Hi Jonas Skytte af Sätra!

What are you doing in the project? 

I am establishing the infrastructure necessary to start working with genome informed breeding in the Swedish apple programme. This involves e.g. reconstruction of family trees of apple cultivars and trying to understand the inheritance of traits that are important for Swedish apple growers.

Why is the project important? 

Among apple producing countries Sweden is a niche market with specific demands on the apple cultivars grown here, and the purpose of the Swedish apple breeding programme is to meet these demands. In order to operate efficiently the Swedish apple breeding programme needs to adopt some of the novel tools available, to continue supporting Swedish apple growers and ensure that our grandchildren will be able to buy Swedish apples.

What did you do before you started your PhD? 

I have an MSc in Horticulture from SLU and after graduation, I worked for a few years at a breeding company, mostly with plant pathology but also with double haploids.

Tell about one of your best moment or experience during your PhD studies thus far! 

When I got to the point that I could use my data to identify interesting combinations of parents for future crosses, either for cultivar development or for future research (or both).

The interview was conducted in the beginning of 2023.

Jonas Skytte af Sätra had his PhD defence 2023-03-31:

https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/30352/1/skytte-af-satra-j-20230308.pdf