UC Davis researchers lauded for transformational work.

Two UC Davis plant sciences professors — Kent Bradford and Gurdev Khush — are among Seed World magazine’s top picks for its list of the 100 most transformational men and women in the seed industry in the last 100 years.

“These are individuals who have provided leadership during trying times, insight to complex issues and a commitment to something larger than self,” Seed World editors wrote in the magazine’s centennial edition, published December 2015.

The magazine recognized Bradford in connection with the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center, where he is the founding director.

“Through workshops and courses, the Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis has kept more than 2,000 professionals connected to the latest scientific advances that affect the seed industry,” the magazine reported. “One of the most prominent is the Plant Breeding Academy, which hosts workshops in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Africa, training seed industry personnel to become plant breeders and filling a shortfall in the profession.”

Seed World lauded Gurdev Khush, an adjunct professor, for his 34 years at the helm of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, during which time the institute developed more than 300 breeding lines that have been released as new varieties by rice improvement programs throughout the world. One of those varieties is IR36, the most widely planted food crop ever grown. Since its creation, rice production has increased from 257 million tons to 686 million tons per year.