Vegetable Breeding
Research and development of vegetable cultivars suited for the Southern region of the U.S.
Texas A&M AgriLife has been breeding onion cultivars for the last 45 years and have developed popular open pollinated cultivars (e.g. Texas Grano 1015Y, Texas Legend).
Uvalde Center’s vegetable breeding program is conducting research and developing onion and watermelon cultivars suited for the Southern region of the U.S.
Publications
Note: †Graduate student; ‡Research Associate; §Corresponding Author
Shin, G.Y., J.A. Asselin, A. Smith, B. Aegerter, T. Coutinho, M. Zhao, B. Dutta, J. Mazzone, R. Neupane, B. Gugino, C. Hoepting, M. Khanal, S. Malla, C. Nischwitz, J. Sidhu, A.M. Burke, J. Davey, M. Uchanski, M.L. Derie, L.J. du Toit, S. Stresow, J.M. Bonasera, P. Stodghill, B.H. Kvitko. 2025. Plasmids encode and can mobilize onion pathogenicity in Pantoea agglomerans. ISME J. 19:wraf019. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wraf019
Kiplagat, E., M. Ramezani, S. Malla, L. Cisneros-Zevallos, V. Joshi, and A. Castillo. 2024. Factors Affecting Growth and Survival of Salmonella in Onion Extracts and Onion Bulbs. Foods 14:1. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14010001
Sharma, S., A. Khar, J.S. Khosa, S. Mandal, S. Malla§. 2024. Recent Advances in Molecular Genetics of Onion. Horticulturae 10: 256. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10030256
Patel T., L.M. Quesada-Ocampo, T.C. Wehner§, B.P. Bhatta†, E. Correa†, and S. Malla§. 2023. Recent advances and challenges in management of Colletotrichum orbiculare, the causal agent of watermelon anthracnose. Horticulturae 9:1132
Bhatta B.P.†, M. Khanal‡, and S. Malla§. 2023. Whole Genome and 16S rRNA Dataset of Pectobacterium carotovorum Strain 21TX0081 Isolated from a Symptomatic Onion Foliage in Texas. Data Brief 46: 108823.
Khanal M.‡, B.P. Bhatta†, and S. Malla§. 2023. Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria Associated with Onion and First Report of Onion Diseases Caused by Five Bacterial Pathogens in Texas, U.S.A. Plant Dis 107:1721-1729. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-22-2206-SR
Khanal M.‡ and S. Malla§. 2023. Draft Genome Sequence and Annotation of Pseudomonas carnis strain 20TX0167 Isolated from Onion (Allium cepa). Microbiol. Resour. Announc. :e01051-22
Bhatta, B.P.†, T. Patel, E. Correa†, T.C. Wehner, K.M. Crosby, M.J. Thomson, and S. Malla§. 2022. Data on Inheritance of Race 2 Anthracnose Resistance in Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) Biparental Mapping Populations. Data Brief 44:1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108546
Khanal, M.‡, B.P. Bhatta†, S. Timilsina, S. Ghimire, K. Cochran, and S. Malla§. 2022. Curtobacterium allii sp. nov., the Actinobacteria Species Causing Onion Bulb Disease. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek116:83-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-022-01775-z
Angira, B.§, Y. Zhang, Y. Zhang, C.F. Scheuring, L. Masor, J. Rothe, B.B. Singh, H.-B. Zhang, D.B. Hays, M. Zhang, M. Khanal‡, E. Correa†, B.P. Bhatta†, and S. Malla§. 2022. Genetic Dissection of Iron Deficiency Chlorosis by QTL Analysis in Cowpea. Euphytica 218:38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-022-02989-y
Bhatta, B.P.†, T. Patel, E. Correa†, T.C. Wehner, K.M. Crosby, M.J. Thomson, R. Metz, S. Wang, M. Brun, C.D. Johnson, and S. Malla§. 2022. Dissection of Race 1 Anthracnose Resistance in a Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) Biparental Mapping Population. Euphytica. 218:157. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1710183/v1
