Rafael Marmo, a U of A Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences graduate student in crop, soil and environmental sciences, won two first-place awards in November at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Marmo won the Graduate Oral and Poster contests of the C01 Crop Breeding and Genetics Division, both with his research "Optimizing Seed Composition and Grain Yield Stability in Soybean Breeding: Insights from Multi-Environment Trials."

His work explores the relationship between complex traits and soybean grain yield stability across different environments and stages of the breeding process. The goal is to identify soybean traits contributing to higher grain yield stability, ultimately leading to the development of high-yielding soybean cultivars with stable performance across multiple environments.

Marmo is a master's degree student advised by Caio Canella Vieira, assistant professor of soybean breeding in the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. Vieira is a member of the faculty, as well as a researcher and scientist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

The Crop Science Society of America is the professional home for more than 5,500 members dedicated to advancing the field of crop science. Members are dedicated to the conservation and wise use of natural resources to produce food, feed, fiber, fuel and pharmaceutical crops for the world's growing population while maintaining and improving the environment. CSSA is a progressive international scientific society that fosters plant science for a better world.

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About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.