Members:

• ER: Prof. Alejandro del Pozo, Dr. Gustavo Lobos and Dra. Claudia Moggia), eight associated researchers (Dr. Freddy Mora, U. Talca; Dr. Fernando Guerra; U. Talca; Dr. Ricardo Cabeza, U. Talca; Dr. Iván Matus, INIA; Dra. Dalma Castillo, INIA; Dra. Ana María Méndez, INIA; Dr. Miguel Garriga, U. of Concepción; and Dr. Sebastián Romero, UCM), one postdoc (Dr. Abdelhalim Elazab
• PhD students: (Felix Estrada, Kurt Ruf, Felipe Moraga, Daniel Sepúlveda, and Hamza Noushahi)
• Technician: Mr. Carlos Araya, Agronomist, MSc.; Mr. José Cares, Computing Tech.; Mr. Marcelo Valdés, Agronomist.

Principal Investigator: Prof. Alejandro del Pozo Lira (E-mail: adelpozo@utalca.cl).

Research goals

The Plant Breeding and Phenomic Center (PBPC) is part of the Faculty of Agricultural Science of the University of Talca, located in Talca, Chile. The PBPC main focuses is on crop responses to limiting environmental factors, such as water deficit and increased temperature, in order to select more tolerant genotypes that can be used as parents in genetic improvement programs. In particular, the Center works in close partnerships with INIA’s breeding programs of wheat, alfalfa, quinoa and rice.  The Center performs a) high-throughput phenotyping using physiological and agronomic traits, under conditions of abiotic stress (water deficit and high temperatures) and without stress; b) genotypic characterizations using molecular markers SNPs (genotyping) of the germplasm, in order to identify regions of the chromosomes and genes related to stress tolerance, c) studies of environmental and management factors affecting fruit quality at harvest and on post-harvest period; and  d) helps to select elite genotypes (pre-breeding) and molecular tools for genetic improvement programs.

Facilities:

The PBPC is equipped with different devices such as: infrared gas analyzers (PP Systems, CIRAS-2; CIRAS 3); chlorophyll fluorometer (Hansatech Instruments; FMS-1); spectroradiometers (FieldSpec Model 4Hi-Res; FielsSpec 3 jr ADS); X-Ray Micro-fluorescence Spectrometer (Bruker, Advanced X-ray Solutions GmbH, Germany); fluorometer (PAM 2500; Walz); chlorophyll meter (Dualex); canopy analysis system (Delta-T, SunScun); Scholander pressure chamber (PMS 1000); Greensseker; leaf porometer (SC-1); thermal cameras (FLIR i40, FLIR Systems Inc.; Gobi 640, Xenics; Zenmuse XT2 13mm FLIR); multispectral cameras (MAPIR); hypersprectral camera (Headwall); drones DJI (models Mavic Pro; Matrice 200 V2; Matrice M600 Pro); gas chromatograph (Shimadzu, GC-2014); spectrophotometer (Jingke Scientific Instruments ,UVS765T); CO2 and O2 gas analyzers (1 Mocon 325; 1 PBI Dansensor CheckPoint); microscope (Zeiss, Zeiss Standard 25).

Other facilities: cold room storage (40 m2); fruit firmness testers (3 BioWorks, Firmtech II); automatic titators (3 Easy Schott, Titroline); thermocompensated refractometers (5 Atago Master T); Blender (IKA, Ultra-Turrax T 25); digital scales (2000g x 0.001g Radwag, WTB 2000; 4100g x 0.1 g, NX-4100; 6200 g x 0.1 g, LSV 6200); analytical scale (320 g x 0,02 g Shimadzu,TX323L); freezers (-20 °C, -40 °C and -80°C); photographic camera (Nikon, D5100); digital calipers (6) and refrigerators (2). In addition, we have 6 greenhouses (3 of them with temperature control) and two growth chambers. Two vans Peugeot Expert.