New Graduate Robert Shrote reveals passion for plant breeding
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EmailTime in the field and internships important part of experience
Just after successfully defending his thesis and right before moving on to his new career at Corteva Agriscience as a Breeding Systems Optimization Scientist in Johnston, IA, Robert gave us a few minutes to help us understand his motivation for plant science:
What did you enjoy the most inside your program?
First, I love corn pollination season. Even though pollination season can be really busy and sometimes stressful, I really enjoy making pollinations, especially if I am crossing two different varieties together. Sometimes the crosses you make have potentially never been done before and I think that's exciting. Second, I love harvest season, where I can see the results of the crosses I made from the summer. To me, it's kind of like Christmas. I love opening up the crossing bags and seeing the kinds of ears that were produced that year. Related to this, Addie graciously allowed me to grow some of the ornamental corn varieties I have been breeding for the past, now, decade, alongside our required materials. Each year we planted selections I had made in the off-season and we crossed those selected varieties together. Each year, I am especially exited to see the results of those selections and crosses.
I think it is essential for people to go out into the field for several reasons. First, it is essential for any researcher to know the life cycle, behavior, and idiosyncrasies of the species one is studying. Early in my experience working with corn, I thought corn varieties all looked the same, but after several years, my eyes became more attuned to the differences between varieties, and now, I can identify some varieties just by looking at them. Being able to notice the difference between varieties also helps in identifying off-types to maintain genetic purity in experiments. Second, it is essential for any researcher to observe the effects of varying field conditions on experiments being grown in the field. I think observing these things and gaining this knowledge is essential to downstream data analysis. By seeing the effects of drought, flooding, and weed pressure, I was able to understand the potential issues that could happen out in the field and take preventive actions to reduce the risk of poor experimental results. I improved my statistical designs and statistical analysis techniques, and these efforts paid off when we experienced an early-season drought event in 2023.
What did you enjoy the most outside your program?
I worked for Wyffels Hybrids as a corn breeding intern. At Wyffels, I learned a ton of practical knowledge. I think the biggest thing I learned from the internship was the importance of data quality. In plant breeding, you live or die by the quality of your data. A good chunk of my internship was spent traveling across the country rating plots for their ability to provide good data. Additionally, I learned that one must be ruthless in pursuing genetic purity, since genetic impurities can significantly affect your data quality.
I would definitely recommend people to seek out an internship while they are in graduate school. Going into graduate school, I wanted to pursue a career that was both computational and field-based, since I liked both. From my internship and interactions with other company representatives, I learned that such a career likely did not exist and that I would have to choose a side and specialize. Based on my internship experience, I saw that being a field breeder involved a lot of traveling and time away from home. This was something that I was not comfortable with, so I opted to specialize in the computational aspects of plant breeding.
