University of Minnesota, Department of Horticultural Science, 334 Alderman Hall, 1970 Folwell Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108; Telephone: 612-624-9737; Fax: 612-624-4941; E-mail address: davi0029@tc.umn.edu.

Dr. Davis's lifelong commitment has been to the study of economic plants - their origin, evolution, and migration; production strategy in world cultures; product handling and use; and impact on the development of civilizations. He teaches courses on vegetable production and integrated management of cropping systems. His research focuses on breeding for resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stress, and on adapting alternative (mainly subtropical) crops to the northern climates. This research in cooperation with colleagues in other disciplines, consists of field studies and complementary laboratory approaches to identify superior plant types. These approaches have included physical and biochemical indicators of stress damage in tissue; isoenzyme conservation across generations as an indicator of change in genetic variation; yield and growth component analyses; product texture analysis; and methods for estimating disease and insect damage.

Dr. Davis has published scientific, review, and popular articles on the breeding, production, and phenology of sweet corn, beans, tomatoes, melons, parsnips, and other economic plants, as well as articles on agricultural development. In addition, he has significant training and experience in tropical agriculture. Dr. Davis is a member of the horticulture and plant breeding graduate faculty.

References

Davis, D.W., C.A. Engelkes and J.V. Groth. 1990. Erosion of resistance to common leaf    rust in exotic-derived maize during selection for other traits. Phytopathology
   80(4):339-342.
Sauter, K.J., D.W. Davis, P.H. Li and I.S. Wallerstein. 1990. Leaf ethylene evolution    level following high temperature stress in common bean progenies and germplasm.    HortScience 25:(10):1282-1284.
Rubino, D.B. and D.W. Davis, 1991. Maintenance of tropical isozymes alleles during    random mating in a semiexotic maize composite. Journal of Heredity 82(5):423-425.