Corrected: Faculty Attend Annual National Sweet Potato Collaborators Group Meeting

Corrected: Faculty Attend Annual National Sweet Potato Collaborators Group Meeting

Dr. Victor Njiti, associate professor and interim chair and Dr. Ananda Nanjundaswamy, assistant professor, both with the Department of Agriculture, and Dr. Chuquan Zhang, assistant professor, Center for Biotechnology, attended the annual meeting of the National Sweet Potato Collaborators Group in conjunction with the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists, held February 3-4, 2017 in Mobile, Alabama.

Dr. Njiti is the newly-appointed chair of the NSCG. He will be responsible for organizing and presiding at the 2018 meeting which will be held in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The mission of the NSCG is to coordinate research and leverage resources for the improvement of sweet potato production, storage, marketing, and processing.

In addition to Alcorn State University, the NSCG is made up of scientists from several universities in major sweet potato producing states, including: Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, Louisiana State University, Southern University Agricultural & Mechanical College, Texas A & M University, University of California-Davis, Canadian Ministry of Agriculture, United States Virgin Islands, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, among others. The group alternates meetings with the SAAS and the National Sweet Potato Council.

Nanjundaswamy, presented a paper titled, “Variation in Beta-Carotene Levels in Sweet Potatoes During Storage and Processing.”

Zhang, presented a paper titled, “Development and Application of Novel Biotechnology Approaches for Sweet Potato Virus Resistance in Mississippi.”

For additional information on sweet potato research at Alcorn State University or the National Sweet Potato Collaborators Group, contact Dr. Victor Njiti, at 601-877-6572 or [email protected].

The press release titled, The National Sweet Potato Collaborated Group, named the organization incorrectly. The correct name of the organization is National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group.

The Land-Grant News regrets the error.