ASHS 2025 Conference: Full Schedule

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7:59am CDT

CE 3 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Strand 12B

Presiding/Moderator

Makenzie Lee

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments

7:59am CDT

CHEX 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Strand 12A

Presiding/Moderator

Annette Wszelaki is a Professor and the Commercial Vegetable Extension Specialist at the University of Tennessee. She has statewide responsibilities for developing a comprehensive educational program in commercial vegetable production. The main focuses of her extension program include... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture

7:59am CDT

HSMP 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Strand 11B

Presiding/Moderator

Abishkar Regmi

Graduate Research Assistant, Texas Tech University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants

7:59am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Strand 11A

Presiding/Moderator

Catherine Simpson

Texas Tech University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems

7:59am CDT

VCM 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Foster 1

Presiding/Moderator

Israel Joukhadar

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

7:59am CDT

VGBR 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT

Foster 2

Presiding/Moderator

Carlos Avila

Texas A&M University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 7:59am - 8:00am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding

8:00am CDT

CE 3 - Optimizing Basil Growth Through Incremental Light Intensity and Photoperiod Adjustments in a Controlled Setting

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Strand 12B

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L. Genovese) is a highly valued and economically important herb with high culinary and medicinal qualities. Light intensity and photoperiod are the most influential environmental parameters affecting its growth, morphology, and biomass production under controlled environments. This study aims to evaluate the impact of gradually increasing light intensity and photoperiod on the growth and yield of basil while the total daily integral was the same at the end of cultivation. Four different treatments were used: (T1) constant light intensity (300 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) and constant 16 h photoperiod (Control), (T2) constant light intensity with an increasing photoperiod (14 -16 -18 h), (T3) constant photoperiod (16 h) with an increasing light intensity (200 - 300 - 400 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹), and (T4) both dynamic light intensity and photoperiod increasing over time. The treatments were applied for 24 days in a growth chamber equipped with a drip hydroponic system, and the treatment dynamic changes were implemented every 8 days. Plants grown under increasing photoperiod and light intensity (T4) exhibited better morphological characteristics, more significant biomass accumulation (fresh and dry weight), and light use efficiency, measured as the proportion of light absorbed by PS II used in biochemistry than the other treatments. The results emphasize the relevance of adaptive lighting to optimize basil growth in indoor farming. Dynamic optimization of lighting can increase the utilization efficiency of light with positive implications for vertical farming and hydroponics cultivation. Future studies should explore the nutritional and olfactory profile to refine adaptive lighting approaches for vertical farming and hydroponic systems. Keywords: Basil, dynamic lighting, photoperiod, indoor farming, biomass accumulation, hydroponics.

Speakers

Nazmin Akter

University of California, Davis

Co-authors

Laura Cammarisano

University of California, Davis

MD SHAMIM AHAMED

University of California, Davis

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

8:00am CDT

CHEX 2 - Delicata Squash Cultivar Trials in the Southeast

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Strand 12A

Cultivar trials are important to ensure that growers have up-to-date information on crop performance, including yield, disease and insect resistance, environmental adaptation, and quality for their region. Crops with lesser planted acreage are often overlooked, as cultivar trials can be expensive, time consuming, and labor intensive. Winter squash is commonly grown in Tennessee and North Carolina, with over 300 and 700 acres grown, respectively; however, there is little cultivar trial information available for many types of winter squash, such as delicata squash. Delicata squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp. texana) is a winter squash originating from North and Central America. This squash can have a vining or bush habit and typically cylindrical fruit that is buff color with green stripes. It is a customer favorite due to its thin, edible skin, for which it’s named, and sweet flavor. The objective of this trial was to compare the yield, fruit characteristics, disease resistance, and storage life of 10 cultivars of delicata squash. The cultivars evaluated were: ‘Bush Delicata,’ ‘Sweet Dumpling,’ ‘Sugar Loaf,’ ‘Honey Boat,’ ‘Candystick Dessert,’ ‘Zeppelin,’ ‘Jester,’ ‘Delicata JS,’ ‘Sweet Lightning,’ and ‘Ugly Dumpling.’ The trials were conducted in Crossville, TN and Waynesville, NC. Squash were direct seeded in 18-foot plots with 3 feet between plants and 6 feet between rows, with four replications per cultivar. Powdery mildew was rated on a 0-5 scale with 0 indicating no powdery mildew and 5 indicating that all plants were symptomatic. Yield calculations were based on 2,418 plants per acre. ‘Delicata JS’ had the highest yield (15,500 lbs. ac-1) and most marketable fruit but also had the highest number of unmarketable fruit. ‘Ugly Dumpling’ also had a high yield but had the highest incidence of powdery mildew. ‘Zeppelin’ had the lowest incidence of powdery mildew. All cultivars tested had a shelf-life of four weeks in cold storage.

Speakers

Annette Wszelaki

University of Tennessee

Co-authors

Brooke Keadle Emery

University of Tennessee

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture

8:00am CDT

HSMP 2 - Production Potential of Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) in North Alabama

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Strand 11B

Herbal products with an estimated global market of $10.7 Billion in 2023 continue to gain popularity as health supplements. A lack of adapted, high yielding varieties, and production technology are major limiting factors for commercial production of ready-market herbs. The objective of this research was to address these limitations, and in the process develop production practices for a high-value multiple use herb, Virginia mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) that can be easily grown in North Alabama, USA. Mountain mint is used in the medicinal and confectionery industries and could serve as an alternative to pepper mint. Four Virginia mountain mint varieties were evaluated for growth and essential oil content and composition using replicated field trials. The greenhouse-grown plants of the four varieties, (M1, M2, M3 and M4) were transplanted onto raised beds, covered with plastic mulch with drip irrigation tubing underneath in mid-May, and grown using organic production methods. The crops were harvested at 135 (H1), 155 (H2), and 170 (H3) days after planting (DAP) to determine growth, biomass, essential oil yield, and composition. The chemical compositions of essential oils were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Two of the four mountain mint varieties with high biomass showed consistently high yield potential in North Alabama. They were rich in isomenthone concentrations, which increased dramatically from 20% to 69% as the season advanced, whereas pulegone and thymol tended to decrease. The essential oil components varied with varieties and with time. The two mountain varieties with desirable essential oil composition offer potential for production as high-value medicinal crop in North Alabama.

Speakers

Srinivasa Rao Mentreddy

Alabama A

Co-authors

Lam Duong

Texas A

Trang Pham

Alabama A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Poster # csv

8:00am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Healthy Harvest: Outcomes from a Local Food, Health and Wellness Pilot Program

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Strand 11A

Background: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have been found to promote numerous positive health and nutrition behaviors, including increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and increased knowledge and self-efficacy in cooking skills. The CSA model can capitalize on this fact by connecting with institutional health and wellness programs. Employers and health insurance companies have funds to support employee wellness and are increasingly interested in programs that focus on the connection between high-quality, nutrient dense foods and health and wellness. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a workplace-based local food health and wellness educational curriculum that was tailored to CSA members. Methods: Family and consumer sciences Extension educators enrolled participants (n=41) in the pilot program in two counties in Florida. The educational curriculum had 6 modules that were delivered bi-weekly over 12 weeks. Each module paired a nutritional topic with local food. Nutrition topics included US dietary guidelines, menu planning, healthy cooking, fruits, vegetables, proteins, whole grains, and legumes. Local food topics included the economic importance of buying local food, ways to purchase local food, seasonal cooking, and regional food specialties. The program had both an in-person and online component, and included fact sheets, educational lectures, and on-farm videos of farmers explaining local crops. Researchers used a matched pre- and post-test design which used theory of planned behavior to assess participants’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions to purchase local food. The National Cancer Institute’s Short Fruit and Vegetable Screener was used to assess dietary changes. Wellness was assess using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Health-Related Quality of Life survey. Results: Participants significantly increased their fruit (p= 0.003) and vegetable (p=0.003) consumption. Participants had significant improvements in wellness indicators, including fewer days that pain limited their activity (p= 0.001), they experienced anxiety (p= 0.015), they felt sad (p=

Speakers

Catherine Campbell

University of Florida

Catherine Campbell, PhD, MPH, is Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Community Food Systems in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). She conducts social science research... Read More →

Co-authors

Annie Wallau

University of Florida

Cody Gusto

University of Florida

Wendy Wood

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems

8:00am CDT

VCM 2 - Optimizing the transplanting date and density for Carolina strongback grafted watermelon nursery

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Foster 1

Grafting is an effective management strategy in watermelon crop against soil borne pathogens. Carolina strongback (SB) rootstock used for grafting, is resistant to both fusarium wilt and root knot nematodes which are devastating soil borne pest of watermelon. Recent experiments have shown that SB grafted plant have higher plant vigour and bear fruits 7-10 days later than regulate plants leading to farmers losing early profitable watermelon market. Similarly, grafted watermelon nursery is 4-5 times more expensive than regular nursery which leads to reluctance among growers for adoption of this effective management strategy. To fill these gaps for informed adoption of SB grafted nursery, a field experiment was conducted at Blackville SC. The experiment comprised of three transplanting times (April 1, 10 and 20) and four transplant densities (1800 non-grafted, 1800, 1550 and 1300 grafted plants/acre) in a split plot design. The highest plant vigour rating was observed in SB grafted nursery at 1800, 1550 and 1300 plants/acre as compared to 1800 non-grafted plants/acre. April1 and April 10 recorded the highest fruit yield at first harvest as compared to April 20 transplanting. Similar fruit yield was observed for different transplanting times and density at second, third and fourth picks. Transplanting of SB grafted plants at 1300 plants/acre recorded the highest total fruit yield as compared 1800 and 1550 grafted and 1800 non-grafted plants/acre. Highest gross and net returns were observed in 1300 grafted plants/acre as compared to 1800, 1550 grafted and 1800 non-grafted plants/acre. The experiment will be repeated in 2025 to collect two years of data.

Speakers

Bhupinder Jatana

Assistant Professor -Horticulture, Clemson University

Co-authors

Tom Sanders III

Clemson University

Yefan Nian

Clemson Unviersity

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv
Funding Source National Watermelon Association

8:00am CDT

VGBR 1 - Association mapping of Fruit Quality traits in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT

Foster 2

Tomato fruit quality is directly related to marketability and consumer appeal. Unfortunately, consumers are increasingly discontent with the flavor and quality of the product they are purchasing and requesting tomatoes with improved flavor, aroma, texture, and appearance making it a high priority for breeding programs. Traditionally, the selection for fruit quality traits in breeding programs has been done using conventional phenotyping approaches, in which large populations need to be screened. Although this approach has resulted in the release of high quality-high yielding cultivars, it is very time-consuming, delaying cultivar release. An alternative approach to improve breeding efficiency involves the use of modern molecular breeding techniques. In this study, a diverse panel of 305 tomato genotypes, including 284 tomato breeding lines developed by Texas A

Speakers

Carlos Avila

Texas A&M University

Co-authors

Devi Kandel

Langston University

Kevin Crosby

Texas A

Kranthi Mandadi

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:00am - 8:15am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding

8:15am CDT

CE 3 - Air and Hydroponic Nutrition Solution Temperature Influences Phenolics, Flavonoids, and Antioxidant Activity of Greenhouse Grown 'Nufar' Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Strand 12B

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a widely cultivated culinary and medicinal herb valued for its aroma, flavor, and nutraceutical properties. During hydroponic greenhouse production, precise regulation of air and nutrient solution temperatures plays a crucial role in enhancing yield and nutritional quality. Basil's inherent sensitivity to temperature makes it crucial to optimize these factors, as they have a significant impact on its bioactive metabolite profile. This study aimed to determine the impact of air and nutrient solution temperature on bioactive metabolites in hydroponically grown sweet basil to maximize accumulation. In a greenhouse sweet basil ‘Nufar’ were propagated in ebb-and-flow hydroponic systems for two weeks then transplanted into deep-water culture hydroponic systems and grown for three weeks. Air temperatures ranged from 20 to 30°C with a 5°C difference in day and night temperature and deep-water culture nutrient solution temperatures ranged from 15 to 35°C. At harvest, total phenolics (TPs), total flavonoids (TFs), and antioxidant activity including ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)), FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power), and DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) were measured. Air and nutrient solution temperature interacted to influence all parameters measured, with nutrient solution temperature exerting a greater influence on metabolite accumulation and antioxidant activity than air temperature. As air temperature increased from 20.3 to 28.5°C, TPs and TFs decreased by 40% and 58%, respectively, while ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP antioxidant activity decreased by 18%, 67%, and 53%, respectively. Similarly, increasing the nutrient solution temperature from 14.6 to 24.9°C resulted in a 76%, 87%, and 84% decline in TPs, TFs, and FRAP antioxidant activity, respectively. A greater increase in nutrient solution temperature from 14.6 to 30.0 and 32.3°C led to a 95% reduction in DPPH and 57% reduction in ABTS antioxidant activity, respectively. Thus, if enhancing phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity of sweet basil ‘Nufar’ is a primary production goal, maintaining an air temperature of ~23°C and a low nutrient solution temperature of ~14°C is an effective strategy.

Speakers

Protiva Rani Das

University of Tenneessee, Knoxville

Co-authors

Conlan Burbrink

University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Kellie Walters

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Nathan Tucker

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Spencer Givens

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Funding Source This work is supported by the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, project award no. 2022-51181-38331, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

8:15am CDT

CHEX 2 - Multistate Evaluation of Heat-Resistant Broccoli Cultivars for Spring Production in the Eastern United States

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Strand 12A

Spring broccoli production in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States has become increasingly vulnerable to high temperatures and variable rainfall. To address this challenge, a multistate trial was conducted to evaluate the performance of eight broccoli cultivars across seven states (NC, VA, GA, AL, MA, MI, IN). The objectives were to assess plant growth and yield performance under heat stress and to determine cultivar-specific normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) thresholds that could predict marketable yield. Each trial site implemented a completely randomized block design with four replications and standardized plot dimensions (30 plants per plot in double rows on black plastic mulch). Fertility and irrigation were managed according to site-specific recommendations and monitored through soil testing and evapotranspiration estimates. UAV-based RGB and multispectral imagery was collected biweekly (4–12 weeks after transplanting) at midday under clear-sky conditions. Soil samples, weather data, and pest control measures were recorded at each location. Results showed that each cultivar exhibited a distinct NDVI profile correlated with crown greenness and morphology. Cultivars such as ‘Eastern Magic’ and ‘Green Magic’ maintained acceptable head quality and yield despite elevated temperatures, suggesting suitability for late spring planting. The use of NDVI imaging proved to be a promising tool for identifying cultivar vigor and optimizing management decisions during periods of heat stress.

Speakers

Emmanuel Torres Quezada

North Carolina State University

Co-authors

Andre Luiz Biscaia Ribeiro da Silva

Auburn University

Benjamin Phillips

Michigan State University

Jianyu Li

University of Massachusetts

Mark Reiter

Virginia Tech

Ted McAvoy

University of Georgia

Tomas Quezada Baez

North Carolina State University

Wenjing Guan

Purdue University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture

8:15am CDT

HSMP 2 - Cold Brew U.S.-Grown Specialty Teas Offer Unique Characteristics in Comparison to an Imported Brand Name Tea

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Strand 11B

Specialty tea made from Camellia sinensis has gained popularity in the U.S. This sensory evaluation study was conducted to understand consumer acceptance and preferences for cold brewed U.S.-grown black tea. Six cold brew black tea samples were evaluated: five from U.S. growers (‘Big Easy’, ‘Black Magnolia’, ‘Hawaii Black Assamica’, ‘Hawaii Black Sinensis’, ‘Summer Black’) and one from Taiwan (‘Sun

Speakers

Yan Chen

LSU AgCenter

Co-authors

Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

Louisiana State University

Zhimin Xu

Louisiana State University School of Nutrition and Food Sciences

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Funding Source LSU AgCenter Collaborative Research Grant

8:15am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Produce Waste Dominates Household Food Waste: Results from a Citizen Science Study

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Strand 11A

Background: In the US, roughly one-third of food is wasted, with 37% of that waste occurring in homes. EPA estimates households discard 6.5 pounds weekly. Household food waste is difficult to study because it occurs in the privacy of homes. Citizen science is a research method that enlists community members to collect in real-world conditions in contexts that researchers do not have access. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to collect primary data on households food waste, the primary reasons people generate food waste, the types of packaging households typically discard, and individuals’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about food waste. Methods: A total of 159 citizen scientists (86 Alachua County, 73 Sarasota County) recorded data on their household food waste for 14 days, including recording the total daily weight, types of food discarded, types of food packaging discarded, and reasons for food and packaging waste. Results: A total of 3,823 pounds of compostable food waste was discarded by citizen scientists in two-week period. Households in our study discarded more than 14 pounds of food waste per week, more than double EPA estimates. Fruits and vegetables are the food groups that create the most food waste, with an average of 2.7 servings of fruit and 8.5 servings of vegetables discarded per household over the two-week period. Dinner yielded the most food waste, with household having an average of 36 servings of food wasted at dinner. More than 90% of participants rely on date labels to determine if food is safe to eat, 86% discarded food because it was “old,” and 69% discarded food because of blemishes/damage. Discussion: This multi-county citizen science study provides an initial look at the sources of food and packaging waste in Florida households, and highlights opportunities for future Educational programs focused on how to store and prepare fresh produce could reduce the largest source of household food waste to help address this global problem at the household level.

Speakers

Catherine Campbell

University of Florida

Co-authors

Cody Gusto

University of Florida

Ziynet Boz

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems
Funding Source This research was a part of the Integrated Food Waste Measurement and Predictions Supported by Agent-Based Models (IFWASTE) research project funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project #1023901.

8:15am CDT

VCM 2 - Evaluating Rootstock for Fresh Market Tomato Yield, Quality and Sustainability

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Foster 1

Evaluating Rootstock for Fresh Market Tomato Yield, Quality and Sustainability Tsedeniya Getahun, Harlene Hatterman-Valenti, Collin Auwarter Department of Plant Science, North Dakota State University Fresh market tomatoes are widely grown by specialty crop producers in North Dakota due to their profitability in the fresh market/local foods segment. However, with North Dakota's short growing season, growers often use high-tunnels for season extension to protect the crop from early and late frost events. Unfortunately, tomato plants often face numerous soil and disease challenges due to limited growing space in the high tunnel. Inadequate leaching of soluble salts in the soil and limited crop rotation contributes to salt and disease inoculum buildup in the soil that threatens the health of tomato plants and may cause serious losses in high tunnels. This two-year project with the first year completed in 2024, aims to evaluate the improvement of tomato production by grafting an heirloom, fresh market and paste tomato cultivar with excellent fruit quality characteristics onto rootstocks that are resistant to various abiotic/biotic stresses under high tunnel production. Tomato scion ‘Bigboy’, ‘Brandywine’ and ‘San Marzano’ (indeterminate), and ‘BHN 589’ (determinate) were grafted on to six rootstocks: ‘Arnold’ (generative), ‘DR0141TX’ (generative and vegetative), ‘Estamino’ (generative), ‘Fortimino’ (vegetative), ‘Maxifort’ (generative) and ‘Multifort’ (generative). Scion selection significantly influenced marketable yield, whereas rootstock had no significant impact. This effect was observed in ‘Big Boy’ but not in ‘San Marzano’ or ‘Brandywine’. ‘Big Boy’ grafted onto ‘Multifort’ or ‘Fortamino’ produced the highest marketable yield, followed by ‘Arnold’, Maxifort’, and ‘DR014TX’, with the lowest yield observed in non-grafted Big Boy’. ‘DR0141TX’ and ‘Multifort’ increased stem diameter and San Marzano tomatoes grafted onto Maxifort, Multifort, and Fortamino had the tallest plants. The trial will continue for another year to further evaluate the benefits of grafting for high tunnel tomato production in North Dakota.

Speakers

Tsedeniya Getahun

North Dakota State University

Co-authors

Collin Auwarter

North Dakota State University

Harlene HattermanValenti

NDSU

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

8:15am CDT

VGBR 1 - Identification of resistance loci for Septoria leaf spot in tomatoes

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT

Foster 2

Septoria Leaf Spot (SLS), caused by the fungal pathogen Septoria lycopersici, is a highly destructive foliar disease affecting tomatoes. SLS is most severe in the Northeast USA and North Carolina during periods of high humidity and elevated temperatures, which can lead to catastrophic yield loss. No quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with SLS resistance have been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to map the QTL related to SLS resistance in tomatoes. An F2:4 mapping population consisting of 189 individuals derived from NC123S (susceptible) x Wisconsin 55 (moderately resistant) was assessed under both field and greenhouse conditions through artificial inoculation with a spore concentration of 15.3 x 10^4/mL at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, Mills River, NC, and Mountain Research Station, Waynesville, NC. The population was genotyped using the SPET (single primer enrichment technology) Allegro targeted genotyping method. SPET-derived SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) molecular markers were used to construct a linkage map spanning 3810.2 cM. QTL analysis identified 12 QTLs associated with SLS resistance, including two major effects and ten minor effects, typical for at least two environments identified across the genome, explaining phenotypic variation (R² value) ranging from 3.7% to 13.5%. These results demonstrate that the genetic control of SLS resistance is polygenic. This study may provide a foundation for understanding the genetics of SLS resistance and marker-assisted selection (MAS) for transferring SLS resistance genes into elite tomato breeding lines.

