing Homozygous
Diploids in Zea mays L.
Major Advisers: Profs. E.H. Rinke and E.L. Pinnell
1956 LINDEN, DUANE BERNERD
Thesis: The Inheritance of Certain Sources of Fertility Restoration in the
Texas Type of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.L. Pinnell
1959 GIESBRECHT, JOHN
Thesis: The Inheritance of Maturity in Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1959 VENTURA, YAACOV
Thesis: Inheritance Studies of the Cold Test Reaction of Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1960 IZUNO, TAKUMI
Thesis: Characters Affecting Ear Retention in Parental Inbreds and F 1
Progeny of Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1962 FERGUSON, DAVID BLAINE
Thesis: Combining Ability in Zea mays L. as Influenced by Planting
Density
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1963 BRIGGS, ROBERT WILBUR
Thesis: Effects of Recurrent Selection on a Synthetic Population of Corn
(Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1963 CHAUDHRI, MUHAMMAD YOUSAF
Thesis: Genetic Variance for Yield and Its Components in a Synthetic
Population of Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Advisers: Profs. W.M. Myers and J.C. Sentz
1964 KOBLE, ADAM FRANCIS
Thesis: Comparative S 1
Line and Top-Cross Performance of Corn (Zea
mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke

244
1964 LAIBLE, CHARLES ARTHUR
Thesis: Inheritance of Ear Number in Four Zea mays L. Genotypes
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1964 LIM, JOHNG KI
Thesis: Association Tests Between Chromosomal Translocations of Maize
and the Multiple-Ear Character
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1964 TROYER, ALVAH FORREST
Thesis: The Inheritance of Long First Internode in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1965 ALI, SYED MAHBOOB
Thesis: Recurrent Selection for General Combining Ability Based on
Inbred Lines Performance per se in Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1966 CARANGAL, VIRGILIO REYES
Thesis: The Effectiveness of S 1
and Topcross Evaluation in a Recurrent
Selection Program in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1969 GOODRICH, CHESTER LEE
Thesis: Evaluation of Two Selection Procedures for Improvement of
Open-Pollinated Varieties of Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1969 SALHUINANA, WILFREDO SERGIO
Thesis: Study of the Genetic Relationship and Heterosis on Inter and
Intra Crosses of Peruvian Races of Maize (Zea mays L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Comstock
1971 DAHLSTROM, DONALD EUGENE
Thesis: Genetic Aspects of Selection in Maize at Different Levels of
Inbreeding
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1972 SUTTON, LONNIE MERLIN
Thesis: An Evaluation of Growing Degree Days and Black Layer as a
Method of Rating Maturity in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1974 KUHN, WILLIAM EDWARD
Thesis: The Effect of Yield Component Conversion on Maize Single
Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker

245
1978 GEBAUER, JUAN ENRIQUE
Thesis: Mass Selection for Prolificacy in Maize Grown at Two Plant
Densities
Major Advisers: Profs. J.L. Geadelmann and J.W. Lambert
1980 CANTRELL, ROY GLENN
Thesis: Husk Leaves of Early Dent Maize; Breeding Behavior and
Contribution to Grain Yield
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1980 FERRISS, RONALD SCOTT
Thesis: Influence of Genotype and Environment on the Response to
Early Growth Stage Defoliation in Maize (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1980 MILLER, JAMES EARL
Thesis: The Effect of the bm 3
Allele on the Agronomic Performance of
Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1980 PARKS, JAMES STEVEN
Thesis: Selection for European Corn Borer Leaf- and Sheath-Collar-
Feeding Resistance in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1982 MOSHI, ALFRED JOSEPH
Thesis: Effects of Selection for Reduced Plant Height in a Tropical Maize
Population
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1982 THOMPSON, STEVEN ARNOLD
Thesis: Evaluation of Mass Selection for Prolificacy in Corn (Zea mays
L.) Conducted at High and Low Densities: Comparison of Cycle Means
and Estimation of Genotypic Variance
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1983 NIEBUR, WILLIAM SYLVESTER
Thesis: Natural Selection for Adaptation in Maize at High Plant Density
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1984 CHRISTENSEN, DEAN WILLIAM
Thesis: Utility of Zein Isoelectric Focusing Predicting Heterosis in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1984 HEXUM, DARYL KEITH
Thesis: Evaluation of Visual S 1
Recurrent Selection for Early Vigor in
Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann

246
1986 MUTISYA, FREDRICK MUTHOKA
Thesis: Source Traits for the Genetic Improvement of Early Maturing
Exotic Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1986 WEST, DAVID PAUL
Thesis: The Developmental Basis of Quantitative Genetic Variation
Revealed by the Maize Mutant, Polymitotic
Major Advisers: Profs. J.L. Geadelmann and R.L. Phillips
1987 JOHNSON, SCOTT SELMER
Thesis: Influence of Water Stress in Selection and Evaluation
Environments on Response to Recurrent Selection in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1989 GRUBER, TERESA ANN
Thesis: Relation of Early Vigor S 1
Lines With Agronomic Performance in
an Elite Population of Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1989 HOFFBECK, MARK DAVID
Thesis: Effects of Backcrossing and Intermating on Adapted X Exotic
Maize Populations
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1989 SALLAH, PETER YAO KANZE
Thesis: Selection for Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer in a Tropical Maize
Population
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann
1990 OLAOYE, GBADEBO
Thesis: Evaluation of Three Methods of Inbred Line Development in Two
Maize Populations
Major Adviser: Prof. S.J. Openshaw
1991 HOLLAND, GREGORY JOHN
Thesis: Evaluation of Recurrent Selection for Combining Ability Between
Two Partitioned Populations in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. S.J. Openshaw
1992 KAEPPLER, SHAWN MICHAEL
Thesis: Molecular and Genetic Studies of Tissue Culture-Induced
Variation in Maize*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1994 MURZYN, ROBERT E.
Thesis: The Effects of Intermating and Selection Intensity on the
Testcross Performance of S 1
lines from an Adapted x Improved Exotic
Maize Variety
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman

247
1995 ETA NDU, JACOB TIKU
Thesis: Epistatic Gene Action in Breeding Populations to Develop Inbred
Lines of Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1996 PINNISCH, RUSSEL M.
Thesis: Inbreeding Depression in the Selfed Progeny of F 1
Hybrids
Between Northern Flint and Corn Belt Dent Populations of Maize (Zea
mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1997 FIGUEROA-RUIZ, ROSANA
Thesis: An Evaluation of Methodology for the Minnesota Relative
Maturity System for Rating Corn Hybrids
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
FLAX
1931 JOHNSON, IVER JOHANNAS
Thesis: The Relation of Plant and Seed Characters and of Agronomic
Practice to the Quantity and Quality of Oil in Flaxseed
Major Advisers: Profs. A.C. Arny and H.K. Hayes
1936 MYERS, WILL MARTIN
Thesis: The Nature and Interaction of Genes Conditioning Reaction to
Rust in Flax
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1944 MOSEMAN, ALBERT HENRY
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance of Height, Seed Size, Seed Yields and
Other Characters in Flax
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1948 TANDON, ROOP KISHORE
Thesis: Relative Susceptibility of Flax Varieties to Rates and Formulations
of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1949 CARNAHAN, HOWARD LEON
Thesis: The Inheritance of Oil Content and Other Characters in the
Cross of Dakota x Minerva
Major Adviser: Prof. J.O. Culbertson
1950 CHU, KWANG HWAN
Thesis: Studies of Inheritance of Seed Size and Other Characters from F 3
Data in a Cross Between an Indian Variety and a North American Variety
of Flax
Major Adviser: Prof. J.O. Culbertson

248
1950 SHARMA, JAGDISH NARAIN
Thesis: The Response of Flax to Applications of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic
Acid Made at Various Stages of Development
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1954 BOTHUN, ROBERT ELROY
Thesis: A Study of the Inheritance of Certain Characters in a Cross of
Two Flax Varieties, as Expressed in Populations Sprayed with 2,4-D
Major Adviser: Prof. J.O. Culbertson
1959 COMSTOCK, VERNE EDWARD
Thesis: Variation, Association, and Heritability of Several Morphological
and Seed Characteristics in F 2
and F 3
Populations of Two Flax Crosses
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Lambert and J.C. Sentz
1964 KASIM, MAHMOOD HAJ
Thesis: The Analyses of Yield and Its Components and Seed Quality
Characteristics in Diallel Crosses Among Ten Varieties of Flax
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1964 STAFFORD, ROY ELMER
Thesis: Inheritance and Association of Several Characters in Flax
Populations Treated With MCPA
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1967 SHEATATA, ABDEL RAHIM H.
Thesis: A Diallel of the Expression of Heterosis in Flax
(Linum usitatissimum L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. V.E. Comstock
FORAGE CROPS
1927 KIRK, LAWRENCE ELDRED
Thesis: Self-Fertilization in Relation to Forage Crop Improvement
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1931 HIGGINS, FLOYD LINVILLE
Thesis: A Study of the Drying of Legume Hay Plants to Determine the
Role of the Leaves in Drying the Stems and the Relation of Method of
Drying to Loss of Leaves and to Chemical Composition
Major Adviser: Prof. A.C. Arny
1940 CHEN, HONG-YU
Thesis: Crop Rotation Studies and the Use of Crop Rotations in Soil
Conservation Programs in Southeastern Minnesota
Major Advisers: Profs. A.C. Arny and C.A. Pond

249
1943 SCHMID, ALOIS RUDOLPH
Thesis: Chlorophyll and Carotinoid Concentrations in Alfalfa at Different
Stages of Development, and Pasture Grasses and Alfalfa Grown on Five
Soil Types*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.C. Arny
1945 CHENG, CHUNG-FU
Thesis: Self-Fertility Studies in Several Species of Commercial Grasses
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Hayes and C.R. Burnham
1958 TEWARI, GAYATRI PRASAD
Thesis: The Production and Botanical Composition of Legume-Grass
Combinations and the Influence of the Legume on the Associated
Grasses
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1961 MARTEN, GORDON CORNELIUS
Thesis: An Investigation of the Chromogen-Chromic Oxide and Nitrogen-
Chromic Oxide Indicator and the TDN Requirement Methods in
Evaluating Pasture Forages for Dairy Cows
Major Advisers: Profs. A.R. Schmid and J.D. Donker
1961 WHITE, GEORGE ALBERT
Thesis: Influence of Certain Forage Grasses on the Growth and Yield of
the Following Crop
Major Advisers: Profs. A.R. Schmid and T. Kommedahl
1962 FIKE, WILLIAM THOMAS, JR.
Thesis: Factors Affecting Forage Crop Establishment in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1967 CUYKENDALL, CHARLES HOWARD
Thesis: Response of Perennial Forages to Machine Defoliation vs. Sheep
Grazing
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1967 NAG, KSHOUNISH CHANDRA
Thesis: Effect of Various Cropping Systems in a Crop Rotation Study on
Crop Performance and Weed Content
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1967 RUD, ORVIN ELWOOD
Thesis: A Study of Certain Factors Affecting the Establishment of Forage
Grasses and Legumes
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1970 SIMONS, ALLAN BARNARD
Thesis: Relationship of Indole Alkaloids to Palatability of Phalaris arundinacea
L. and Influence of Several Factors on Alkaloid Concentration*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten

250
1972 BARKER, REED EDWARD
Thesis: Inheritance of Indole Alkaloids in Reed Canarygrass
Major Adviser: Prof. A.W. Hovin
1978 MARUM, PETTER K.
Thesis: Cell Wall Constituents in Reed Canarygrass Variation in Plant
Parts, Heritability and Association With Other Forage Quality Characters*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.W. Hovin
1980 CASLER, MICHAEL DARWIN
Thesis: An Analysis of Forage Yield in Reed Canarygrass: Heritability of
Stability Parameters, Factors Influencing Stability and Yield Prediction
from Morphological Characters*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.W. Hovin
1980 CHERNEY, JEROME HENRY
Thesis: Analysis of Forage Yield and Quality Potential of Small Grain
Crops and the Interrelationships Among Biological, Chemical,
Morphological, and Anatomical Determinants of Quality
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten
1980 WALGENBACH, RICHARD PAUL
Thesis: Influence of Climatic and Soil Factors on the Release of Soluble
Nitrogen and Protein From Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Cultivars*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten
1982 CARTER, PAUL RUSSELL
Thesis: Alfalfa Response to Soil Water Deficits*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1982 GROYA, FREDERICK LEONARD
Thesis: An Evaluation of Annual Alfalfa as a Nitrogen Source*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1983 CRALLE, HARRY THOMAS
Thesis: Photosynthate Partitioning in Alfalfa Populations Selected for
High Nitrogen Fixation Capacity
Major Adviser: Prof. G.H. Heichel
1983 HENSON, ROBERT A.
Thesis: Partitioning of Total N and Symbiotically Fixed N 2
in Soybeans
and Alfalfa*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.H. Heichel
1984 BRINK, GEOFFREY EMMETT
Thesis: Establishment of Alfalfa With and Without Barley or Oat
Companion Crops – Forage Yield and Quality, and Alfalfa Persistence*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten

251
1984 HESTERMAN, ORAN BRYCE
Thesis: Contributions of Alfalfa to a Subsequent Corn Crop: Agronomic
and Economic Evaluation*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1987 HALL, MARVIN HENRY
Thesis: Partitioning and Mobilization of Photoassimilate by Alfalfa
Subjected to Water Deficits*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1991 JUAN, NESTOR ANTONIO
Thesis: Multifoliolate Alfalfa: Temperature, Photoperiod and Harvest
Regime Effect on Plant Morphology, Herbage Yield, and Herbage
Quality*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1993 PETERSON, PAUL RICHARD
Thesis: Kura Clover (Trifolium ambiguum M.): Growth, Forage Quality,
Persistence, and Carbohydrate Reserves Under Sheep Grazing and
Clipping*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
1994 AYISI, KINGSLEY KWABENA
Thesis: Yield, Quality, and Competitive Interactions in a Canola-Soybean
Strip Intercrop
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance and D.H. Putnam
1997 PERALTA, ALEJANDRO
Thesis: Effects of Forage Management on Forage and Seed Production
of Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. L.H. Smith
1997 ZHU, YANPING
Thesis: Dry Matter Accumulation, Nodulation, Dinitrogen Fixation, and
Nodule Strain Occupancy of Annual Medics
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
GENETICS, CYTOGENETICS AND GENETIC ENGINEERING
1942 SABOE, LEWIS CLIFFORD
Thesis: Utilization of Chromosomal Interchanges in Maize to Determine the
Inheritance and Linkage Relations of Factors for Reaction to Ustilago zeae
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1947 VACCHANI, MOTI VERHOMAL
Thesis: A Study of Certain Variations in Chromosome Morphology of
Corn Inbreds in Relation to Agronomic and Morphological Characters
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham

