Craig Yencho

Bio

Websites

• https://potatoes.cals.ncsu.edu/
• https://sweetpotatogenomics.cals.ncsu.edu/
• https://plantbreeding.ncsu.edu/

Responsibilities

Dr. Yencho has research responsibilities (100%) in sweetpotato and potato breeding and genetics. Research emphasis is on developing disease and insect resistant table-stock, processing and specialty-type sweetpotatoes and potatoes adapted to North Carolina’s growing conditions with improved root and tuber quality, respectively.

Research interests include plant breeding, plant resistance to insects and pathogens, use of wild and/or related plant germplasm as a source of commercially important traits, applications of genomics, molecular biology and plant biochemistry to plant breeding and the production of renewable, bio-based, value-added products in sweetpotato and potato, and international agricultural development.

General Information

• Curriculum Vitae
• Publications

Publications

• Discovery of QTLs Controlling Flavor Compounds in a Sweetpotato Mapping Population , Research Square (2026)
• Discovery of a major QTL for resistance to Fusarium wilt ( Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. batatas ) in the hexaploid Covington sweetpotato , Crop Science (2026)
• Optimized DNA extraction from sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) root tissues supports routine genotyping , Research Square (2026)
• Standardized microhaplotype databases and frameworks for assessing and mining crop genetic diversity , Theoretical and Applied Genetics (2026)
• Towards a sweetpotato genomic-enabled breeding: optimizing two-stage analysis of multi-environment augmented trials , Theoretical and Applied Genetics (2026)
• Volatile compounds and sensory attributes that drive the flavor of cooked sweetpotato , Food Chemistry (2026)
• A reference-quality NLRome for the hexaploid sweetpotato and diploid wild relatives , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2025)
• Comprehensive review of sweetpotato flavor compounds: Opportunities for developing consumer‐preferred varieties , Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety (2025)
• Data from: Deployment and analysis of instance segmentation algorithm for in-field yield estimation of sweet potatoes , DRYAD (2025)
• Deployment and analysis of instance segmentation algorithm for in‐field yield estimation of sweet potatoes , The Plant Phenome Journal (2025)