UC Davis Young Scholars Program

Last summer, Tobey did research with Dr. Georgia Drakakaki to learn whether arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi help leeks resist salt stress by treating plants with different saline concentrations and measuring growth and health.

Our new cohort of Young Scholars will be joining us on campus in just a few weeks! We can't wait to see what this year's group learns and how they contribute to university research.

Almonds have a very low ratio of fruit to flowers, which is called the set rate. The low set keeps them from being as effective a crop as they could be. Ruthann worked on a study aiming to investigate whether low almond set rates are caused by carbon limitations in spurs by comparing a well-watered control tree with a moderately water-stressed tree.

Spurs were digitally tracked for flower and fruit production, and results showed that fruit numbers increased with flower numbers in both trees, contradicting the carbon limitation hypothesis. The stressed tree had more flowers, more fruits, and a higher average set than the control, though both had about one-third of the spurs that produced no fruit.

These findings suggest factors beyond carbon storage—like spur health and water stress—affect almond set, highlighting the need for further research, with the aim of improving yields in major almond-producing regions like California.