252
1948 FROLIK, ELVIN FRANK
Thesis: Chromosome Segregation in Maize Translocations from
X-Rayed Material and in Crosses Producing Rings of Six Chromosomes
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1948 KHAN, SHAMS-UL-ISLAM
Thesis: A Cytological Study of the Effect of Temperature on
Crossing-Over in Corn
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and A.O. Dahl
1950 GOPINATH, DODBALLAPUR MAHABALARAOR
Thesis: A Cytogenetic Study of Deficiency Duplication in Certain
Translocation Crosses in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1950 PUTT, ERIC DOUGLAS
Thesis: Cytogenetic Studies of Sterility in Rye*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1953 HELGASON, SIGURDUR BJORN
Thesis: A Study of Genetic Factors and Techniques Affecting Cold-Test
Performance in Corn*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and E.L. Pinnell
1953 IBRAHIM, MOHMOUD ADL-ELDIN
Thesis: Association Tests Between Chromosomal Interchanges in Maize
and Resistance to the European Corn Borer
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1954 MOHAMED, ALY HAMED
Thesis: Association Tests Between Chromosomal Interchanges in Maize
and Tender Pericarp in Sweet Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1954 PLESSERS, ARTHUR GERARD
Thesis: The Genetics of Stem and Leaf Rust Reactions and Other
Characters in Crosses of Lee Wheat with Chinese Monosomic Testers*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1955 JOACHIM, GERTRUD S.
Thesis: An Inheritance Study of the Reversed Germ Character in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1955 RAMAGE, ROBERT THOMAS, JR.
Thesis: The Trisomics of Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham

253
1956 CLARK, EDWARD MAURICE
Thesis: A Comparison of Crossing Over in Pollen and Ovules in
Translocations Involving the Short Arm of Chromosome 9 in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1957 INMAN, LAWRENCE LLOYD
Thesis: Studies on the Methods of Production and Theoretical
Applications of Large Rings of Chromosomes in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1957 LIVERS, RONALD WILSON
Thesis: Linkage Studies with Chromosomal Translocation Stocks in
Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1958 TURCOTTE, EDGAR LEWIS
Thesis: A Cytogenetic Study of Certain Translocations in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1959 MACDONALD, MALCOLM DUNCAN
Thesis: Studies in the Building of Large Chromosome Rings in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1959 TABATA, MAMORU
Thesis: Studies of Chromosome Pairing in Maize by Using Interchanges
Involving the Same Two Chromosomes
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1960 MILLER, OSCAR LEE, JR.
Thesis: Cytological Studies in Asynaptic Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1962 KASHA, KENNETH JOHN
Thesis: Intercrosses Among Stocks of Chromosomal Interchanges
Involving the Same Two Chromosomes in Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1963 VIOLIC, ALEJANDRO
Thesis: Inheritance and Linkage Relations of Genes for Serpentine
Character in Zea mays as Determined by Chromosomal Translocations
Major Adviser: Prof. E.H. Rinke
1964 JOHNSON, FREEMAN KEITH
Thesis: The Use of Chromosomal Interchanges to Locate Genes for Certain
Quality and Agronomic Characters in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L)*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and J.W. Lambert

254
1964 KAO, FA-TEN
Thesis: Effects of Recurrent Irradiation in Diploid, Tetraploid and
Hexaploid Triticum species*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Caldecott
1965 JACKSON, BEN RAY
Thesis: Quantitative Inheritance in Crosses Among Four Tetraploid
Wheats*
Major Adviser: Prof. L.A. Snyder
1966 BAKER, ROBERT JOHN
Thesis: Predicted Variance of Response to Selection
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Comstock
1966 MICHEL, KENNETH EARL
Thesis: A Study of the Interrelated Behavior of Non-Homologous
Chromosomes in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1966 NORTHRUP, RICHARD HAROLD
Thesis: A Study of Chromosome Behavior in Interchange Hetero-zygotes:
The Effect of Inversions and Other Factors on the Frequency of Alternate
Segregation of the Chromosomes in Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1966 PHILLIPS, RONALD LEWIS
Thesis: Cytogenetic Studies of Recombination in Reciprocal Crosses and
the Location of Genes in Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1966 TULEEN, NEAL ASPLUND
Thesis: The Use of Tertiary Trisomics for the Orientation of Linkage
Groups in Barley*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1967 DIAMANTIS, BASIL
Thesis: A Mathematical Investigation of the Induced Mutation Rate Which
is Optimum for Genetic Improvement
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Comstock
1967 SHEATATA, ABDEL RAHIM H.
Thesis: A Diallel of the Expression of Heterosis in Flax
(Linum usitatissimum L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. V.E. Comstock.
1968 GHOBRIAL, HELMY KIROLLOS CHALI
Thesis: Studies of Recombination in Heterozygotes for Single and
Multiple Chromosomal Interchanges in Maize (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham

255
1969 BLACK, DONALD STEPHEN
Thesis: Heritability Estimates of Oil Content and Other Characters in
Several Flax Populations and the Genotypic Correlations Among
Characters
Major Advisers: Profs. R.E. Comstock and V.E. Comstock
1969 SALHUANA, WILFREDO SERGIO
Thesis: Study of the Genetic Relationship and Heterosis in Inter and Intra
Crosses of Peruvian Races of Maize (Zea mays L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Comstock
1971 DIRKS, VICTOR ALEXANDER
Thesis: Computer Simulation of Normally Self-Fertilizing Populations
Involving Linkage
Major Adviser: Prof. E.E. Gates
1972 KOWLES, RICHARD VINCENT
Thesis: The Synthesis and Behavior of Two-Chromosome Double
Interchanges in Maize and Neurospora crassa
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1972 SNYDER, JOHN RAYMOND
Thesis: Replication of Yeast Mitochondrial DNA in Zygotes of
Cytoplasmic Petite by Grande
Major Adviser: Prof. R.A. Kleese
1973 STOUT, JOHN THOMAS
Thesis: The Biochemical Cytogenetics of a Meiotic Mutant in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1974 GIVENS, JEAN F.
Thesis: Molecular Hybridization and Cytological Characterization of
Plants Partially Hyperploid for Different Segments of the Nucleolus
Organizer Region of Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1975 FORSTER, JEAN LOUISE
Thesis: Segregation of Mitochondria in Yeast
Major Adviser: Prof. R.A. Kleese
1976 KURVINK, KAREN DEE ANN
Thesis: Sister Chromatid Differential (SCD) Staining and Sister
Chromatid Exchange in Human Cells
Major Advisers: Profs. J. Cervenka and R.L. Phillips
1976 McMULLEN, MICHAEL STEPHEN
Thesis: A Cytogenetic Analysis of Avena sativa L. and Avena sterilis L.
Major Advisers: Profs. R.L. Phillips and D.D. Stuthman

256
1978 BUESCHER, PATRICK JOHN
Thesis: Role of Ribosomal Genes in RNA Levels and Nucleolar
Formation in Zea mays L.
Major Advisers: Profs. R.L. Phillips and R.M. Brambl
1979 HIBBERD, KENNETH ARMOND
Thesis: Selection and Characterization of Amino Acid Overproducer
Mutants in Maize Tissue Culture
Major Advisers: Profs. C.E. Green and W.A. Brun
1980 ALBERTSEN, MARC CHRISTIAN
Thesis: Developmental Cytology, Mutagenesis, and Fertility Restoration
of Genetic Male-Sterile Maize (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1980 UMBECK, PAUL FREDERICK
Thesis: Evaluation and Selection for Inhibitor Resistance in Maize
(Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1984 BENZION, GARY
Thesis: Genetic and Cytogenetic Analysis of Maize Tissue Cultures: A
Cell Line Pedigree Analysis
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1984 RHODES, CAROL ANN
Thesis: Aneuploid Tissue Cultures of Maize: Initiation, Plant
Regeneration, and Cytogenetic Stability
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1985 DIEDRICK, THEODORE JAMES
Thesis: Amino Acid and Field Evaluations of Two Amino Acid
Overproducing Mutants in Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1986 ARMSTRONG, CHARLES LESTER
Thesis: Genetic and Cytogenetic Stability of Maize Tissue Cultures: A
Comparative Study of Organogenic and Embryogenic Cultures
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1986 BULLOCK, WILLIAM PAUL
Thesis: A Test for Interspecific Recombination via Tissue-Culture-
Induced Aberrations in Oats (Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1986 LEE, MICHAEL
Thesis: Agronomic Evaluation of Inbred Lines Derived from Tissue
Cultures of Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. J.L. Geadelmann

257
1988 BENNER, MICHAEL SCOTT
Thesis: Methionine-Rich Storage Protein Accumulation in Maize
(Zea mays L.): A Genetic and Protein/Amino Acid Analysis
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1988 WANG, YUNXIA
Thesis: Molecular Analysis of mtDNAs from Maize CMS-S Fertile
Revertants
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1989 BREGITZER, PAUL PHILLIP
Thesis: Development and Characterization of Friable, Embryogenic Oat
Callus, and Cellular Microinjection of DNA
Major Advisers: Profs. D.A. Somers and H.W. Rines
1989 DOTSON, STANTON BALDWIN
Thesis: Purification and Characterization of Aspartate Kinase in
Wild-Type Corn and Lysine Plus Threonine Resistant Mutants
Major Adviser: Prof. D.A. Somers
1989 EGLI, MARGARET ANNE
Thesis: Developmental Expression of Plant Genes in Effective and
Plant-Controlled Ineffective Alfalfa Nodules*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance and B.G. Gengenbach
1989 MCCULLOUGH, ANDREW JOHN
Thesis: Molecular Analysis of Amyloplast Biogenesis in Developing Maize
Endosperm
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1989 PESCHKE, VIRGINIA MARIE
Thesis: Tissue Culture-Induced Variability in Maize: Genetic and
Molecular Analysis of Tissue Culture-Derived Transposable Elements
Major Advisers: Profs. R.L. Phillips and B.G. Gengenbach
1990 BUEHLER, ROBERT ERNEST
Thesis: The Identification and Characterization of Imazethapyr Tolerant
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1990 FRISCH, DAVID ALAN
Thesis: Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of
Dihydrodipicolinate Synthase From Zea mays L.
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1990 MARSHALL, LORELEI CARSON
Thesis: Characterization of Maize Genotypes Tolerant to Herbicides That
Inhibit Acetyl-COA Carboxylase
Major Adviser: Prof. D.A. Somers

258
1991 KANGASJARVI, JAAKKO SAKARI
Thesis: Molecular Changes During the Differentiation of Proplastids to
Amyloplasts in Developing Maize Endosperm*
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1992 JELLEN, ERIC NATHAN
Thesis: Characterization of Image-Enhanced, C-Banded Oat (Avena spp.)
Monosomics and Identification of Oat Genomes and Homologous
Chromosomes
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1992 KAEPPLER, SHAWN MICHAEL
Thesis: Molecular and Genetic Studies of Tissue-Culture-Induced
Variation in Maize*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1992 KIM, TAE SAN
Thesis: Identification of Genomic Regions Controlling Maturity in Maize
(Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1992 ROONEY, WILLIAM LLOYD
Thesis: Identification and Characterization of RFLP Markers Linked to
Crown Rust Resistance in Oat (Avena spp.)
Major Advisers: Profs. H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
1992 YUN, SONG JOONG
Thesis: (1-3,1-4)-Beta-Glucan 4-Glucanohydrolase Gene Expression in
Oat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.A. Somers
1994 KRONE, TODD LESTER
Thesis: Genetic Analysis and Breeding for Kernel Methionine Content in
Maize (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1994 MUEHLBAUER, GARY JOHN
Thesis: Characterization of Aspartate Kinase-Homoserine Dehydrogenase
and Two Mutant Aspartate Kinases in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. D.A. Somers
1995 MILACH, SANDRA CRISTINA
Thesis: Genetic Characterization and Molecular Mapping of Dwarfing
Genes in Oat
Major Advisers: Profs. H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
1995 PAZDERNIK, DAVID LEONARD
Thesis: Selection for Early Nodulation and Dinitrogen Fixation in the
Soybean-Bradyrhizobium Symbiosis
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Orf and P.H. Graham

259
1996 PAWLOWSKI, WOJCIECH
Thesis: Transgene Integration, Expression and Stability in Genetically
Engineered Oat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.A. Somers
1996 RIERA-LIZARAZU, OSCAR
Thesis: Characterization of Oat x Maize Progenies and Their Derivatives
Major Adviser: Prof. H.W. Rines
1997 SHAVER, JONATHAN M.
Thesis: Molecular Analysis of Transgenic Maize Modified for Increased
Lysine Biosynthesis
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1997 TUBEROSA, ROBERTO
Thesis: Molecular Marker Analysis of Days to Flowering and Leaf
Abscisic Acid Concentration in Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1998 OHLHOFT, PAULA M.
Thesis: Cloning and Characterization of the 5-Methylcytosine
Methyltransferase Gene in Maize (Zea mays L.) Plants and Tissue
Cultures
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1998 VLADUTU, CRISTIAN I.
Thesis: Fine Mapping and Characterization of Linked QTLs Involved in
the Transition of the Maize Apical Meristem From Vegetative to
Generative Structures
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1999 OLSEN, MICHAEL S.
Thesis: Genetic Analysis of Whole-Kernel Methionine in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips
1999 PRITSCH, CLARA
Thesis: Early Molecular Response of Wheat Spikes to Fusarium graminearum
Infection and Histology of the Infection Process
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance and D.A. Somers
2000 SPRINGER, NATHAN M.
Thesis: Isolation of Genes Involved in Epigenetic Regulation and the
Inheritance of an Aneuploid Syndrome in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.L. Phillips

260
OAT
1922 GARBER, RALPH JOHN
Thesis: Inheritance and Yield With Particular Reference to Rust
Resistance and Panicle Type in Oats
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1928 BOOTH, ERNEST GORDON
Thesis: The Daily Growth of the Oat Kernel and the Effect of Immaturity
and Controlled Freezing Temperature on Germination
Major Adviser: Prof. A.C. Arny
1934 SMITH, DAVID CLYDE
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance in Oats of Reaction to Diseases and Other
Characters
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1948 FOOTE, WILSON HOOVER
Thesis: A Study of the Inheritance of the Stem Rust Reaction in Oats
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1949 KEHR, WILLIAM RALPH
Thesis: Studies of Inheritance in Crosses Between Landhofer (Avena
byzantina L.) and Two Selections of A. sativa L.
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1951 OSLER, ROBERT DONALD
Thesis: Inheritance Studies in Oats with Particular Reference to the Santa
Fe Type of Crown Rust Resistance
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1959 CHANG, TE-TZU
Thesis: Analysis of Genes Conditioning Resistance of Oat Varieties to
Races of Puccinia coronata Corda var. avenae F and L
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1959 ESCURO, PEDRO BOLIVAR
Thesis: Relative Effectiveness of Selection for Quantitative Traits in F 2
of
Crosses Among Related and Unrelated Lines of Oats
Major Advisers: Profs. W.M. Myers and J.C. Sentz
1959 MARSHALL, HAROLD GENE
Thesis: A Cytogenetic Study of Interspecific Avena Hybrids and the
Inheritance of Resistance in Diploid and Tetraploid Varieties to Races of
Crown and Stem Rust
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1969 SMITH, OLIN DAIL
Thesis: Intergenotypic Competition Among Five Varieties of Spring Oats
(Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.A. Kleese

