| Our research facilities are among the best in the nation. In Alderman Hall, modern laboratories are available with equipment for research and teaching on plant growth substances, photobiology, post-harvest physiology, stress physiology, plant materials, breeding, genetics, cytogenetics, molecular biology, plant transformation, tissue culture, physiology of growth and development, and landscape design and management. In addition to these laboratory facilities in the department, other campus facilities available for research use include electron microscopes and equipment for the following: x-ray microanalysis; oligonucleotide purification and synthesis; polymerase chain reactions; determination and computer analysis of nucleic acid and protein sequences; optical microscopy with phase-contrast, interference contrast, epiflourescence optics, and video imaging; mass-spectral and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses; and mainframe and supercomputing.
Facilities for growing plants include a variety of growth chambers and over 30,000 ft2 of greenhouse space attached to a large headhouse. On the St. Paul campus 18 acres are devoted to field plots for horticultural research. The department also operates the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Horticultural Research Center near Chanhassen, approximately 32 miles from the St. Paul Campus. The Arboretum was established in 1958 and consists of 905 acres of educational facilities, plant collections, display gardens, and generic collections with over 5,000 species, as well as natural areas with a variety of native plant communities. The Horticultural Research Center was established in 1908 on over 200 acres. It is one of the few institutions in the world that specializes in the identification and development of cold-hardy fruit and woody landscape plants. It also offers a field laboratory for other horticultural research.
The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station operates a dozen off-campus branch stations around the state where researchers have the opportunity to obtain research results that are specific to regional needs. Several stations have large horticulture components. Much laboratory and field research in potatoes is conducted in northwestern Minnesota at the Red River Valley Potato Research Laboratory, which is jointly funded by the University of Minnesota, the USDA, North Dakota State University, and the Red River Valley Potato Growers. Research in vegetable crops for processing is centered at the Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, which has equipment for seed physiology research as well as for field trials. The North Central Research and Outreach Center also hosts considerable horticultural research, specializing in small fruits and alternative crops and cropping systems.
Map Location of Alderman Hall | 
