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Agri-Bytes
December 2009
In This Edition:
- Research focuses on improving onion post-harvest woes
- California mulls next step for Central Valley ag water quality
- Watermelon research could yield hardier plants
Research focuses on improving onion post-harvest woes
By The Grower staff
The Vidalia onion may be king of fresh vegetable crops in Georgia, but it has its royal share of problems.
University of Georgia researchers are leading a national team to try to bring a more princely onion to consumers by improving onion disease-management, storage and handling, according to a news release.
Nationally, onions rank third among all vegetables in terms of value, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.
A three-year, $774,000 grant from the USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative will help fund the effort.
The research will focus on improving the detection of infections and rot that hide in the onions after harvest.
Although workers sort onions for defects at the packing sheds, these latent problems often go undetected. In fact, more than 60 post-harvest diseases can attack onions.
“Can we reduce the amount of damage in onions out there in the retail market?” asks Ron Gitaitis, a plant pathologist based in Tifton, Ga. “Improving the detection, that’s what this research is about.”
Storage-type onions may be housed in warehouses for up to six months. If one onion develops rot during storage, it can quickly spread.
Part of the research will involve developing a sorting machine that uses x-rays and hyperspectral imaging to detect the defects.
The team also hopes to develop electronic sensor technology that will smell when an onion goes bad and can even pinpoint where that onion is. It will be based on existing devices used to detect possible terrorist attacks.
The research also will involve an economic component to examine the costs of new sorting equipment as well as its impact on the existing labor force that work as sorters in packinghouses.
The other universities involved are Colorado State, Mississippi State, Cornell, Auburn, Idaho, Arizona, Georgia Southern and Tsinghua in China.
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California mulls next step for Central Valley ag water quality
By Vicky Boyd
Editor
Within the next few years, growers in California’s Central Valley could face water quality regulations as onerous as the dairy industry’s, which include groundwater quality monitoring and nutrient management plans.
Or growers could continue under water quality regulations similar to those that govern them today, or they could face rules that fall somewhere in the middle.
That was the prognosis that Parry Klassen presented at the recent Almond Industry Conference in Modesto, Calif. Klassen is executive director of the East San Joaquin Water Coalition and the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship and a farmer on the side.
As executive director of the two groups, he’s been heavily involved in surface water monitoring programs since shortly after the Irrigated Lands Program began in 2003.
The grower-funded program involves sampling waterways for pesticides and then developing voluntary mitigation measures should levels exceed Environmental Protection Agency caps.
The Irrigated Lands Program is set to expire in 2011. A long-term program will take its place. In what form that will be is still being debated, Klassen says.
The state currently is drafting an environmental impact review of five alternatives, ranging from no change from current requirements to a program that involves both surface and groundwater, he says.
The latter option also could require groundwater quality monitoring and that growers hire a “technology provider” to develop on-farm nutrient management plans.
In addition, it could require annual reporting of fertilizer and manure use.
Some environmental groups want the state to rank all of the farms in the Central Valley as to the risk they pose to surface and groundwater. The ranking could be in the form of three tiers, based on the distance to the water source, the soil types and the pest management practices.
“None of us know how in the heck they’re going to do this,” Klassen says.
The state is expected to release the draft EIR in spring 2010.
To learn more about the long-term plan, visit the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
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Watermelon research could yield hardier plants
By The Grower staff
The children’s nursery rhyme asks Mary Quite Contrary how her garden grows. Researchers with the Agricultural Research Service are asking the same question about watermelons.
The results could yield information that plant breeders and growers could use to protect the fruit when it’s most vulnerable, according to a news release.
The multi-state research included scientists from ARS facilities in Charleston, S.C.; Tifton, Ga.; Lane,Okla.; and Ithaca, N.Y.
Their work involved examining tissue taken from three different stages of growth and ripening. Specifically, they looked at the genetic material, RNA, and used it to create a library of genes. They were able to match the individual RNA samples to different aspects of development and plant metabolism, such as cell division, cell growth and plant defense.
A large number of the RNA fragments were associated with fruit development or ripening.
Unlike some crops that have a diverse genetic makeup, watermelons do not. Because of this, they are more vulnerable to diseases and other stressors.
By finding sources of genetic resistance, the researchers hope to help watermelon growers remain successful.
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