Speakers

Dilip Panthee

North Carolina State University

Co-authors

Frank Louws

NCSU

Jackie Blume

North Carolina State University

Muhammad Irfan Siddique

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:15am - 8:30am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding

8:30am CDT

CE 3 - Untargeted Volatilomics of 'Nufar' Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Under Varying Greenhouse Air and Hydroponic Nutrition Solutions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Strand 12B

Basil (Ocimum spp.) is a widely cultivated aromatic herb known for its culinary, medicinal, and industrial applications. The composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that give basil their characteristic aroma and flavor is greatly influenced by environmental conditions, particularly temperature. Hydroponic cultivation in greenhouses allows precise control over air and nutrient solution temperatures, providing an optimized system for studying the effects of temperature on VOC profiles. This study investigated the effect of air and nutrient solution temperature on sweet basil volatilomes. An untargeted volatilomics approach was used to characterize key volatile compounds in sweet basil influenced by the temperature during hydroponic production. Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Nufar’) were propagated in ebb-and-flow hydroponic systems for two weeks then transplanted into deep-water culture hydroponic systems and grown for three weeks. Air temperatures ranged from 20 to 30°C with a 5°C difference in day and night temperature, and deep-water culture nutrient solution temperatures ranged from 15 to 35°C. At harvest, VOCs from leaf extracts were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 86 volatile compounds were identified across all treatments, encompassing aliphatic hydrocarbons, aliphatic alcohols, aliphatic acids, aromatic acids, aliphatic ketones, aromatic ketones, aliphatic aldehydes, aliphatic amines, esters, volatile phenylpropanoids, acid anhydrides, silicones, and furans. Among these, aliphatic hydrocarbons were the most abundant (48%), followed by aliphatic alcohols (22%). Multivariate statistical analyses, including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and Pearson correlation-based heatmaps, were used to determine the key VOCs influenced by air and nutrient solution temperature interactions. PLS-DA analysis determined 18 candidate volatile metabolites with variable important projection (VIP) scores higher than > 1.5 as the significant discriminant for air and nutrient solution treatments. These findings will contribute to optimizing hydroponic production strategies for enhancing basil’s aromatic profile in controlled environment production.

Speakers

Protiva Rani Das

University of Tenneessee, Knoxville

Co-authors

Kellie Walters

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Spencer Givens

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Funding Source This work is supported by the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, project award no. 2022-51181-38331, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

8:30am CDT

CHEX 2 - Evaluating Cultivars, Fertilization Rates, and Irrigation Impacts in Young Peach Trees in Alabama

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Strand 12A

Current fertilization guidelines for peach production, established decades ago, are gradually being revisited due to emerging challenges – such as rerising fertilizer costs, nitrate leaching, excessive vegetative growth, and declining fruit quality. These guidelines recommend nitrogen applications of 67.25–78.5 kg/ha, may not fully reflect the variability across individual orchards, production goals, or environmental variability. In 2023, 216 peach trees were established in Clanton, Alabama, to evaluate the effects of three nitrogen fertilization levels (0%, 50%, and 100% of guideline rates) and irrigation on early tree development and nutritional status. The experimental design follows a split-split plot structure, with irrigation as the main plot factor (2 levels: irrigated vs. non-irrigated), fertilization levels as the subplot factor (3 levels: 0%, 50%, 100%), and cultivars (3 cultivars: 'AugustPrince', 'FirePrince', and 'RubyPrince') as the sub-subplot factor. Results from 2023 and 2024 indicate that irrigation significantly enhanced tree height and trunk diameter. Trees receiving 50% and 100% nitrogen performed similarly in growth and CO₂ assimilation, both outperforming unfertilized controls. However, nitrogen deficiency was observed in all 0% treatments and some 50% fertilized, irrigated trees, particularly ‘AugustPrince’ and ‘FirePrince’. ‘RubyPrince’ exhibited the longest terminal shoot length and bud density, followed by ‘FirePrince’ and ‘AugustPrince’, a pattern that aligned with cultivar ripening times. While irrigation improved assimilation and growth, its effect on terminal shoot length was not significant. These findings suggest that moderate fertilization, when paired with appropriate irrigation may help support early vegetative growth. Nonetheless regular nutrient monitoring remains critical. Future work will focus on evaluating yield and fruit quality on these treatments.

Speakers

Erwin Burgos

Auburn University, Horticulture Department

Co-authors

Bernardo Chaves-Cordoba

Auburn University

Dario Chavez

University of Georgia

Edgar Vinson

Auburn University

Juan Melgar

Clemson University

Melba Ruth Salazar Gutierrez

Auburn University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture
Poster # csv

8:30am CDT

HSMP 2 - Saffron (Crocus sativus); a High Value Low Input Crop for New Mexico

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Strand 11B

Saffron, scientifically recognized as Crocus sativus, is a perennial plant celebrated for its vibrant red stigmas. This crop has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years, originating in ancient Persia. The climate of northern New Mexico appears conducive to saffron cultivation, suggesting its viability for small-scale farmers in the area. The initiative seeks to introduce saffron as a low-input, high-value crop suited for New Mexico's agricultural landscape. Research performed during 2023 and 2024 indicates that saffron can flourish in this region's climate, demonstrating promising stigma yields in the initial years. This research program assesses how corm size, planting timing, and irrigation levels impact saffron flower and stigma production within both hoop house and open field systems at the Certified Organic Farm of the Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center of New Mexico State University. Results reveal that larger corms yield significantly more stigmas compared to smaller ones; specifically, corms larger than 10 produced over 5 kg/ha of dry stigma yield in their first and second years. However, there was no significant difference noted between yields from high tunnel versus open field systems. Additionally, planting saffron corms earlier—around mid-August—instead of later dates like late August or mid-September resulted in enhanced stigma production (approximately 6 kg/ha). Conversely, variations in irrigation treatments did not significantly affect first-year stigma yield. Measurements of total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity demonstrated that both saffron stigmas and flowers lacking stigmas are valuable sources of phenolic compounds, with saffron stigmas exhibiting higher TPC than those flowers without stigmas. In conclusion, the findings from this research indicate that saffron can be successfully cultivated even in an open field system in northern New Mexico. Employing larger corms and opting for mid-August planting could lead to increased yields in the first year.

Speakers

Saeid Zehtab Salmasi

Associate Professor and Research Director, New Mexico State University

Research Director of the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center of New Mexico State University in Alcalde

Co-authors

Robert Heyduck

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Funding Source New Mexico State University

8:30am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Reinforcing Oklahomas Food Systems with Local Horticultural Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Strand 11A

The state of Oklahoma has a foundation in natural resources and agriculture. To date, despite growth and industry changes, Oklahoma has kept true to its history but operates through the lens of industrial agriculture. The horticultural market is largely untapped and overlooked within the state even with the ample resources, land availability, open market, and a population in need of nutritional supplementation. Connecting with and having conversations with Oklahoma vegetable and fruit producers reveal underlying problems within Oklahoma's local food system and programs which include the fundamentals of production, market accessibility, and distribution problems. These conversations have long-term implications on the future market of the state. The exploration of results found from the conversations will be explored in terms of programming available, and the future of Oklahoma’s food system. The current programming within the state has a variety of approaches to tackling the integration of a local food system or the promotion of specialty crops. The identification and systematic review of programming and policy will expose gaps and shortcomings in the Oklahoma food system. Identifying and understanding barriers in specialty crop producers will create opportunities to improve the methods of production in the state of Oklahoma. Through examining the states’ available resources, programming, and policies for fruit and vegetable producers in the state, a plan for success can be created to increase market access and profitability for producers while also increasing access to local produce for consumers in Oklahoma. The evaluation of Oklahoma’s policies and specialty crop programs or support networks have long term implications on the success of current markets for local vegetable and fruit producers, their challenges they face, and opportunities that lie ahead. The implications of this review will result in a better understanding, connection, and future resources to nurture and support the horticultural market. Keywords: Horticulture, local production, market accessibility

Speakers

Sophia Darrow

Oklahoma State University

Co-authors

Justin Quetone Moss

Oklahoma State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems

8:30am CDT

VCM 2 - Evaluating field performance of different watermelon scions grafted with common rootstocks

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Foster 1

The goal of the project is to understand the suitability of different scions when grafted onto commonly used watermelon rootstocks in California. This scion variety trial was conducted in 2024 within a commercial watermelon field near Stockton, California. Six different scions (Captivation, Fascination, Citation, Embasy, Melody, and Summer Breeze), categorized by horticultural characteristics such as maturity, fruit size, and color, were grafted onto three widely used watermelon rootstocks in California (Camelforce, Cobalt, and Carolina Strongback). The three rootstocks are grouped into interspecific hybrid squash (Cucurbita maxima x Cucurbita moschata) and Citron (Citrullus amarus). The field experiment was arranged as a randomized block design including eighteen treatments replicated three times. Each plot was 60 ft long and contained 10 triploids and 3 grafted pollenizers (Sentinel). The field was mechanically transplanted on May 14, 2024. In-season plot maintenance included vine separation multiple times to ease data collection and harvest. Canopy coverage was measured using a handheld crop sensor starting at 10 days after transplanting and thereafter at an approximate interval of two weeks for a total of eight measurements. With the help of farm crew, three harvests were conducted on August 5, 12, and 26. Total yields from each harvest and fruit quality taken from the first harvest were recorded and compared among the rootstock-scion combinations. For quality assessment, fruit length and width were measured by yardstick. Fruit flesh firmness was measured using a fruit penetrometer at the spots 1/3 and 2/3 distance from the blossom end after a melon was cut in half. Rind thickness at the blossom and stem ends were measured with a caliper. Sugar content (⁰Brix) was measured by scooping the center flesh of each half and reading the results through a portable reflectometer. Canopy coverage showed no significant differences among the treatments. For yield, four out of six scions (Fascination, Citation, Embasy, and Melody) produced the highest total yield (ton/acre and no/acre) when they were grafted onto Camelforce, while Captivation and Summer Breeze resulted in higher total yield when grafted with Carolina Strongback. A notable difference was observed in fruit quality for ⁰Brix and firmness that Carolina Strongback produced the lowest firmness and highest ⁰Brix when grafted with all six scions. These results provide a helpful advantage for growers in California who are considering grafting in their production. Continuous assessments will be conducted to further aid in the understanding of field performances from different rootstock-scion combinations.

Speakers

Zheng Wang

Univ. of California Cooperative Extension

Co-authors

Fayrouz Buojaylah

University ofr California, Cooperative Extension Stanislaus County

Yaritza Castrejon

UC Cooperative Extension

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

8:30am CDT

VGBR 1 - Evaluation of Drought Tolerance in USDA Tomato USDA Germplasm Using Morphological and Physiological Approaches

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT

Foster 2

Drought is a major abiotic stressor that significantly reduces the growth and yield of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). To mitigate its adverse effects, the development and utilization of drought-tolerant cultivars, combined with advanced breeding strategies, offer sustainable solutions. In this study, a total of 157 USDA tomato accessions were evaluated under controlled greenhouse conditions using a randomized complete block design with four replications, incorporating both a water-deficit treatment and a well-watered control group. The results identified ten accessions, including PI 487624, PI 127828, PI 379018, PI 365903, PI 390515, PI 390663, PI 128657, PI 266376, PI 126444, and PI 298933, as drought tolerant, with leaf wilting and leaf rolling scores of less than four. Broad-sense heritability estimates ranged from 50 percent to approximately 58 percent, indicating a moderate genetic influence on drought tolerance. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive associations ranging from 0.50 to 0.99 among leaf wilting, leaf rolling, plant freshness, leaf thickness, and SPAD chlorophyll content, while negative correlations ranging from -0.40 to -0.81 were observed for plant fresh weight, leaf thickness, Quantum yield of Photosystem II (Phi2), and SPAD chlorophyll content traits. These findings provide valuable insights into tomato breeding programs focused on improving drought resilience in elite cultivars. We plan to expand the evaluation to a broader set of accessions and employ genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction to identify single nucleotide polymorphism markers and candidate genes associated with drought tolerance. The integration of genome-wide association studies and genomic prediction will facilitate marker-assisted selection and genomic selection, improving the efficiency of breeding programs aimed at developing drought-resilient tomato cultivars.

Speakers

Kenani Chiwina

University of Arkansas

Co-authors

Ainong Shi

University of Arkasnas

Awais Riaz

University of Arkansas

Beiquan Mou

Sam Farr U.S. Crop Improvement and Protection Research Center, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS)

Derrick Harrison

university of arkansas

haizheng xiong

University of Arkansas

Hanan Alkabkabi

university of arkansas

Ibtisam Alatawi

university of arkansas

Muhammad Ullah

university of arkansas

Qun Luo

university of arkansas

Renjie Du

university of arkansas

YUEJUN QU

University of Arkansas

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:30am - 8:45am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding

8:45am CDT

CE 3 - Growing Environment Has a Greater Effect on Containerized Basil Growth than Fertilizer Type or Concentration

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Strand 12B

Current practices aim to produce quality containerized culinary herbs at the end of greenhouse production, but the effects of fertilization choices during production on the post-production performance of these crops in the retail and consumer environment are unclear. This study aimed to quantify the effects of fertilizer type, source, and concentration applied during the greenhouse production phase on the post-harvest performance of containerized culinary herbs during the retail and consumer phases. Seedlings of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Nufar’) were transplanted into 11.4 cm-diameter containers filled with certified organic soilless substrate compromised of peat moss and coarse perlite and irrigated with solutions containing 100, 200, or 300 mg∙L –1 N from a conventional or organic water-soluble fertilizer (WSF) starting at transplant and throughout the end of the greenhouse phase, seedlings were; or were transplanted into the same organic substrate with amended with 0.25, 0.5 or 0.75 kg N∙m-3 from conventional controlled-release (CRF) or organic slow-release fertilizer (SRF) and irrigated with clear tap water Plants were grown in three different phases: 1) in a greenhouse for 21 d with 22°/18° day/night air temperatures and 12 mol∙m–2∙d –1 daily light integral (DLI) to simulate the greenhouse production phase; in a growth chamber for 7 d at 20° constantly with a DLI of 1 mol∙m–2∙d –1 to stimulate the retail phase; and, after harvesting shoots above the second node, an additional 21 d in a growth chamber with the same conditions to simulate the consumer phase. One-third of the plants were harvested at the end of each phase and data was collected. During production, conventional WSF produced plants 1.3-5.7 cm taller than all other treatments, but by the consumer phase there were no differences across all fertilizer treatments. The optimum fertilizer type and concentration for basil varied between conventional and organic sources. Fresh mass of basil was greatest for plants receiving conventional WSF, which were 4-9.5 g greater than plants which received conventional CRF. However, plants receiving organic SRF had a fresh mass which was 2.1-3.9 g greater than plants receiving organic WSF treatments. Fertilizer treatments did not affect the rate of biomass accumulation, but the phase did. The relative growth rate was lowest in the consumer phase compared to the greenhouse production and retail phases. The results of this study indicate fertilizer type, source, and concentration do not impact containerized basil growth and development in the post-harvest consumer environment.

Speakers

Nicole Arment

Iowa State University

Co-authors

Christopher Currey

Iowa State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

8:45am CDT

CHEX 2 - Comparing soil amendments, fertilizer rate, and pruning techniques in southern highbush blueberry production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Strand 12A

Blueberry has a high cost of establishment, requiring the incorporation of soil amendments and the use of chemical fertilizer to obtain high fruit yield and quality. Reducing establishment and fertilizer costs in blueberry production without affecting yield and fruit quality is key for blueberry producers. In this project we evaluated the impact of reducing fertilization, using biochar as a soil amendment, and the effect of different pruning techniques on plant nutrient status, plant growth and development, and fruit production and quality. Despite the importance of these cultural practices, there is a lack of research that explores the impact of combining varying fertilization rates, soil amendments, and different pruning techniques in Georgia. To test these three factors an experimental plot was designed in a factorial arrangement with two soil amendments: 1) 33% v/v pine bark and 2) 9% v/v biochar; three fertilization rates: 1) Commercial fertilization (lb/acre): N 90, P 75, K 75; 2) half commercial fertilization N 35, P 35, K 35; and 3) potassium only: N0, P0, K 35, and two pruning treatments: 1) winter hand pruning summer hand - tipping and 2) summer hedge. Each treatment was randomly assigned three replications and four plants per replication. Our results indicated that the highest net income was obtained from the treatment in which the soil was amended with pine bark; plants were treated with half of the fertilizer rate and hedged after harvest. Blueberry plants that were hand-pruned had bigger and heavier berries. Plants that were hedged after the harvest had higher yields and it did not affect plant growth. In addition, reducing the fertilization rate to half did not affect the yield and fruit quality parameters of berries harvested. Furthermore, the treatment in which plants received only potassium fertilizer resulted in notable decreases in berry weight, firmness, and plant growth. The use of biochar as a soil amendment significantly enhanced TSS and anthocyanin content, but the concentration of K, Mg, and Mn in the berries was lower than those of plants in which the soil was amended with pine bark treatment.

Speakers

Natalia Espinoza

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Zilfina Rubio

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture
Funding Source Georgia Department of Agriculture

8:45am CDT

HSMP 2 - Effect of Mycorrhiza Inoculation on Growth and Phytochemical Production of Shiso Cultivars Treated with Complex Salts

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Strand 11B

Soil salinity, often governed by complex ion mixtures, remains a significant challenge in agriculture. However, most salinity research focuses on simple salts like sodium chloride. To develop effective salinity mitigation techniques in real-world applications, it is crucial to understand the impact of complex salts on plant physiology. Endophytic mycorrhizal fungi offer a promising method to mitigate salinity stress in plants by colonizing the plant roots. Shiso (Perilla frutescens L.) is a valuable culinary herb with rich source of phytochemicals. This study investigated the interaction of mycorrhizal inoculation and complex salinity on two shiso cultivars, Asia IP and Britton, and impacts on plant growth and phytochemical composition. Two replicated trials were designed to assess the effect of three different salinity rates (1, 3, 5 dS/m and control DI water) on both inoculated and non-inoculated shiso cultivars. Plant parameters like plant height, shoot and root fresh and dry weight along with root length were measured. Phytochemicals, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC), proline and chlorophyll were also measured. Results showed that complex salts significantly reduced the overall fresh and dry biomass in both cultivars across both trials. The interaction of salinity and cultivar affected TPC of shiso in the first trial whereas only cultivar affected TPC in the second trial. No effect of salinity was seen in the second trial. However, TFC was significantly reduced by salinity in the second trial and no effect of salinity was seen in the first trial. Greater TFC was found in the Britton cultivar across both experiments. Proline content was increased steadily with increases in salinity rate across both trials. Greater proline content was found in the Britton cultivar in both trials. Chlorophyll content of shiso was unaffected by cultivar and salinity rates. The effect of salinity was cultivar dependent on growth and phytochemicals which was found in this experiment where Britton cultivar was more severely affected by salinity. These results show that complex salt negatively impacts the growth of shiso with no beneficial impact in increasing phytochemicals. Additionally, mycorrhizal inoculation was unable to mitigate the negative effect of salinity in shiso cultivars. Selection of effective mycorrhizal products is necessary in order to see their beneficial effects, so more screening should be done in the future. Further in-depth research is also required to fully understand the relationship of complex salts and mycorrhizal inoculation in shiso.

Speakers

Abishkar Regmi

Graduate Research Assistant, Texas Tech University

Co-authors

Catherine Simpson

Texas Tech University

Haydee Laza

Texas Tech University

Jillella Raja Shekhar Reddy

Texas Tech University

Lindsey Slaughter

Texas Tech University

Mahitha Kamireddy

Texas Tech University

Naima Moustaid-Moussa

Texas Tech University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Poster # csv

8:45am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Characterization of Nutrient Composition from Municipal and Commercial Compost Generated in Arkansas

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Strand 11A

Compost is treated as a waste product by many regulatory agencies, monitored and assessed only for its potential to harm humans or to harm the environment. However, horticulture practitioners are the number one consumer of compost, whether in nursery production, vegetable production, or home landscaping and gardening. In Arkansas, no state regulations require reporting chemical or physical characteristics of compost such as plant nutrient content, pH, bulk density, or organic matter content. Therefore, a statewide survey of participating Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment permitted composting facilities was conducted to characterize the availability of compost throughout the calendar year, the variability in plant nutrient content and physical characteristics. A total of 11 compost sites were sampled from nine compost production operations in Arkansas, including water treatment facilities, commercial depackaging companies, and municipal compost facilities. Yard waste (YW) was a component of all compost feedstocks, but some facilities could further handle food waste (FW) or biosolids (BS). Dry matter analysis found that composts from YW alone contained 1.31% to 1.92% N; composts from YW plus FW contained 2.57% to 3.70% N; and composts from YW BS contained 1.25% to 2.80% N. Major disparities were observed dry matter Na content when FW was included in compost. Composts including FW contained 2,185 to 7,672 mg/kg Na while composts from YW or YW BS contained 167 to 402 mg/kg Na. Present findings indicate that compost feedstocks affect the resulting nutrient content, particularly when introducing FW. Substrate testing beyond the standard testing for pathogens and trace metals will be critical for effective use of composts as a substrate or soil amendment in horticulture systems.

