Javier Betrán
	Rank	Associate Professor
	Department	Soil and Crop Sciences
	Phone	(979) 845-3469
	Fax	(979) 862-1931
	Email Address	javier-betran@tamu.edu

The goal of my program is to conduct research to improve the productivity, quality,profitability, safety and sustainability of corn for feed, food, and industrial products.

Specific objectives are:
1. Understand the genetic basis for tolerance and resistance to biotic (mycotoxins) and abiotic stresses (drought) and to develop maize lines and populations with resistance and/or tolerance.

2. Develop maize inbreds and populations with improved quality and processing properties for foods, feeds and industrial products. Value-enhanced corn with particular quality characteristics for end-users will add value to Texas and U.S. corn.

3. Develop lines, hybrids and populations of Quality Protein Maize, a hard endosperm highlysine corn, with excellent food and feed quality, improved nutritional properties and competitive yield.

4. Introduce and introgress exotic material to increase the genetic base of germplasm used by maize breeding programs. Exotic germplasm is a genetic resource that may contribute alleles for grain yield, disease and pest resistance, tolerance to abiotic stresses, and value-adding traits to temperate corn.

5. Apply molecular techniques to study the genetics and to facilitate the selection of economical important traits in corn. We want to integrate molecular techniques into plant breeding to increase efficiency, accuracy, and facilitate new methods in corn improvement.

Betrán, F.J. and A.R. Hallauer. 1996. Characterization of interpopulation genetic
variability in three hybrid populations. Journal of Heredity 87:319-328.

F.J. Betrán, T. Isakeit, and G. Odvody. 2002. Aflatoxin accumulation of white and yellow inbreds in diallel crosses. Crop Science 42: 1894-1901.

F.J. Betrán, D. Beck, M. Bänziger, G. Edmeades. 2003. Genetic analysis of inbred and hybrid grain yield under stress and nonstress environments in tropical maize. Crop Sci 43:807-817.

F.J. Betrán, J.M. Ribaut, D. Beck, and D. Gonzalez de Leon. 2003. Genetic diversity, specific combining ability and heterosis in tropical maize under stress and non-stress environments. Crop Sci. 43:797-806.