Our Vision

The Rosaceae community is united in the belief that RosCAP is the ideal pathway to address the critical issues in Rosaceae crop breeding. We have a tremendous opportunity to rebuild our breeding infrastructure through the recruitment and training of a new generation of more efficient, technologically advanced breeders, capable of maintaining the long-term competitiveness of U.S. specialty crop production, through vertically integrating the research, breeding, and product development process, and through building a translational pipeline dedicated on putting genomics to work by application. Over 80 genomics researchers, breeders, educators, extension specialists, and industry representatives have participated in development of RosCAP.

To effectively advance the state of Rosaceae specialty crop breeding in the U.S., RosCAP targets the following: 1) strengthening the competitiveness of the U.S. fruit industry, 2) reversing the trend of dwindling breeding programs, 3) educating and attracting a new generation of “translational breeders”, 4) encouraging institutions to maintain existing breeding programs and install new ones, 5) building an effective pipeline for translational breeding technology, 6) exploiting the world-wide prominence of U.S. Rosaceae genomics research to partner with international efforts, 6) vertically integrating the Rosaceae community on a broad scale to improve product development and create an effective pipeline to market, 7) and creating a platform for scientists, breeders, stakeholders, end users, and consumers to increase awareness of each others needs.



The RosCAP Translational Breeding Program
RosCAP will develop a translational pipeline for rosaceous crops consisting of breeders and scientists educated in translational genomics, close partnerships with industry, an innovative and effective technical translational pipeline, the validity of which will be proofed by the translation of genomics data into ready-to-use breeders ’toolkits’. The proposed RosCAP program leverages research and breeding infrastructure on a global scale. CAP research priorities will be addressed through the creation of three subfamily (Maloideae, Amygdaloideae, and Rosoideae) interdisciplinary teams that will comprise breeders, researchers, educators, extension specialists, and industry representatives collectively focused on tackling specific problems that can be effectively addressed through translational breeding. Students (undergraduate and graduate) will be embedded within these teams to provide a comprehensive learning experience and train the next generation of translational breeders. In year one, three subfamily-based teams will fill in missing genomic infrastructure needed to effectively conduct translational research. In years 2-4, the subfamily teams will focus on improving key rosaceous crop traits specified as critical priorities in the Rosaceae specialty crops Road Map (http://www.rosaceaewhitepaper.com/). The success of all research, education, and extension activities will be continually monitored and evaluated through a set of criteria specifically tailored to each component of the program.