Speakers

Matthew Bertucci

University of Arkansas

Co-authors

Rachel Woody-Pumford

University of Arkansas

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems
Poster # csv

8:45am CDT

VCM 2 - Assessing Different NM Type Green Chile Transplant Methods for Mechanical Harvest

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Foster 1

New Mexico green chile is a labor-intensive crop, with harvesting posing increasing challenges due to labor shortages and rising costs. To meet growing consumer demand, farmers are transitioning to mechanical harvesting, traditionally reliant on direct seeding, which promotes strong taproots and minimizes uprooting. However, transplant seedling establishment, which allows multiple harvests, produces a root system less suitable for mechanical harvesting. This study evaluated transplant sowing methods to develop taproots compatible with efficient mechanical harvest. In 2024, ‘NuMex Odyssey’ was planted using three methods, direct seeding, ihort® Q plugs, and paperpots®, at the NMSU Agricultural Science Center in Los Lunas, NM. The study employed a randomized complete block design with five replications. Plant architecture, root, and yield data were collected. Preliminary findings show no statistical difference in marketable green fruit yield among the planting methods during mechanical harvest. However, taproot lengths of ihort Q plugs and direct-seeded plants were significantly longer than those of paper pot transplants. These results suggest that taproot length did not impact marketable green fruit yield during mechanical harvest. The findings indicate that ihort Q plugs and paper pot transplanting methods have potential for efficient mechanical harvesting of New Mexico green chile.

Speakers

Israel Joukhadar

New Mexico State University

Co-authors

Danise Coon

New Mexico State University

Stephanie Walker

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Funding Source USDA Plant Breeding Partnership

8:45am CDT

VGBR 1 - Understanding the molecular basis of Blossom-end rot in tomato

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT

Foster 2

Blossom-end rot (BER) is a physiological disorder in tomatoes that renders the fruit to be unmarketable. In tomato, BER initiates around 7-10 days post anthesis (DPA) at the distal end of the fruit as a water-soaked symptom that can progress into a necrotic lesion covering the entire fruit during development. Calcium deficiency in the distal end of the fruit is thought to trigger BER initiation. In this study, we have used near isogenic lines (NILs) that segregate for BER and harbors quantitative trait loci (QTLs) BER11.1 and BER11.2. Physiological characterization indicated lower calcium concentration and reduced number of vascular bundles in the distal inner and distal pericarp tissue in the susceptible fruit in comparison to the with resistant fruit. To further delineate the molecular mechanisms underlying BER development and to identify the potential candidate gene(s) underlying QTL BER11.1

Speakers

ranveer singh

university of georgia

Co-authors

Esther van der Knaap

Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, University of Georgia

Manoj Sapkota

University of Georgia

Savithri Nambeesan

University of Georgia

Yasin Topcu

University of Georgia, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics

Wednesday July 30, 2025 8:45am - 9:00am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding
Poster # csv
Funding Source United States Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA); award number: 2020–67013-30912

9:00am CDT

CE 3 - Analyzing the Impact of CO2 Concentration, Air and Root-Zone Temperature on Hydroponic Culinary Herb Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Strand 12B

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and sage (Salvia officinalis) are some of the most popular fresh cut culinary herbs, but little information is available on how to cost-effectively maximize their growth and development in controlled environments. Given that cut herbs are sold by fresh mass, the goal is to maximize harvestable fresh mass, while not increasing production time, space, or energy inputs. Therefore, our objective was to determine the most effective root-zone temperature (RZT) in combination with carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and reduced air temperature (AT) to maximize culinary herb yield. Seeds of basil ‘Genovese’ and sage were sown into 200-cell (2.5 cm × 2.5 cm) rockwool plugs and germinated for two and four weeks, respectively. Twelve seedlings of each species were transplanted into each of six 250 L, 0.9-m-wide by 1.8-m-long deep-flow hydroponic tanks among three walk-in growth chambers. Plants were grown under a total photon flux density of 260 µmol∙m–2∙s–1 for 16 h. The nutrient solution within the tanks was heated to 24, 28, or 32 °C. Additionally, AT and CO2 concentration setpoints of 20 and 23 °C and of 450 and 900 μmol∙mol‒1, respectively, were maintained for a total of 12 treatments. Basil and sage were harvested three and four weeks after transplant, respectively. Of AT, RZT, and CO2, AT was the largest contributing factor to shoot fresh mass (SFM) accumulation for both species. Increasing the air temperature from 20 to 23 °C resulted in a SFM increase of 100 and 180% in sage and basil, respectively. SFM of sage was not influenced by increasing CO2 from 450 to 900 μmol∙mol‒1 and resulted in a 12% decrease in basil SFM. However, at the high CO2 concentration, specific leaf area was 4 and 12% lower for sage and basil, respectively, resulting in greater biomass accumulation per cm2 of leaf area. RZT had no effect on basil SFM, but SFM of sage was greatest when the nutrient solution was heated to 24 and 28 °C. By maintaining an AT of 23 °C, RZT of 28 °C, and CO2 concentration of 450 μmol∙mol‒1, the SFM of both basil and sage can be maximized without further increasing RZT or CO2 concentration.

Speakers

Seth Benjamin

Michigan State University

Co-authors

Roberto Lopez

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

9:00am CDT

CHEX 2 - High Tunnel vs Open Field: Comparing Production Systems for Southern Highbush Blueberries

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Strand 12A

Southern highbush blueberry (SHB) cultivars are susceptible to spring frost damage, which can significantly reduce both yield and fruit quality. To mitigate the impacts of frost, alternative production systems, such as high tunnels, have been explored for their potential to improve SHB production. This study evaluated the performance of three SHB cultivars (‘Meadowlark’, ‘Victoria’, and ‘Jewel’) under high tunnels (HTs) and open fields (OFs). Stomatal conductance (SC), stomatal density (SD), stomatal area (SA), fruit quality, and quantity were measured, and weather variables were recorded. Data were analyzed using Proc Glimmix and Tukey’s HSD test was applied for mean separation (p ≤ 0.05). SC varied significantly by cultivars (p < 0.001) and production systems (p < 0.001), with higher SC observed in OFs. ‘Meadowlark’ exhibited the highest SC followed by ‘Jewel’ and ‘Victoria’. SD and SA were significantly influenced by the production systems and leaf stage, with all three leaf stages in OFs showing the highest SD and SA compared to HTs. SD was greater in younger leaves and decreased with leaf age, whereas SA was higher in mature and older leaves. Cultivars also affected SD and SA, with ‘Meadowlark’ showing the highest SD and SA, followed by ‘Victoria’ and ‘Jewel’. The yield was higher in HTs across all cultivars, with ‘Victoria’ producing the highest yield followed by ‘Jewel’ and ‘Meadowlark’. Single berry weight was significantly affected by both cultivars and production systems (p = 0.0004), with ‘Meadowlark’ and ‘Victoria’ producing larger berries in HTs, while ‘Jewel’ had the smallest fruit in both systems. Brix levels were cultivar dependent (p = 0.0005), with ‘Meadowlark’ exhibiting the highest values. Firmness was influenced by cultivars (p < 0.001) and among three cultivars, ‘Meadowlark’ had the highest firmness, while ‘Jewel’ had the lowest. In conclusion, SHB cultivars in HTs likely optimized their water use efficiency by reducing SC, SD, and SA. ‘Victoria’ demonstrated superior yield performance, while Brix value and firmness were higher in ‘Meadowlark’, resulting in better fruit quality. Additionally, HTs enhance total yield, berry weight, Brix, and firmness in SHB cultivars. Overall, this comparison highlights system-specific effects on cultivar performance, emphasizing the practices for southern highbush blueberry production.

Speakers

Samjhana Wagle

Auburn University, Horticulture Department

Co-authors

Bernardo Chaves-Cordoba

Auburn University

Elina Coneva

Auburn University

Eric Stafne

Mississippi State University

Kathy Lawrence

Auburn University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture
Poster # csv

9:00am CDT

HSMP 2 - Increasing Micronutrient Concentrations Does Not Mitigate High pH-Nutrient Solution-induced Growth Suppression

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Strand 11B

Many hydroponic fresh-cut herb producers in the United States utilize water sources with a high pH. Nutrient solutions with a high pH can prevent essential nutrients from being accessible for plant growth and development, especially micronutrients. The objectives of our research were to better understand how the growth of culinary herbs is impacted by supra-optimal pH and determine if supplemental micronutrients are an effective mitigation technique. Two week old seedlings of basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Nufar’), and three week old seedlings of dill (Anethum graveolens ‘Hera’), parsley (Petroselinum crispum ‘Giant of Italy’), and sage (Salvia officinalis), grown in phenolic foam cubes were transplanted into one of six deep-flow technique (DFT) systems in a greenhouse. Herbs were grown in nutrient solutions with a pH of 6.0. 7.0, and 8.0, and either with a 1X or 2x micronutrient concentration. The DFT systems contained nutrient solutions made with tempered municipal water supplemented with a complete water-soluble fertilizer (16N-2.2P-14.3K) to create a target electrical conductivity of 2.0 dS·m–1, plus a supplemental micronutrient blend provided from the manufacturer to increase micronutrient concentrations for 2x micronutrient treatments. The nutrient solution pH was maintained through a dosing system using 2% H2SO4 v/v or 2% KOH w/v as the acid and alkali, respectively. One-third (by vol.) of the nutrient solution was renewed with freshly mixed fertilizer each week of production. Target greenhouse environmental conditions consisted of day and night air temperatures of 22 °C and 18 °C respectively, and a daily light integral of 12 mol∙m–2∙d–1. The experiment was replicated four times over time, and data was collected four weeks after herbs were transplanted into DFT systems. There were no significant interactions between micronutrients and pH. While high pH decreased dill, parsley, and sage shoot height, width, and fresh mass, providing supplemental micronutrients in the nutrient solution did not mitigate growth suppression induced by high pH. Additionally, all species had significantly shorter roots at a high pH of 8.0 compared to a moderate pH of 6.0, without a subsequent reduction in root mass. This study indicates nutrient solutions with a high pH can severely limit the growth of culinary herbs. While providing supplemental micronutrients does not alleviate the impact of high pH, producers can rely on other methods, such as acid injection, to lower the nutrient solution pH to maximize nutrient uptake.

Speakers

Hannah Kramer

Iowa State University

Co-authors

Christopher Currey

Iowa State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Poster # csv

9:00am CDT

LOCSY 2 - Results of an Employer-funded Cost-offset Community Supported Agriculture Program

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Strand 11A

Background: Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs have been found to promote health and nutrition, and consumers frequently cite healthfulness as a motivation for local food purchasing. The CSA model can capitalize on this fact and expand their customer base by partnering with healthcare providers or insurance companies that provide cost-offsets for people to enroll in CSA programs. The purpose of this study was to pilot test the impact of an employer-sponsored cost-offset CSA program. Methods: University of Florida (UF), Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension developed a collaborative partnership between cooperative Extension, local farms, and the UF Human Resources’ Office of Worklife to fund a cost-offset CSA program. Results: Seventy-seven employees purchased a cost-offset CSA membership. Participants were predominantly female (86%) and in staff positions (72%). Roughly a quarter of participants received food assistance (26%). The most prevalent motivations for joining the program were to support local farms (100%) and the local economy (96%). Ninety-two percent of participants joined the program to improve their diet and to eat food that tastes better. Some participants (36%) joined the program because they had been interested in join a CSA anyway. More than 80% of respondents were satisfied with all aspects of the program. Aspects that participants were not satisfied with was the cost of the CSA membership (18%) and the lack of information about the produce included in the CSA (16%). The overwhelming majority perceived that it improved their diet (92%), increased their fruit and vegetable consumption (88%), and increased their ability to cook seasonal produce (88%). Most participants (78%) indicated they would join a CSA again, with 86% saying they would join with the same farm again. Discussion: Feedback from participants was positive, with participants emphasizing personal benefits like weight loss and discovering new foods. Many indicated that this program was more valuable to them than traditional webinars or programs offered by the office of worklife. The farms appreciated that the program connected them with new customers and the ongoing partnership with UF, which has now entered its third year. Collaborative partnerships take time and effort to develop but can yield ongoing benefits for local farms and community food systems.

Speakers

Catherine Campbell

University of Florida

Co-authors

Cody Gusto

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Subject Local Food Systems

9:00am CDT

VCM 2 - Does Winter Chill Accumulation Affect Transplant Quality and Field Performance of Strawberry Bare-root Transplants?

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Foster 1

Bare-root transplants are the primary planting material used in strawberry production. They are grown in open-field conditions and dug up at maturity before shipment to fruit production sites. Delayed digging exposes transplants to different amounts of winter chilling (

Speakers

Weining Wang

University of Florida

Co-authors

Shinsuke Agehara

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

9:00am CDT

VGBR 1 - Towards Mechanical Harvest: Leveraging Genomic Selection to Increase Fruit Firmness in Fresh Market Tomato

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT

Foster 2

Fresh market tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important vegetable crops in the US, but this labor-intensive industry faces severe labor shortages and rising production costs amid heavy competition from lower-cost imports. With labor accounting for over 30% of total production expenses, much of which is due to harvesting, the industry's long-term sustainability depends on developing more labor-efficient systems. Mechanical harvesting presents a promising solution, but tomato fruit are highly susceptible to bruising, a challenge that could be amplified by mechanized handling. Fruit firmness plays a crucial role in resistance to internal bruising, making it a key breeding target for improving harvest efficiency and post-harvest quality. The UF/IFAS tomato breeding program has developed tomato lines with traits beneficial for mechanical harvesting, including compact growth habit (CGH) and increased fruit firmness. To investigate the genetic basis of fruit firmness in CGH lines, bi-parental populations were developed from firm and soft inbred parents. Genome-wide association analysis identified multiple minor-effect QTLs, confirming the quantitative nature of this trait in the population. Variance component analysis revealed that fruit firmness is primarily controlled by additive genetic variance, suggesting a strong potential for improvement through selection with appropriate strategies such as genomic selection (GS), which has been successfully used to improve quantitative traits in many crop species. GS models were successfully trained to predict fruit firmness, demonstrating the feasibility of integrating GS into the UF/IFAS tomato breeding program. Model optimization, including adjustments to training population size, marker density, and the incorporation of significant QTLs as fixed effects, improved prediction accuracy and computational efficiency. This study confirms the presence of significant fruit firmness variability in UF/IFAS germplasm, supporting its use in breeding firmer CGH tomatoes suited for mechanical harvest. Future research will refine GS models by incorporating multi-trait and multi-environment analyses, leveraging variance-covariance relationships to enhance prediction accuracy and accelerate genetic gains.

Speakers

Jessica Chitwood-Brown

University of Florida

Co-authors

Leonard Gaspar

University of Florida IFAS GCREC

Samuel Hutton

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:00am - 9:15am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding
Poster # csv

9:15am CDT

CE 3 - Evaluating Hydroponic Production Systems for Three Edible Flower Species

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Strand 12B

The hydroponic industry is valued at close to 1 billion dollars in North America and is expected to grow over the next 5 years. Hydroponic crop production in controlled environments has the advantage of year-round production opportunities and has been well-established for some vegetable crops, such as cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and tomato (Solanumlycopersicum). One area for growth includes edible flowers which have potentially increased use in the medical field for human health benefits and culinary arts as ingredients and garnishes. Considering the limited information about edible flower hydroponic production, we initiated research to evaluate two popular hydroponic production methods for three different edible flower species; dahlia (Dahlia xhybrida ‘Figaro Red Shade’), zinnia (Zinnia elegans ‘Zesty Scarlet’), and dianthus (Dianthus chinensis ‘Venti Parfait’). These species were grown in three treatments: two hydroponic systems, deep water culture (DWC) and nutrient film technique (NFT), and a traditional peat-based substrate. Plants were fertilized with General Hydroponics FloraSeries using the medium feed nutrient schedule. Data collected included plant biomass, flower biomass, and antioxidant and polyphenol concentrations. After 14 weeks, dahlia and zinnia grown in the DWC system produced significantly more plant biomass, flower numbers, and flower biomass compared to the NFT and substrate treatments. Dahlia plants in DWC also flowered ~ 10 days earlier than the other treatments. No significant differences were observed with dianthus plants between the treatments, except for lower flower numbers and flower fresh weight for NFT compared to the DWC and substrate treatments. Phytochemical analysis for antioxidant composition using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays and polyphenolic content through Folin-Ciocalteu assays will be conducted. The results of our initial study suggest that growing dahlia and zinnia on DWC hydroponic systems in our applied conditions has potential as an edible flower production system. However, dianthus may not be suitable for hydroponic system production, or additional modifications to hydroponic systems need to be evaluated to determine feasibility.

Speakers

Makenzie Lee

Colorado State University

Co-authors

Chad T. Miller

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

9:15am CDT

CHEX 2 - Soilless substrate hydrology can improve plant morphological development and predict stomatal regulations under harsh growing conditions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Strand 12A

The global increase in ornamental crop production has driven horticultural researchers to better understand the efficiency and sustainability of production input. Soilless substrates serve a crucial role in supporting outdoor nursery-grown plants, where container substrates must maintain sufficient moisture supply to the rootzone and continuously sustain shoot water loss. Nursery producers regularly face a changing climate, where unprecedented droughts, prolonged and increased air temperatures, and subsequent mandated water application restrictions present challenges for profitable harvests and yields. To date, there are little to no means in predicting container nursery stock performance, especially when grown in substrates with different water supply capacities (i.e., water storage and hydraulic transfer properties). Models have been used to predict plant responses to water stresses in soil systems based on dynamics of hydraulic conductance in the soil-plant-atmospheric-continuum (SPAC); though, no SPAC models have been applied to horticultural plants grown in soilless substrates. To better prepare for climate-challenges in nursery production systems, new methods of understanding substrate capabilities to withstand harsh growing conditions are needed. The study herein uses predictive tools (i.e., SPAC models) derived from measured data, namely substrate and plant hydraulic characteristics, to understand how plants respond (i.e., physiological output; water loss) when grown in harsh growing conditions (e.g., drying substrate and atmosphere). Plants were grown in four differing bark particle diameters: (1) 6.3 mm. Substrate water potential were maintained between -50 and -100 hPa to produce plants at similar water availabilities. Substrate hydraulic conductivity decreased as particle size increased, highlighting different water transfer properties across substrates at similar water availabilities. Plants produced in finer textured substrates had greater root and shoot morphological development, including greater fine root growth and aerial biomass. No differences were detected in root and shoot hydraulic conductance. The SPAC models showed that plants grown in finer textured substrates were able to maintain physiological function longer under drying substrate or atmospheric conditions, while plants grown in substrates with lower water transfer properties sharply decreased physiological output (i.e., faster stomal closure). The hydraulic models applied herein can inform growers that producing plants in finer textured substrates, or substrates that have greater hydraulic conductivity, can enable plants to maintain physiological functions even in harsh growing conditions.

Speakers

Kristopher Criscione

Virginia Tech

Co-authors

Brett Wolfe

Louisiana State University

Jeb Fields

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Commercial Horticulture 2

Subject Commercial Horticulture
Poster # csv

9:15am CDT

HSMP 2 - Ammonium to Nitrate and Nitrogen to Phosphorous Ratios of Commercial Fertilizers have Limited Impact on Containerized Herb Growth

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Strand 11B

Today, fresh herbs can be sourced as live container-grown plants year-round in the produce section of most retailers. Commercial fertilizers are selected based on several factors, including the ratio of ammonium- and nitrate-nitrogen and phosphorous concentration. The objective of this research was to quantify the effects of increasing phosphorus concentrations alongside different ratios of nitrate and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations in commercial water-soluble fertilizers on the post-production performance of containerized culinary herbs. Seedlings of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Genovese’) were transplanted into 11.4 cm-diameter containers filled with soilless substrate compromised of peat moss and coarse perlite. Upon transplant and throughout the experiment, seedlings were irrigated with commercially available water-soluble fertilizer (WSF) solutions variying in potential acidity (PA) or potential basicity (PB) and the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorous (N:P), including: 15N-0.9P-12.5K (PB 195 CCE/ton; 167N:10P); 15N-1.8P-16.6K (PB 77 CCE/ton; 83N:10P); 15N-2.2P-12.5K (PB 69 CCE/ton; 68N:10P); 15N-4.8P-14.1K (PA 58 CCE/ton; 15N-7P-24.1K (PA 122 CCE/ton; 21N:10P); and 20N-4.4P-16.6K (PA 401 CCE/ton; 45N:10P); 31N:10P). Plants were grown in two different phases: 1) in a greenhouse for 28 d at 22°/18° and 12 mol∙m–2∙d–1 to simulate a greenhouse production phase; and 2) in a growth chamber for 7 d at 20° ADT and 1 mol∙m–2∙d–1, to simulate a production and retail environment, respectively. After each phase, data was collected on half of the plants.. Plant height increased by 1.7 cm across treatments between the end of the greenhouse phase and the end retail phase. The relative growth rate of fresh mass accumulation decreased from 5.7 g∙d–1 during production to 1.2 g∙d–1 during the retail phase. Similarly, relative growth rate of dry mass accumulation decreased from 0.5 g∙d–1 during production to -0.2 g∙d–1 during the retail phase. The pH during the greenhouse phase was higher for basil fertilized with higher-nitrate formulations compared to those receiving fertilizers with more ammonium, but these differences were diminished during the retail phase. The results of this study indicate environment has a greater impact on plant growth and development than both the potential basicity or acidity and phosphorus content of fertilizer provided.