Khanal, M.‡, S. Timilsina, B.P. Bhatta†, K. Bophela, T. Coutinho, K. Cochran, and S. Malla§. 2022. Pseudomonas uvaldensis sp. nov., a Bacterial Pathogen Causing Onion Bulb Rot, Isolated from Texas, USA. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 72:005311. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.005311
Correa, E.†, K. Crosby, and S. Malla§. 2021. Optimizing Seedling Screening Method for Anthracnose Resistance in Watermelon. Plant Health Prog. 22:536-543. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-04-21-0077-RS
Bhatta, B.P.† and S. Malla§. 2020. Improving Horticultural Crops via CRISPR/Cas9: Current Successes and Prospects. Plants. 9:1360. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9101360
Correa, E.†, S. Malla§, K. Crosby, and C.A. Avila. 2020. Evaluation of Genotypes Breeding for Improved Productivity in Watermelon. Horticulturae. 6:67. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae6040067
Carpenter, N.R., E. Wright, S. Malla§, L. Singh, D. Van Sanford, A. Clark, S. Harrison, J.P. Murphy, J. Costa, S. Chao, G.L. Brown‐Guedira, N. McMaster, D.G. Schmale III, C.A. Griffey, and N. Rawat§. 2020. Identification and Validation of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance QTL in the US Soft Red Winter Wheat Cultivar ‘Jamestown’. Crop Sci. 60(6):2919-2930. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20307
Griffey, C.§, S. Malla, W. Brooks, J. Seago, A. Christopher, W.E. Thomason, R.M. Pitman, R. Markham, M.E. Vaughn, D.W. Dunaway, M. Beahm, C.L. Barrack, E. Rucker, H. Behl, T. Hardiman, B. Beahm, P. Browning, D. Schmale III, N. McMaster, J.T. Custis, S. Gulick, S.B. Ashburn, N. Joneds Jr., B.-K. Baik, H. Bockelman, D. Marshall, M. Fountain, G. Brown-Guedira, C. Cowger, S. Cambron, J. Kolmer, Y. Jin, X. Chen, K. Garland-Campbell, and E. Sparry. 2020. Registration of ‘Hilliard’ Wheat. J. Plant Reg. 14(3):406-417. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20073
Meier, N.A. §, S. Malla, J.C. Oakes, J.P. Murphy, B.-K. Baik, S. Chao and C.A. Griffey. 2020. Registration of Soft Red Winter Wheat VA11DH-P46xTrib-28, VA11DH-P46xTrib-99, and VA11DH-P46xTrib-103 Germplasm Lines with Exceptional Milling and Cookie Baking Performance. J. Plant Reg. 14(3):450-456. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20055
Research projects
Thrips
Increasing Onion Productivity via Integrated Management of Thrips TDA-SCBG # GSC2022-45
Breeding for Watermelon
Watermelon is an important vegetable crop in the U.S. Biotic stresses such as Fusarium wilt and anthracnose leaf blight are major diseases in watermelon growing regions. The objectives of the program are to understand genetics of host resistance and develop disease tolerant cultivars. The program is evaluating Texas A&M and USDA germplasm and creating genetic…
Stop the Rot
Combating Onion Bacterial Diseases with Pathogenomics Tools and Enhanced Management Strategies USDA-NIFA SCRI # 2019-51181-30013 alliumnet.com/stop-the-rot
Mechanical Harvest
Ensuring Future Economic Viability of US Short-day Onion Production Through Mechanical Harvesting USDA-NIFA SCRI # 2023-51181-41172 Short-day onions, grown in the southern United States, are for the fresh and sweet market class. High moisture and low dry matter content are potential factors for high bruise damage in this market class. Traditionally, manual harvest has been…
Program Faculty and Staff
Dr. Subas Malla
Associate Professor of Vegetable Breeding
[email protected]
(830) 988-6139
Publications
A full selection of Dr. Malla’s publications is available at TAMU Scholars along with information about researchers and peer-reviewed publications across The Texas A&M University System.
