Dr. Desmond R. Layne

Horticulture Extension Program Team Leader
Associate Professor, Pomology
Extension Fruit Specialist, Department of Horticulture, Clemson University

Degrees Held:

B.S., Agriculture, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada (1986)
M.S., Horticulture, Michigan State University (1989)
Ph.D., Horticulture, Michigan State University (1992)

Research Interests:

Peach germplasm evaluation and new cultivar development, orchard systems management, control and management of soilborne diseases (especially Armillaria)

Responsibilities:

Dr. Layne conducts applied research and demonstration projects on peach grower farms in South Carolina.  He provides educational programming and on-farm consultation services to SC fruit growers.

Dr. Layne is the state Horticulture Program Team Leader for Extension and he leads 36 county extension agents with primary responsibility for horticulture.

Dr. Layne annually teaches an undergraduate/graduate course, 'Just Fruits', with average enrolment of 25-30 students each Fall semester.

He is a recognized authority on peach and has just completed a new international text, "The Peach: Botany, Production and Uses" that will be published by CAB International in the U.K. in 2008.  This 840-page comprehensive text includes 22 chapters written by 49 world authorities from eight countries.

He is a Contributing Editor and the regular Stone Fruit Columnist for the American Fruit Grower magazine with an international readership of 36,000.

Dr. Layne is President of the American Pomological Society.

Publication Highlights

Layne, D.R. and Bassi, D. (2008) The peach: Botany, production and uses.  CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. 840 pp. (in press)

Schnabel, G., D.R. Layne, and I. Holb. 2007.  Micronized and non-micronized sulfur sprays control peach scab equally well with negligible impacts on fruit quality.  Annals of Applied Biology. 150:131-139.

Layne, D.R. 2007.  The Easter Freeze: a follow up. The American Fruit Grower 127(9):34.

Cox, K., D.R. Layne, R. Scorza, and G. Schnabel.  2006.  Gastrodia anti-fungal protein (GAFP) from the orchid Gastrodia elata confers broad-spectrum root disease tolerance in transgenic tobacco. Planta 224:1373-1383.

Layne, D.R. 2006. Peach. The South Carolina Encyclopedia. Univ. of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC. pp. 706-707.

Download a PDF of Dr. Layne’s CV (file size 1.2 MB)

Page maintained by: Walker Massey, emassey@clemson.edu