Speakers

Nicole Arment

Iowa State University

Co-authors

Christopher Currey

Iowa State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants
Poster # csv

9:15am CDT

LOCSY 2- School Gardening Leadership Certificate Program – Training School Teachers Sustainable Horticulture Practices

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Strand 11A

Seeding Success - The Louisiana Farm to School (F2S) Program sponsors a four-day intensive training targeting teachers and those that support school gardening and integrating gardens into the curriculum. The training has been offered each summer for the past five years with classroom and hands-on horticulture training in the mornings and in the afternoons, demonstration of classroom lessons linked to state standards, taste tests, and integration of farm to school into the classroom. The horticulture program focuses on the horticulture extension materials developed for the F2S program under the Sustainable School and Home Garden series, including the Louisiana Planting Guide and individual crop guides with all the materials available on the seedstosuccess.com website. Hands-on horticulture activities such as vermicomposting, composting, seeding and “bumping up” and planting transplants are introduced each day that are designed to be used in schools. All of the activities are intended to support the development and maintenance of school gardens and curriculum development. Participants provided feedback on the training and overwhelming benefited from the School Gardening Leadership Certificate Program. Data from the extension program will be presented including data on program, specific topics, and analytics.

Speakers

Carl Motsenbocker

Professor, Executive Director Louisiana Farm to School Program, Louisiana State University

Dr. Carl Motsenbocker is a professor of horticulture and sustainable agriculture at Louisiana State University. Motsenbocker is Executive Director of the Louisiana Farm to School Program and teaches Organic Gardening, Sustainable Agriculture and Vegetable Crops at LSU. Motsenbocker... Read More →

Co-authors

Denise Cummins

School of Plant, Env. and Soil Sciences

Issabella Frank

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Local Food Systems 2

Funding Source USDA Child Nutrition Funds

9:15am CDT

VCM 2- Investigating Heat Tolerance and Physiological Responses of Late-Planted Tomatoes in Oklahoma

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Foster 1

Consumers seek locally grown tomatoes for their superior flavor, making them a valuable crop for local vegetable growers. Tomato production can be difficult with the temperature requirements for fruit set, development, and ripening. Optimum growing conditions are available for a short period in Oklahoma, causing a distinct decline in production during late July and August. A field experiment was designed to investigate the success of late planted, heat tolerant tomatoes in Oklahoma field conditions, as well as explore the relationship between physiological responses and season-long temperatures. The experiment utilized a split plot design with three transplanting dates as whole plot and five cultivars as subplot. ‘Red Snapper’ and ‘Laguna Red’ were selected as potential heat sensitive cultivars. ‘Bella Rosa’, ‘Volante’, and ‘Florida 91’ were selected as heat tolerant cultivars, based on previous trial information. Planting occurred on April 23, May 9, and May 23 to represent early, mid, and late plantings dates, respectively. Physiological measurements were collected every two weeks and included electrolyte leakage, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, and chlorophyll fluorescence. Plants were harvested routinely from June to the end of August. Cultivars were not found to be significantly different in the trial for yield or physiological responses. The early planting date was the most productive, compared to mid and late. Yield dropped dramatically for all planting dates in August. There was a strong positive correlation between electrolyte leakage and temperature and a moderate negative correlation between photosynthetic rate and average daily temperature. These correlations indicate that physiological parameters may be able to provide insight into late season thermotolerance. Future research will involve cultivar screenings in controlled environments to promote a wider range of responses to temperature.

Speakers

Courtney DeKalb-Myers

Co-authors

Justin Quetone Moss

Oklahoma State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 2

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

9:15am CDT

VGBR 1 - “Seed to Seed in 100 Days”: Development of a Low-Cost Speed Breeding Protocol for Chile Peppers (Capsicum annuum L.)

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT

Foster 2

Speed breeding is a technique that utilizes controlled environments and optimal lighting (photoperiod) conditions to accelerate germination, development, and maturity of plants. One of the major constraints for its adoption and implementation in vegetable breeding programs is the high cost associated with growth chambers. The objective of this study is to develop a Speed Breeding protocol for chile peppers using an improvised, low-cost growth chamber constructed using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, greenhouse film, mylar reflective film, full-spectrum and far-red light-emitting diode (LED) growth lights. Four C. annuum L. genotypes, namely, NuMex Lotalutein (a serrano type), NuMex Odyssey (New Mexican), NuMex Las Cruces (cayenne), and Early Jalapeno (jalapeno) were planted in two randomized flat trays, using SunGro propagation soil, and watered twice daily. After reaching the 2-3 leaf stage, the treatments (control and Speed Breeding, SB) were transplanted into 8” pots, incorporating sterilized and LM-AP soil mixtures. The control group was cultivated in standard greenhouse conditions for growing chile peppers, exposed to normal daylight intensity and duration, and an average temperature of 21°C and humidity of 40%. The chamber was also constructed in the same greenhouse. From weeks 1 to 5 after planting, the SB-treatment was subjected to 20h/4h light/dark conditions daily, and 9h/15h light/dark after week 5. Light intensity was increased by ~100 photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) weekly after week 5, from ~150 PAR to ~800 PAR. Data was recorded weekly to examine the effects of treatment on germination rate, plant size, leaf number and color, number of flowers, buds, and fruits, and days to flower and fruit. There were significant differences (Tukey HSD, P < 0.05) between treatments for germination rates, number of buds, fruits, leaves, and days to flowering. The SB-treated pepper plants exhibited faster and higher germination, darker green leaves, and a higher number of buds and fruits compared to the control. For instance, SB plants started flowering, on average, about 20 ± 5 days earlier, germinated 5 ± 1 days earlier, and had, on average, 15 ± 2 more buds than the control. Notably, all genotypes under the SB-treatment had at least one fully mature fruit ~106 days after sowing. These results suggest that, at minimal costs, there is a potential to achieve increased generation times to accelerate cultivar development and genetic improvement in chile peppers.

Speakers

Shahab Nourbakhsh

New Mexico State University

Co-authors

Amanda Velazco

New Mexico State University

Dennis Nicuh Lozada

New Mexico State University

Uriel Martinez

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:15am - 9:30am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding
Poster # csv

9:30am CDT

CE 3 - Effect of Substrate and Nutrient Levels on Ginger Growth and Yield Under Controlled Environment

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT

Strand 12B

Domestic production of ginger is increasing, as it is used in a variety of culinary and medicinal applications due to its unique flavor and potential health benefits. However, some growing parameters, such as growing media and fertigation levels, have not yet been optimized for containerized production. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and rhizome yield of ginger (Zingiber officinale) using different soilless substrates and nutrient levels under greenhouse conditions. Two separate experiments were conducted, each lasting six months. In Experiment 1, six substrates were evaluated: 100% coir (control), 100% peat, peat-bark mixtures at 75%-25%, 50%-50%, and 25%-75%, and 100% bark. In this setup, 1-2 sprouted ginger rhizomes were transplanted into each 12 L nursery container and harvested after 3 and 6 months of transplanting. In Experiment 2, five nitrogen-based nutrient levels (50, 100, 200, 300, and 500 ppm N) were evaluated. In this setup, 1-2 sprouted ginger rhizomes were transplanted into grow bags filled with coconut coir pith and husk chips. In both experiments, treatments were arranged as completely randomized design with six replicates. Physical growth parameters, such as the number of stems, relative chlorophyll content, number of roots, unemerged buds, and fresh and dry weight of stems, roots, and new rhizomes, were measured. According to the data from Experiment 1, no significant differences were observed among the substrates, except for the fresh and dry weight of stems and the dry weight of roots at mid-harvest in the peat-bark 25%-75% combination. In contrast, nutrient level significantly influenced all ginger growth parameters except chlorophyll content. Ginger grew well under low nutrient levels (50 to 100 ppm N). The overall growth differences between 50 and 500 ppm N ranged from 6% to 68%. For example, the fresh and dry weight of new rhizomes were 65.7% and 49.1% greater at the 50 ppm N nutrient level, respectively. The results demonstrated that ginger plants prefer well-draining substrates with low nutrient levels under controlled-environment production.

Speakers

Milon Chowdhury

Kentucky State University

Co-authors

James Altland

USDA-ARS

Uttara Samarakoon

The Ohio State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Funding Source Evans-Allen funds

9:30am CDT

HSMP 2 - Peak Separation by Derivative Spectroscopy Applied to FTIR Analysis for Detection and Quantification in lavender Essential Oils

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT

Strand 11B

Lavender (Lavandula sp) is an important source of high-quality perfumes and has multiple medicinal properties, such as anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, and hypnotic properties. Due to its high market price and medicinal value, lavender essential oil was analyzed. There is a need for rapid, robust, easy, accurate, and cost-effective methodologies for quality control of essential oils from medicinal and aromatic plants. This research evaluated the ability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques to identify the of lavender essential oil. Principal component analysis (PCA) was successfully used with 100% accuracy to differentiate lavender essential oil samples from three cultivars. The essential oils linalool and linalyl were identified. The results demonstrated that FTIR spectroscopy can be used as a reliable, robust, rapid, accurate, and low-cost analytical technique for quality assessment of Lavandula essential oil. This study aimed to develop a new and rapid spectroscopic method using chemical modeling techniques for the qualitative and quantitative identification of essential oils in three lavender essential oil species (Lavandula angustifolia, Lavandula intermedia, and Lavandula stoechas). Fifty-two principal component analysis (PCA) models were created, and the one with the best statistical results was evaluated. The best discrimination and quantitative analysis models were found to be those using standardized spectra. The results obtained demonstrated the possibility of successfully detecting the essential oils of three lavender species within a wide concentration range, without the use of any toxic chemicals or pretreatments. The results showed that FTIR models were able to accurately predict all constituents and identify essential oils in lavender. Lavender essential oil was extracted from lavender samples using the Soxhlet technique using 70% alcohol and compared using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. FTIR analysis of the pure essential oil extracted from three lavender species revealed distinct peaks for linalool and linalyl, the two main chemical components.

Speakers

Keefah AL-Garallaa

Mississippi State University

Co-authors

Ishmael Apachigawo

Mississippi State University

Richard Harkess

Mississippi State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Herbs; Spices and Medicinal Plants 2

Subject Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants

9:30am CDT

VGBR 1 - Watermelon Glycemic Index Footprint: Management through Production System, Breeding and Precision Dieting

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT

Foster 2

Watermelon is a preferred fruit in the Caribbean and all over the world and is the second most consumed cucurbit by harvest weight in the Virgin Islands after cucumber. While quality of water of watermelon is commonly judged by sweetness, the ratios of types of sugars are hardly considered. Watermelon is classified as one of the fruits with very high glycemic index, GI – the measure by which a dietary intake increases the blood sugar compared to pure glucose whose GI is 100. Watermelon is normally promoted as a highly nutritious as it is one of the best sources of potassium, but can be both a blessing and curse, especially for consumers with high blood sugar-related ailments. Here we report on preliminary efforts we are making to produce watermelons that have reduced GI. We are using hybridization as well as exploiting genotype-by-environment interactions to influence sugar composition in fleshy fruit tissues. We have obtained three hybrids that have at least 22% reduced glucose and at per brix compared to the parents. We are also testing a series of shadehouse systems, two of which show the potential to lower glucose ratio in the fruits. We hope to refine these methods and evaluate the watermelon lines for yield and sugar trait stability before recommending plant materials and production systems to interested farmers. Key words: Hybrids, sugar, glycemic index, genotype by environment, production system, sucrose, watermelon.

Speakers

Henry Awika

University of the Virgin Islands

Co-authors

Donna Gonzalez

University of the Virgin Islands

Hannah Hazard

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh- Oshkosh

Johnson Southwell

University of the Virgin Islands

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:30am - 9:45am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Vegetable Breeding 1

Subject vegetable Breeding
Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA-AMS-SCBG-VIDA

9:44am CDT

TECH - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:44am - 9:45am CDT

Strand 11A

Presiding/Moderator

Marcelo Barbosa

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:44am - 9:45am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture

9:44am CDT

VSF 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:44am - 9:45am CDT

Foster 1

Presiding/Moderator

David Bryla

USDA

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:44am - 9:45am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits

9:45am CDT

CE 3 - Quantifying Effects of pH on the Growth of Fresh-cut Culinary Herbs in Recirculating Nutrient Solutions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT

Strand 12B

Hydroponic production systems with recirculating nutrient solutions are routinely monitored and adjusted to maintain a target pH value. Supra-optimal or sub-optimal pH values can lead to nutrient deficiencies or toxicities, respectively, reducing crop quality and yields. The objective of our research was to determine appropriate nutrient solution pH ranges for herbs grown in recirculating nutrient solutions. Two week old seedlings of basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Nufar’), and three week old seedlings of dill (Anethum graveolens ‘Hera’), parsley (Petroselinum crispum ‘Giant of Italy’), and sage (Salvia officinalis), grown in phenolic foam cubes were transplanted into one of six deep-flow technique (DFT) systems in a greenhouse with different pH treatments. Treatments consisted of pH setpoints of 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0. DFT systems contained nutrient solutions made with tempered municipal water supplemented with a complete water-soluble fertilizer (16N-2.2P-14.3K) to maintain a target electrical conductivity of 2.0 dS·m–1. The nutrient solution pH was maintained through a dosing system using 2% sulfuric acid and 2% potassium hydroxide as the acid and alkali, respectively. One-third (by vol.) of the nutrient solution was renewed with freshly mixed 16N-2.2P-14.3K fertilizer each week of production to ensure adequate nutrients in the nutrient solution. Greenhouse target environmental conditions consisted of day and night temperatures of 22 °C and 18 °C respectively, and a daily light integral of 12 mol∙m–2∙d–1. The optimal pH for culinary herb growth varied by species. Basil fresh mass was optimized at pH of 5.5 and decreased by 41.7% when grown at pH 7.0 compared to basil grown at pH of 5.0. Basil grown at pH of 7.0 was 3.38 cm shorter than plants grown at pH of 6.0. Similarly, dill and parsley had the greatest fresh mass when grown at pH of 5.0 and 5.5, respectively, and fresh mass was reduced by 40% and 33 %, respectively, when grown at pH of 7.0 compared to their optimum pH. In contrast, sage growth increased with pH, with a 17% increase in fresh mass between pH of 4.5 and 7.0. The results of this study indicate herbs may be able to grow throughout a broader range of pH values than originally thought, if nutrients do not become limited. Furthermore, when possible, hydroponic culinary herb producers can group species with similar pH requirements to maximize yields.

Speakers

Hannah Kramer

Iowa State University

Co-authors

Christopher Currey

Iowa State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 3

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

9:45am CDT

TECH - AI-Driven Yield Forecasting Using UAV-Based Imagery: Insights from a Pecan Orchard

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT

Strand 11A

Forecasting yield is a timely opportunity to make anticipated harvesting decisions on the grown crop and understand field variability. Such information is a remarkable contribution to the precision agriculture context. However, developing such an approach is challenging for perennial crops such as pecan. These crops present slight canopy changes, which often do not reflect the upcoming yield. Consequently, waiting for the harvest date is the only approach to obtain yield data. Conversely, the advent of image-based data and artificial intelligence techniques has proven their applicability in addressing this issue. Therefore, our objective was to analyze whether UAV multispectral images and AI-based data analysis are suitable for developing forecasting models for yield in pecan trees. Hence, we began collecting multispectral images approximately five months before the harvesting date. Each data collection date had an interval of fifteen days, totaling ten multispectral image sets. Subsequently, we processed the images to generate ten orthomosaics (one for each date). The orthomosaics were used to calculate numerous vegetation indices, texture data, and the canopy area to be used as inputs for the forecasting models. At the harvest date, we measured the yield of 78 individual plants across two pecan fields. Before developing the forecasting models, we performed a correlation analysis to better understand the relationship between the image data and yield. Afterward, we developed the forecasting models using machine learning algorithms, namely, multiple linear regression, decision tree, support vector machine, and random forest. The dataset was split into 70% (n = 55) for training and 30% (n = 23) for testing. The training dataset was used to train the forecasting models, while the testing dataset was used to assess the models’ effectiveness regarding precision (coefficient of determination, R²) and accuracy (mean absolute error, MAE; and root mean squared error, RMSE). All the models produced interesting results and could be implemented to forecast yield in pecan trees. However, random forest outperformed the others (high precision and accuracy) and, therefore, was the remaining model for this study. Forecasting yield in pecan trees presented increased effectiveness, improving the models’ performance early on and establishing higher accuracies closer to the harvesting date. We also performed a feature importance analysis, where predominantly the texture data contributed better to the models’ performance. Certainly, our findings are timely and support pecan growers and stakeholders in making better decisions for harvesting with anticipated and accurate yield data without waiting for the harvesting date.

Speakers

Marcelo Barbosa

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Lenny Wells

University of Georgia

Luan Oliveira

University of Georgia

Lucas Sales

University of Georgia

Agronomy Engineer graduated from the Federal University of Paraíba. With experience in the management and cultivation of Ornamental Plants, through a year of experience working in Greenhouses in the state of New Hampshire, USA. Experienced in the management and cultivation of vegetables... Read More →

Regimar dos Santos

University of Georgia

Bachelor's degree in agronomic engineering from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil at 2021. Master's degree in plant production with an emphasis on computational intelligence in genetic improvement at 2022, with a doctorate in progress at the state university of... Read More →

Victor Martins

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture

9:45am CDT

VSF 1 - Evaluating drought tolerance of southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberries

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT

Foster 1

Blueberries (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus) are prone to drought due to their shallow root system and limited ability to uptake water from the soil. Previous research has shown rabbiteye (Vaccinium virgatum) blueberries to be more tolerant than highbush varieties (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) to abiotic stresses. However, little is known about their response to drought and whether there are ecotype- or cultivar-specific responses. In order to breed for more drought-tolerant cultivars, this study aims to identify drought tolerant mechanisms within existing cultivars of both southern highbush (SHB) and rabbiteye (RE) blueberries. We evaluated seven cultivars of southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberry for physiological response and fruit quality characteristics under water deficit and recovery across two consecutive years. Overall, drought was found to decrease photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, electron transport rate, leaf relative water content, specific leaf area, chlorophyll content, maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax) and maximum rate of RuBP regeneration (Jmax). Additionally, drought treatment was found to significantly decrease yield and average berry weight while increasing total soluble solids and berry firmness. Misty (SHB) was identified as the most drought tolerant cultivar due to maintenance of CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, and yield under drought conditions across both years, while Suziblue (SHB), Powderblue (RE), and Vernon (RE) were found to be more sensitive to water deficit. Star (SHB) was tolerant of drought in the short term but performed worse under repeated drought events.

Speakers

Savannah Busby

Auburn University

Co-authors

Alvaro Sanz Saez

Auburn University

Courtney Leisner

Virginia Tech

Sajid Hanif

Auburn University

Sushan Ru

Auburn University

Tanzeel Rehman

Auburn University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:45am - 10:00am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits
Poster # csv

9:59am CDT

ORGH 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:59am - 10:00am CDT

Foster 2

Presiding/Moderator

Samantha Pratt

Oklahoma State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 9:59am - 10:00am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic

10:00am CDT

ORGH 1 - Effect of Microalgae Application on Yield and Nutrient Composition of Arugula

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT

Foster 2

Effect of Microalgae Application on Yield and Nutrient Composition of Arugula Sam Pratt1*, Shivani Kathi1, Steve Phillips2, and Justin Moss1 1Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078 2Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078 *Presenting author- Samatha.pratt@okstate.edu Chlorella (Chlorella vulgaris) has been used as a biofertilizer in horticultural crop production in controlled environment production systems. However, research gaps exist in the application of chlorella biofertilizer in field-based production systems. The goal of this research is to assess the impact of microalgae biofertilizers on crop productivity and nutritional quality of arugula grown in open-field using certified naturally grown production practices. To understand the impact of microalgae biofertilizer on soil nutrient and organic matter content, soil testing was done before and after treatment. Treatments included 50% and 100% nitrogen fertilizer and chlorella applied through foliar, soil and foliar soil application. Chlorella application began a week after transplanting. Data was collected on number of leaves per throughout the study and fresh and dry weight at harvest. Plant samples were analyzed for nutrient composition of leafy greens (chlorophyll, carotenoids, and mineral nutrients composition). Results show that soil applied chlorella was more effective application method regarding the overall impact on yield. Continued research on the addition of Chlorella in crop production can offer additional nitrogen sources for low chemical input and organic based production systems.

Speakers

Samantha Pratt

Oklahoma State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Poster # csv

10:00am CDT

TECH - Towards developing a unified model for non-destructive sugar content estimation in persimmon independent of genetic variability

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT

Strand 11A

Non-destructive estimation models often require cultivar-specific calibrations due to spectral differences arising from genetic variability. Integrating diverse cultivars into a single model can reduce costs and simplify data collection. However, in persimmons, the abundant and variable proanthocyanidins in the fruit overlap with spectral regions used for sugar estimation, rendering accurate prediction with a single model challenging. In this study, we attempted sugar estimation in diverse persimmon cultivars using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging. A total of 989 spectral measurements were acquired from 34 persimmon cultivars. Regression models employing various pre-processing and modeling techniques achieved a maximum R² of 0.786, indicating the feasibility of modeling sugar content across diverse cultivars with a unified approach. Furthermore, by designing a cover for the NIR sensor and combining it with SNV pre-processing, we demonstrated that stable spectra for sugar estimation can be obtained under outdoor conditions. With further improvements in accuracy, this approach is expected to facilitate rapid fruit quality evaluation and contribute to optimized production.