261
1973 GRANGER, ROBERT MACK
Thesis: Selection for Caryopsis Percentage Weight in Three Oat
(Avena sativa L.) Populations
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1976 MCMULLEN, MICHAEL STEPHEN
Thesis: A Cytogenetic Analysis of Avena sativa and Avena sterilis L.
Major Advisers: Profs. R.L. Phillips and D.D. Stuthman
1977 CUMMINGS, DONN PAUL
Thesis: Studies Relating to Devlopment of a Selection System for Lysine
Overproducer Mutants in Oats
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1980 McCOY, THOMAS JOSEPH
Thesis: Cytogenetic Stability of Tissue Cultures and Regenerated Plants
of Oats (Avena sativa L.) and Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Advisers: H.W. Rines and R.L. Phillips
1981 RADTKE, JAMES ALLEN
Thesis: Evaluation of Recurrent Selection for Yield and Its Effect on
Correlated Traits in Oats
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1982 LUBY, JAMES JOSEPH
Thesis: Evaluation of Avena sativa L./A. fatua L. Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1982 NIELSEN, ROBERT LEROY
Thesis: Characterization of the Interference Between Oats and Alfalfa
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1988 FARNHAM, MARK WILLIAM
Thesis: The Characterization of Panicle Exsertion in Semidwarf Oat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1989 DAHLEEN, LYNN SUE
Thesis: Somaclonal Variation in Oat (Avena sativa L.) Lines Derived
from Tissue Culture
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1990 POMERANKE, GARY JOSEPH
Thesis: Evaluation of an Open and Closed System of Recurrent Selection
for Yield in Oat (Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1992 BAHRI, HAKIMA
Thesis: Early Generation Bulk Testing and Combining Ability for a
Recurrent Selection Program in Oat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman

262
1993 HAUGERUD, NICHOLAS GWINN
Thesis: Secondary Trait Selection in a Recurrent Selection Program for
Improved Yield in Oats (Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1994 DOLAN, DENNIS JAMES
Thesis: Correction of Agronomic Deficiencies in a Long-Term Recurrent
Selection Population in Oat (Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1996 DE KOEYER, DAVID
Thesis: Molecular Genetic Analysis of Recurrent Selection for Grain Yield
in Oat (Avena sativa L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1996 SOSA-DOMINGUEZ, GILBERTO
Thesis: Recurrent Selection in an Open Oat Population
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1998 ROBERT, VINCENT J.
Thesis: Validation of B-Glucan QTL’s in Oat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
1929 WILCOX, ARTHUR NOBLE
Thesis: Some Factors Influencing the Longevity and Viability of Pollen
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1941 CHANG, SIH-CHANG
Thesis: Morphological and Physiological Causes for Varietal Differences
in Shattering and After-Harvest Sprouting in Cereal Crops*
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Wilson
1965 PINKAS, LEONARD LIEBER HIRSCH
Thesis: Influence of Genotype on Rate of Strontium Absorption by
Barley
Major Adviser: Prof. L.H. Smith
1967 CRAKER, LYLE EUGENE
Thesis: The Accumulation and Distribution of Strontium Within Tissues
of a Wheat Spike
Major Adviser: Prof. L.H. Smith
1970 LEPLEY, CHARLES RICHARD
Thesis: Studies on the Isolation and Separation of Bundle Sheath and
Mesophyll Cell Chloroplasts and on Carbon-Dioxide Uptake in Maize
Leaves
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss

263
1970 RABAS, DAVID LEE
Thesis: The Relationship of HCN, Total Sugars, Dry Matter and
Morphological Characteristics to Palatability in Sorghum Species and
Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1972 CROOKSTON, ROBERT KENT
Thesis: Investigations Into Variability of the Physiological and Anatomical
Characteristics That Separate C 4
and C 3
Species
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1972 SULLIVAN, TIMOTHY PAUL
Thesis: The Effect of Root Genotype on the Water Relations of Soybean
(Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1973 LAWN, ROBERT JOHN
Thesis: Factors Affecting Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Soybeans
(Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1974 CARNES, MICHAEL GEORGE
Thesis: High Pressure Liquid Chromatography as a Tool for the Rapid
Analysis of the Cytokinin Content of Root Pressure Exudate of Tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)
Major Advisers: Profs. W.A. Brun and M.L. Brenner
1974 FREY, NICHOLAS MARTIN
Thesis: Ribulose-1,5-Diphosphate Carboxylase Activity in Hordeum vulgare
L.
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1974 JOHNSON, RICHARD RAY
Thesis: Barley and Wheat Spikes as Photosynthetic Organs
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1974 KRENZER, EUGENE GEORGE, JR.
Thesis: Source-Sink Relationships in Wheat as Affected by Photoperiod
and Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1974 LEDENT, JEAN FRANCOIS
Thesis: Plant Geometry, Canopy Architecture, and Leaf Angle in Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1976 CIHA, ALLAN JAMES
Thesis: Investigation of Possible Abscisic Acid Control of Nitrogen
Fixation in Soybean Nodules
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun

264
1976 NUSTAD, LINDA LOUISE
Thesis: Studies on Nitrogen Assimilation of the Soybean (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1977 PRYOR, GORDON ROY
Thesis: The Effects of Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, and Lead on
Growth and Composition of Forage Species
Major Adviser: Prof. L.H. Smith
1977 SIMMONS, STEVE ROBERT
Thesis: Physiological Aspects of Protein Production by Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss
1979 CROCKETT, RON P.
Thesis: Sweet Corn Growth and Development Following Early
Defoliation
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1979 PATTERSON, THOMAS GLOVER
Thesis: Characterization of Senescence in Field-Grown Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1980 FINN, GARY ALAN
Thesis: The Role of Current Photosynthate and Carbohydrate Reserves in
the Control of Nitrogen Fixation in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1980 GBIKPI, PASCAL JOSE
Thesis: Characterizing the Grain-Filling and Maturation Period of
Soybean (Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1980 SETTER, TIMOTHY LLOYD
Thesis: Abscisic Acid Involvement in Stomatal Closure and
Photosynthetic Inhibition Resulting From Obstruction by Pod Removal or
Petiole Girdling in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1981 JEPPSON, RANDALL GENE
Thesis: Influence of the Shoot Apex on the Development and Yield of
Cereals
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1982 AFUAKWA, JOE JUSTICE
Thesis: A Re-Evaluation of Some Aspects of the Growth and Maturation
of the Corn (Zea mays L.) Kernel
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston

265
1982 GROAT, RANDALL GENE
Thesis: Host Plant Metabolism of Symbiotically Fixed Nitrogen in Alfalfa
(Medicago sativa L.) Root Nodules*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
1983 CARLSON, DALE ROBERT
Thesis: Effect of Pods on Assimilate Translocation and Foliar Partitioning
in Soybean*
Major Adviser: Prof.W.A. Brun
1983 HEINDL, JOSEPHINE C.
Thesis: Light Relation of Abscission and 14C-Photoassimilate Partitioning
Among Soybean Reproductive Structures
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1985 HANFT, JONATHAN MARK
Thesis: Kernel Abortion in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.J. Jones
1985 LAUER, JOSEPH GERARD
Thesis: Carbon Partitioning, Morphological Development, and Canopy
Light Attenuation in Field-Grown Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. S.R. Simmons
1985 OUATTAR, SAID
Thesis: Adaptation of Corn (Zea mays L.) Kernel Development to
Conditions of Drought and Thermal Stress
Major Advisers: Profs. R.K. Crookston, and R.J. Jones
1985 YARROW, GARY LYNN
Thesis: The Involvement of Abscisic Acid in Correlative Control of
Flower Abscission in Soybean
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1986 CHAFAI, EL ALAOUI ALI
Thesis: Contribution of Nonsurviving Tillers to the Growth of Barley
(Hordeum vulgare L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. S.R. Simmons
1986 GULDAN, STEVEN JOSEPH
Thesis: Factors Affecting Amino Acid Nutrition in Developing Soybean
Seeds
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1986 GRIFFITH, STEPHEN MICHAEL
Thesis: Characteristics of In Vitro Sugar Transport Into Developing Maize
Endosperm or Embryo
Major Advisers: Profs. R.J. Jones and M.L. Brenner

266
1986 OUSSIBLE, MOHAMED
Thesis: The Effect of Subsurface Compaction on the Nitrogen Uptake,
Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1988 ANDERSON, MICHAEL PAUL
Thesis: Purification and Characterization of Glutamate Synthase from
Alfalfa Root Nodules
Major Advisers: Profs. G.H. Heichel and C.P. Vance
1988 MYERS, ROBERT LEE
Thesis: An Analysis of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Tillage Effects on Maize
Physiology, Production, and Economics
Major Advisers: Profs. R.K. Crookston and V.B. Cardwell
1988 WANG, YUNXIA
Thesis: Molecular Analysis of mtDNAs From Maize CMS-S Fertile
Revertants*
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach
1989 EGLI, MARGARET ANN
Thesis: Developmental Expression of Plant Genes in Effective and Plant-
Controlled Ineffective Alfalfa Nodules*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance and B.G. Gengenbach
1990 COPELAND, PHILIP JON
Thesis: The Effect of Corn and Soybean Cropping Sequence on Soil
Moisture and Plant Nutrients
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1990 SCHREIBER, BETH MARIE NELSON
Thesis: The Role of Cytokinins in Maize Kernel Development
Major Adviser: Prof. R.J. Jones
1990 WHITING, KELLY REID
Thesis: Host Specific Pathogens and the Corn/Soybean Rotation Effect
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1991 KANGASJARVI, JAAKKO SAKARI
Thesis: Molecular Changes During the Differentiation of Proplastids to
Amyloplasts in Developing Maize Endosperm*
Major Adviser: Prof. B.G. Gengenbach.
1991 LEE, EON SEON JIN
Thesis: Acetyl-CoA-Carboxylase in Developing Soybean Seeds
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Gronwald and C.P. Vance

267
1991 TWARY, SCOTT NICHOLAS
Thesis: Regulation of Carbon and Nitrogen Assimilatory Enzymes in
Alfalfa Root Nodules
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
1991 ZINSELMEIER, CHRISTOPHER
Thesis: The Role of Assimilate Supply, Partitioning and Metabolism in
Maize Kernel Development at Low Water Potentials
Major Advisers: Profs. R.J. Jones and M.E. Westgate
1993 DAVIS, MICHAEL HAMILTON
Thesis: Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Development in Relation to
Light Quality
Major Adviser: Prof. S.R. Simmons
1993 NICKEL, SISTER ESTHER
Thesis: Corn and Soybean Cropping Sequence Affects Root Health and
Development
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1993 ROBINSON, DAVID LOWELL
Thesis: Compartmentation of Nitrogen and Carbon Metabolism in Alfalfa
Root Nodules
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
1994 AYISI, KINGSLEY KWABENA
Thesis: Yield, Quality, and Competitive Interactions in a Canola-Soybean
Intercrop*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance and D.H. Putnam
1995 PAZDERNIK, DAVID LEONARD
Thesis: Selection for Early Nodulation and Dinitrogen Fixation in the
Soybean-Bradyrhizobium Symbiosis*
Major Advisers: Profs. J.H. Orf and P.H. Graham
1995 TEIXEIRA, MAURO CESAR CELARO
Thesis: Development of Maize Kernels Exposed to Different Day and
Night Temperature Regimes
Major Adviser: Prof. R.J. Jones
1996 BUCIARELLI, BRUNA
Thesis: Wound Response Characteristics in Resistant and Susceptible
Genotypes of Populus tremuloides When Infected With Hypoxylon
mammatum
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
1997 COMMURI, PADMAVATHI
Thesis: Mechanisms by Which High Temperature During Endosperm Cell
Division Causes Kernel Abortion in Maize
Major Adviser: Prof. R.J. Jones

268
1997 MONJARDINO, PAULO FERREIRA MENDES
Thesis: Mechanisms by Which Heat Stress Affects Protein Accumulation
in Maize Kernels
Major Adviser: Prof. R.J. Jones
1997 SCHOENBECK, MARK
Thesis: Physiological and Molecular Analysis of the Genes Expressed in
Alfalfa Root Nodules
Major Adviser: Prof. C.P. Vance
2000 PULLINS, EMILY E.
Thesis: Photomorphogenic Responses and Shade Avoidance Syndrome
of Soybean Genotypes Under Field Conditions
Major Advisers: Profs. S.R. Simmons and N.R. Jordan
SOYBEAN
1948 MEHTA, TRIBRUWAN RAM
Thesis: Correlation of Yield and Certain Quantitative Characters in
Soybeans
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1949 ARAKERI, HANUMAPPA RAMAPPA
Thesis: The Relation of Some Environmental Factors to the
Pre-Emergence Treatment of Corn with 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy-acetic Acid
and Soybean with Ammonium Trichloroacetate*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1956 LEHMAN, WILLIAM FRANCIS
Thesis: The Inheritance and Interrelationship of Maturity and Other
Characters in Soybeans
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1965 KENASCHUK, EDWARD OREST
Thesis: Study of Yield and the Components of Yield in the F 2
and F 3
Generations of Crosses Involving Four Soybean Lines
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Lambert and L.A. Snyder
1965 MUKHERJEE, DEBABRATA
Thesis: The Inheritance of Resistance to Bacterial Blight in Soybeans
Major Adviser: Prof. L.A. Snyder
1966 STROHM, JERRY LEE
Thesis: The Inheritance of Height, Maturity, Seed Weight and Yield and
Their Association in Four Soybean Crosses
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Lambert and D.C. Rasmusson

269
1967 AYLESWORTH, JOHN WILDE
Thesis: Selection for Yield in Segregating Generations of Two Soybean
Crosses Grown at Stress and Non-Stress Soil Fertility Levels
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1970 HARDMAN, LELAND LAVERNE
Thesis: The Effects of Some Environmental Conditions on Flower
Production and Pod Set in Soybean (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1970 HESTER, ALONZO JUDSON
Thesis: Scion-Root Effect and Heritability Estimates on P, K, and Ca
Accumulation in Leaves of Soybeans (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.C. Rasmusson
1970 ROSE, JOHN LESLIE
Thesis: Inheritance of Fatty Acids in Several Crosses of Soybean Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1971 KIM, DOO KYLUNG
Thesis: Use of 4-Parent Diallel Soybean Cross for Measuring Heterosis
and Predicting Peformance of Derived Lines
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1972 SULLIVAN, TIMOTHY PAUL
Thesis: The Effect of Root Genotype on the Water Relations of Soybean
(Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1974 AUCKLAND, AUSTIN KEITH
Thesis: Inheritance and Interrelationships of Canopy Characteristics and
Specific Leaf Weight in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1975 BAIHAKI, ACHMAD
Thesis: Association of Genetoype x Environment Interactions with
Performance Level of Soybean Lines in Preliminary Yield Trials
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1978 SINGH, NARENDRA BAHADUR
Thesis: Performance of Related Phytophthora-Resistance and Susceptible
Soybean Lines Under Diseased and Disease-Free Conditions
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1980 FINN, GARY ALAN
Thesis: The Role of Current Photosynthate and Carbohydrate Reserves
in the Control of Nitrogen Fixation in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun

