Tilling for Enhanced Bolting Resistant Lettuce

Lettuce is a major vegetable crop grown in the United States with a farm gate value in 2003 of $2 billion. For crops such as lettuce, the vegetative leaves of the plant are the harvested material. Because lettuce must be harvested before it flowers, premature flowering, or bolting, reduces crop quality and yield, and therefore is a leading cause of profit loss to farmers. Lettuce cultivars with enhanced bolting resistance have the potential to increase both lettuce quality for existing growers and suppliers, as well as extending the geographical region over which lettuce can be commercially produced. Thus, we propose to breed cultivars of lettuce that have enhanced bolting resistance.