Speakers

Soichiro Nishiyama

Kyoto University

Co-authors

Airi Tomata

Kyoto University

Ryutaro Tao

Kyoto University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv

10:00am CDT

VSF 1 - Water Requirements for Establishing a New Planting of Northern Highbush Blueberry in Western Oregon

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT

Foster 1

Regional recommendations for blueberry irrigation exist, but few studies report the actual amount of water needed. The goal of this multiyear project was to determine the water requirements for growing northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Weighing lysimeters were used to measure crop evapotranspiration (ETc) of three cultivars with various ripening seasons, including ‘Duke’ (early season), ‘Top Shelf’ (mid-season), and ‘Aurora’ (late season). Each lysimeter was constructed from steel and included a large soil tank (1.5-m wide × 0.9-m long × 1.0-m deep) positioned on four hermetically sealed, shear-beam load cells, housed inside an underground chamber. Plants were spaced 0.9 × 3.0 m apart in the lysimeters (one plant/lysimeter) and surrounding field (0.4 ha) and managed using standard industry practices, including raised planting beds mulched with Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) sawdust, grass alleyways between the beds, irrigation with two lines of drip tubing per row, and fertigation with nitrogen and other nutrients as needed. During the first year after planting, ETc totaled 94–104 mm, depending on the cultivar, or 18–19% of total potential evapotranspiration (ETo) from initiation of the measurements on 1 June to when irrigation was turned off for the season on 23 September 2023. That year, crop coefficients (Kc), calculated by dividing ETc by ETo obtained from a nearby agricultural weather station, averaged 0.11, 0.15, 0.27, and 0.41 each month from June through September, respectively. The following year, the plants were lightly cropped (0.2–0.8 kg of marketable fruit per plant), and ETc totaled 175–343 mm, or 30–59% of total ETo. At that point, Kc averaged 0.31, 0.34, 0.45, 0.61, and 0.61 each month from 14 May to 30 September, which was the entire timeframe in which the plants were irrigated. This project is ongoing and will continue until the plants reach full production. Once the study is finished, a set of seasonal Kc curves will be developed for each cultivar and uploaded to regional websites called AgriMet and AgWeatherNet, where they will be used to automatically calculate irrigation water requirements using meteorological data from local weather stations.

Speakers

David Bryla

USDA

Co-authors

Camilo Souto

Universidad de Concepción

Scott Orr

USDA

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:00am - 10:15am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits
Poster # csv

10:14am CDT

FRBR 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT

Strand 12A

Presiding/Moderator

Vance Whitaker

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding

10:14am CDT

PH 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT

Strand 12B

Presiding/Moderator

Jagjit Singh

Graduate Research Assistant (MS), Auburn University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest

10:14am CDT

TCHG 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT

Strand 11B

Presiding/Moderator

Alicia Thomas

Assistant Professor of Practice, Texas Tech University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:14am - 10:15am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods

10:15am CDT

FRBR 1 - Breeding Medallion™ ‘FL 16.30-128’ Strawberry

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Strand 12A

Florida Medallion™ ‘FL 16.30-128’ strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa; hereafter referred to as Medallion; U.S. Patent PP33,451) was released from the University of Florida in 2020. By 2024 this cultivar occupied approximately 15% of acreage in central Florida. The unique characteristics of this cultivar, in particular its early yields and fruity flavor, point to the breeding strategy employed in its development. Medallion originated from a 2016 cross between two unreleased selections. Marker-assisted selection was applied to this cross using a PCR-based marker for the FaFAD1 gene controlling production of gamma-decalactone, a volatile imparting fruity flavor. Seedlings homozygous for the functional allele were retained. At the advanced selection stage, trials of Medallion were conducted at the research plots of the University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Wimauma, FL and fruit were harvested for sensory and chemical analyses over five seasons. The increased dosage of the FaFAD1 gene resulted in high production of gamma-decalactone. Trained sensory panels perceived improved sweetness and strawberry flavor intensity of Medallion to be above the current industry standard ‘Florida Brilliance’. Additional background and data will be presented illustrating the early yield of this variety and other characteristics making it suitable for the central Florida industry and suggesting future breeding strategies for improving strawberry flavor.

Speakers

Vance Whitaker

University of Florida

Co-authors

Anne Plotto

USDA ARS

Cheryl Dalid

University of Florida

Jinhe Bai

USDA ARS

Luis Osorio

University of Florida

Mark E. Porter

University of Florida

Natalia Peres

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Poster # csv

10:15am CDT

ORGH 1 - Effect of Organic Fertilizer on Broccoli Yield and Soil N Mineralization

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Foster 2

Organic vegetable farmers use a wide variety of nitrogen (N) fertilizers from commercial products (made from animal and seed meals) to manures and composts. These organic N sources must undergo mineralization and nitrification to become plant available inorganic N (microbial processes). How much and when nitrogen becomes available can be highly variable dependent on product characteristics and local weather conditions, and this subsequent N availability can greatly impact yield. The objective of this study was to determine nitrogen mineralization, head timing, and overall yield from seven different organic fertilizer treatments on fall broccoli (Brassica oleracea ‘Castle Dome’). Studies were conducted over two years at the UGA Durham Horticulture Farm on certified organic land and organic fertilizers (with the exception of the control) were applied to provide a rate of 134 kg N ha-1. Fertilizers ranged from processed animal meals to composts and fresh poultry litter. Nitrogen mineralization was measured using in-situ soil cores and ranged from 0 (immobilization) to 100% of the N applied. Significant N was observed from the soil only treatment which provided on average 100 kg N ha-1 over the growing season. In both years, overall higher yields were observed with blood meal and lowest yields were observed with compost/control treatments. Fertilizer type impacted the timing of heading and overall harvest windows.

Speakers

Kate Cassity-Duffey

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Miguel Cabrera

University of Georgia

Timothy Coolong

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Funding Source SARE

10:15am CDT

PH 2 - Exploring the Effect of Postharvest Storage on Composition Changes in Selected Muscadine Grape (Vitis Rotundifolia Michx.) Cultivars

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Strand 12B

Muscadine grapes are native to the southeastern U.S. and are known for their unique flavor and aroma. Rapid postharvest deterioration of muscadine berries is a major barrier in market expansion. This study investigated the change in muscadine berries’ general composition over a four-week storage period. The vines were planted at the Chilton Research and Extension Center, Clanton, AL in a randomized complete block design with four single plant replications. Berries from the perfect-flowered cultivars ‘Hall’, ‘Paulk’, and ‘Southern Home’, and from the pistillate cultivars ‘Eudora’ and ‘Supreme’ (standard) were studied. Experimental vines were harvested on Aug. 2 and Sept. 4, 2024. One-pound clamshells were filled with berries collected from each experimental vine. Fresh samples (Week 0) were compared for berry quality changes occurring after 1, 3, and 4 weeks of cold storage at 4°C and 85% RH. After completing each storage period exposure, the berry samples were allowed to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. The change in berry weight and firmness was recorded after each storage treatment and 5 berry subsample was frozen at -80°C for later analysis of total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS:TA ratio and pH. Our results indicate that the 4 Weeks storage period led to a significant weight loss of 11.3% in ‘Paulk’ and 7.6% in ‘Supreme’ berries in comparison to Week 0. It was found out that both cultivar and storage duration were accountable for the significant firmness reduction with ‘Paulk’ and ‘Supreme’ experiencing 51.4% and 46.2% reduction by Week 4 in storage. Titratable acidity increased significantly over time in all cultivars. The highest TA at Week 4 (0.67) was recorded for ‘Southern Home’, while ‘Paulk’ berries had the lowest TA (0.44), indicating strong cultivar effect (p < 0.0001). After the first week of storage, berries of ‘Hall’ were significantly sweeter than ‘Paulk’, while at Week 4, all cultivars had similar sweetness. Due to an increasing acidity trend, fruit pH decreased with increase in storage time exposure. Both cultivar and storage duration affected the berry pH. TSS:TA ratios varied significantly by cultivar and storage period duration with ‘Supreme’ maintaining its sweetness level throughout the four weeks of storage. Overall, the prolonged storage period resulted in significant firmness reduction and increased acidity with ‘Paulk’ exhibiting the highest reduction of berry firmness while ‘Supreme’ consistently maintained sweetness level over the 4-week period.

Speakers

Jagjit Singh

Graduate Research Assistant (MS), Auburn University

Co-authors

Bernardo Chaves-Cordoba

Auburn University

Edgar Vinson

Auburn University

Elina Coneva

Auburn University

Marlee Trandel Hayse

Auburn University

Melba Ruth Salazar Gutierrez

Auburn University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Funding Source USDA-SCBG-ADAI and Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium (SR SFC)

10:15am CDT

TCHG 1 - AI-Driven Learning in Horticulture: Insights from a Nursery Business Plan Project

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Strand 11B

In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, education has undergone a significant transformation. By utilizing Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, educators can offer personalized learning experiences, generate adaptive content, and provide real-time support to students. This study integrated Generative AI tools into the HORT 431 Nursery Production and Management course to develop and enhance the “Nursery Business Plan” assignment. The objective was to improve student brainstorming and writing skills through AI-assisted processes while fostering critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and reflective practices. Students worked in teams to develop their nursery business plans, utilizing tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to generate ideas and create structured outlines. Each team also developed a logo for their proposed business, adding a creative dimension to the assignment and allowing exploration of branding and marketing concepts. Multiple rounds of feedback from AI tools enabled students to refine their drafts and improve the quality of their writing, emphasizing the importance of revision and continuous improvement. Teams submitted reflections on their experiences with AI tools, including what worked well, the effectiveness of different prompts, and the role of human oversight. At the end of the semester, teams submitted their finalized nursery business plans and defended them through oral presentations. Overall, this project provided a holistic learning experience aimed at preparing students for their future careers.

Speakers

Navreet Mahal

Instructional Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

10:15am CDT

TECH - Evaluating Leafy Greens Under Opaque and Thin-Film Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic Arrays

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Strand 11A

Combining green roofs with solar modules can protect plants and produce energy in cities. Growing crops in this system is called rooftop agrivoltaics (RAV) and can complement current urban agriculture efforts. We evaluated a group of five leafy green crops (arugula, kale, lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard) under different solar modules over two years at two locations. Data measurements were taken for fresh and dry weight (FW, DW) stomatal conductance (SC), plant size at harvest (PSH), and microclimate data. Treatments included a polycrystalline opaque silicon module, a cadmium telluride (CdTe) frameless opaque module, a 40% semi-transparent CdTe module, and a full sun control. Four of the five leafy greens produced higher FW and DW under the 40% semi-transparent modules compared to other treatments and the full sun control, except spinach. Most species also produced larger PSH under the PV module treatments compared to the full sun control. Leafy greens under the module treatments resulted in lower SC, however, lettuce and Swiss chard grown under the semi-transparent module treatment produced higher SC compared to all other treatments. This research shows that incorporating photovoltaics on rooftop gardens influences the yield and stomatal conductance of select leafy green crops. While FW and DW mostly decreased under the deep shade treatments (opaque module, frameless module, and bifacial module) SC decreased, possibly due to less solar radiation on the leafy greens, reducing water use. Understanding the growth characteristics and growing environment of high value crops like leafy greens will increase understanding of what food crops are suitable for RAV systems.

Speakers

Armando Villa-Ignacio

Colorado State University

Armando Villa-Ignacio is a Ph.D. student under Jennifer Bousselot Ph.D. in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University. He received his B.S. in Conservation from SUNY-ESF and his M.S. in Horticulture at CSU. He is currently researching raspberry... Read More →

Co-authors

Jennifer Bousselot

Colorado State University

Maria Chavez

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv
Funding Source Colorado Department of Agriculture Specialty Block Grant

10:15am CDT

VSF 1 - Investigating Humic Acid for the Recovery of Blueberry Fields after Hurricane Helene

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT

Foster 1

The southeastern United States is a major producer of blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum), however extreme weather events pose significant threats to blueberry production. On September 24, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Georgia, causing substantial damage to commercial blueberry fields, including uprooted or leaning plants, broken branches, and defoliation. Our project examines the effectiveness of staking leaning plants and humic acid application to enhance the recovery of blueberry plants after hurricane damage. Trials were conducted in five commercial sites with three different cultivars: ‘Farthing’, ‘Legacy’, and ‘Optimus’. Treatments included staking of leaning plants and the application of humic acid alone or in combination. Plant physiological responses were assessed using SPAD (chlorophyll content), leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll fluorescence, and stomatal conductance (Gsw). Preliminary data indicate that staking leaning plants improved light interception, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic efficiency in damaged blueberries. The application of humic acid did not result in enhanced plant recovery beyond staking alone. Root and canopy assessments are ongoing and will help determine whether the practice of staking damaged plants and the incorporation of humic acid contributes to long-term plant recovery. Our study will help blueberry producers implement evidence-based strategies to increase the resilience of blueberry fields following extreme weather events.

Speakers

Federica Rossi

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Amit Godara

The University of Georgia

Fabian Bismarck Reyes Rivas

University of Georgia

Luan P de Oliveira

University of Georgia

Maria Theodorakopoulou

University of Georgia

Vinicius Araujo

University of Georgia

Zilfina Rubio

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:15am - 10:30am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits
Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA-NIFA-AFRI

10:30am CDT

FRBR 1 - The Effects Of High Daily Light Integral LED Lighting On Strawberry Runner Production, And The Genotype-Specific Responses

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Strand 12A

Strawberries rank among the most economically significant horticultural crops in the United States, with a production value of approximately $3.4 billion in 2023. Year-round demand and widespread popularity necessitate extensive efforts to improve fruit quality, yield, and production in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). As part of these initiatives, optimizing runner production for the year-round availability of planting materials is crucial. The importance of photoperiod and light intensity in runner production has been highlighted previously; however, a thorough exploration of the relationship between the total light quantity received during the entire experimental period and runner production is lacking. This study assessed the responses of strawberry genotypes to sunlight and high-performance LED lighting in runner production. Continuous measurements of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and daily light integral (DLI) provided an accurate assessment of light exposure during the cultivation period across eight strawberry accessions. In a glasshouse under sunlight, plants experienced variable light conditions due to fluctuating weather, with an average DLI of approximately 10 mol m⁻² d⁻¹, whereas under LED lighting in a growth chamber, a stable DLI of 44.1 mol m⁻² d⁻¹ was recorded. No runner formation was observed under sunlight over 44 days, whereas minimal production in two accessions, PI 551445 and PI 616509, was observed within 12 days following the previous 44-day experimental period, with each accession producing one runner. In contrast, stable and high DLI led to significantly higher runner production. When an ANOVA test was conducted using only runner count data from the stable and high DLI conditions, significant differences in runner formation were observed among the tested strawberry accessions (F value = 2.91, p = 0.03). Accessions PI 616509 and PI 679822 produced the most runners, averaging 6.5 and 4.5, respectively, whereas PI 551692 and PI 551445 produced none and one runner, respectively. These results suggest that strawberry runner production depends on cumulative light exposure and genetic makeup. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights into optimizing strawberry runner production in CEA, demonstrating that stable, high-intensity LED lighting can effectively overcome the limitations of variable natural light and enhance year-round production efficiency.

Speakers

Jaebum Park

Texas A

Co-authors

Krishna Bhattarai

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Funding Source Hatch Project 8483-0-H-DALL and Multistate Hatch Project 7001-0-MSH-DALL to Krishna Bhattarai

10:30am CDT

ORGH 1 - Leveraging Rendered Animal and Treated Manure Products For Nutrient Management and Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation in Organic Watermelon Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Foster 2

Nutrient and weed management are two of the biggest challenges in organic vegetable production systems. Anerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is an effective method to manage the weeds and soil borne pathogens in organic production systems. In ASD, a carbon source is added to soil followed by watering to saturation and covering with plastic mulch to create anerobic soil conditions. Rendered animal and treated manure products have significant content of plant nutrients and carbon and can serve both as organic fertilizer and carbon source for ASD. A field experiment was conducted using three different carbon sources meat and bone meal (MBM; rendering product), MBM Sulfur and treated manure solids with objective to evaluate the effect of different carbon sources and their application rates on nutrient management and ASD in organic watermelon under traditional and novel charter next generation plastic mulch. We will be evaluating the treatment effect on soil cumulative anaerobicity, percent weed coverage, yellow nutsedge rhizome viability, plant vigor ratings, shoot and root biomass, periodic nutrient leaching, soil nitrogen and phosphorus content, plant tissue nutrient content (root and shoot), soil pH, soil C, N and P mineralization enzymes and soil microbial biomass. In results, MBM with sulfur at 150% recorded the highest cumulative anaerobicity and low weed coverage suggesting that it could be an excellent tool for soil nutrient management and weed control in organic production system.

Speakers

Ashok Sah

Clemson University

I am a Ph.D. student working on anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) technique, its application for nutrient and weed management in horticultural crops (watermelon).

Co-authors

Anastasia Thayer

Clemson University

Bhupinder Jatana

Clemson University

Brian Ward

Clemson University CREC

Chandrasekar Kousik

USDA

Matthew Cutulle

Clemson

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Funding Source USDA

10:30am CDT

PH 2 - Insights into the Postharvest Quality of Brassica Leafy Greens Grown in the Southeastern United States

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Strand 12B

Brassica leafy greens are important vegetable crops in the Southern United States, where they are commercialized in whole and fresh-cut formats. Their consumption is associated with health benefits as these crops are rich in bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity. Several factors contribute to the postharvest quality of Brassica leafy greens. Preharvest seasonal variations associated with environmental variables can have a significant influence on shelf-life and quality maintenance and have been reported in various Brassica species. The effect of postharvest temperature management and mechanical stress induced by fresh-cut processing has also proven to be critical in organoleptic and nutritional quality; however, none of these factors have been systematically studied in collards, kale and turnip greens. This project aimed to address this knowledge gap by investigating the postharvest performance of whole and fresh-cut kale, turnip greens and collards during storage at different temperatures (2, 5 and 7°C) for up to 28 days in two growing seasons (fall and winter-spring). Cooling delays after harvest were imposed on some experiments. We also characterized the shelf-life of commercial and traditional collards ('landraces') commonly grown in the Southeast. Organoleptic (color, marketability scores, total soluble solids) and compositional (total chlorophyll, carotenoids, total polyphenols, lycopene, vitamin C and ammonia contents) were monitored during postharvest storage. Results revealed there was significant quality variation in fresh-cut kale, collards and turnip greens, which could attributed to genotypic differences and preharvest factors in each growing season. High shelf-life variability among commercial collards and landraces was observed. Moreover, postharvest storage at abusive temperatures accelerated quality deterioration in fresh-cut collards to a greater extent than in whole leaves. Collectively, these findings highlight that adjusting postharvest practices to seasonal shelf-life variations can contribute to minimizing food losses and optimizing produce supply chain performance. Furthermore, postharvest temperature regimes are critical in influencing the visual quality and nutrient retention of whole and fresh-cut collards during storage.

Speakers

Karin Albornoz

Assistant professor, Clemson University

Co-authors

Zenaba Abdissa

Clemson University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Funding Source South Carolina Department of Agriculture, NIFA USDA

10:30am CDT

TCHG 1 - Exploring Artificial Intelligence Literacy Among Two-Year Horticulture Students

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Strand 11B

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in educational settings has transformed traditional teaching methods, offering enhanced personalization and efficiency. However, ensuring the safe and ethical use of AI among college-level learners remains a critical challenge, particularly in specialized fields like horticulture. This study explores the implementation of AI practices in the classroom with 15 two-year (associates degree) horticulture students, focusing on cultivating technical competence, ethical awareness, and industry relevance. Students were asked about their previous experience with AI and if they could detect which bodies of text were AI-generated versus human-generated. Students were then analyzed via an exercise by their ability to detect fact accuracy, depth of the topic, bias, and awareness of content ownership. Data was taken by observation and data collection. Results indicate that structured guidelines and instructor-led interventions significantly improve students' ability to responsibly use AI while understanding its limitations and potential biases. The study highlights the importance of embedding AI literacy within horticulture curricula to build student success of using the technology appropriately and fostering a culture of ethical AI utilization. These findings can be used to influence the introduction and usage of AI as a tool in two-year program horticulture curriculum.

