Anders Vidstrand, MSc.

Anders Vidstrand
Bio

I am an MS student working with Dr. John Preece (USDA-ARS) and Dr. Ted DeJong in the Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group.  I completed my undergraduate work at UC Berkeley in Interdisciplinary Studies. I am currently working on a comprehensive phenotyping project with the Prunus persica (Peach and Nectarine) collection of the National Clonal Germplasm Repository USDA-ARS, Davis.  This collection consists of 538 accessions; 375 cultivar and 163 wild genotypes. I am interested in the diversity of traits in pomological crop species from historic cultivars, landraces, and crop wild relatives.  These diverse genetic resources offer opportunities for crop improvement such as disease resistance, improved fruit quality traits, improved phytonutrient content, and extended harvest times. I am employing innovative phenotyping methods such as electronic data capture and bioinformatics, as well as working with microsatellite and SNP markers to quantify and describe the genetic diversity among these accessions.

I also teach horticulture classes at community colleges in the East Bay including ‘Edible Landscaping’ and ‘Growing and Using Herbs’ at Merritt College and ‘Introduction to Horticulture’ at Diablo Valley College.