Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Whitaker Lab
Led by Vance Whitaker · Horticultural Sciences
What we study
The Whitaker Lab breeds strawberry varieties for Florida, testing thousands of seedlings in the field each season and using DNA markers and quantitative genetics to improve traits like yield, disease resistance and flavor.
What working here is like
- Fieldwork
- Plants
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Field breeding effort
Testing tens of thousands of seedlings and hundreds of advanced selections each season.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Using genomic selection to examine subgenome dominance and epistasis in allopolyploid strawberry
2026 · The Plant Genome
Uses DNA data to study how different strawberry subgenomes affect plant traits.
- Enoyl‐ CoA hydratase genes underlie natural variation of lactones in cultivated and wild strawberries
2026 · New Phytologist
Identifies genes that control sweet, fruity flavors in strawberries.
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- Modeling production curves in a strawberry breeding program to optimize early season productivity
2026 · Frontiers in Plant Science
Models how strawberry yield changes over time to pick the best early-season varieties.
- Scalable medium-density genotyping platforms for cultivar identification, pedigree authentication, marker-assisted and genomic selection, and other applications in strawberry
2026 · G3 Genes Genomes Genetics
Develops cheaper, simpler DNA tests for identifying strawberry varieties and traits.
- UAV-based 3D canopy reconstruction for non-destructive strawberry biomass estimation: Comparison of SfM, NeRF, and Gaussian Splatting
2026 · Smart Agricultural Technology
Compares 3D scanning methods to estimate strawberry plant size without cutting them.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Vance Whitaker hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.