Tom Warkentin

Plant Sciences, Crop Development Centre

My main focus is plant breeding of pea cultivars for western Canada, as well as research related to improving the pea crop in terms of disease resistance and end-use quality using conventional and genomic approaches.  I also lead a program on soybean breeding for the short season regions of Western Canada.

Ph.D. University of Saskatchewan 
M.Sc. University of Manitoba 
B.S.A. University of Manitoba

Cheng F, Sun G, Li X, Warkentin TD, Ai Y. 2025. Novel hydrothermal modification to alter functionality and reduce glycemic response of pea starch. Carbohydrate Polymers 348, 122861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.122861 IF: 10.7

Galves C, Gali KK, Warkentin TD, House J, Nickerson M. 2025. High- and low-protein pea genotypes: A comparative study of the physicochemical, functional and quality properties of protein isolates. Cereal Chemistry 2025, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/cche.10889. IF: 2.2

Hooker JC, Charette M, Lefebvre F, Zapata G, Mohr, RM, Daba KA, Glen AJ, Marsolais F, Hadinezhad M, Warkentin T, Hou A, Golshani A, Cober ER, Samanfar B. 2025. Differential expression analysis of soybean pod tissue between Canadian environments identifies differences in sulfur -containing amino acid-related gene expression. Genome 68, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1139/gen-2024-0106. IF: 2.1

Awodele SO, Gali KK, Sivachandra Kumar NT, De Silva D, Chatterton S, Banniza S, Warkentin TD. 2024. Evaluation of pea accessions differing in flower and seed coat pigmentation for resistance to Fusarium avenaceum root rot. Legume Science 6(2), e230. https://doi.org/10.1002/leg3.230.

Dhillon LK, Chandnani R, Nakhforoosh A, Qin T, Panjvani K, Feurtado JA, Kochian L, Warkentin TD. 2024. Evaluation of variation in seedling root architectural traits and their potential association with nitrogen fixation and agronomic traits in field pea accessions. Crop Science 64(3), 1619-1638. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21234. IF: 2

Gali KK, Jha A, Tar’an B, Burstin J, Aubert G, Bing D, Arganosa G, Warkentin TD. 2024. Identification of QTLs associated with seed protein concentration in two diverse recombinant inbred line populations of pea. Frontiers in Plant Science 15, 1359117. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1359117. IF: 4.1

Zanetta CU, Gali KK, Rafii MY, Jaafar JN, Waluyo B, Warkentin TD, Ramlee SI. 2024. Dissecting genetic variation and association mapping for agro-morphological traits under high temperature stress in pea (Pisum sativum L.). Euphytica 220(2), 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-023-03279-x. IF: 1.8

Zhou J, Wan Z, Gali KK, Jha AB, Nickerson M, House JD, Tar’an B, Warkentin TD. 2023. Quantitative Trait Loci associated with amino acid concentration and in vitro protein digestibility in pea (Pisum sativum L.). Frontiers in Plant Science 14, 1083086. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1083086. IF: 4.1

Huang S, Gali KK, Arganosa GC, Tar’an B, Bueckert RA, Warkentin TD. 2023. Breeding indicators for high-yielding field pea under normal and heat stress environments. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 103(3), 259-269.  https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2022-0158.  IF: 1.2

Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, College of Agriculture and Bioresources, 2016
Pulse Promoter Award, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, 2014
North American Pulse Improvement Award, Outstanding Achievement Award, 2013