Speakers

Melinda Knuth

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

10:30am CDT

TECH - Sensing the Airborne Alerts of Arugula Grown Under Salt Stress Using Low-Cost MQ Gas Sensors

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Strand 11A

Real-time monitoring of crop health is pivotal for advancing precision agriculture, enabling timely interventions to mitigate abiotic stress impacts. This study presents a novel and non-destructive approach for detecting salt stress in hydroponically grown arugula (Eruca sativa L.) using low-cost MQ gas sensors. Arugula seedlings, 11 days post-germination, were transplanted to a deep-water culture (DWC) hydroponic system in the greenhouse facility of The Pennsylvania State University. Salt stress was induced 9 days after planting by supplementing a modified Hoagland nutrient solution with sodium chloride (NaCl) at three concentrations: 0 mM (control), 40 mM, and 80 mM. Electrical conductivity (EC), pH and temperature parameters were regularly monitored during the cultivation period. Three MQ gas sensors—MQ2, MQ135, and MQ137—were integrated into a dome-shaped enclosure positioned over individual net pots, each containing four plants. To achieve a comprehensive volatile organic compound (VOC) profile, sensor units were strategically positioned on multiple plants within each treatment group. A total of 144 plants per treatment were cultivated, and two sets of sensor units recorded VOC emissions for 8 consecutive days. Salt stress significantly influenced plant growth, with fresh weight (FW) and leaf area decreasing as salinity increased. The 80 mM treatment exhibited the lowest FW and leaf area (61.69 ± 2.7 g, p-value = 0.015; 1434.25 ± 58 cm², p-value = 0.003), followed by the 40 mM treatment. All three MQ sensor responses revealed distinct VOC emission patterns correlating with salt stress levels. These sensor outputs were leveraged to train three machine learning models—K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Random Forest—to classify stress-induced VOC signatures. Among these, the cubic KNN model demonstrated superior predictive performance, achieving 98.73% accuracy, 98.74% precision, 98.73% recall, and an F1 score of 0.98 for the test dataset. These findings underscore the potential of cost-effective MQ gas sensors for real-time, non-invasive stress detection in crops, offering a promising tool for precision agriculture and early stress diagnosis. The integration of VOC sensing with machine learning models provides a scalable solution for enhancing crop management strategies in controlled environments.

Speakers

Ali Ahmad

Pennsylvania State University

Co-authors

Francesco Di Gioia

Pennsylvania State University

Jaime Lloret Mauri

Universitat Politècnica de València

Sandra Sendra Compte

Universitat Politècnica de València

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv
Funding Source This work was supported by the USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Block Grants # C940001528 “Advancing the Sustainability of Indoor Urban Agricultural Systems”, the USDA-ARS Penn State Cooperative Agreement: 58‐6034‐3‐016 and by the Grant PRE2021-100809 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). F. Di Gioia’s contribution was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Hatch Appropriations under Project no. PEN04723 and Accession no. 1020664.
Funding Option OREl or ORG funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

10:30am CDT

VSF 1 - Drip Irrigation Strategies for Improved Blueberry Production in Substrate

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT

Foster 1

Substrate production in pots has emerged as a popular method for growing highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). However, there is limited knowledge on the best strategies for irrigation in substrate. To address this issue, a multiyear study was conducted in a retractable-roof greenhouse using ‘Legacy’ blueberry to determine an optimal combination of drip emitters (two, four, or eight emitters per pot) and irrigation set point (-2 or -4 kPa) and frequency (a single continuous pulse of up to 45 minutes or short 3-minute pulses every 15 minutes to reach container capacity). The plants were grown in 25-L pots filled with a mix of peat, coir, and perlite. Tensiometers were installed horizontally into the center of the pots to monitor the matric potential and to determine when to trigger irrigation. Irrigation was triggered automatically using a data logger and applied until the pots reached container capacity determined by small weighing lysimeters. Yield was highest in plants with eight emitters in the second year (first year of fruit production), but this difference diminished in year 3. A similar relationship was observed for aboveground biomass. Root size was also highest with eight emitters. Leachate pH and EC were mostly similar among treatments, but EC was more uniform throughout the pot with eight emitters. In contrast, the lower set point and shorter irrigation frequency decreased the ability of the pots to reach container capacity, particularly when the plants were irrigated with only two emitters per pot. Overall, the plants grew best when irrigation was triggered at -2 kPa and applied in single continuous pulses with four or eight emitters per pot.

Speakers

Scott Orr

Oregon State University

Co-authors

Camilo Souto

Universidad de Concepción

Cora Bobo-Shisler

Oregon State University

David Bryla

USDA

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:30am - 10:45am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits
Poster # csv

10:45am CDT

FRBR 1 - AI-optimized Strawberry Breeding in Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Strand 12A

Plant breeding is a lengthy and demanding research. Traditional strawberry breeding requires many man-hours to manually measure plant characteristics, record data, and evaluate various desired traits. Also, human biases and prior perceptions or expectations can play a role in skewing the results. Thus, the plant breeding program at the University of Florida has developed AI tools to assist in different stages of breeding research. Developed AI models have offered accurate and quick data analysis to identify and quantify plant phenome (anatomical characteristics and traits). This reduction in the number of manhours to manually measure, record data, and perform destructive sampling, has greatly increased the ability to screen more breeding lines with fewer resources (time, plants, and money). These AI models can accurately with a high level of consistency measure the size of plant canopy, flowers, runners, and fruit maturity repeatedly throughout the season to create an individual profile of each tested breeding line. Five YOLOv8 based (computer vision) models were trained for strawberry runner detection including GI, UL-AI, SL-AI, Hybrid I (GI SL-AI), and Hybrid II (GI SL-AI UL-AI). Hybrid II model achieved 91% precision accuracy and 83% mAP50 (mean average precision at IoU of 50%). The use of AI image and video analysis has been reducing the time and resources needed to develop new varieties.

Speakers

Wael Elwakil

Extension Agent II, University of Florida

Co-authors

Xu Wang

University of Florida

Xue Zhou

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Poster # csv

10:45am CDT

ORGH 1 - Short-Term Effects of Organic Cover Crops on Macronutrient Cycling and Soil Properties

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Foster 2

This study presents the evaluation of ten organic cover crops on soil fertility and macronutrient accumulation within their biomass. Field trials were conducted at the organic farm of Tennessee State University using a randomized complete block design with four replications under National Organic Program (NOP) management practices. The cover crops assessed includes barley, crimson clover, daikon radish, field peas, hairy vetch, mammoth red clover, medium red clover, tillage radish, white clover, and winter rye. Each plot measured 16 ft x 7 ft within a whole plot size of 190 ft x 63 ft. Cover crops were sown using a seed drill, adhering to USDA and SARE recommended seed rates. Soil Samples were collected at a foot depth both before and after cover crops termination to analyze the variations in soil properties such as pH, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, boron, sodium, and organic matter. Aboveground biomass was clipped from 1ft2 quadrants across all replications, dried at 60oC for 72 hours. Samples were grinded to a fine powder using a 1100-watt Ninja blender and analyzed for nitrogen and carbon content using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). Results indicated that most of the cover crops increased soil organic matter, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, and iron. In contrast, declines were observed in soil pH, potassium, manganese, calcium, boron, zinc. Significant differences were observed in the nitrogen and carbon accumulation among cover crops. Hairy vetch showed the highest nitrogen (4.24%) and carbon (46.62%) content, while barley and daikon radish had the lowest nitrogen (1.55%) and carbon (40.66%) content, respectively. The carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio ranged from 11:1 to 30.1:1, with legumes generally exhibiting lower ratios (11:1 to 15.3:1) demonstrating higher decomposition and quicker nutrient release. In contrast non-legumes had the higher ratios (25.4:1 to 30.1:1), suggesting slower nutrient release. These findings highlight the short-term impacts of different organic cover crops on soil fertility and nutrient cycling. The variation in macronutrient accumulation and C:N ratios provides practical insights for the growers in selecting appropriate cover crops to enhance soil health and support sustainable agricultural systems.

Speakers

Sai Prakash Naroju

Tennessee State University

Co-authors

Dilip Nandwani

Tennessee State University

Shahidullah Chowdhury

Tennessee State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Funding Source TSU Co-Operative Extension

10:45am CDT

PH 2 - Lettuce Postharvest Quality in Response to The Increase of Phosphorus Fertilizer

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Strand 12B

Florida ranks third in the United States for lettuce production with approximately 90% of commercial lettuce cultivated on organic soils in southern Florida. These organic soils require phosphorus (P) inputs to sustain economic production and ensure lettuce shelf-life. Lettuce shelf-life depends on quality factors such as firmness, appearance, color, texture, decay, discoloration, and wilting. Optimal P fertilizer management is necessary to improve yield, market quality, and ensure postharvest quality (shelf-life). Over-fertilization can reduce quality, while deficiencies can limit yield and shelf life. Therefore, the objective of this research was to understand how different rates of P affect the lettuce shelf-life across four cultivated morphological types. Two field trials were conducted at the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, FL, during the lettuce growing seasons (spring, fall, and winter). Experiments were set as a split-plot designed in which P fertilizer rates (0, 48, 97, 150, 195, and 210 lbs P2O5 acre-1) were considered as the main plot and four lettuce types (romaine, iceberg, butterhead, and leaf) as the subplot. Ammonium polyphosphate (11-37-0) was used as the source of P fertilizer. Shelf-life was evaluated over 10 days at 15 °C and 90% RH using visual ratings of 9 (excellent) to 1 (poor) following the protocol for an accelerated shelf-life testing. The estimated shelf-life was considered as the number of days when lettuce reached an acceptable appearance on the rating scale of ≥5 and multiplied by a factor of 2 (2-fold factor proportional to the deterioration rate). The results indicate varying responses to P fertilizer application in shelf-life that were significantly morphological-type dependent. Overall, leaf lettuce had the shortest shelf-life and iceberg lettuce had the longest shelf-life. Butterhead had an acceptable estimated shelf-life rating of 5 at 24 days at 210 lbs. P2O5 acre-1 while romaine and leaf had a shelf-life rating of 5 at 22 and 21 days at 210 lbs. P2O5 acre-1, respectively. In addition, crisphead had an acceptable estimated shelf-life rating of 5 above 35 days at 150 lbs. P2O5 acre-1. However, an acceptable shelf-life was maintained at 48, 150, or 195 lbs. P2O5 acre-1 in iceberg lettuce over 30 days. Together these results demonstrate that there is no effect of increasing the rate of P2O5 acre-1 to maintain economic yields on the lettuce shelf-life. Rather, shelf-life quality increases with P inputs.

Speakers

German Sandoya Miranda

Associate Professor, University of Florida EREC

Co-authors

Adrian Berry

University of Florida

Jairo Arcos Jaramilo

University of Florida EREC

Jesse Murray

University of Florida EREC

Shabnam Sadeghibaniani

University of Florida EREC

Steven Sargent

University of Florida/IFAS

Professor and Extension Postharvest Specialist

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Poster # csv

10:45am CDT

TCHG 1 - Integrating Virtual Reality Application in an Online Plant Propagation Course to Increase Comprehension

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Strand 11B

There has been increased interest in Virtual Reality (VR) applications in academic settings. Instructors aim to create and enhance tangible experiences for students in their courses, especially for online classes. These VR applications can be of significant interest for horticulture courses, considering many core curriculum courses include laboratory or hands-on learning components. Including VR applications for online students to experience these activities has the potential to increase engagement and learning outcomes. Feedback from students in the online HORT 260 Plant Propagation course at Colorado State University indicated accessibility challenges with materials and the ability to successfully execute course assignments taught online. More specifically, they noted the unit on greenhouse mist systems was not as comprehensive or tangible as they needed to complete an assignment on designing mist systems. With this in mind, we developed a VR mist system media component for the course using ThingLink software and annotated 360° images. For our study, students received static, annotated images in a PowerPoint presentation and the VR 360° images which the students could review. Assessment quizzes were created with one pertaining to the static images and the second to the VR 360° images. Five questions in each quiz were identical and asked about mist system concepts, and each quiz had 2 to 3 questions about the ability to understand concepts using the media. The second quiz also asked students to compare the two approaches, their general experience with VR in the classroom, and an open-ended feedback question. In total, 47 students participated between the Spring 2024 (n=7) and Fall 2024 (n=40) semesters. The questions included in both surveys did not yield statistical differences when their answers were compared. When asked about their perceptions of VR material, 66% of the respondents indicated that the VR material made concepts easier to visualize. Students were surveyed about their overall use and experience with VR in the classroom. Of the respondents, 42% had experienced VR before and 81% indicated they would like more VR material incorporated into the curriculum. Additionally, common themes were observed in the open-ended responses, including the desire for further improvement of VR material, an appreciation for increased visibility of concepts, and the desire for access to many forms of media like VR videos. Considering students’ perceived comprehension and confidence in the course concepts, further VR implementation in the course would be a worthwhile pursuit.

Speakers

Makenzie Lee

Colorado State University

Co-authors

Amy Lentz

Colorado State University

Chad T. Miller

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

10:45am CDT

TECH - Feasibility of Small- and Urban-Farm Agrivoltaics: Integrating Solar Energy Production with Specialty Crop Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Strand 11A

Land use is a major concern for our society, which impacts governmental regulations, industry and agriculture, and individual property owners. Agrivoltaics (APV) includes the combination of agriculture and photovoltaics energy production on a single plot of land. APV has been proposed as a way to integrate agriculture into large-scale photovoltaic arrays or integrate energy production into established agricultural operations. The objectives of this project were to establish replicated APV research trials with fixed vertical panel photovoltaic arrays and investigate the feasibility of growing various warm- and cool-season crops between them. Warm-season crops included tomato, watermelon, bush bean, and zucchini. Cool-season crops included fall-planted lettuce and beets as well as spring-planted spinach and lettuce. Vertical panels were constructed with four replications that examined systems effects of APV compared to the open-field. A split-plot randomized complete block design was utilized, whereby main plots included system and sub-plots were the crops. For each crop, yield, marketability, quality, and economic data were collected. Crop quality parameters tested included: visual quality, color, firmness, titratable acidity, and total soluble solids. Additionally, PAR sensors were located within crop rows to characterize light availability at the replicated site as well as at another solar array. Sensors were placed approximately 2.5’ above the ground surface to generally mimic mature plant canopy height, transversely across the expected light-treatment area. From the first year of study, similarities among the two systems (APV and open-field) were more numerous than significant differences. Only one statistically-significant treatment effect was found on crop yield, among one of two lettuce varieties grown in the fall (P

Speakers

Alex Thill

Kansas State University Olathe

Co-authors

Cary Rivard

Kansas State University

Eleni Pliakoni

Kansas State University

George Yang

Kansas State University

Logan Britton

Kansas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Funding Source KSU GRIP Project

10:45am CDT

VSF 1 - Dissecting the Flower Bud Initiation and Dormancy Responses of Everbearing Blueberry Genotypes

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT

Foster 1

Day length and temperature interactively influence flower bud initiation in blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum interspecific hybrids) plants. When days are short and temperatures are low, blueberry plants initiate flower buds rather than vegetative buds. Night interruption and/or warmer temperatures limit flower bud initiation. Once differentiated, flower buds enter endodormancy, restricting reproductive development to specific times of the year. Some genotypes in the University of Florida Blueberry Breeding and Genomics program have been observed to bloom in the middle of the summer under long days and warm temperatures. To investigate this phenomenon, we conducted a controlled-environment experiment to assess flower bud initiation and dormancy responses in a summer-blooming genotype, ‘FL16-64’, compared to the standard southern highbush cultivar ‘Arcadia’. Plants were grown in growth chambers with factorial combinations of temperature and photoperiod treatments. Temperature regimes mimicked Florida field conditions: warm (28 °C day / 20 °C night) and cool (18 °C day / 10 °C night). Photoperiods included short (8 hours), neutral (12 hours), long (16 hours), and interrupted (8 hours 1 hour of night interruption) day lengths. There were 6 plants of each genotype per temperature-photoperiod combination. Results showed that warm temperatures promoted vegetative growth in both genotypes. ‘Arcadia’ developed flower buds primarily under short days and cool temperatures, and these buds entered endodormancy after differentiation. In contrast, ‘FL16-64’ initiated flower buds across all temperature and photoperiod treatments. Moreover, flower bud development was enhanced under warmer temperatures and neutral day lengths. Notably, these buds bypassed dormancy and progressed directly to bloom. These findings indicate that ‘FL16-64’ exhibits day-neutral flower bud initiation and some of its flower buds lack endodormancy, characteristics consistent with an everbearing growth habit. Everbearing blueberry genotypes could be used to produce blueberries during the domestic off season in Florida.

Speakers

Gerardo Nunez

University of Florida

Co-authors

Patricio Munoz

University of Florida

Sarah da Silva Benevenute

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 10:45am - 11:00am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Viticulture and Small Fruits 1

Subject Viticulture and Small Fruits
Poster # csv
Funding Source Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (Contract# 28699)

11:00am CDT

FRBR 1 - Prevalence of powdery mildew in greenhouse production of strawberry

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT

Strand 12A

Powdery mildew (PM) is a significant fungal disease in controlled environment horticulture (CEH). PM damages are increasingly being reported in fungicide-untreated and late planted open fields. Both field and protected systems in the major production regions of the world are facing heightened challenges due to the increasing disease occurrences. While PM has been efficiently managed by spraying chemical fungicides in field production, frequent use increases the risk of resistance development in pathogens. Additionally, fungicidal sprays may not be feasible to all CEH farms due to infrastructural restrictions or organic mode of production. The expansion of CEH production in Texas has created opportunities to extend strawberry cultivation from coastal regions to inland areas. However, PM management needs to be addressed given the conducive growing conditions in CEH. To study the prevalence of the disease, we evaluated 24 and 12 strawberry accessions arranged in a completely randomized design in two replications in the greenhouse and growth room conditions, respectively. In the absence of fungicide treatments, natural infections led to PM development within two weeks after transplanting. Disease ratings revealed incidence rates of 72% in the growth chamber and 49% in the greenhouse. The correlation between the two replications was 0.88 and 0.87, respectively. Accessions that exhibited little to no PM symptoms may be valuable for understanding host resistance mechanisms and could be utilized in breeding resistant cultivars in the future.

Speakers

Krishna Bhattarai

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Funding Source Multistate Hatch Project 7001-0-MSH-DALL & Hatch Project 8483-0-H-DALL

11:00am CDT

ORGH 1 - Biostimulants to complement organic fertilizers in organic transplant production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT

Foster 2

The increasing demand for sustainable agricultural practices has driven the adoption of organic farming and increased demand for organic transplants. However, transplant growth is often lower in organic fertilizers compared to conventional fertilizers. This is most likely caused by low nutrient availability in organic fertilizers. On the other hand, increasing organic application rates has the potential to induce salinity stress/toxicity. We hypothesize that biostimulants can complement organic fertilizers in crop production by enhancing nutrient uptake and increasing crop tolerance to abiotic stress and thus close the yield gap between organic and conventional fertilizers. In this study, we tested three biostimulants: humic acid and molasses (MicroLife Soil and Plant Energy) and two microbial based biostimulants with different beneficial microorganism populations (MicroGrow CM and MicroGrow Supreme). Four organic fertilizers were tested with biostimulants, two of which were animal-based fertilizers: Sustane (4-6-4, turkey manure) and Drammatic (2-4-1, derived from fish scrap) and two of which were plant-based fertilizers: Nature Safe (7-7-7, corn steep liquor) and Pre-Empt (fermented sugarcane molasses). After applying to peat-based substrate, we analyzed the leachate nutrient availability weekly. Both fertilizer and biostimulant affected available nutrient concentrations in substrate. Additionally, transplant performance was evaluated to determine the effect of biostimulant and organic fertilizer combination on transplant growth, mineral nutrition, and physiological responses. Transplant growth varied across the different combinations of biostimulants and organic fertilizers tested, suggesting potential interactions between these factors. Some biostimulant treatments, particularly in combination with specific organic fertilizers, showed a trend towards improved early growth compared to the organic fertilizers alone. These results showed synergistical effects between biostimulants and organic fertilizers, indicating the positive role of biostimulants in organic transplant production.

Speakers

Jun Liu

Texas A

Co-authors

Genhua Niu

Texas A

Joseph G. Masabni

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Funding Source Specialty Crop Multi-State Program grant TX-SCM-21-05, Hatch Project TEX07726, and Specialty Crop Block Grant GSC2022030.

11:00am CDT

PH 2 - Fruit Maturity Highly Affects Controlling Necrotic Peel Disorders By Mediating Major Metabolisms in Cold-stored Hardy Kiwifruit (Actinidia arguta)

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT

Strand 12B

The incidence of necrotic peel disorders during cold storage is a severe CI symptom observed in hardy kiwifruit, impacting fruit visual quality. This study focuses on understanding the mechanisms of necrotic peel disorder in ‘Daebo’ hardy kiwifruit cultivar during cold storage. This research aimed to investigate the effects of different soluble solids content (SSC)-based fruit maturity at harvest on the severity of peel disorder after storage and to present the associated biochemical alteration using integrated transcriptomic, antioxidant, and lipidomic analyses. The fruit of ‘Daebo’ hardy kiwifruit cultivar harvested at various SSC levels, including 5.5%, 6.1%, and 7.2%, were cold-stored for upto four weeks. Fruit harvested at 5.5% SSC exhibited the highest severity of necrotic peel disorder, accompanied by significant weight loss and elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The enhanced activities of antioxidant scavenging enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase, were observed, indicating the response of fruit to oxidative stress. However, lower enzymatic activities of dehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione reductase were insufficient to restore the ascorbic acid-glutathione cycle. In contrast, the 7.2% SSC fruit contained higher concentrations of phenolic compounds, suggesting their role as natural antioxidants in mitigating oxidative damage. Additionally, lipid analysis revealed increased levels of phosphatidylcholine and fatty acids during fruit maturation, which are crucial for membrane stability. Notably, the differences in phosphatidic acid concentrations between SSC levels indicated its potential role in ROS scavenging. Overall, this study elucidates the biochemical mechanisms contributing to necrotic peel disorder in hardy kiwifruit during cold storage, highlighting the importance of SSC at harvest in managing fruit quality. These findings can comprehensively understand necrotic peel disorder and fruit maturity in hardy kiwifruit.

