About the Program

Plant Breeding, an applied field of genetics, is one of the eight major areas of specialization offered under the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. It primarily aims to improve economically essential crops using classical and modern methods that target traits from molecular to population-level.

Aside from improving crops, plant breeding is also concerned with plant genetic conservation which serves as a reservoir for possible traits that can be incorporated in the breeding program.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of this program can be

• Plant Breeder/Geneticist
• Seed Specialist
• Entrepreneur (Seed Producer or Grower/Farm Owner)
• Academician
• Science-Based Researcher

Notable Alumni

The following Viscans who graduated in this program have made a name in their field:

• REX N. BERNARDO – (Class of 1984) A Professor and Endowed Chair of Corn Breeding and Genetics at University of Minnesota, USA. He focuses on discovering new ways of breeding corn for new uses, and on educating future plant breeders. His interests include exploiting new technologies in applied corn breeding and elucidating the nature of genetic variation for quantitative traits.
• ARTHUR VILLORDON – (Class of 1983) Dr. Arthur Villordon is a professor in the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center’s Sweet Potato Research Station, USA. Much of Dr. Villordon’s research has addressed the morphological and genetic variability of sweetpotato.
• CARMILLE JOANNA C. BALES – (Class of 2005) Currently works at Bayer Crop Science, USA as Global Pipeline Design Planning Lead. She is leading a global team of R&D breeding planners in managing supply and demand delivery across various row crops in N. America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
• JAYFRED GAHAM V. GODOY – (Class of 2005) Presently, he is a Technology Cereal Breeder at Perth Australia. He handles projects including genomic selection and high-throughput phenotyping to select breeding lines with high yield potential and excellent end-use quality traits.
• JOSE L. BACUSMO – (Class of 1978) Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo, former VSU President, is the principal plant breeder of two varieties of cassava and five varieties of sweetpotato that are currently used by many farmers in Region VIII and in other root crop-producing regions of the country. He is also instrumental in the development of the Intellectual Property Office–certified Intellectual Property Policy of VSU. He led the establishment of industry service facilities (Abaca Plant Diagnostic Laboratory and Rootcrops Tissue Culture Laboratory) in the University, and the successful private sector commercial production of vacuum–fried jackfruit using technology generated by VSU.