270
1980 GBIKPI, PASCAL JOSE
Thesis: Characterizing the Grain Filling and Maturation Period of
Soybean (Glycine max L.) Growth*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.K. Crookston
1980 LAWSON, ROBERT MARK
Thesis: Genetic Variability in Soybeans for Nodule Number and Weight,
and Recovery of Rhizobium japonicum Strain 110
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1980 SETTER, TIMOTHY LLOYD
Thesis: Abscisic Acid Involvement in Stomatal Closure and Photosynthetic
Inhibition Resulting From Translocation Obstruction by Pod Removal or
Petiole Girdling in Soybeans (Glycine max L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1981 SEBERN, NANCY ANNE
Thesis: The Effectiveness of Early Generation Selection for Protein in
Soybeans
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1983 CARLSON, DALE ROBERT
Thesis: Effect of Pods on Assimilate Translocation and Foliar Partitioning
in Soybean*
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1983 UNANDER, DAVID WALTON
Thesis: Genetic and Environmental Components of Soybean (Glycine
max L.) Germination Under Cool Temperature Conditions
Major Adviser: Prof. J.W. Lambert
1986 HUGIE, WILLIAM VON
Thesis: Genotypic Interaction of Northern Soybeans to Row Spacing
Major Adviser: Prof. J.H. Orf
1986 NEUHAUSEN, SUSAN LEE
Thesis: Screening and Selection for Enhanced Dinitrogen Fixation in
Soybean (Glycine max L.) of Maturity Groups O and OO
Major Advisers: Profs. J.H. Orf and P.H. Graham
1988 BYRON, DENNIS F.
Thesis: Comparison of Three Selection Procedures for the Development
of Early Maturing Soybean Lines
Major Adviser: Prof. J.H. Orf
1989 ASAFO-ADJEI, BAFFOUR
Thesis: Evaluation of Exotic Soybeans for Favorable Agronomic Alleles
Absent in Adapted Local Lines
Major Adviser: Prof. J.H. Orf

271
1995 PAZDERNIK, DAVID LEONARD
Thesis: Selection for Early Nodulation and Dinitrogen Fixation in the
Soybean–Bradyrhizobium Symbiosis*
Major Advisers: Profs. J.H. Orf and P.H. Graham
1996 SHAN, BAOSHAN
Thesis: Yield, Protein, Oil and Oil Quality in Soybean: Comparison of
Selection Indices and Methods for Adjusting Spatial Variation in
Experiments
Major Adviser: Prof. J.H. Orf
1999 JANNINK, JEAN-LUC
Thesis: Feasibility of Breeding Soybean (Glycine max L.) for High Weed-
Suppressive Ability
Major Adviser: Prof. J.H. Orf
1999 MUDGE, JOANN E.
Thesis: Development of a Marker-Assisted Selection Program for
Nematode Resistance in Soybeans
Major Advisers: Profs. J.H. Orf and N.D. Young
WEED SCIENCE
1941 STAHLER, LEONARD M.
Thesis: Some Ecological Aspects of Competition Between Crop Plants
and Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.)
Major Advisers: Profs. R.B. Harvey and H.K. Wilson
1942 NELSON, RUSSELL THEODORE
Thesis: Studies of Micro-Organisms and Chlorate Persistence in Soils
Treated With Sodium Chlorate
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Wilson and R.H. Landon
1945 BROWN, WILLIAM JOSEPH NICHOLAS
Thesis: Leaching and Decomposition of Sodium Chlorate in Some
Minnesota Soil Types
Major Advisers: Profs. R.B. Harvey and H.K. Wilson
1947 ROBINSON, ROBERT GEORGE
Thesis: Annual Weeds, Their Seed Population in the Soil, Their Effect on
Small Grain and Flax, and Some Ecological Methods of Control
Major Advisers: Profs. C.O. Rost and R.S. Dunham
1948 CARLSON, ARNE EMANUEL
Thesis: A Study of the Root Reserves of Field Bindweed (Convolvulus
arvensis L.) at Various Soil Levels on Fallowed and Undisturbed Land
Major Advisers: Profs. R.S. Dunham and R.H. Landon

272
1948 TANDON, ROOP KISHORE
Thesis: Relative Susceptibility of Flax Varieties to Rates and Formulations
of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1949 ARAKERI HANUMAPPA R.
Thesis: The Relations of Some Environmental Factors to the
Preemergence Treatment of Corn With 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy-acetic Acid
and Soybeans with Ammonium Trichloroacetate*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1950 EVERSON, LEROY EVERETT
Thesis: The Effect of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid on Certain Weed
and Crop Seeds
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1950 SHARMA, JAGDISH NARAIN
Thesis: The Response of Flax to Applications of
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Made at Various Stages of Development
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1952 PATHAK, CHANDRAVADAN HIRALA
Thesis: Effect of Pre-emergence Treatment With 2,4-D on Weeds in
Corn and on Various Soil Properties
Major Advisers: Profs. R.S. Dunham and C.O. Rost
1953 WIESE, ALLEN FRANKLIN
Thesis: The Phytotoxicity of Isopropyl N-Phenyl Carbamate and Related
Compounds on Wild Oats (Avena fatua L.) and Their Selective Action
on Several Crop Plants
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1956 ANDERSON, LAUREL ETHAN
Thesis: The Effects of Aqueous Solutions of MCP Applied to the Shoot
Apex of Redwood Flax
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1957 JORDAN, LOWELL STEPHEN
Thesis: Effects of the Interaction of Varying Temperatures and Light
Intensitites on the Response of Flax to 2,4-D (Dichlorophenoxyacetic
Acid)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham
1957 MILLER, JOHN HAROLD
Thesis: Differential Response of Several Inbreds and Single Crosses of
Corn (Zea mays L.) to 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Dunham

273
1959 BURNSIDE, ORVIN CHARLES
Thesis: The Influence of Environmental Factors on the Phytotoxicity and
Dissipation of Simazin
Major Advisers: Profs. A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens
1959 YEO, RICHARD RUSSELL
Thesis: The Absorption of the Sodium Salt of 2,4-D on Kaolinite,
Bentonite and Cellulose
Major Advisers: Profs. R.S. Dunham and A.C. Caldwell
1960 ANDERSEN, ROBERT NEILS
Thesis: Investigations of the Basis of Selective Action of Dalapon
Major Advisers: Profs. A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens.
1962 ERICKSON, LAMBERT CORNELIUS
Thesis: Influences of Radiant Infrared on Germination of Weed and Crop
Seeds
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1962 NALEWAJA, JOHN DENNIS
Thesis: The Effect of Ethyl N,N-Di-N-Propylthiolcarbamate (EPTC) and
l-N-Butyl-3-(3,4-Dichlorophenyl)-1-Methylurea (Neburon) Upon Alfalfa
Yield, Weed Control, Protein Content and Individual Free Sugars, and
Fate of C 14
–Labeled EPTC in Alfalfa
Major Advisers: Profs. A.R. Schmid and R. Behrens
1962 WAX, LLOYD MONROE
Thesis: Factors Affecting Quackgrass Control with Atrazine
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1963 WARNER, LLOYD CLAUDE
Thesis: Factors Affecting the Fate and Phytotoxicity of
3-Amino-2-5-Dichlorobenzoic Acid (Amiben)
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1964 SINGH, RAGHBIR
Thesis: Physiological Response of Alfalfa and Weeds to 4-(2,4-DB)
Applications
Major Advisers: Profs. R. Behrens and A.R. Schmid
1966 AGUNDIS, OMAR
Thesis: Some Factors That Influence the Deactivation of Atrazine in the Soil
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1969 IMBAMBA, SIMEON KEDOGO
Thesis: Effect of 2-Chloro-4-Ethylamino-6-Isopropyl-Amino-S-
Triazine (Atrazine) on Physiological Processes in Leaves
Major Adviser: Prof. D.N. Moss

274
1969 STRAND, OLIVER ERIC
Thesis: Factors Affecting the Herbicidal Activity of Atrazine Applied as a
Foliar Spray with Oil and Other Adjuvants
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1969 SWANN, CHARLES WILLIAM
Thesis: Physiological Aspects of Trifluralin Herbicidal Activity
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1970 JACOBSOHN, RUBEN
Thesis: Studies on Differential Response of Four Wild Oat Biotypes and
Two Barley Varieties to Barban
Major Adviser: Prof. R.N. Andersen
1971 DARWENT, ALBERT LLOYD
Thesis: Influence of Several Environmental Factors on Plant Response to
2,4-D
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1971 EVANS, JOHN OSCAR
Thesis: Differential Response of Zea mays L. Inbreds to
2,2-Dichloroproprionic Acid
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1971 HAWF, LARRY RAY
Thesis: Some Factors Involved in the Herbicidal Activity of 2,4-DB
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1971 KLOSTERBOER, ARLEN DARYL
Thesis: Factors Affecting the Herbicidal Performance of Trifluralin,
Nitralin and AN56477
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1976 BERTGES, WILLIAM JOHN
Thesis: Establishment of Forage Species for Seed Production with
Herbicide-Protectant Combinations
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1976 BLANK, SHELDON ELMER
Thesis: Studies on the Intraspecific Response of Spring Wheat Cultivars
to Difenzoquat*
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1980 HOTZMAN, FREDERICK WILLIAM
Thesis: Effects of Plant Water Stress on the Response of Velvetleaf
(Abutilon theophrasti), Wild Mustard (Brassica kaber), and Common
Lambsquarter (Chenopodium album L.) to Foliar Applications of 2-4-D
and Dicamba
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens

275
1980 WESTRA, PHILIP
Thesis: Control of Quackgrass (Agropyron repens L.) With Glyphosate
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1981 EBERLEIN, CHARLOTTE VAWTER
Thesis: Environmental and Selectivity Factors Involved in Wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.) Tolerance to Propanil
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1981 YOUNG, FRANCIS LEWIS
Thesis: Quackgrass (Agropyron repens L.) Interference in Corn (Zea
mays L.) and Soybeans (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1982 HAGEMAN, LARRY HERMAN
Thesis: Investigations of Chlorsulfuron Mode of Action and Soil
Persistence
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1982 RANSOM, JOEL K.
Thesis: Chemical and Cultural Control of Common Waterplantain in Wild
Rice*
Major Adviser: Prof. E.A. Oelke
1983 HALLING, BLAIK P.
Thesis: Investigations on the Mechanism of Action of Difenzoquat
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1983 KLEVORN, THOMAS BERNARD
Thesis: Effect of Soil Temperature, Soil Moisture, and Transport System
Alteration on Assimilate Transport in Quackgrass (Agropyron repens L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1983 QUAKENBUSH, LAURA SUE
Thesis: Studies on the Biology and Herbicide Susceptibility of Weedy
Nightshades of the Solanum nigrum Complex Solanum Sect. Solanum
Major Adviser: Prof. R.N. Andersen
1984 WALDECKER, MARK ALLEN
Thesis: Soil Moisture, Chemical, and Physical Effects on Glyphosate
Absorption and Translocation in Common Milkweed (Asclepias
syriaca L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1985 MERIWANI, YUSUF NURRADDIN
Thesis: Effect of Tillage, Glyphosate and Sethoxydim on Quackgrass
(Agropyron repens L.) in a Corn (Zea mays L.) Soybean (Glycine max
L.) Rotation
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse

276
1986 COULTAS, JEFFREY SCOTT
Thesis: Growth and Development of Wild Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum
L.) in Three Cropping Systems and Natural Infestations
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1986 KIDDER, DANIEL WORDEN
Thesis: Behavior of 14C-Haloxyfop-Methyl as Influenced by Water Stress
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1987 JOHNSON, MICHAEL DONALD
Thesis: The Influence of Herbicide Formulation on Weed Control in Four
Tillage Systems: Absorption, Translocation, and Metabolism of Bentazon
in Tolerant and Susceptible Soybeans (Glycine max L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1988 STAMM, ELIZABETH J. (KATOVICH)
Thesis: A Characterization of Correlatively Inhibited Root Buds of
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1988 STOLTENBERG, DAVID ERIC
Thesis: Selectivity and Mechanism of Action of Sethoxydim and
Haloxyfop
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1989 BOERBOOM, CHRIS MICHAEL
Thesis: Selection and Characterization of Glyphosate Tolerance in
Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1990 PARKER, WILLIAM BEAURIE
Thesis: Selection and Characterization of Sethoxydim- and
Haloxyfop-Tolerant Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1992 SORENSON, BRENT ALAN
Thesis: Formation and Movement of 14C-Atrazine Degradation Products
in a Sandy Loam, Silt Loam and Clay Loam Soil Under Field Conditions
Major Advisers: Profs. D.L. Wyse and W. Koskinen
1993 BUSSLER, BRETT HAYDEN
Thesis: Corn Interactions With Common Cocklebur and Velvetleaf
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1993 DOTRAY, PETER ANTHONY
Thesis: Cross Tolerance to Aryloxyphenoxypropionate and
Cyclohexanedione Herbicides in Tissue Culture Derived Corn (Zea mays
L.) Lines
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse

277
1993 EVENSON, KIMBERLY JANE
Thesis: Characterization of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase from
Diclofop-Resistant and -Susceptible Lolium multiflorum Biotypes
Major Advisers: Profs. J.W. Gronwald and D.L. Wyse
1993 RZOZI, BENNASSEUR SI
Thesis: Weed Interference and Control in Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.L. Wyse
1998 DOMINGUEZ-VALENZUELA, JOSE
Thesis: Effect of Nitrogen Source and Time of Giant Foxtail (Setaria fabveril
H.) Removal on Corn (Zea mays L.)
Major Advisers: Profs. J.L. Gunsolus and G.A. Johnson
WHEAT
1925 GOULDEN, CYRIL HAROLD
Thesis: A Genetic and Cytological Study of Dwarfing in Wheat and Oats
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1925 HARRINGTON, JAMES BISHOP
Thesis: The Inheritance of Resistance to Puccinia graminis in Crosses
Between Varieties of Durum Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1926 STEWART, GEORGE
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance in Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1927 AAMODT, OLAF SVERRE
Thesis: A Study of the Growth Habit and Rust Reaction in Crosses
Between Marquis, Kota and Kanred Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1930 QUISENBERRY, KARL SPANGLER
Thesis: Inheritance of Winter Hardiness, Growth Habit and Stem Rust
Resistance in Crosses Between Minhardi Winter and H-44 Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1931 NEATBY, KENNETH WILLIAM
Thesis: Factor Relations in Wheat for Resistance to Groups of
Physiologic Forms of Puccinia graminis tritici
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1931 POWERS, LEROY
Thesis: Cytologic and Genetic Studies of Variability of Strains of Wheat
Derived from Interspecific Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

278
1932 AUSEMUS, ELMER REX
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance in a Triangular Wheat Cross of Reaction
to Diseases and Botanical Characters
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1932 SALMON, SAMUEL CECIL
Thesis: Resistance of Varieties of Winter Wheat and Rye to Low
Temperatures in Relation to Winter Hardiness and Adaptation
Major Advisers: Profs. A.C. Arny and H.K. Hayes
1934 KULKARNI, LAXMAN GOPAL
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance with Special Reference to Disease
Resistance in Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1935 PAN, CHIEN LIANG
Thesis: A Genetic Study of Mature Plant Resistance in Spring Wheat to
Black Stem Rust (Puccinia graminis tritici)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1940 WHITE, WILLIAM JAMES
Thesis: Intergeneric Crosses Between Triticum and Agropyron
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1941 CHANG, SIH-CHANG
Thesis: Morphological and Physiological Causes for Varietal Differences
in Shattering and After-Harvest Sprouting in Cereal Crops*
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Wilson
1941 MACINDOE, STEPHEN LIVINGSTONE
Thesis: The Nature and Inheritance of Resistance to Stem Rust of Wheat
(Puccinia graminis tritici)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1943 SEMENIUK, WILLIAM ANTON
Thesis: A Study of Chromosome Behavior and Rust Reaction in
Advanced Generations of Triticum vulgare x T. timopheevi
and in Crosses of Certain of These Lines with Hard Red Spring Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1944 WEIR, JOHN ROBERT
Thesis: A Study of the Inheritance of Protein Content, Date of Heading,
and Height in a Cross of Prelude X Dicklow Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1945 ABBASI, FEEROSE HUSAIN
Thesis: Studies of Mature Plant and Physiologic Resistance to Stem Rust
in Crosses of Premier With Kenya
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

