Welcome to the professorship Biotechnology of Horticultural Crops

Horticulture is an economically highly productive branch of agriculture that breeds and produces most of the existing spectrum of our food crops. Horticultural crops include fruit crops, vegetables, medicinal plants, herbs, and ornamental plants. Their production is a large challenge because they have to meet internal and high external quality requirements. Therefore, the control of flowering time, plant architecture, and yield are just as important topics in horticultural plant production as plant nutrition and plant protection.

The professorship 'Biotechnology of Horticultural Crops’ uses bioscientific methodology, such as tools of molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and plant physiology, to increase our basic scientific understanding of the growth and development as well as of the stress tolerance of plants. Resistance of plants to temperature extremes, such as heat and frost, as well as to fungal and bacterial pathogens, is the focus of our research interest. We work with model systems such as the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana and with crops such as cultivated tomato and sunflower. In addition, we are committed to the development of orphan crops with high future potential for Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with harsh climatic conditions.

In teaching, we contribute to the Bachelor study program Agrar- und Gartenbauwissenschaften and several Master programs, including Horticultural Science, Agricultural Biosciences, Molecular Biotechnology, and Biology.

The professorship is based at the TUM School of Life Sciences in Freising, north of Munich, meaning that we have cutting-edge laboratory infrastructure and equipment at our disposal.