Walter De Jong
· ProfessorCornell University · Plant Breeding and Genetics
Active 1954–2024
Academic metrics are sourced from OpenAlex and public funding records; values may differ from Google Scholar.
About
Walter De Jong is associated with the potato breeding program within the Plant Breeding and Genetics Section at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His work focuses on breeding and evaluating adapted potato lines across six field locations. The program aims to release or pre-release potato varieties based on criteria such as yield, quality, novelty, and resistance to golden nematode. This research supports New York State's significant potato industry, which ranks 11th in the country with an annual crop value of $61 million, serving both the chipping industry and fresh market sales. De Jong's role is integral to advancing potato breeding efforts that contribute to the agricultural productivity and sustainability of the region.
Research topics
- Genetics
- Biology
- Botany
- Bioinformatics
Selected publications
Molecular Plant · 2022 · 185 citations
Cultivated potato is a clonally propagated autotetraploid species with a highly heterogeneous genome. Phased assemblies of six cultivars including two chromosome-scale phased genome assemblies revealed extensive allelic diversity, including altered coding and transcript sequences, preferential allele expression, and structural variation that collectively result in a highly complex transcriptome and predicted proteome, which are distributed across the homologous chromosomes. Wild species contribu…
Genetics · 2018-03-07 · 147 citations
articleOpen accessAbstract As one of the world’s most important food crops, the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) has spurred innovation in autotetraploid genetics, including in the use of SNP arrays to determine allele dosage at thousands of markers. By combining genotype and pedigree information with phenotype data for economically important traits, the objectives of this study were to (1) partition the genetic variance into additive vs. nonadditive components, and (2) determine the accuracy of genome-wide predicti…
Current Status of Potato Cyst Nematodes in North America
Annual Review of Phytopathology · 2019-05-18 · 43 citations
reviewThe potato cyst nematodes (PCNs) Globodera rostochiensis and Globodera pallida are internationally recognized quarantine pests. Although not widely distributed in either the United States or Canada, both are present and are regulated by the national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) of each country. G. rostochiensis was first discovered in New York in the 1940s, and G. pallida was first detected in a limited area of Idaho in 2006. In Canada, G. rostochiensis and G. pallida were first detect…
2019-12-03 · 41 citations
book-chapterOpen accessSenior authorThe breeding of crop plants is a highly effective means of increasing agricultural productivity in a sustainable and environmentally safe way. Prebreeding and population improvement not only capture essential genetic resources and move desired traits along variety development pipelines but also help assure the creation of broad and dynamic gene pools to meet future, unanticipated needs. To efficiently meet multiple breeding objectives requires both interdisciplinary collaboration and a grasp of…
Participatory Variety Selection: A Tool to Understand Farmers′ Potato Variety Selection Criteria
Open Agriculture · 2017-08-28 · 39 citations
articleOpen accessAbstract Although the Ethiopian potato program has released more than 30 new varieties, selected primarily for yield potential and late blight tolerance, the majority of farmers still choose to grow older ‘local varieties’. Cognizant of this, the current study aimed to identify traits that farmers consider most important when deciding which varieties to grow. The study was conducted at two sites in northwest Ethiopia, representing two major agroecological zones, in two distinct growing seasons,…
Frequent coauthors
- 17 shared
David S. Douches
Michigan State University
- 14 shared
D. E. Halseth
Cornell University
- 14 shared
Keith L. Perry
Cornell University
- 11 shared
Joseph Coombs
Michigan State University
- 10 shared
David C. Baulcombe
University of Cambridge
- 9 shared
Glenn J. Bryan
James Hutton Institute
- 9 shared
Richard G. Novy
United States Department of Agriculture
- 9 shared
Gregory A. Porter
University of Maine
Awards & honors
- Honor Award for Excellence (2011)
Similar researchers at Cornell University
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Walter De Jong
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup