Guorong Zhang, PhD
Professor
Wheat Breeding
Hays Agricultural Research Center
1232 240th Ave
Hays, KS 67601
Ph: 785-625-3425
Dr. Guorong Zhang is a wheat breeder based at Agricultural Research Center-Hays. His program aims to develop hard red and hard white winter wheat varieties for semi-arid western Kansas and surrounding regions. Prior to joining Kansas State University in 2012, Dr. Zhang worked as a biofuel crop breeder at Tennessee State University and barley breeder in China. Dr. Zhang got postdoctoral training in fields of soybean breeding and sweet cherry breeding at Michigan State University. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Plant Breeding from North Dakota State University, a Master degree in Biology from Zhejiang University (China), and a Bachelor degree in Agronomy from Zhejiang Agricultural University (China).
Research
Dr. Zhang's wheat breeding program aims to develop hard red and hard white winter wheat varieties with adaptation to the semi-arid western Kansas and surrounding regions. His specific breeding goals are grain yield, milling and baking quality, drought tolerance, and locally important diseases including wheat streak mosaic virus, barley yellow dwarf virus, stripe rust, leaf rust, stem rust, Hessian fly, and stem sawfly.