279
1945 ATKINS, IRVIN MILBURN
Thesis: The Inheritance of Characters Associated With Resistance to
Lodging in a Cross of Kanred With Coppei Winter Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1946 PETO, HOWARD BROADHURST
Thesis: The Nature of Drought Resistance in Spring Wheat
Major Advisers: Profs. F.R. Immer and R.B. Harvey
1947 SMITH, GLENN SANBORN
Thesis: Inheritance of Stem Rust Reaction, Glume Tenacity and Head
Type in Mindum Durum x Vernal Emmer
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1948 AYAD, MOHAMED ABDEL-GHANI
Thesis: Correlated Inheritance of Reaction to Stem Rust and Other
Characters in Crosses between Egyptian Varieties of Wheat
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Hayes and E. C. Stakman
1948 HASNAIN, SYED ZULFIQARUL
Thesis: Study of Stem Rust Reaction and Other Characters in Indian
Wheat Varieties and Their Crosses
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Hayes and H.H. Hart
1950 KOO, KEH-SHING (FRANCIS)
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Stem Rust and Other Characters in
Crosses of Timstein With Thatcher, Newthatch and Mida
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1950 WU, CHAO-SU
Thesis: Inheritance of Leaf Rust Reaction and Other Characters in a
Spring Wheat Cross
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1951 HASHIM, MOHAMMED
Thesis: Studies of the Mode of Inheritance of Leaf Rust Reaction and
Other Characteristics in Crosses of Frontana with Thatcher and
Newthatch Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1952 HANNAH, ALVIN EDMUND
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Bunt in Crosses Involving Redman
Wheat and Some of Its Ancestors
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1952 HEYNE, ELMER GEORGE
Thesis: Inheritance of Leaf Rust, (Puccinia rubigo-vera tritici) (Erikss.
and Henn.) Carl., Reaction and Other Characters in Crosses Among
Three Wheat Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus

280
1952 JONES, GUY LANGSTON
Thesis: Inheritance of the Mode of Reaction to Stem Rust, Particularly
Race 15B, and Leaf Rust in Two Crosses of Vulgare Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1952 MARTINEZ, LORENZO M.
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Leaf Rust, (Puccinia rubigo-vera tritici
Erikss.) Carleton, and of Certain Other Characters in a Wheat Cross
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1953 McNEAL, FRANCIS HARRISON
Thesis: Inheritance of Stem Solidness in a Thatcher by Rescue Wheat
Cross
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1953 ROHDE, CHARLES RAYMOND
Thesis: A Study of the Inheritance of the Reaction to Leaf Rust and
Other Characters in Triangular Wheat Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1954 CAMPBELL, ALLAN BARRIE
Thesis: A Monosomic Analysis of Redman Wheat for Stem Rust
Resistance
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1954 DA SILVA, ADY RAUL
Thesis: Breeding for Stem and Leaf Rust Resistance in Wheat in Brazil,
Including Basic Genetical Studies and a Survey of the Physiological Races
of Rust
Major Advisers: Profs. C.R. Burnham and H.H. Hart
1954 HEERMANN, RUBEN MARTIN
Thesis: Inheritance of Stem Rust Reaction in Durum and Emmer Crosses
with Particular Reference to Race 15B
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1954 OMAR, ABDEL-AZIZ MOSTAFA
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Race l5B and Some Other Races of
Stem Rust of Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1954 PLESSERS, ARTHUR GERARD
Thesis: The Genetics of Stem and Leaf Rust Reactions and Other
Characters in Crosses of Lee Wheat with Chinese Monosomic Testers*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
1955 REITZ, LOUIS POWERS
Thesis: Responses of Hard Winter Wheat Varieties in Regional Tests
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus

281
1956 ASLAM, CHAUDHARI MUHAMMAD
Thesis: Relationship of Genes for Rust Resistance in Vulgare Wheat
Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1960 SUNDERMAN, DONALD WAYNE
Thesis: Inheritance of Reaction to Stem Rust in Crosses Between Certain
Vulgare Spring Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1961 FUAD, JAMAL ABDUL-KARIM
Thesis: Inheritance of Stem Rust Reaction to Races 15B, 11, and 56 in
Crosses of Some Vulgare Wheats
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1962 CORTAZAR, RENE S.
Thesis: Inheritance of Stem Rust Reaction and Certain Other Characters
in a Cross of Thatcher x 11-53-521 and Several Other Wheat Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1962 SHEEN, SHUH-JI
Thesis: Studies of Genetic Factors Controlling Stem Rust Resistance in
Chromosome Substitution Lines of Two Wheat Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
1963 LEISLE, DAVID
Thesis: The Inheritance of Seedling Stem Rust Reaction to Races 56 and
15B in a Frontana X Kenya 58-Newthatch Derivative and its Parents
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1963 MCKENZIE, HUGH
Thesis: Inheritance of Characters, Especially Mode of Reaction to Sawfly
and Bunt, in Spring Wheat Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. E.R. Ausemus
1964 KAO, FA-TEN
Thesis: Effects of Recurrent Irradiation in Diploid, Tetraploid, and
Hexaploid Triticum Species*
Major Adviser: Prof. R.S. Caldecott
1965 JACKSON, BEN RAY
Thesis: Quantitative Inheritance in Crosses Among Four Tetraploid
Wheats*
Major Adviser: Prof. L.A. Snyder
1967 GILMORE, EARL CARNLEY JR.
Thesis: Composition of the Phenotypic Variance of Percent Protein in
Hard Red Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. L.A. Snyder

282
1976 BLANK, SHELDON ELMER
Thesis: Studies on the Interspecific Response of Spring Wheat Cultivars
to Difenzoquat*
Major Adviser: Prof. R. Behrens
1979 MARTINEZ-GONZALEZ, JESUS
Thesis: Slow Rusting to Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici in Era Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1981 ELSAYED, FAROUK A.
Thesis: Daylength Insensitivity in Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.):
Effect on Agronomic Traits and Its Inheritance
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1982 HERNANDEZ-SIERRA ARTURO
Thesis: Recurrent Selection Methods in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. D.D. Stuthman
1982 LOFFLER, CARLOS MARCELO
Thesis: Grain and Plant Protein Relationships and Recurrent Selection
for Grain Protein Percentage in Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1983 ALTMAN, DAVID WAYNE
Thesis: Random Intermating Before Selection in Spring Wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1983 EATON, DANA LYLE
Thesis: The Incorporation of Unadapted Germplasm Into Adapted Spring
Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1985 BENINATI, NOEL FRANCIS
Thesis: Inheritance of Grain Protein in Two Hard Red Spring Wheat
Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1986 PAULY, MICHAEL HALE
Thesis: Parameters of Nitrogen Utilization in Hard Red Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1988 BROTSLAW, DANIEL JEFFREY
Thesis: Crosses of Spring by Winter Wheats: Agronomic and
Breadmaking Quality of Spring Wheat Progeny
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1992 DELZER, BRENT WILLIAM
Thesis: Recurrent Selection of Grain Protein in Hard Red Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch

283
1992 KAMANZI, ABDUL
Thesis: Characterization of Testing Sites of Uniform Regional Hard Red
Spring Wheat Performance Nurseries
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1993 VAN BEUNINGEN, LEONARDUS THEODORUS
Thesis: Genetic Diversity Among North American Spring Wheat Cultivars
as Determined From Genealogy and Morphology
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1995 FABRIZIUS, MARTIN A.
Thesis: Genetic Diversity and Heterosis in North American Hard Red
Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1995 WIERSMA, JOCHUM JAN
Thesis: Recurrent Selection for Kernel Weight in Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
1999 PROCOPIUK, ANA MARIA
Thesis: Early Generation Bulk Testing to Evaluate the Introgression of
Unadapted Wheat (Triticum asetivum L.) Germplasm into Adapted
Spring Wheat
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
WILD RICE
1971 SMITH, LARRY JAMES
Thesis: Agronomic Studies on Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica)
Major Adviser: Prof. W.A. Brun
1982 EVERETT, LESLIE ALLEN
Thesis: A Comparison of Selection Methods for Reduced
Shattering in Wild Rice (Zizania palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1982 RANSOM, JOEL K.
Thesis: Control of Common Waterplantain (Alisma trivale)
in Wild Rice (Zizania palustris L.)*
Major Adviser: Prof. E.A. Oelke
1984 PALM, WALLACE EINAR
Thesis: Half-Sib Family Selection in Wild Rice (Zizania palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1985 HERNANDEZ, JOSE E.
Thesis: Intercultivar Competition in Row Plots of Wild Rice
(Zizania palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker

284
1986 CLAY, SHARON A.
Thesis: Interference and Control of Giant Burrweed (Sparganium
eurycarpum) in Wild Rice (Zizinia palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. E.A. Oelke
1986 HAYES, PATRICK MILO
Thesis: Selection for Tiller Synchrony in Wild Rice
(Zizania palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
1988 WANDREY, GREGORY GERARD
Thesis: Genetic Variation of Seed Length in Wild Rice
(Zizania palustris L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. R.E. Stucker
LESS-OFTEN-STUDIED CROPS OR SUBJECTS
BEANS
1940 HILPERT, MARION MOTH
Thesis: Genetic Studies in Phaseolus vulgaris
Major Advisers: Profs. F.R. Immer and T.M. Currence
1990 SADIKI, MOHAMMED
Thesis: Germplasm Development and Breeding for Improved Biological
Nitrogen Fixation in Faba Bean in Morocoo
Major Adviser: Prof. D.K. Barnes
BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL
1953 YAWALKAR, KESHAO SIRWAN
Thesis: Performance of Birdsfoot Trefoil Alone and in Competition With
Other Species in Pastures
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1954 RACHIE, KENNETH OWEN
Thesis: Winter Hardiness of Birdsfoot Trefoil Strains and Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. A.R. Schmid
1992 MILLER, PERRY RAY
Thesis: Inheritance of Condensed Tannins and Tannin-Forage-Quality
Relationships in Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.)
Major Advisers: Profs. N.J. Ehlke and D.K. Barnes

285
BLUEGRASS
l946
KRAMER, HERBERT HARVEY
Thesis: Morphologic and Agronomic Variation in Poa pratensis L. in
Relation to Chromosome Numbers
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
BROMEGRASS
1942 TSIANG, YIEN SI
Thesis: Methods of Breeding Bromegrass, Bromus inermis, Leyss.
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Hayes and R.H. Landon
1951 KNEEBONE, WILLIAM ROBERT
Thesis: Factors Related to Forage Quality and to Seed Production
Among Eight Clones of Bromus inermis L. and Their Polycross
Progenies
Major Advisers: Profs. H.L. Thomas and M.F. Kernkamp
1956 TIMOTHY, DAVID HARRY
Thesis: Evaluations of Combining Ability in Bromus inermis L.
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas
1957 DICKENSON, DONALD DWIGHT
Thesis: The Characteristics of Six Bromegrass (Bromus inermis L.)
Clones, Their Polycross and Single Cross Progeny
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas
1962 ROBISON, LAREN R.
Thesis: Combining Ability for Seedling Vigor and the Isolation of
Seedling Pathogens in Bromus inermis L.
Major Advisers: Profs. R.R. Wilcoxson and H.L. Thomas
COTTON
1948 RICHMOND, THOMAS ROLLIN
Thesis: The Genetics of Certain Factors Responsible for Lint Quantity in
American Upland Cotton
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes.
CRIMSON CLOVER
1950 ROGERS, THOMAS HAYDEN
Thesis: Methods of Breeding Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

286
INTERCROPS
1994 AYISI, KINGSLEY KWABENA
Thesis: Yield, Quality and Competitive Interactions in a Canola-Soybean
Strip Intercrop*
Major Advisers: Profs. C.P. Vance, and D.H. Putnam
KENAF
1961 NELSON, ELTON GLEN
Thesis: Inheritance in Kenaf as Related to Selection of Inbred Lines for
Composite Varieties
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
KURA CLOVER
1993 PETERSON, PAUL RICHARD
Thesis: Kura Clover (Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb.): Growth, Forage
Quality, Persistence, and Carbohydrate Reserves Under Sheep Grazing
and Clipping*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
2000 SEGUIN, PHILLIPPE
Thesis: Quantification and Characterization of Kura Clover (Trifolium
ambiguum M.B.) Dinitrogen Fixation
Major Adviser: Prof. C.C. Sheaffer
LESPEDEZA
1941 STITT, RHEA EMERSON
Thesis: Inheritance Studies of the Tannin Content of Perennial Lespedeza
Major Adviser: Profs. H.K. Hayes and H.K. Wilson
ONIONS
1951 FERGUSON, ALBERT CLARENCE
Thesis: A Study of the Relationship Between Characters in Inbred Lines
of Onions and Their Crosses
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes

287
ORCHARDGRASS
1940 SCHULTZ, HERMAN KARL
Thesis: A Study of Methods of Breeding Orchard Grass (Dactylis glomerata
L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
POTATO
1948 RIEDL, WILLIAM ALFRED
Thesis: The Inheritance of Tuber-set in Solanum tuberosum L.
Major Advisers: Profs. F.A. Krantz and H.K. Hayes
RED CLOVER
1956 DEWEY, DOUGLAS R.
Thesis: Combining Ability and Related Studies of Selected Lines of Red
Clover (Trifolium pratense L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers
REED CANARYGRASS
1970 SIMONS, ALLAN BARNARD
Thesis: Relationship of Indole Alkaloids to Palatability of Phalaris arundinacea
L. and Influence of Several Factors on Alkaloid Concentration*
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten
1972 FRELICH, JAMES R.
Thesis: Effect of Environmental Factors on Indole Alkaloids in Reed
Canarygrass, (Phalaris arundinacea L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. G.C. Marten
1978 MARUM, PETTER KAND
Thesis: Cell Wall Constitutents in Reed Canarygrass: Variation in Plant
Parts, Heritability, and Association With Other Forage Quality
Characters*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.W. Hovin
1980 CASLER, MICHAEL DARWIN
Thesis: An Analysis of Forage Yield in Reed Canarygrass: Heritability of
Stability Parameters, Factors Influencing Stability, and Yield Prediction
from Morphological Characters*
Major Adviser: Prof. A.W. Hovin