Speakers

Hyowon Park

Chung-Ang University

Co-authors

Jinwook Lee

Chung-Ang University

Uk Lee

National Institute of Forest Science

Yonghyun Kim

National Institute of Forest Science

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Funding Source This work was financially supported by a grant (Grant Number FP0802-2022-02-2025) from the National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS) in the Republic of Korea.

11:00am CDT

TCHG 1 - Generative AI in the online classroom: lessons from a plant physiology course

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT

Strand 11B

Generative AI has the potential to transform instruction, especially in the online environment. As technology continues to change the educational paradigms we have been accustomed to, we need to understand how students utilize AI in the classroom. We describe results from self-reported student surveys in an online plant physiology course. Students could use AI or not to complete their work, however, regardless they had to report after each assignment. The discussions and lab reports are part of the course’s normal assessment activities. Additionally, students reported the time spent completing the assignment, and wrote a summary to include: (1) how did AI help you complete the assignment? (2) What did you do to revise or further improve it? (3) Did you cross-check the AI-generated information, i.e. factual and references? Of the AI tools students reported using, ChatGPT was used most (80%), followed by CoPilot, Gemini, and Google image search. The most common reason for AI use was to help with concept understanding (43%), followed by draft a script or outline (17%), proofreading and improve writing (11%), generate ideas (8%), and identify plants (5%). In fewer than 1% of the cases, students reported that AI helped them with troubleshooting. Students cross-checked the AI-generated information 76% of the time. There was no significant difference in time spent completing an assignment between students who reported that they used AI compared to the ones that did not use AI. Implementation of any new tool in education requires thoughtful planning, consideration, and support. Schools and educational institutions should provide robust training programs to equip teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to use AI tools effectively and confidently. This guidance should include not only the technical aspects, but also ethical considerations, potential limitations, and best practices to integrate it into their instruction methodology.

Speakers

Svoboda Pennisi

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Christy Rich

University of Georgia

Dan Ye

Michigan Technological University

David Jespersen

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

11:00am CDT

TECH - A Graph Convolutional Network Approach for Hyperspectral Image Analysis of Blueberries Physiological Parameters Under Drought Stress

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT

Strand 11A

Blueberries are extremely susceptible to drought due to their shallow root systems and limited water regulation capabilities. Climate change exacerbates drought stress in major blueberry production regions, which affect key physiological traits, such as leaf water content (LWC), photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (gs), electron transport rate (ETR), photosystem II efficiency (φPSII) and transpiration rate (E). Current phenotyping methods for measuring these physiological traits are time-consuming and labor-intensive as well as limited by the need for specialized equipment. To address this, a high-throughput phenotyping (HTPP) platform integrated with hyperspectral camera and a novel graph convolutional network (GCN)-based model, Plant-GCN, was developed to predict physiological traits of blueberry plants under drought stress. Spectral reflectance obtained from the hyperspectral images were transformed into a graph representation, with each plant represented as a node, spectral reflectance as node features, and edges defined by spectral similarities. The Plant-GCN model utilizes graph convolutional layers that aggregate information from neighboring nodes, effectively capturing complex interactions in the spectral signature and enhancing the prediction of physiological traits. Plant-GCN achieved a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.89 for LWC, 0.94 for A, 0.89 for gs, 0.92 for ETR, 0.93 for φPSII and 0.89 for E on the test dataset. The performance of the proposed Plant-GCN model was compared with multilayer perceptron (MLP), partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector regression (SVR), and random forest (RF), and it consistently outperformed all these models as well as data published in other reports. The high-throughput phenotyping system enabled efficient large-scale data collection, while the Plant-GCN model captured long-range spectral relationships significantly improved the prediction of physiological traits. The high predictability of the models could facilitate the screening of blue-berry cultivars for the specified traits allowing the selection and breeding of new drought tolerant cultivars in the future.

Speakers

Md Hasibur Rahman

Auburn University

Co-authors

Tanzeel Rehman

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:00am - 11:15am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv

11:15am CDT

CITR 2 - Nutrient Management and Rootstock Performance Enhance Nutrient Uptake, Tree Growth and Development, and Fuit Yield and Postharvest Fruit Quality of Sweet Orange

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Foster 1

Crop protection measures, cultural practices, nutrient and irrigation management, rootstock selection, and other studies have been conducted to alleviate the devastating bacterial disease of huanglongbing (HLB, aka citrus greening) in recent years. However, there is no single cure for HLB caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. The objectives of the study were to assess whether tree growth, soil and leaf tissue nutrient concentrations, fruit yield, and postharvest quality can be improved through improved nutrient management using selected rootstocks. The study was conducted on ‘Hamlin’ citrus trees [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck] budded on Cleopatra mandarin (Citrus reshni) or Swingle rootstocks [Citrus paradisi Macf. Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] from 2019 – 2021. The study was conducted in a split plot design with two rootstocks as main plots, three nitrogen rates (168, 224, and 280 kg ha-1) as sub-plots, and secondary macronutrients (control, Ca or Mg-thiosulfates at 45 kg ha-1 each, and a combination of Ca and Mg at 22.5 kg ha-1 each) replicated four times. Results indicated that soil ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) were significantly accumulated in an oscillating (between spring and summer seasons) pattern for soil NH4-N and persistent accumulation of NO3-N on both rootstocks. Leaf Ca and Mg nutrient concentrations were significantly greater in Cleopatra than Swingle rootstocks. Trees on Swingle rootstocks react greater than those on Cleopatra rootstocks. Control trees had a lower LAI than those that received either Ca and/or Mg treatments, and the impact is significantly prevalent on Swingle than on Cleopatra rootstocks. Trees on Cleopatra had greater canopy volumes than Swingle rootstocks. However, the impact of secondary macronutrients manifested only after the third year of the study. Fruit yield significantly increased with a magnitude of 1.8× in the trees that received combined Ca and Mg treatments than a control tree. Greater fruit total soluble solids were detected in trees that received Mg or combined Ca and Mg treatments. Hence, nutrient management can enhance tree growth, fruit yield, and postharvest quality and can be used as an immediate solution until the HLB can be permanently eradicated.

Speakers

Alisheikh Atta

University of Florida

Alisheikh Atta currently works at the Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Science, University of Florida. Alisheikh does research on HLB-affected citrus nutrient and water management. He studies the impact of plant nutrients on the performance of citrus trees, irrigation water... Read More →

Co-authors

Davie kadyampakeni

University of Florida

Kelly Morgan

University of Florida

Mark Ritenour

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Citrus Crops 2

Subject Citrus Crops
Poster # csv

11:15am CDT

FRBR 1 - Machine Vision for Detecting and Quantifying Fruits and Flowers to Evaluate Concentrated Fruit Set in Tomato

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Strand 12A

Fresh market tomato is one of the most valuable crops in the US. However, production relies heavily on manual labor, which can account for over 30% of the total per-acre cost, with a large portion attributed to harvesting. In the southeast US, most tomato plants are staked and tied, and fruit are hand-harvested multiple times as they mature, increasing labor costs and operational inefficiencies. Compact Growth Habit (CGH) tomato varieties have a shorter stature that does not need to be staked and allow for more labor-efficient harvesting options, providing a promising alternative to traditional production. A key breeding objective for CGH tomato is to develop lines with a more concentrated fruit set (CFS), defined as a higher proportion of fruits reaching maturity synchronously. This trait would enable once-over harvesting, substantially reducing labor inputs while improving operational efficiency. Furthermore, the successful implementation of once-over harvest strategies in CGH tomatoes may facilitate the adoption of mechanized harvesting systems, addressing labor shortages and enhancing scalability in fresh market tomato production. This study aims to develop a computer vision model to automate detecting and quantifying tomato fruits and flowers in CGH breeding trials. High-resolution RGB images of top-view canopies were collected from experimental plots during the spring and fall seasons of 2024, capturing phenotypic variability across diverse environmental conditions and growth stages. The dataset is undergoing preprocessing, annotation, and augmentation to enhance model robustness. A YOLO-based object detection model will be trained to classify and quantify flowers and fruits. Model performance will be assessed using standard evaluation metrics, including precision, recall, and F1-score. By accurately detecting and quantifying fruits and flowers across developmental stages, this system will enable breeders to analyze flowering progression and identify CGH tomato lines with improved CFS, supporting the selection of varieties optimized for once-over harvesting. Preliminary model training using 1,370 training images, 116 validation images, and 335 test images in roboflow using YOLOv11 yielded promising results, with a mAP@50 of 94.7%, precision of 85.1%, and recall of 91.0%, demonstrating the model's potential to support phenotyping for concentrated fruit set. Future research will focus on enhancing detection accuracy, expanding dataset diversity, and integrating multispectral imaging techniques to optimize model performance and applicability across different environments.

Speakers

Shubham Singh

University of Florida

Co-authors

Daeun Choi

University of Florida

Jessica Chitwood-Brown

University of Florida

Xu Wang

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Poster # csv

11:15am CDT

ORGH 1 - Long-term Application of Animal and Forest Waste on a Vineyard and its Effect on Yield and Soil Health

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Foster 2

Increased concerns over the last several decades on environmental quality have stimulated farmers to accept organic farming as an alternative to inorganic agriculture. Muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia var. Summit) is native to the southeastern United States and has been cultivated for over 400 years. Muscadine and its products are highly nutritious and a good source of antioxidants and dietary fiber that have positive effects on health. Muscadine was grown on Memphis Silt Loam soil (Typic Hapludalph, silty, mixed, thermic). Three treatments of organic manures (cow-C; poultry-P; cow poultry-CP) with gypsum and pine mulch were applied in a CRD. Control received inorganic fertilizers and traditional cultural practices. Dolomitic lime was applied every 2 to 3 years to balance the soil pH of the soil and the pine needle was continuously applied as a thick mulch to bring down the soil pH to neutral and also to prevent moisture evaporation from basins where fresh animal waste was applied. This thick layer of pine needle mulch helped avoid irrigation even during the hottest summer. While strictly following the protocol, soil samples were collected and analyzed at Cornell Soil Health Lab, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, after 17 years of continuous organic research with the same treatments. The experimental design for data analysis was a completely randomized design with three replications for each treatment. Leaf area index (LAI), percent canopy cover, stem diameter, and yield were higher in organic plants. There was no significant difference in diameter, length, and degree brix of the fruit. Soil compaction was always higher in control with lower soil moisture content and the compaction was lower in organic treatments due to higher level of organic matter content. Concentrations of nitrate-N and P were higher in the surface soil treated with organic manures, but there was no trend in N or P enrichment in the lower layers of the soil. A comprehensive assessment of soil health done by Cornell Soil Health Lab showed the following: physical aggregate stability 19.0 25, biological organic matter 4.0 85, biological ACE soil protein index 6.8 43, biological soil respiration 0.8 75, biological active carbon 747 90 and chemical soil pH 7.1 100 with an overall quality score of 72 (Excellent). The results suggest that the controlled application of animal and forest wastes in basins of fruit trees can be an agronomically and environmentally sound practice to increase yield and keep the soil and humans healthy.

Speakers

Girish Panicker

Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences & Director of Conservation Research, Alcorn State University

Dr. Girish Kumar Panicker, Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences and Director of Conservation Research, at Alcorn State University, Mississippi, is an authority on cover and management (C-factor) research on horticultural crops and is an internationally renowned agricultural scientist... Read More →

Co-authors

Willie Mims

Alcorn State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Organic Horticulture 1

Subject Organic
Funding Source USDA/NIFA

11:15am CDT

PH 2- Investigate the Molecular Mechanisms of Postharvest Senescence in Vegetables

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Strand 12B

Postharvest longevity of perishable produce remains a challenge in the global fresh market supply chain. Postharvest longevity is determined by the rates of ripening and senescence, which are influenced by harvest time and storage conditions. Ripening and senescence are predominantly regulated by ethylene, which produces a plethora of metabolic effects within the harvested produce, leading to physiological and developmental changes during postharvest. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) are prone to yellowing and wilting due to the relatively high respiration rate and tissue senescence during postharvest handling, transportation, and storage, which greatly affects the quality and reduces market value that led to the problem of food waste and loss. Broccoli florets treated with hydrocooling, 1-MCP (ethylene inhibitor) and controlled atmosphere (CA) can delay the senescence. However, little is known about the mechanisms on how those treatments worked at the molecular level. Here, we combined a physiological, biochemical, and genomics analyses on the postharvest broccoli and identified a core gene regulatory network governing senescence-associated developmental events, ethylene-regulated signaling pathways, and activation of stress responses. Additionally, we developed genome-editing toolkits by CRISPR/Cas9 system to understand deterioration of broccoli as well as through machine learning approaches to aid development of an innovative and easy-to-use accessibility tool to accurately estimate the freshness of produce. The findings give insights into ethylene biosynthesis and signal transduction at the tissue-specific level in broccoli and provide guidance on how to extend broccoli shelf life and reduce its economic losses, which also generate genetics and molecular recourses for marker-assistant breeding and expand the general scientific knowledge of regulating senescence of Brassicaceae family.

Speakers

Tie Liu

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Poster # csv

11:15am CDT

TCHG 1 - Beyond Plant Knowledge: Cultivating Soft Skills through International Horticulture Experiences

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Strand 11B

As horticulture careers increasingly demand adaptability, communication, and cross-cultural understanding, developing soft skills is essential for preparing future professionals. This study examined how participation in a faculty-led horticulture study abroad program influenced student growth in interpersonal and professional competencies. The program, Flowers and Photography in Europe, combined visits to botanical gardens, public green spaces, and production facilities across Spain, France, and Italy. Students engaged in group travel, horticultural site visits, and guided cultural immersion while completing reflective prompts centered on navigating unfamiliar environments and understanding cultural perspectives. Pre- and post-program surveys assessed student confidence in these areas, while reflective writing provided qualitative insights. Results indicated that navigating diverse environments and interpreting horticultural practices abroad fostered stronger communication skills, cultural awareness, and confidence in professional interactions. Students also reported greater appreciation for the social role of horticulture in global settings. These findings suggest that integrating intentional reflection into experiential learning abroad can help students connect horticultural content with essential career skills, offering a well-rounded model for global horticulture education.

Speakers

Julie Campbell

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Jessica Holt

The University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv
Funding Source Association of Public and Land-Grant University's Academic Programs Section - Innovative Teaching Award

11:15am CDT

TECH - Advanced Spatio-Temporal Modeling for Bacterial Leaf Scorch Disease Scouting in Pecan Orchards

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT

Strand 11A

Bacterial leaf scorch is a harmful disease for pecan production, which can cause premature canopy defoliation, reduced kernel weight, and significant yield losses. The disease can cause a 10-13% reduction in shell nut weight and a 14-19% decrease in kernel weight, adversely affecting the quality and quantity of pecan yields. Early detection and precise management are important for minimizing economic losses and sustainable disease management. Current methods, such as manual scouting and conventional imaging, are inadequate for pecan orchards due to the trees' height and their inability to capture temporal changes or disease transmission patterns. Spatio-temporal modeling is a useful technique that enables tracking disease spread across time and location, identifying hotspots and transmission patterns to prioritize areas needing urgent intervention. This study aimed to develop a spatio-temporal model to visualize and evaluate the progression of bacterial leaf scorch disease in pecan orchards. High-resolution multispectral images of pecan trees were collected using a drone- mounted multispectral camera. A 3D point cloud was generated using Pix4D to create a reference NIR point cloud, and other vegetation indices point clouds were then aligned to provide sufficient data for model training. Ten vegetation indices, including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE), Modified Red Edge Simple Ratio (MRESR), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Optimized Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (OSAVI), Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index (ARVI), Chlorophyll Index - Red Edge (CI_RE), and Simple Ratio Index (SR), were used to evaluate disease sensitivity. Individual tree canopies were segmented using the 3D DBSCAN algorithm for each index. A point transformer deep learning model was trained with 3D vegetation indices of each tree with the ground truth to develop the prediction ability of the model for classifying individual each tree disease severity level. The early results indicate that the model can classify disease severity in the 3D point clouds, capturing the disease stress in the individual tree. Additionally, integrating a temporal embedding layer into the trained model enables the transformer block to track changes in vegetation indices and quantify disease progression over time. The findings of this study facilitate the monitoring of disease progression and support site-specific management decisions, thereby enhancing the sustainability of pecan production.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Spatio-temporal modeling, Multispectral imaging, Spectral analysis, Drone-based Scouting.

Speakers

Shah Md Abul Hasan

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Md Sultan Mahmud

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv
Funding Source Advisor

11:30am CDT

CITR 2 - Boosting Canopy Health: Micronutrient and Antioxidant Strategies for HLB-Affected Citrus

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT

Foster 1

Huanglongbing (HLB), a.k.a. citrus greening, is an endemic disease significantly impacting Florida and Texas citrus production. HLB-affected trees are compromised in the canopy and root health, often found with heavy loss of root mass that impairs water and nutrient uptake, leading to nutrient deficiencies. The prevalent presence of the suspected causal organism of HLB, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) bacterium, in the citrus phloem leads to a cascade of active defense responses triggered by plant-pathogen interactions. One of the crucial outcomes of the interactions is the production of reactive oxygen species, leading to excessive oxidative stress that, over time, weakens tree health. Therefore, this research investigated the therapeutic strategies to mitigate nutrient deficiencies and HLB symptoms, attenuate reactive oxygen species load, and improve the production of premium grapefruits in trees affected by HLB by combining an integrated approach of micronutrient applications with antioxidants. The experiment design consisted of the foliar application of micronutrients, zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) varied in two rates: 2 quarts/acre (control) and 3 quarts/acre that were conducted alone or in combination with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), uric acid, and gibberellic acid (GA). The micronutrients, GABA, and uric acid applications were conducted at an interval of three months, while GA sprays were limited between blooming to the pre-harvest period in the HLB-affected mature grapefruit grove with a tree density of 104 trees/acre in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The results demonstrated that merely increasing micronutrient application to 3 quarts/acre improved canopy health, with healthy (non-HLB-symptomatic) canopy quadrants reaching an average of 30% compared to 16.7% in the control treatment. Moreover, the standalone 3-quarts/acre significantly improved the yield of premium-size grapefruit to 25% compared to 6.2% in 2-quarts/acre only. The combination of GA (10 Fl.Oz/acre) and GABA (8 gm/tree) with control micronutrient treatment enhanced healthy canopy quadrants to 33% and 38%, respectively, compared to 19% in the micronutrient-only control. In 3 quarts/acre, GA and GABA showed synergistic effects in improving the canopy health by alleviating HLB severity. This applied research provides a practical framework for translating laboratory findings into field applications for managing HLB-affected trees. The integrated approach of combining enhanced micronutrient applications with antioxidants and phytohormones shows promise in mitigating HLB symptoms and improving fruit yield, particularly in the premium size category.

Speakers

Ajith Babburu

Texas A

Co-authors

Aditi Satpute

Texas A

Jong-Won Park

Texas A

Madhurababu Kunta

Texas A

Mamoudou Setamou

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Citrus Crops 2

Subject Citrus Crops
Funding Source USDA NIFA ECDRE Federal Award No. 2022-70029-38471
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

11:30am CDT

FRBR 1 - Evaluation of diverse papaya germplasm for resistance to papaya ringspot virus under controlled conditions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT

Strand 12A

Papaya ringspot disease caused by papaya ringspot virus P (PRSV-P), is restricting the commercial cultivation of papaya worldwide. Several measures have been taken to control the disease, including the application of aphicides, identifying host plant resistance, and transgenics. However, only genetically engineered papayas carrying the viral coat protein have been found to effectively control the disease. Transgenic papayas are not cultivated worldwide due to ethical regulations. Assessing the diverse papaya germplasm for resistance to PRSV could be a suitable alternative. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess PRSV resistance in 96 accessions, including 36 commercial accessions and 57 wild accessions. To identify novel resistant sources, the accessions were mechanically inoculated with PRSV under controlled conditions. The inoculated plants were continuously monitored for the appearance of PRSV-like symptoms and scored for disease severity, ranging from 0-5. Among all the accessions tested, only two accessions, HCAR 46 (Vasconcellea pubescens) and HCAR 177 (V. stipulate), did not show any symptoms. To further assure that no virus is present in these plants, an RT-qPCR was performed with PRSV coat protein-specific primers. The accession HCAR 46 showed the presence of a faint amplicon of 950 bp. However, no PSRV-specific amplicon was observed in HCAR 177. To further confirm the presence of PRSV, the amplified products were sequenced and showed over 95% sequence similarity with PRSV. The PRSV-resistant genotype identified in the present study could be used to breed PRSV-resistant cultivars.

