Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - Four-Year Report of UI President (1950) [PAGE 30]

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the primary conditions of physj il iitn and of the eff« , of pressun ind temp ratui on reactions U a basic scientift < ;. the | Urbana-Champaign campus can supplement and support the distinguished work in physioL y at the medical level in Chicago.

BOTANY AND PLANT BREEDING

The Department of Botany has become a nationally recognized center for research in photosynthesis and cytogenetics. These are the ireas in which basic questions are asked about the behavior of cells during reproduction and under the influence of sunlight. As so often happens, the enthusiasm and drama of research have brought about a marked change in the contents of courses and in teaching effectiveness. This basic program supports and is fed by field studies in agriculture. There is, for example, the current corn breeding program of the Department of Agronomy. Plant breeders are trying a newdrug called maleic hydrazide in their attempt to produce a male sterile hybrid and thereby eliminate detasscling in seed corn production. (Detasseling in Illinois alone costs about $1,500,000 each year.)

GENETICS AND BR1 DING

A gi it advancement in t telling and research is found in geneti I and 1 ding. Some of the basic work, at the level of the cell, is r rrird on in the Department of Botany. This work is closely related to work in | rietics and to field studies of breeding in the epartoients of Animal Science and Dairy Science. It is reported that the number of Illinois dairymen who profit from the produc4 tion testing of their cows has doubled in the past four years. Expa ion of the artificial breeding ])!( ram, supervised by the University, ha I n till more rapid. Much research is directed toward ;,! | atta on problems related to the economic producD j, tion of mill.. Illinois staff members presented more reports o( sd, -..jf,, • ,|. at th< annua! meetings of the American P a i n Science A«KX than any othei • o<np.