288
1984 SUPRENANT, JACQUES
Thesis: Forage Yield and Quality in Reed Canarygrass; Influence of
Planting Patterns and Effect of One Cycle of Phenotypic Selection
Major Adviser: Prof. R.H. Busch
RUBBER PLANTS
1950 HENDERSON, ROBERT WESLEY
Thesis: Inheritance of Rubber Percentage in Taxaracum Kok-Saghya
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
RYE
1926 BREWBAKER, HARVEY EDGAR
Thesis: Studies of Self-Fertilization in Rye
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1933 PETERSON, RUDOLPH FREDERICK
Thesis: The Improvement of Rye Through Inbreeding
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1949 WARREN, FRANCIS SHIRLEY
Thesis: Correlation Studies of Yield and Other Characters in Rye
Polycrosses
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1950 PUTT, ERIC DOUGLAS
Thesis: Cytogenetic Studies of Sterility in Rye*
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
RYEGRASS
1997 WALDRON, BLAIR L.
Thesis: Breeding for Improved Winterhardiness in Turf-Type Perennial
Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)
Major Adviser: Prof. N.J. Ehlke
STATISTICS
1991 PAGE, NATHANIEL JOHN
Thesis: A Computer Simulation Evaluation of the Utility of Marker-
Assisted Selection
Major Advisers: Profs. R.E. Stucker and F.D. Enfield

289
1994 ABADIE, TABARE
Thesis: A Computer-Simulation Evaluation of Breeding Methods for Self-
Pollinated Species
Major Advisers: Profs. R.E. Stucker and F.D. Enfield
SUGAR BEETS
1934 RALEIGH, STEPHEN MARTIN
Thesis: Environmental Factors Affecting Seed Setting in Sugar Beets
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Wilson
1940 CULBERTSON, JOSEPH OLIVER
Thesis: The Inheritance of Sucrose Percentage in Beta vulgaris L.
Major Adviser: Prof. F.R. Immer
SWEET CLOVER
1936 McMICHAEL, SCOTT CLARENCE
Thesis: A Comparative Study of Strains of Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba
Desr.)
Major Advisers: Profs. H.K. Wilson and R.B. Harvey
1937 STEVENSON, TRUEMAN M.
Thesis: Sweet Clover Studies on Habit of Growth, Seed Pigmentation
and Permeability of the Seed Coat
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1943 RINKE, ERNEST HENRY
Thesis: The Inheritance of Coumarin in Sweet Clover
(Melilotus alba Desr.)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
TALL FESCUE
1952 COWAN, J. RITCHIE
Thesis: Some Plant Breeding Studies with Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea
Schreb.)
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas
1955 BUCKNER, ROBERT CECIL
Thesis: Breeding Tall Fescue for Palatability
Major Adviser: Prof. W.M. Myers

290
TIMOTHY
1927 CLARKE, SIDNEY EDWARD
Thesis: Self-Fertilization in Timothy
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
TOMATOES
1933 HUMPHREY, LLEWELLYN MEALEY
Thesis: The Meiotic Divisions of Haploid, Diploid, and Tetraploid
Tomatoes with Special Reference to the Prophase
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1954 QUINONES, FERDINAND ANTONIO
Thesis: Heterosis in Tomatoes as Affected by Diverse Origin of Parents
Major Advisers: Profs. E.H. Rinke and T.M. Currence
1966 STRINGHAM, GARY RICE
Thesis: Cytogenetic Studies of Chromosome 2 in the Tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)
Major Adviser: Prof. C.R. Burnham
WHEATGRASS
1941 MURPHY, ROYSE PEAK
Thesis: Part A, Methods of Breeding Crested Wheatgrass, (Agropyron
cristatum L.) Beauv. Part B, Convergent Improvement With Four Inbred
Lines of Corn
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
1952 HEINRICHS, DAVID HENRY
Thesis: Methods of Breeding Intermediate Wheatgrass, Agropyron intermedium
(Host.) Beauv.
Major Adviser: Prof. H.K. Hayes
WHITE CLOVER
1966 YUNGBLUTH, THOMAS ALAN
Thesis: A Study of the Possible Role of Recombination Within the Self-
Compatability Locus Resulting in Pseudo-Self-Compatability in Trifolium
repens L.
Major Adviser: Prof. H.L. Thomas

Appendix E
Field Crop Varieties
VARIETIES RELEASED BY THE MINNESOTA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Crop Cultivar Name Date
ADZUKI
Minoka 1980
Crop Cultivar Name Date
BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL
Norcen 1983
ALFALFA
Grimm 1895
Ramsey 1973
Agate 1973
ARC 1975
Nitro 1986
Wrangler 1986
ANNUAL CANARYGRASS
Alden 1973
Keet 1979
Elias 1983
BARLEY
Manchuria 1918
Minsturdi 1922
Svansota 1926
Velvet 1926
Peatland 1926
Glabron 1929
Regal 1931
Mars 1945
Forrest 1957
Cree 1957
Manker 1974
Morex 1978
Robust 1983
Excel 1990
Stander 1993
Royal 1994
MNBrite 1998
Lacey 2000
BLUEGRASS
Park 1969
Tommy 1993
BROMEGRASS
Martin 1951
Fox 1968
BUCKWHEAT
Giant American 1977
FIELD PEA
Procon 1986
FLAX
Primost 1900
Redwing 1916
Winona 1922
Chippewa 1923
Redson 1943
Biwing 1943
Crystal 1944
Minerva 1949
Dakota 1949
Redwood 1952
Arny 1961
Marine 62 1962
Windom 1962
Nored 1968
Norstar 1969
Culbert 1975
Verne 1987

292
Crop Cultivar Name Date
HORSEBEAN
Minnesota Horse- 1968
bean
OAT
Improved Ligoua 1895
Swedish Select 1908
MN #281 1910
MN #289 1910
Minota 1910
Silvermine 1914
Gopher 1923
Anthony 1929
Minrus 1931
Mindo 1946
Bonda 1946
Zephyr 1949
Andrew 1949
Minland 1955
Minhafer 1957
Minton 1959
Otter 1970
Lyon 1977
Moore 1978
Benson 1979
Preston 1982
Proat 1983
Starter 1986
Premier 1990
Milton 1994
Pal 1994
Jim 1995
Richard 2000
PROSO MILLET
Snobird 1976
Minco 1976
Minsum 1980
RED CLOVER
Wegener
REED CANARYGRASS
MN-76 1976
RYE
Caribou 1954
Crop Cultivar Name Date
Elk 1959
Emerald
Pearl 1964
Swedish Minn. #2
Von Lochow 1964
Rymin 1973
SORGHUM, GRAIN
Minnesota 1 1963
RS 455 1976
MA-4 A 1976
MA-4 B
SOYBEAN
Habaro

293
Crop Cultivar Name Date
Kasota 1990
Bert 1991
Leslie 1991
Agassiz 1992
Lambert 1992
Parker 1992
Alpha 1992
Hendricks 1994
Faribault 1994
M87-1567 1994
Toyopro 1995
Black Kato 1995
Glacier 1995
Granite 1995
Freeborn 1995
MN 0301 1997
MN 1301 1997
UM3 1997
Surge 1997
Stride 1997
MN 1401 1998
MN 0901 1999
MN 1801 1999
MN 0902CN 2000
SUNFLOWER
Arrowhead 1954
Mingren 1964
TICKBEAN
Petite 1975
TIMOTHY
Itasca 1951
WILD RICE
Netum 1978
Voyager 1983
Meter 1985
Franklin 1992
Purple Petrowski 2000
Crop Cultivar Name Date
WHEAT, HARD RED SPRING
Preston (1895)
Reliance (1926)
#163 1899
#169 1902
#188 1905
Glyndon 1915
Marquillo 1928
Thatcher 1934
Newthatch 1944
Lee 1951
Willet 1954
Crim 1963
Chris 1965
Polk 1968
Era 1970
Fletcher 1970
Kitt 1975
Angus 1978
Centurk 1981
Marshall 1982
Wheaton 1983
Vance 1989
Minnpro 1989
Norm 1992
Verde 1995
BacUp 1996
HJ98 1998
McVey 1999
WHEAT, HARD RED WINTER
Minard 1915
Minturki 1919
Marim 1940
Minter 1948
WHEAT, DURUM
Mindum 1917
Spelmar 1917
WHEAT, SOFT RED WINTER
Minhardi 1920

294
CORN HYBRIDS, INBRED AND SOURCE POPULATIONS
Minhybrid designations: Double-cross Minhybrids released prior to 1965
contain three digits. The first digit represents the maturity zone: 4=southern,
5=south central, 6=central, 7=north central, and 8=northern. The
remaining two digits designate the hybrid’s sequence within a zone.
In 1965 new Minhybrids were given four-digit designations. The first digit
designates the maturity. The second digit designates the type of cross:
2=single cross, 3=three-way cross, and 4=double cross. The last two digits
designate the sequence of release within each zone.
Variety
MINHYBRID
201, 202
301
401– 418
4201– 4203, 4301– 4303
500–509, 511– 513, 515, 519
5201, 5202, 5301– 5303
600–609, 611– 613, 621
6301– 6305
700 – 703, 706, 707, 711
7301
800 – 806
8201, 8301
AES
101, 201– 204, 514, 610
MINN. EXPERIMENTAL
157, 309
SWEET CORN HYBRIDS
Minhybrid
201– 205
Variety
POPCORN HYBRIDS
Minhybrid
250 – 252
OPEN POLLINATED
Minn. 13, Rustler, Northwestern
Dent, Longfellow, Silver King
INBRED LINES (DENT TYPE)
A7, 12, 15, 21, 25, 34, 71,73, 90,
96, 111, 116, 131, 148, 158, 165,
166, 171,188,203, 204, 208,218,
223, 238, 239, 251, 254–259,
264, 265, 277, 286, 293, 295,
297, 305, 308, 311, 312, 322,
334, 340, 344, 347, 357, 374,
375, 385, 392, 395, 401, 417,
427, 495, 498,502, 508, 509, 513,
545–548, 551, 554, 556, 561,
563, 568, 619, 624, 629–632,
634–641, 648 – 663

295
Appendix F
Index
A
A tribute to Fred Frosheiser 57
Aamodt, O.S. 22, 104, 187, 189
Acres (of seed) certified of selected crops 179
Adams, R.S., Jr. 46
Advisers, student club 46
Adzuki 134, 153, 154, 156
Ag botany greenhouse 27
Arakeri, H.R. 187
Agricultural Association of Minnesota 13, 176
Agricultural engineers 151, 165
Agricultural industries and marketing major
40, 43
Agronomy Building 5, 7, 27, 33, 175
Agronomy Journal 69
Alexander, Lee 32, 33
Alfalfa 11, 18, 22-25, 51-57, 83, 84, 85,
86, 90, 91, 93, 95, 97, 115, 119, 159,
160, 163, 164, 291
breeding and pathology research 51-57
varieties 291
Alfalfa Variety Review Board 93
Amaranth 153
American Alfalfa Improvement Conference 93
American Forage and Grassland Council 90,
91
American Genetics Association 11
American Malting Barley Association 62
American Society of Agronomy 13, 15-22,
45
American Soybean Association 19, 20
Andersen, R.N. 22, 133, 134, 136, 138
Anderson, Don 173
Anderson, Hubert 77
Anderson, James 22, 108, 146, 189
Anderson, Richard 173, 174, 190
Animal and plant systems major 40, 43
Annual canarygrass 134, 153, 154, 156, 291
Annual medics 93
Armour, Myron 22, 48, 130
Armstrong, Charles 107
Arneman, Harold 46
Arny, A.C. 22, 32, 35, 36, 44, 81, 84, 85,
129, 136, 163, 182, 189
Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies
(AOSCA) 13
Ausemus, E.R. 5, 22, 104, 142, 143, 146,
182, 189
Axtell, John 105
B
Backcross 69, 73
Bahri, Hakima 116
Baker, Reed 100
Banttari, E.E. 60
Barberg, Eric 92
Barberry 169
Barker, Reed 100
Barley 6-8, 11, 22, 23, 25, 26, 59-62, 90,
94, 104, 110, 124, 160, 169, 170, 175,
179, 291
improvement 59-62
varieties 60, 291
Barnes, Donald K. 22, 46, 51, 54-57, 93,
187, 189, 190
Barnett, Ron 121
Bassett, L.B. 22, 33, 175
Beadle, George 105
Bean, dry edible 165
Becker, Roger 22, 50, 136, 138, 190
Bees, alkali, honey, leaf cutting 97
Behrens, Richard 19, 22, 50, 97, 134, 136,
137, 190
Beil, Gary 180
Bergan, Glen, farm 52
Bergh, Otto 173
Bergland, Robert (Bob) 97
Bergsrud, Fred 165
Bernardo, Rex 22, 76, 189
Bindweed 129, 130
Bio Veg 133, 154
Birdsfoot trefoil 25, 86, 91, 98, 101, 109,
291
Bloat, 91

296
Bloom, P. 151
Bluegrass, Kentucky 5, 84-86, 95, 98-100,
102, 291
Boedicker, J. 151
Bolley, H.L. 80
Booth, Ernest G. 187
Borgeson, Carl 22, 96, 98, 104, 181, 182
Borlaug Hall 19, 27, 30
Borlaug, Norman 81
Boss, Andrew 2-4, 12, 14, 22, 35, 64, 83,
129, 139, 162, 168, 176, 178, 180-182,
187, 189
Branch agricultural experiment stations 85,
158-174
Branch station conference 167
personnel 162, 173, 174
Bregitzer, Phil 116
Breiland, Oscar 97
Brewbaker, Harvey 22, 65-67, 103
Bridgford, Roy O. 60, 161, 170, 182
Briggle, Lee 23, 119
Briggs, Rodney 23, 48, 49, 173, 181
Brink, R.A. 105
Bromegrass 84, 86, 99, 158, 291
Brookins, W.W. 47, 48, 130
Brooks, Erwin 147, 148
Brule, Adrian 97
Brule, Oscar 97
Brun, William 150
Buckthorn nursery 114, 117
Buckwheat 153, 154, 156, 165, 291
Buhler, D. 136, 138, 189, 190
Buildings, department 27-30
locator map 29
Bull, Coates P. 3, 4, 11, 13, 23, 35, 129,
174, 178, 179, 181, 182
Bull, James 13
Burnham, C.R. 5, 23, 33, 60, 104-106, 189
Burnside, Orvin C. 6, 19,22, 129, 126, 136-
138, 182, 189, 190
Burson, P.M. 87, 97
Busch, Robert 23, 139, 144, 146, 182, 188-
190
C
Caldecott, R.S. 22, 105
Camelina 153
Canada thistle 101, 135
Cannabis 165
Canola 153
Cardwell, V.B. 23, 39-41, 43, 44, 46, 188-
190
Carnahan, H.L. 104
Casler, Michael 100
Caspus bug 98
Center for Alternative Plant and Animal
Products (CAPAP) 46, 183, 184
Center for Microbial Plant Genomics 49
Centers and institutes 183
Centgener 80
Certified Alfalfa Variety Review Board 53
Certified seed 170, 177
Champlin, Manly 13
Chang, Te Tzu 187
Chapman, Herman H. 160, 173
Chemical Storage Facility 30
Christensen Laboratory 30
Christensen, A.M. 173
Christensen, J.J. 8, 60, 71, 72, 81
Christenson, Clifford 45
Christianson, Charles 97
Cicer milkvetch 91, 98, 101, 102
Civil service 32
excellence award 291
Clark, Elmer 170, 173
Clones 107
Clover, alsike 96, 97
kura 92, 93, 98
ladino 99
red 82, 86, 96-99
white 99
Coffey Hall 3
Cole, C.L. 173
College of Agricultural, Food, and
Environmental Sciences (COAFES) 50, 98,
109, 183, 184
of Agriculture 39-41, 47, 130, 158, 162
of Biological Sciences 106, 109
Comfrey 153
Compton, William 23, 76
Comstock, Ralph 106
Comstock, V.E. 23, 79, 82
Coon Creek experimental fields 165
Cooper, T.P. 23, 46
Corn 5, 6, 11, 15, 16, 21-27, 49, 63-78, 84,
94, 109, 132, 137, 154, 160, 160-166,
169, 170, 175, 179
borer 74
improvement 63-78
varieties 294
Coteau Farm 3, 11, 158, 159, 172
County agent 5, 47, 171
Cowan, J.W. 99
Crambe 153
Crim, R.F. 4, 23, 47, 48, 60, 176, 178, 181,
182
Crookston, R. Kent 6, 7, 20, 41, 184, 185,
189, 190
Croom, H.G. 173
Crop and acreage assigned for increase, 1920
169

