U of G G raduate S tudies

Plant Agriculture: MSc, PhD

Plants provide food, raw materials, and a healthy environment, and are the cornerstone for life on earth.
Plant Science is key to understanding and enhancing plant life. Research in the Department of Plant
Agriculture is divided into four areas: Plant Biochemistry and Physiology, Plant Breeding and Genetics,
Crop Production Systems, and Bioproducts.

plant.uoguelph.ca

Program
Plant Agriculture is strongly rooted in
crop science and horticultural science
but we now encompass applied
bioinformatics; molecular genetics;
genomics; field, horticultural and
greenhouse crops; plant breeding; turf
and grassland studies; environmental
sustainability; weed science/ecology;
and the use of plant materials for
health, fibres and industrial products.
Furthermore, we recognize that
society’s expectations of agriculture
are changing to include a wide range of
health and environmental services such
as producing food with nutraceuticals,
protecting biodiversity, mitigating
We offer an interdisciplinary research environment in modern, well-equipped laboratories
climate change and providing and research stations to provide excellence in graduate education and training.
alternative energy sources.

Admission Requirements Research Fields ARE YOU INTERESTED IN:

■ The MSc requires a Baccalaureate ■ Plant Biochemistry & Physiology ■ Increasing plant production efficiency
degree in an honours plant science/ Plant Breeding & Genetics
■ ■ Developing new varieties
biology program, or equivalent, from Crop Production Systems
■ ■ Understanding plant growth and
a recognized university or college Bioproducts
■
development
with at least a B average over the
last two years of full-time study (or ■ Weed control
Our Faculty
equivalent). ■ Plant-environment interactions
■ The PhD requires a MSc degree by Faculty have modern labs with state- ■ Discovering new environmentally friendly
thesis in a field appropriate to the of-the-art equipment and access to industrial materials
proposed area of specialization with controlled environment growth
a minimum B average. facilities and numerous field sites
distributed over Ontario. Faculty are CAREER OPPORTUNITIES:
Application Deadline: located on four campuses affording ■ Crop Consultant
Ongoing a variety of opportunities and ■ Breeder/Geneticist
Entry: Fall, Winter, Spring experiences for our students.
■ Plant Physiologist
Our faculty are internationally
■ R&D Bio-Based Plastics
recognized as leaders in their scholarly
activities. Support for research is
obtained from a variety of sources CONTACT INFORMATION
including federal, provincial,
Graduate Program Coordinator:
international, industrial and Dr. Istvan Rajcan
grower sponsors. 519-824-4120 ext 53564
irajcan@uoguelph.ca
Graduate Program Assistant:
Tara Israel
519-824-4120 ext 56077
pagrad@uoguelph.ca
 U of G G raduate S tudies

Departmental Graduate Faculty with Research Areas

Gale G. Bozzo Katerina S. Jordan Amar Mohanty Kimberley Schneider

E.C. Bovey Building E.C. Bovey Building Crop Science Building Crop Science Building
gbozzo@uoguelph.ca kjordan@uoguelph.ca mohanty@uoguelph.ca kschne01@uoguelph.ca
Postharvest physiology & Turfgrass science; nematology Bioeconomy related to biobased Forage and service crops,
secondary metabolism
Melanie Kalischuk materials, biofuels & biorefinery nutrient cycling,
John A. Cline E.C. Bovey Building sustainable agriculture
Joshua Nasielski
Simcoe and Vineland Campus mkalisch@uoguelph.ca
Crop Science Building Peter H. Sikkema
jcline@uoguelph.ca Genomics, pathology,
nasielsk@uoguelph.ca Ridgetown Campus
Fruit tree physiology & specialty crop improvement
management Field crop agronomy and crop psikkema@uoguelph.ca
Elizabeth A. Lee
physiology, eastern and northern Weed management,
Hugh J. Earl Crop Science Building
Ontario field crops
Crop Science Building lizlee@uoguelph.ca
hjearl@uoguelph.ca Corn breeding & genetics Gopinadhan Paliyath Jayasankar Subramanian
Oilseed physiology & agronomy E.C. Bovey Building Vineland Campus
Lewis N. Lukens
Mehrzad (Milad) Eskandari Crop Science Building gpaliyat@uoguelph.ca jsubrama@uoguelph.ca
Ridgetown Campus llukens@uoguelph.ca Postharvest biology; functional Tree fruit genetics, breeding &
meskanda@uoguelph.ca Bioinformatics, genetics of foods & nutraceuticals biotechnoloy & biotechnology
Soybean breeding & genetics stress tolerance K. Peter Pauls John Sulik
Chris L. Gillard Eric M. Lyons Crop Science Building Crop Science Building
Ridgetown Campus E.C. Bovey Building ppauls@uoguelph.ca jsulik@uoguelph.ca
cgillard@uoguelph.ca elyons@uoguelph.ca Tissue culture; molecular biology Precision Agriculture, cropping
Dry bean agronomy & Stress physiology; root biology techniques to crop improvement systems, remote sensing &
pest management of turfgrass species
Manish N. Raizada
geographic information systems
Bernard Grodzinski Mary Ruth McDonald
Crop Science Building Francois Tardif
E.C Bovey Building Crop Science Building
bgrodzin@uoguelph.ca raizada@uoguelph.ca Crop Science Building
mrmcdona@uoguelph.ca
Photosynthesis, carbon Novel proteomics, genome & ftardif@uoguelph.ca
Diseases & integrated crop
partitioning and productivity, protein engineering technologies Physiology, ecology & molecular
management of vegetables
manned space program biology of
Barry J. Micallef Istvan Rajcan
David C. Hooker Crop Science Building
herbicide resistance
Crop Science Building
Ridgetown Campus bmicalle@uoguelph.ca irajcan@uoguelph.ca Cheryl Trueman
dhooker@uoguelph.ca Physiology & genetics of Soybean breeding & genetics; Ridgetown Campus
Field crop agronomy vegetable crops seed composition, bioproducts, ctrueman@uoguelph.ca
A. Max P. Jones Manjusri Misra yield stability, G x E, exotic Vegetable disease management
E.C. Bovey Building Crop Science Building germplasm Rene C. Van Acker
amjones@uoguelph.ca mmisra@uoguelph.ca Darren E. Robinson Johnston Hall
Plant propagation and Bio-based new materials &
Ridgetown Campus vanacker@uoguelph.ca
in vitro conservation green nanotechnology
drobinso@uoguelph.ca Weed biology & ecology;
Weed management & biosafety & novel trait
horticultural crops confinement; agronomy

Praveen K. Saxena David J. Wolyn

E.C. Bovey Building E.C. Bovey Building
psaxena@uoguelph.ca dwolyn@uoguelph.ca
Plant morphogenesis; Plant genetics; plant
conservation; medicinal breeding; tissue culture;
plant biology molecular genetics