NDSU graduate student Amy Scegura, a master’s student in plant sciences, was awarded first place for her poster presentation at the 10th Canadian Pulse Research Workshop Oct. 25-28 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The title of her research is “Marker Assisted Backcross Selection for Virus Resistance in Pea (Pisum sativum L.).”

Scegura’s research focuses on developing a backcross population that is resistant to pea seed-borne mosaic virus, an economically important viral disease in pea that has been detected in the Northern Great Plains. It has significant impact on the industry, resulting in yield loss and reduced grain quality.

Scegura is using marker-assisted backcross breeding to transfer the single recessive resistance allele for the virus into locally adapted breeding lines. After each population is developed, it will be evaluated for disease resistance against the strain present in the Northern Great Plains and for agronomic adaptation, including yield performance.

Scegura is from Avon, Minnesota, and graduated with her bachelor’s degree in crop and weed sciences in December 2015. She is working on her master’s degree in plant sciences with an emphasis in plant breeding and genetics under the advisement of Kevin McPhee, professor and pulse crop breeder in the Department of Plant Sciences.

The Canadian Pulse Research Workshop is the biennial meeting of pulse researchers in Canada. The meeting brings together researchers from different disciplines to present their latest results in the areas of agronomy and pathology, environment, genetics and plant breeding, and nutrition and food.

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