297
Crop improvement 171, 179
Quality Council 179
Science Society of America 19, 22, 45
varieties released by the Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station (Appendix E)
291-293
Crops and soils conference 170, 171
research building 30
service buildings 28
teams coaches 45
teams, judging contests 17, 44, 45, 85, 129
Crownvetch 86, 153
Culbertson, J.O 23, 81, 82, 103, 163, 182
Cummings, Donn 119, 191
Cuomo, Gregory 23, 173, 174
Cytogenetics 5, 17, 23-26, 60, 78, 103-107
D
Dahlager, Howard 180, 181
Dahleen, Lynn 119
Dailey, Donald L. 173
Dalapon 131
De Haan, L. 93
De Koeyer, David 116, 120
Decision cases in agriculture 21
Denniston, Rollin 87
Department buildings 27-30
Department of Agriculture (University) 3
Agronomy and Plant Genetics 17, 18, 20,
32, 35, 53, 62, 82, 86, 99, 101, 103, 105,
106, 109, 110, 123, 147, 148, 157, 179,
180, 183-185
Entomology 74
Genetics and Cell Biology 106, 109
Plant Biology 22
Plant Pathology 15, 56, 74
Plant Pathology and Botany 113, 129
Dewey, Douglas R. 187
Dexter, A. 135, 136
Dicamba 135
Dill-Macky, Ruth 121, 145
Dillman, A.C. 79
Distinguished undergraduate teachers 43
Division of Agronomy and Farm Management
13, 14, 32, 48, 84, 103, 112, 162, 168
Agronomy and Plant Genetics 103, 129
Agronomy, Farm Management and Plant
Genetics 14, 21, 177
Botany and Plant Pathology 103
Plant Pathology and Agricultural Botany 129
DNA 105
Doctor of Philosophy Graduates, alphabetical
(Appendix C) 213-230
Doctor of Philosophy Graduates, Theses and
Advisers (Appendix D) 231-290
Dodge, James 83
Dolan, Dennis 116
Donker, J. 87
Double cross 67, 71, 75, 76
Dowell, Austin 172
Downie, Andrew 163
Doxtater, C.W. 23, 71
Dunham, R.S. 23, 37, 82, 97, 130-132, 136
173, 182, 190
Durgan, Beverly 23, 43, 50, 136-138, 190
Dyck, Elizabeth 23, 42, 43, 136, 138, 174
E
Eastman, G.W. 175
Eberlein, C.B. 23, 136-138, 190, 191
Economic impact of barley research 61
Edson, A.W. 173
Edwards, Craig 87
Ehle, F. 91
Ehlke, Nancy 23, 58, 93, 95, 98, 99, 104,
188
Electron microscope 103, 104
Elling, Laddie J. 1, 9, 23, 27 31, 35, 37, 38,
43, 44, 46, 47, 51-53, 95, 97-99, 101,
103, 164, 166, 175, 182, 187, 189
Ellingboe, Randy 88
Elliott, Anson 40, 46, 107, 148
Emerson, R.A. 105
Enestvedt, Bert 77
Entomology, entomologists 79, 125, 151, 183
Erickson, Ross 97
Evans, John 77
Evans, Sam 173
Extension 3, 18, 22-26, 47-50, 84, 94, 133,
134, 137
Extension education 47-50
Extracurricular opportunities for students 44
F
Fababean 153, 154
Faculty Awards and Recognition (Appendix A)
187
Faculty members, 1888-2000 22
Falkner, Lori 23, 42, 43, 174
Fallow effect or syndrome 132, 154
Farm and Home Week 130
Farm House 2, 5, 27, 29, 30, 69
Farmers institutes 47, 79
Fenske, T.F. 163, 173
Fertilizer 30, 161, 166, 167
Fescue 98
Field bindweed 130
Field Crop Varieties, Minnesota releases
(Appendix E) 291-294

298
Field day 155, 161, 162, 168, 176, 177
house 27
Fieldbean 134, 153, 154
Fieldpea 134, 153, 154, 156
Fields, L. 156
Fischer, R.L. 97
Flax 4, 11, 16, 23, 25, 79-82, 95, 96, 131,
153, 164, 165, 170, 171, 175, 179, 291
acreage 81
improvement 79-82
Institute 79, 82, 120
seed repository 82
varieties 80, 291
wilt 80, 81
Flax Development Committee 82
Flesland, Albert 178
Flor, H.H. 103
Fodder 88
Forage 18, 22-26, 83, 87, 89, 90, 92-95,
99, 100-102, 118, 161, 163, 164, 166
and turf seed production 95-98
breeding and genetics 99-104
management, quality and utilization 83-94
Forcella, Frank 23, 122, 174
Ford, J. Harlan 23, 82,174, 182
Forsberg, Robert 121
Foundation seed 22, 67, 171, 179
Foxtail 122
Frandsen, K.J. 96
Franklin, D.B. 97
Frederick, Edward 174
Freifelder, D. 105
Frey, Ken 105, 115
Frolik, E.F. 104, 187
Frosheiser, Fred 53-55, 57
Fulcher, Gary 120
Fusarium 55, 57, 72, 74, 80, 110, 145
G
Gallo-Meagher, Maria 23, 110
Gandrud, Ebenhard 187
Garber, R.J. 23, 104
Garrison, C.S. 98
Gast, R. 46
Gaumnitz, D.A. 158, 172
Gavelin, Seth 97
Geadelmann, Jon L. 23, 76, 190
Gene transfer 109
General Mills Land Grant Chair in Cereal
Technology 120
Genetic diversity 63
engineering 6, 107
map, marker maps, mapping 107, 108, 120
variability 75, 88
Genetics Center 105
Genetics, cytogenetics and biotechnology 103-
110
Gengenbach, Burle G. 7, 21-24, 108, 189,
190
Genomics 110
Germplasm 73, 99, 122, 144-146
Gillie, Albert 97
Glyphosate 101, 135
Godward Brothers 147
Goodding, John 24, 40, 44, 46
Good Seed Special Trains 48
Gopher Crops and Soils Club 45, 46
Gosney Fellow 105
Goulden, Cyril H. 187
Grain 160, 171
Grain sorghum 134, 153, 154, 1`56
Grasses 86, 94, 98, 100, 164, 165
Grava, John 97, 151
Grazing 89, 102
Grebenc, Tony 97
Green, C.E. (Ed) 24, 107
Greenhouse 27, 28, 30, 82, 101, 131, 138
Gregg, Oren C. 3, 47, 79, 158, 172
Griffee, Fred 24, 104
Grimm alfalfa 51, 57, 83, 84, 95, 96, 176
farm 83
Wendelin 3, 11, 51, 57, 95
Gronwald, J.W. 24, 136-138
Gunsolus, Jeffrey 24, 43, 50, 136, 138, 190
H
Hackney Bill 47
Haedecke, A.D. 24, 178, 181, 182
Halgerson, James 87, 92, 191
Halstead, Richard 119, 121
Hansen, Henry 132
Hansen, M.C. 163
Hanson, L. 46
Haploids 108
Hard Red Spring Wheat Uniform Regional
Performance Nursery 146
Hardman, L.L. 24, 35, 43, 47, 49, 183
Harlan, H.V. 59
Harper, D.N. 139
Harrington, James B. 187
Hartl, D.L. 105
Hartwig, Edgar E. 187
Harvey, Donald U. 30, 31, 33
Harvey, R.B. 129, 130
Haugerud, James 116
Haws, B.A. 57
Hay 85, 90, 163
Hayes graduate student award 291
Hall 5, 7, 27, 28, 30, 38, 185

299
Hayes, H.K. 4, 5, 8, 14, 15, 17, 24, 32, 33,
35-37, 51, 52, 59, 62-67, 69, 71, 77, 81,
85, 96, 100, 103, 104, 112, 114, 139,
142, 163, 182
Hays, Willet M. 2, 3, 10, 14, 24, 35, 80, 83,
111, 112, 157, 158, 160, 174, 179, 181
Hedlund, Elvin 97
Heichel, Gary 24, 56, 100, 189, 190
Hein, Mason 86
Heine, Albert 174
Heiner, Robert 24, 108, 143, 144, 146, 182,
189, 190
Helminthosporium 99
Herbicide 19, 30, 86, 94, 134, 135, 137,
154, 167
Hesterman, O. 93, 191
Heterosis 64
Heyne, Elmer G. 187
Hicks, Dale R. 24, 47, 49, 63, 78, 188, 189
Higbie, E.C. 160, 173
Hill, James J. 11, 159
Hodgson, R.G. (Bob) 1163, 174
Holdaway, F.G. 97
Holdens Foundation Seeds 76
Horsebean 154, 156, 292
Hoverstad, Torger A. 24, 64, 158, 159, 162,
172, 174
Hovin, Arne W. 24, 100, 101
Hsu, Harry (Kuan-Jen-Hsu) 24, 31, 188
Hueg, William F., Jr. 24, 48, 87, 182, 187,
188
Hutcheson, T.B. 24, 63, 112
Hybrid 16, 63-67, 74, 76-78, 99, 102, 117,
161
Hybrid Corn Industry Research Conference 65
Hybrid vigor 63, 75
Hybridization 14, 187
Hyland, Jack 131
I
Ibrahim, M.A. 104
Immer, F.R 15, 24, 36, 59, 62, 66, 104
Inbred, inbreeding 16, 63-66, 68-72, 74, 75-
77, 99, 161,
Institute of Agriculture 76, 132, 163, 164
International Center for Improvement of Maize
and Wheat (CIMMYT) 115, 116, 145
International programs 75, 181
Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation
Commission 96
Iron Range Resources Funding Committee 97
area advisory members 97
Irrigation 165
Izuno, Takumi 187
J
Jenks, B.L. 175
Jensen, Edward 24, 48
Jeppson, Randall G. 24, 50
Jin, Ill Do 151
Joachim, Gertrude 78
Johnson, Algot 147, 148, 150
Johnson, Freeman 173
Johnson, Gregg 24, 136, 138, 174, 185
Johnson, Herbert W. 6, 24, 18, 63, 75, 97,
146, 182, 188, 189
Johnson, Iver J. 24, 27, 36, 63, 67, 71, 73,
104, 197-189
Joint Religious Legislative Coalition 184
Jones, D.F. 64
Jones, G.L. 189
Jones, F.R. 51, 95
Jones, Robert J. 24, 76, 189, 190
Jordan, Nicholas (Nick) 24, 136, 138, 185
Jordan, R. 87, 92, 93
Judging 35
Jung, Hans 24, 56
Justin, James R. 24, 49
K
K & D wild rice 150
Kao, F.T. 105
Kasha, Kenneth 104, 187
Kaukis, Kar 48
Kehr, William 104
Kelly, Oliver 147
Kennard, F.L. 173
Kernkamp, M.F. 97, 9, 151
Kessler, Patricia 34
King, Tom 148, 151
Kirk, Lawrence E. 187
Kleese, Roger 24, 106, 115
Kneebone, W.R. 99
Kommendahl, Thor 132
Koo, Keh-Shing (Francis) 24, 114, 115
Kosbau Brothers 148, 150
Kosbau, Franklin 148
Kramer, Herbert 24, 104, 187, 189, 190
Kunkel, Avis 34
Kveen, Gustav 97, 98
L
Lacey, Christina 87
Lacy, Charles V. 9
Lahti, Eino 97
Lamb, J. 46, 56
Lambert, J.W. 24, 37, 38, 59, 62, 123-125,
182, 188, 189

300
Land clearing 160, 162
Land Stewardship Project 184
Larson, A.H. 129, 130
Lawn 95, 131
Leafy spurge 131, 135
Lebsock, J.L. 189
Lee, Archie 97
Lee, E. Wong 87
Legume 23, 56 84, 86, 87, 91, 93, 96, 98,
101, 102
Lemme, G. 173
Lentil 153
Licon, Ed Yardo 117
Liechew, Henry 77
Liggett, William M. 3
Linder, L.K. 173
Linder, Mauritz 34, 124, 191
Linkert, Gary 191
Lodging 61, 65, 67, 74, 113, 143
Lofgren, James 173
Lueschen, William 24, 174, 189, 190
Lugger, Otto 79, 80
Lupine 153, 165
M
MacDonald, Dave 56
Magnusson, Mrs. Peggy 98
Magrath Library 27
Majek, Bradley J. 50, 136, 137
Maldonado, Urie 115
Malting Barley Improvement Association 61
Malzer, G. 46
Managers of Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association 180
Manomin Development Co. 148, 150
Manure 159-161, 166, 167
Marker assisted selection 120
Marshall, Ward 77, 178, 180
Marten, G.C. 25, 83, 86, 87-93, 100, 101
Martin, Neal 25, 49, 86, 94, 188, 189
Marum, Petter 100
Marvin, William S. 188
Master of science graduates (appendix B) 193-
212
Matalamaki, William 173
Mathison, Russ 173
Maxwell, Bruce 25, 136, 138
McCall, Thomas 172
McClintock, Barbara 105
McCloud, D.E. 86
McCoy, Tom 108, 191
McGuire, A.J. 173
McKnight Presidents Chair 7, 103, 110
MCPA 82, 131
McVey, Donald 144
Medgaarden, Lynne 191
Meier, Fred 175
Melbostad, Stella 31, 32
Merriam, W.R. 79
Messing, Jochaim 109
Milestones 1-6
Miller, Douglas 191
Miller, Gerald R. 25, 49, 134, 136-138, 190
Miller, Oscar 104, 105, 188
Miller, Paul E. 3, 160, 161, 173
Miller, Susan 191
Millet 134, 153, 154
Minhybrid 16, 66, 67, 70, 74- 77
Minhybrid Growers Association 77
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
(MAES) 6, 7, 15, 27, 59, 67, 76, 77-79,
83, 86, 99, 100, 108, 111, 115,119, 123,
124, 130, 139, 150, 175, 176, 179
Minnesota Alfalfa Variety Testing Program 94
Minnesota Barley Growers Association 62
Minnesota Corn Growers Association 76
Minnesota Crop Improvement Association 6,
11, 14, 27, 33, 47-49, 98, 175-182
managers 180
buildings 5
secretaries 180
Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council 151
Minnesota Department of Agriculture 129,
130
Minnesota Farm and Home Science 78, 142
Minnesota Field Crops Breeders Association
11, 13, 175, 179
Minnesota flax acreage 81
Minnesota Food Association 184
Minnesota Forage and Grassland Council 49
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
(MISA) 25, 184, 185
Minnesota Paddy Wild Rice Research and
Promotion Council 151
Minnesota Plan of Seed Distribution 177
Minnesota Seed Grower 175, 177
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association 124
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion
Council 50, 124
Minnesota Valley Canning Co. 69
Minnesota Weed and Seed Inspectors Short
Course 130
Molecular genetics 7, 23, 25, 107, 108
Moline, W.J. 87
Moore, Matthew (Matt) 113, 117-119
Moseman, A.H. 25, 188, 189
Moss, Dale 25, 60, 62, 189, 190
Mostoller, Ivan 97
Muehlbauer, Gary 25, 43, 110
Munger, Lee 97
Murphy, H.C. 113, 117

301
Murphy, Royse 25, 103, 189, 190
Murray, Helene 25, 183, 185
Mustard 153
Mutagenesis 119
Myers, Will M. 16, 25, 28, 37, 38, 75, 86,
104, 114, 115, 161, 182, 188, 189
N
Naeve, Seth 25, 50
Naked-seeded pumpkin 153
National Academy of Science 105
National Alfalfa Hay Testing Association 90
National Alfalfa Improvement Conference 54
National Grange 147
National Hay Testing Association 90
Native prairie species 98
Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS)
88, 90, 94
Nelson, David 55
Nelson, Wallace W. 165, 174, 182
Nematode 56, 128
New and uncommon crops 153
Newlin, Owen 188
Nickel, Pauline 174
Nielsen, Robert 119
Niger 153
Nitrogen fixation 55, 56, 110, 128
Nobel, Nobel Prize 81, 104, 105e
Nodulation 128
Noetzel, D. 151
NorFarm Seeds 101
North American Alfalfa Improvement
Conference 93
North Central Experiment Station (first shown as
sub-station) 159
North Central Research and Outreach Center
(Grand Rapids) 147, 149, 152,
North Central Weed Control Committee 133
North Central Weed Science Society 20
Northeast Demonstration and Experiment Farm
(first shown as station) 4, 159, 162, 173,
174
Northern Minnesota Bluegrass Growers
Association 100
Northern Minnesota Forage Turf Seed Advisory
Board 98
Northwest Crop Improvement Association
130, 177, 179
Northwest experiment station (first shown as
sub-station) 11, 159, 166, 172
Northwest Research and Outreach Center
(Crookston) 26, 50
Nylund, Robert 132
Nyvall, Robert 151, 173
O
O’Leary, Louise 34
Oat 4-7, 11, 15, 18, 23-26, 87, 90, 91, 98,
108-122, 131, 161, 164-166, 169, 170,
179, 291
acreage and production in Minnesota 121
improvement 110-122
varieties 118, 292
Odland, T.E. 161, 173, 181, 189
Oelke, Ervin 25, 46, 49, 60, 147, 148, 150,
152, 188-190
Office of International Programs 76
Oilseed radish 153
Olmein, Nels 33
Olsen, J.W. 12
Olson, P.J. 25, 63, 104
Olson, Oscar O. 4
Open pollinated 63, 67, 73
Openshaw, Stephen (Steve) 25, 76
Orchardgrass 86, 98, 101
Orf, James H. 25, 43, 123-125, 168, 182,
189, 190
Organic Growers and Buyers Association 184
Origin and Faculty 9-26
Otto, Harley J. 25, 49, 78, 98, 133, 134,
180-182
Outstanding achievement award and honorary
doctorate recipients 187-188
P
Palatability 84, 100, 102
Palmer, W.C. 158
Parker, E.C. 25, 35
Pasture 17, 23 84, 86, 87 159, 163
Pauley, George 162, 174
Payne, K.T. 116
Pea, fieldpea 97, 138, 291
Peanut 153
Peck, Frank 4, 25, 48
Pedersen, M.W. 99
Pedigreed seed 175, 176
Pendergast, Warren P. 159, 173
Percich, J. 151
Perennial ryegrass 95, 98, 102
Peterson, Alan 97, 98, 151
Peterson, Paul 50
Peterson, Robert (Bob) 34, 63, 76, 78
Phillips, Ronald 7, 25, 103, 105-108, 110,
120, 149, 188-190
Phlaris grass 163
Photosensitization, photosynthesis 72, 101
Physiology, physiologist 60, 76, 84, 125
Phytophthora 54, 57, 125, 128, 164

302
Pillsbury, John S. 1, 9
Pinnell, Emmett L. 73, 75, 104, 189
Pinney, Carl 77
Plaisance, Kate 191
Plant Industries Club 81
Plant Molecular Genetics Institute 22, 109
Plant pathology, pathologists 7, 28, 30, 55,
60, 62, 81, 95, 99, 113, 125, 141, 151,
183
Pomeranke, Gary 116
Popcorn 69, 70
Porter, Edward D. 1, 2, 9, 43, 157
Porter, Paul 25, 174
Porter, Raymond 25, 107, 147, 149, 152,
173
Potato 10, 160, 176
Powers, L.R. 59, 62, 104, 189
Premier Seed Grower 178
Premier Seedsman Award, honorary, to agronomy
faculty 182
Professional awards and recognition of faculty,
graduate students and staff 188-191
Project Sunrise 6, 40
Proso Millet 135, 156, 292
Protein 117, 125, 143, 144
Purple loosestrife 138
Putnam, D.H. 25, 156, 184
Putt, Eric 104, 188
Q
Quackgrass 94, 101
Quaker Oats Company (QOC) 114, 120
Quinoa 153
Quisenberry, K. 104, 188
R
Rabas, D.R. 86, 173
Radtke, Jim 116
Radway, Richard 97
Ragi 153
Raitz, Charles 97
Rape 87, 153, 165
Rasmusson, D.C. 6, 7, 25, 59, 61, 62, 182,
188, 189
Rauenhorst, George and Robert 68
Red top 83
Reed canarygrass 84, 88, 89, 91, 94, 98,
100, 101, 163, 292
Regional performance nursery 146
Registered seed 169, 177
Reysack, James 116
Rhoades, Marcus 105
Rines, Howard 25, 108, 109, 119, 189, 190
Rinke, Ernest H. 6, 26, 37, 38, 73, 75, 104,
182, 189
Ristau, Eric 88, 92
RNA gene 104, 107
Roberts, B.J. 114
Robertson, David W. 188
Robertson, Daniel A. 9
Robertson, William 172
Robinson, L.R. 89
Robinson, Robert (Bob) 26, 31, 37, 38, 82,
130-134, 136, 137, 153, 155, 164, 165,
182
Roessler, Jeff 191
Rogosin, Alfred 141
Roosevelt, Theodore 160
Rosemont Research Center 164
Rosemount Agricultural Experiment Station 5,
86, 87, 134, 163, 174,
Rothman, Paul 119
Rubenstein, Irwin 109
Russel, M. 56
Russell, W.A. 103
Russelle, M.P. 46, 93
Rust, crown 113, 114, 117, 119, 121, 122
leaf 142-144
resistance 116
resistant 170
stem 61, 62, 113-116, 119, 142-144, 159
Rust Prevention Association 179
Rust, Joe 173
Rye 6, 114, 153, 156, 162, 165, 169-171,
292
S
Safflower 153
Samac, Deborah 56
Sand Plains Research Farm 165, 174
Saul, E.M. 97
Scab, scab resistance 142, 145, 146
Schafer, C.H. 130
Schaus, Phil 124
Schertz, C. 151
Schmid, A.R. 19, 26, 37, 38, 44, 85, 86, 92,
182
Schmitt, Michael 50, 188, 189
Schoeder, Teresa 191
School of Agriculture 2, 22, 27, 47, 130, 162
Schummer, Henry 152
Science in Agriculture major 41-42
Scott, Harold 33
Secretaries of Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association 180
Seed house 27
laboratory 179, 181
show 175
stocks 28, 77, 179

303
Seguin, P. 93
Selvig, Conrad 169, 170, 172
Sentz, James C. 63, 75, 76
Sesame 153
Shaver, J. 46, 190
Sheaffer, Craig C. 26, 40, 41, 43, 46, 57,
83, 92, 94, 101, 184, 185, 189
Shepperd, J.H. 79, 80
Shoberg, Peter 97
Shultz, H.K. 104
Silage 83, 88, 94, 160
Simmons, S.R. 26, 39-41, 43, 44, 46, 60,
62, 188-191
Simpson, C.A. 46, 77
Single cross 68, 75-77
Sinox 131
Slyter, Judy 191
Small grains 24-26, 49, 50, 84, 90, 95, 137,
161, 163-165
Smith, Duane 34, 54, 57, 103
Smith, Kevin 26, 43, 62, 108
Smith, L.H. 26, 38-41, 43, 46, 181, 182,
188, 189
Smith, Larry J. 172, 173, 182
Smith, Olin 115
Smith, R.A. 173
Smith, Win G. 158, 172
Smut 71, 119, 121
Snyder, Leon A. 10, 26
Soil Science Society 45
Soil, soil scientists 28, 30, 40, 43, 45, 151,
164, 165, 173, 183
Soine, Olaf 173
Somaclonal 119
Somers, David 7, 26, 102, 108-110, 189
Sorghum, 86, 165, 292
Sosa, Gilbert 116
Southern Experiment Station (first shown as
demonstration and experiment farm) 4, 162,
166, 174
Southern Research and Outreach Center
(Waseca) 24, 138
Southwest Experiment Station 6, 82, 104,
166, 174
Southwest Minnesota Crop Improvement
Association 164
Southwest Research and Outreach Center
(Lamberton) 23, 42, 138
Southwest State University 23, 42, 138
Soybean 5, 7, 18, 21, 23-26, 75, 84, 110,
123-128, 135, 137, 138, 154, 160-162,
164-166, 169, 171, 175, 179
cyst nematode (SCN) 128
improvement 123-128
varieties 126, 127, 292, 293
Spalding Farm 157
Speltz 160
Spot blotch 62
Srb, Adrian 106
Stage, James 115, 121
Stahler, L.M. (Chuck) 26, 129, 130, 136
Stakman Hall 5, 28, 30
Stakman, E.C. 3, 81, 96, 142, 169
Steen, A. 85
Stevenson, F.J. 104, 189
Storey, Kathleen 191
Strait, J.J. 151
Strand, Oliver 26, 40, 49, 50, 134, 136-138
Stucker, Robert 26, 54, 76, 107, 148
Stuthman, Deon 26, 40, 43, 46, 108, 111,
115, 117, 120, 182, 185, 189, 190
Sudangrass 85
Sugarbeet 23, 25, 66, 67, 163
Sumner, H.R. (Si) 178
Sun Plant Products 155
Sunflower 134, 135, 153-156, 160, 165,
293
Sustainable agriculture 21, 41, 138, 184, 185
Sustainers Coalition 184
Swan, J. 46
Swanson, Jean 191
Swanson, Douglas 92
Swanson, Merl 164
Sweet corn 69, 70, 138
Swenson, Otto 173
Swenson, Stanley P. 188
T
Taarud, Margaret 30, 33
Tangierd, Paul 97
Teaching 16, 25, 26, 35-46, 85, 92, 99,
101, 104, 105, 128, 136, 137
Teff 153, 165
Tewari, A.R. 86
Text, textbook 15, 18, 104, 105
Thatcher, R.W. 168
The Minnesota Project 184
The Rockefeller Foundation 18
Thies, Judy 56
Thomas, Horace (H.L.) 26, 33, 37, 51, 52,
58, 99, 100, 104, 175, 181, 182
Thompson, Arlo 45
Thompson, J.B. 35
Thompson, John 26, 174
Thompson, Mark J. 172
Thompson, O.C. 175
Thompson, Roy L. 26, 49, 60, 157, 161,
165, 173, 182
Tickbean 154, 156, 293
Timber 158, 162
Timothy 16, 83-86, 98, 293

304
Timothy, D.H. 99
Tissue culture 24, 102, 107, 108, 119
Titrud, Glen 174
Transgenic 109
Troyer, Forrest 78, 188
Tsiang, Y.S. 26, 104, 188
Tucker, Ken 97
Turf, turfgrass 95, 99, 102,
Turner, Deane 174
U
Uncommon crop varieties released from project
breeder seed 156
Uncommon crops 153, 164
University Farm 83, 157, 175, 176
USDA 15, 17, 18, 22-26, 30, 53-57, 59, 79,
81-83, 86, 100, 101, 108, 110, 113, 114,
119-121, 123, 125, 129, 134, 141, 144,
147, 158
cereal rust laboratory 26
oat performance nursery 113
weed research laboratory 30
V
Vance, Carroll 56, 110, 190
Varietal Trials 5, 163, 170, 172
Vatthauer, R. 173
Vellekson, Donn 98, 101
Vetch 153
Virta, Allen 178
W
Walgenbach, David 174
Wallace, Henry 70
Walter, Kenneth 174
Warnes, Dennis 60, 174, 182
Warnke, Tom 34, 191
Wedin, W.F. 26, 83, 86, 189
Weed control 19, 82, 129-138, 154, 164-
167
identification 129
nursery 134
Weed Science Society of America 20, 134,
137
Weed, weed science 6, 19, 20, 22-26, 50,
101, 129-138, 180
West Central Experiment Station 12, 48, 161,
166, 173
West Central Research and Outreach Center
(Morris) 23, 122
West Central School and Experiment Station
160
Westerberg, D.R. 61
Westerberg, Paul 86, 87
Westgate, Mattie 33
Weston, Salli 92
Wheat 5-7, 10, 11, 15, 16, 23-25, 84, 110,
138-146, 161, 162, 165, 169-171, 175,
179
improvement 138-146
varieties 140, 293
Wheatgrass 18
Wheaton, D.T. 61
White cockle 135
White, William 188
Whitney, Milton 158
Wiersma, Jochum 26, 50, 173
Wiersma, John 60, 173
Wilcox, Clifford 174
Wilcoxson, Roy 60, 119, 121, 145
Wild buckwheat 134
Wild oat 135
Wild proso millet 135
Wild radish 131
Wild rice 23, 25, 26, 107, 147-152, 164,
166
Wild rice breeding and production 147-152
Wild rice varieties developed in Minnesota 150
Wild sunflower 135
Wilson, Archie D. 3, 26, 47, 48
Wilson, H.K. 26, 35, 36, 44, 129, 130, 136,
189
Wilson, J.K. 18
Wilt resistance 81
Winter nursery 122, 128
Winter rye 154
Winterhardy, winterhardiness 84, 85, 93, 95,
99, 101, 102
Woods, A.F. 12
Woolly cupgrass 135
Wortman, L.S. 104, 188
Wyse, Donald 26, 40, 43, 97, 101, 102,
136-138, 185
Y
Yagu, Paul 107, 147, 148
Yellow nutsedge 135
Youngquist, Bernard 172
Youngren, Russel 97
Yungbluth, T.A. 99
Z
Zoebisch, Oscar 45

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