Speakers

Sumit Jangra

University of Flroida

Co-authors

Jugpreet Singh

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding
Poster # csv

11:30am CDT

PH 2 - “Correlation Between Boron Leaf Damage and Fresh Yield in Saline-Sodic Soils”

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT

Strand 12B

Most of the world's pistachios are grown in saline-sodic soils with soil boron (B) levels over the 2 ppm suggested for most trees. As a resulting symmetrical leaf edge necrosis produced by B accumulation, “B toxicity”, is common and regarded as damaging to leaf photosynthetic capacity. This study was carried out in a 8-year-old pistachio orchard with field-budded Pistacia vera cv. ‘Golden Hills’ on cloned P. atlantica x P. integerrima, UCBI rootstocks, spaced at 18 x 20 feet, 121 trees per acre. The soil was a silty clay loam saline-sodic Cerrini complex with salinity ranging from 3 to 15dS/m, pH 7.5 to 8.2, boron levels of 3 to 12 ppm and soil sodium levels ranging from 16 to 130 meq/l (370 to 3000 ppm). High soil and water B levels will produce increasingly higher scion leaflet B leaf symptoms ranging from a slender marginal necrosis to almost complete necrosis. We analyzed the relationships among soil B, leaf B, percentage of damaged leaf surface and marketable yield. Our results a demonstrated a strong negative correlation of yield as a function of soil B. As soil B levels increased yield decreased; r = - 0.705, p < 0.001. However, both leaf B levels and % leaf damage had had weak, insignificant relationships with soil B levels. As soil B increased leaf B levels and the percentage of damaged leaf areas did not increase. However, there was a moderately positive relationship between leaf boron levels and leaf damage; r = 0.50, P

Speakers

MARTA INES SALUDES ZANFANO

Subs. Professor, Universidad de Salamanca

Marta I. Saludes Zanfaño, a passionate biologist who’s revolutionizing sustainable farming with a special knack for pistachio cultivation and organic weed control. Based at the University of Salamanca, Spain, as a graduate member of the Chemical Sciences and Technology group, she... Read More →

Co-authors

Blake L Mccullough-Sanden

University of California

CLAY BECK

MARICOPA ORCHADS

DONALD WILLIAMS

UNIVERSITY OF FRESNO

Giulia Marino

UC Davis

JOSEPH COELHO

Maricopa Orchards

Louise Ferguson

UC DAVIS

MAE CULUMBER

University of California

Mukesh Mehata

University of California, Davis

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Poster # csv
Funding Source California Pistachio Research Board
Funding Option OREl or ORG funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

11:30am CDT

TCHG 1 - The Impact of Indoor Plants on Student Well-being and Academic Performance in University Classrooms

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT

Strand 11B

Previous research has indicated that exposure to indoor plants can reduce stress, improve air quality, and enhance cognitive function. This study builds upon this foundation by specifically examining the classroom environment. In the spring of 2024, the study was conducted to investigate the effects of indoor plants on student well-being and academic performance in university classrooms. Two similar classrooms were used: Room 101 (experimental group, with plants) and Room 105 (control group, without plants). A total of 105 students took a survey at the beginning of the study (Feb 2024) and 91 took the end survey (Apr 2024) with a 78.1% completion at the beginning and 86.8% completion at the end. Demographics presented an unbalanced distribution of gender (66% female, 34% male) and majority of academic year falling into freshman classification (54%). Most participants were aged 18-24 years. Students completed surveys of self-reported depression, anxiety and stress levels using the DASS-21 4-pt Likert scale, and classroom satisfaction. Data set reliability showed a 0.81 Cronbach’s alpha score. After Wilcoxon/Kruskall Wallis analysis, results displayed students in Room 101 reported lower overall DASS scores (p < 0.05) with significantly decreased stress levels (p = 0.025) compared to Room 105. A statistical analysis using Spearman's ρ correlation coefficient revealed no significant relationship between depression and anxiety scores in relation to room types. However, a significant correlation was found between stress scores and room types (p = 0.0498). Common factors in student satisfaction were the lab instructors and the green wall in room 101. These results have important implications for classroom design and educational policy, suggesting that the simple addition of indoor plants and artificial greenery could significantly enhance the learning environment and student outcomes in higher education settings.

Speakers

Alicia Thomas

Assistant Professor of Practice, Texas Tech University

Co-authors

Catherine Simpson

Texas Tech University

Vikram Baliga

Texas Tech University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

11:30am CDT

TECH - Preliminary Analysis of Computer Vision for Blackberry Flower Quantification

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT

Strand 11A

Precise and accurate quantification of blackberry flowers are essential for yield forecasting, phenotypic assessment, and enhancing management techniques in precision agriculture. Threshold segmentation of images for blackberry feature quantification could be challenging due to shadows and background variability, while manual flower estimation is subjective and time-consuming. The objective of this research was to apply artificial intelligence and computer vision to identify and quantify blackberry flowers from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing. A computer vision algorithm You Only Look Once (YOLO) was trained with 1142 image datasets of blackberry flowers to develop an image processing workflow to quantify UAV captured images. A performance analysis was conducted with YOLO variants (YOLOv8s–YOLO12s) for quantifying blackberry flowers. YOLOv10s achieved the best performance with a mAP@0.5 of 58%, precision of 60%, and recall of 58%. Input resolution had a notable impact, performing better at 1024×1024 pixels (mAP@0.5 = 55%) than at 640×640 (mAP@0.5 = 30%). Increasing the training dataset from 250 to 1,142 images progressively improved detection accuracy, highlighting the value of data volume for model generalization. Additionally, flower counts predicted by YOLOv10s showed a strong correlation with flower-to-vegetation ratio (FVR; r = 0.71, p < .001), supporting FVR as a practical proxy for estimating floral density in the field. A contribution to computer assisted agriculture integration in the blackberry industry has been made by investigating the performance of computer vision algorithms on blackberry flower detection. Challenges such as small and uneven sized flowers, overlapping occlusion, and plot-wise analysis must be further investigated. Keywords. UAV, automation, blackberry, phenotyping, artificial intelligence.

Speakers

Akwasi Tagoe

University o Arkansas

Co-authors

Aurelie Poncet

University of Arkansas

Cengiz Koparan

University of Arkansas

Donald M Johnson

University of Arkansas

Dongyi Wang

University of Arkansas

Margaret Worthington

University of Arkansas

Ramesh Bahadur Bist

University of Arkansas

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:30am - 11:45am CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Technology Applications in Horticulture

Subject Technology Applications in Horticulture
Poster # csv
Funding Source This research was partially funded by the Hatch Project ARK02846

11:45am CDT

CITR 2 - Fruit growth responses of Rio Red grapefruit to annual N granular fertilization

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT

Foster 1

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient required to support citrus yield and fruit quality. Its bioavailability to the tree must be continuous to support adequate biomass production, especially at key phenological stages such as vegetative flush and fruit setting. However, most commercial nutrition programs in southern Texas deliver synthetic fertilizer on average twice per year when not drip-irrigated. Although adoption of fertigation strategies continues to gain ground, the rate of transition is of low velocity, and a percentage of orchards is still flood-irrigated. In these systems, trees rely on the soil storage capacity to meet permanent nutrient demand. This field study investigated the effects of traditional N management practices on two orchards with different rootstock * scion combinations. We evaluated the effects of different N fertilization rates on fruit growth and postharvest traits such as brix, and size-class distribution. Our preliminary data indicates that despite trees growing in similar soil properties, they exhibited differences in fruit growth rate, and size-class distribution of fruits. Moreover, certain rootstocks * scion combinations exhibited superior fruit yield and quality. Continue refinement of nutrient management practices, especially N application is imperative to support tree long-term productivity under the constant pressure of pathogens in commercial settings.

Speakers

Joel Reyes-Cabrera

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Citrus Crops 2

Subject Citrus Crops
Poster # csv

11:45am CDT

FRBR 1 - Verifying Parentage of Offspring from Crosses of the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Cultivar ‘Sunflower’ and the Cultivars ‘Susquehanna’ and ‘KSU-Chappell’ using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT

Strand 12A

Verifying Parentage of Offspring from Crosses of the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Cultivar ‘Sunflower’ and the Cultivars ‘Susquehanna’ and ‘KSU-Chappell’ using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers Nabin K. Adhikari, Dr. Kirk W. Pomper, Jeremy Lowe, Dr. Srijana Thapa Magar, and Sheri Crabtree College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, Kentucky State University Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), a North American tree fruit in the early stages of commercialization, is typically found in clonal patches in forest understories. Cultivated pawpaws exhibit superior size, flavor, and appearance compared to their wild counterparts. Pawpaw is generally considered self-incompatible due to its protogynous flowers, though anecdotal evidence suggests self-compatibility in the ‘Sunflower’ variety. Previous research at Kentucky State University used simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, a class of co-dominant genetic markers that target hypervariable regions of the genome, to confirm that ‘Sunflower’ is capable of self-pollination. However, there is little information on optimal pollinizer relationships and which cultivars serve to promote fruit set in cross-pollinations. This study aims to verify the parentage of offspring from crosses between ‘Sunflower’ and the cultivars ‘Susquehanna’ and ‘KSU-Chappell’, as well as the advanced selection 7-90 using simple sequence repeat markers. Leaves of parent trees and offspring were collected for DNA extraction. Young leaves were collected and were frozen (-15 ºC) until DNA extraction. DNA extraction was carried out using a DNAMITE Plant Kit (Microzone Ltd. Haywards Heath, West Sussex, UK). PCR was performed using SSR markers developed by Pomper et al., 2010. PCR products will be separated using a SeqStudio (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) capillary electrophoresis system, and genotyping will be performed with GeneMapper software (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Parentage verification will be determined by looking for the presence or absence of alleles from the purported parents in the offspring. Offspring were categorized as self-pollinated if only alleles from the pollen recipient parent were present in the offspring, expected cross-pollinated if alleles from both parents were present, or unexpected if unknown alleles were detected.

Speakers

Nabin Adhikari

Kentucky State University

Co-authors

Kirk Pomper

Kentucky State University

Dr. Kirk W. Pomper is the Professor of Horticulture in the College of Agriculture, Community, and the Sciences at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. As Horticulture Research Leader, his program is focused on research and Extension efforts toward developing pawpaw as... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Fruit Breeding 1

Subject Fruit Breeding

11:45am CDT

PH 2 - Optimizing Mechanical Harvesting of Vidalia Onions Using Impact Sensing Technology to Minimize Bruise Damage

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

Short-day onions such as Vidalia are vital in warmer climates, but their delicate skins make them prone to an average of 8% bruise damage during mechanical harvesting. As a result, manual hand harvesting remains the preferred method despite its high cost of $3,951/hectare for labor, according to the 2019 Onion Irrigated Budget (University of Georgia). Addressing issues of mechanical harvesting could offer a more cost-effective alternative while solving the labor shortage problem. This study aimed to evaluate the bruise tolerance of five Vidalia varieties (Vidora, Sweet Magnolia, Sapelo, Red Maiden, and Monjablanca) under different impact conditions and identify the specific sections of mechanical harvesters that contribute to bruising. Identifying the most bruise-tolerant varieties can guide growers in selecting onions better suited for mechanical harvesting, reducing labor costs and postharvest losses and by understanding which sections of the harvester cause the most damage, modifications can be made to reduce bruising. Controlled pendulum tests were conducted to simulate onion-to-surface impacts, using onions embedded with Impact Recording Devices (IRDs) to measure impact forces at two maturity stages (80% tops down and one week after 80% tops down) and two drying durations (0 and 7 days). Drop heights were selected based on bruise damage results for Vidora, with two levels for each surface type: 10 cm and 30 cm for flat surfaces, and 30 cm and 55 cm for padded surfaces. A total of 320 impacts were recorded. To identify the most bruise-prone sections of the harvester, 23 field trials were conducted using a Top Air Harvester, with IRDs embedded within onions and placed on field, to capture real-time impact data. The Top Air Harvester, consisting of a collecting belt, elevator, sorting belt, and conveyor, transferred onions to the bulb collection truck within 36 seconds. Early results for Vidora variety indicate that bruising severity increases with higher drop heights, on flat surfaces, while padded surfaces significantly reduce damage. Testing all five varieties will provide a comprehensive profile of bruise tolerance, helping growers select varieties better suited for mechanical harvesting, potentially reducing labor costs. Initial analysis of field trials revealed that the conveyor-to-bin transition generated the highest impact forces, significantly contributing to bruising. These preliminary results indicate the need for design improvements in this section to reduce impact damage and enhance mechanical harvesting efficiency. Further testing will validate these findings and guide the development of improved mechanical harvesting practices.

Speakers

Aleena Rayamajhi

University of Georgia

Co-authors

MD Sulton Mahmud

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Postharvest 2

Subject Postharvest
Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA NIFA
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

11:45am CDT

TCHG 1 - Making Learning Matter in Greenhouse Management: Assessment of a Design Project to Improve Student Learning and Engagement

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT

Strand 11B

Greenhouse Management (HORT 310) at Colorado State University equips students with the skills and knowledge necessary to manage a greenhouse production facility, which 88% of students reported is their career plan (n=156). However, based on historic grades, students struggle with heating and cooling principles, which involve calculations of standard heating and cooling needs given a particular structure and climate. In Spring 2023, a Design Project (DP) was implemented as a learning opportunity to apply the principles and skills gained in the class in a context that matters to students. Over the course of the semester, students research and write about a greenhouse operation that they are designing, detailing their production strategies and citing current research. According to Social Practice Theory, learning is intimately intertwined with context, meaning that one’s identity, with which they are emotionally attached, guides participation. Thus, having the agency to choose relevant locations and crops suggests that they would have greater investment and engagement with the DP because the learning matters, or is meaningfully connected, to their own lives. A DP pre- and post-assessment was administered in Spring 2024 (n=36) to better understand if students’ relationships with the DP improved confidence and learning of fundamental HORT 310 principles, specifically greenhouse heating and cooling. In the post-assessment, 98% of respondents felt the DP assisted in their learning, and of respondents that included a free response (n=20), 20% indicated that they enjoyed the DP. Additionally, pre- and post-assessments revealed improved participant performance on questions pertaining to cooling principles following DP implementation, while performance on heating principles was unchanged. Together, these results support the use of Social Practice Theory as a framework for the development of assignments, such as the DP, that foster student learning and engagement by connecting content to student motivations and interests.

Speakers

Joshua Craver

Colorado State University

Co-authors

Samantha P. Rosado

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

11:45am CDT

UG 1 - Is ‘Arbequina’ Still the Best Option for California? An Evaluation of Established and Novel Varietals in a Super High Density Hedgerow System in the Sacramento Valley

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Global olive oil production tripled over the past six decades to 2.76 million tons in the 2022/23 year. California is the largest producer of olive oil in the United States, and its planting is increasing at an estimated rate of 3000 acres per year. Most of the new plantings for oil in California are in hedgerows under intensive management either in a super high (SHD) or medium (MD) density systems. Of these plantings, an estimated ~80% is ‘Arbequina’, ~15% ‘Arbosana’, and ~5% ‘Koroneiki’. As expected, the industry is continuously searching for novel cultivars that can improve productivity, as well as extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) quality, thereby increasing returns for their operation. With industry support, a trial was planted at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchard in Winters, CA in 2019 with the exception of ‘Lecciana’ which was planted in 2020. Four acres were planted at a SHD rate of of 620 trees per acre, with 5 feet between trees and 14 feet between rows. ‘Arbequina’, ‘Arbosana’, and ‘Koroneiki’ were planted alongside two new cultivars, ‘Lecciana’ (Olea europaea ‘Arbosana’ x ‘Leccino’) and ‘Sikitita’ (Olea europaea ‘Arbequina’ x ‘Picual’), and one numbered selection, Agromillora 9805-01. The orchard was planted with five complete replicates of the six cultivars, each cultivar row was randomized within each replicate. Seasonal and cumulative yield were measured from the 2021 through the 2024 growing seasons. Fruit weight, oil content, basal shoot prevalence, and maturity index were measured over the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons. The entire orchard was managed following industry agronomic practices for all replicates. During the four years ‘Koroneiki’ had the greatest cumulative yield on average, followed by ‘Arbequina’ and ‘Arbosana’, ‘Lecciana’, ‘9805-01’, and ‘Sikitita’ (16.60, 13.38, 13.37, 10.61, 8.17 and 7.76 tons per acre respectively). Alternate bearing behavior was more prevalent for ‘9805-01’ and ‘Sikitita’. Further, ‘Sikitita’ took an additional year to come into production. These results, alongside seasonal yield, oil content, basal shoot prevalence, and fruit weight, show why ‘Arbequina’, ‘Arbosana’, and ‘Koroneiki’ are the prevalent cultivars in California SHD plantings. In our trial, ‘Arbosana’ and ‘Koroneiki’ performed as well or better than ‘Arbequina’, but California growers have planted less of those two cultivars due to concerns with disease resistance and/or vigor management over time across California’s climatic conditions. Our research shows that further evaluation of novel cultivars is essential for a growing industry.

Speakers

Craig Marquis

UC Davis

Co-authors

Adele Amico Roxas

College Of Agricultural And Environmental Sciences-Olive Center, University of California, Davis

Javier Fernandez-Salvador

College Of Agricultural And Environmental Sciences-Olive Center, University of California, Davis

Raeva Johnson

College Of Agricultural And Environmental Sciences, University Of California, Davis

Wednesday July 30, 2025 11:45am - 12:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Audience Undergraduate Students
Subject Undergraduate Student
Funding Source California Olive Oil Industry

12:00pm CDT

CITR 2 - Impacts of Biochar on Citrus Root System Architecture, Soil Moisture, and Nutrient Contents Under Greenhouse Conditions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT

Foster 1

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a key determinant of soil health, directly influencing structure, moisture retention, nutrient availability, and microbial activity. Among soil amendments, biochar has gained attention for its potential to enhance soil fertility and support plant productivity. However, its influence on citrus root system architecture and nutrient uptake across different rootstocks remains underexplored. This study evaluated the effects of four biochar concentrations (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% v/v) mixed with native field soil on four citrus rootstocks: ‘Sour Orange’, ‘Swingle’, ‘US-802’, and ‘US-942’. Plants were grown under controlled greenhouse conditions for 16 weeks. Root system architecture traits: total root length, surface area, root volume, and number of forks, were quantified using WinRHIZO™ analysis. Soil parameters, including pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), moisture content, and SOM, were assessed post-harvest, alongside plant tissue nutrient concentrations (P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn). The 20% biochar treatment significantly enhanced root morphological traits across all rootstocks, with increases of up to 35% in total root length and 40% in surface area compared to the control. Plant tissue analysis revealed elevated macro- and micronutrient concentrations in the 20% treatment, particularly for P, K, Ca, and Mg. Soil analysis showed progressive improvements in pH, SOM, CEC, and moisture content with increasing biochar concentration, with the highest values recorded at 30%. While higher biochar rates improved soil physicochemical properties, the 20% concentration provided the most balanced benefits, optimizing both root development and nutrient uptake. These findings suggest biochar, particularly at moderate rates, may be an effective amendment for improving soil fertility and citrus root system performance in nutrient-limited soils.

Speakers

Khalid Hussain

University of Florida

Co-authors

John-Paul Fox

University of Florida

Lorenzo Rossi

Texas A

Dr. Rossi’s research program focuses on understanding the responses of horticultural crops to environmental stresses, with the goal of developing environmentally sound and effective management strategies. He is a horticulturist with expertise in plant stress physiology, plant biology... Read More →

Lukas Hallman

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Citrus Crops 2

Subject Citrus Crops
Funding Source UF/IFAS Citrus Initiative

12:00pm CDT

TCHG 1 - Student Perceptions of Learning – Use of Quizzes or Authentic Assessment

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT

Strand 11B

The objective of this study was to survey student perceptions of mastery of learning outcomes in the 100% online asynchronous course Nutritional Management taught at the University of Florida. There are many ways to perceive if students have mastered learning outcomes in a course. Quizzes are one way to measure if students understand concepts and terminology. However, in online courses there is the concern that students may ‘cheat’ and a quiz is not an effective measure of student achievement. Online instructors need to look for other assessments, like assignments that ask students to apply what they have learned to solve a problem. This is easy to measure in-person classrooms and laboratories but more challenging online. This study conducted a mid-term survey to students in the spring 2025 offering of Nutritional Management. The survey asked students about their perceived learning and mastery of course learning outcomes based on two quizzes and two authentic challenge assignments. This study was deemed IRB exempt.

Speakers

Kimberly Moore

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Teaching Methods 1

Subject Teaching Methods
Poster # csv

12:00pm CDT

UG 1 - No Evidence for Polystyrene Nanoplastic Uptake by Lettuce Grown in Nutrient Film Technique Hydroponics Systems

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT

Foster 2

As nanoplastics become an increasing environmental and human health concern, greater understanding of their absorption by crop plants is vital. Many plant species, including lettuce, have been reported to transport nanoplastics from roots to leaves, but most research has not been conducted with crops grown in commercial production systems to harvestable size. Across two greenhouse experiments, we compared ‘Winter Density’ romaine lettuce grown with and without the addition of 10 mg.liter-1 yellow-green fluorescent-labeled 0.2 µm and 0.05 µm polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNP) added to municipal irrigation water in commercial-style hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) systems. No difference was observed between lettuce grown with or without PSNPs based on plant width; shoot and root fresh and dry weights; number of true leaves; or chlorophyll content. Stomatal resistance of plants in both treatments was also not different and indicated very high transpiration rates that would support PSNP translocation to shoots. Fluorescence of shoots and roots from each treatment was evaluated via confocal microscopy. No PSNPs were found in the shoot tissue. In the roots, we observed PSNPs aggregated on the surface and possibly penetrated a maximum of 10 to 25 microns deep within outer root tissue. In root samples processed with acetone washes, no PSNPs were observed on or in root tissue by either TEM or confocal microscopy. As such, we found no evidence that 0.2 µm or 0.05 µm PSNPs are absorbed into the vascular system of hydroponically-grown lettuce plants and thus are not translocated to shoot tissue. These findings emphasize problems with current literature and the need for further research to investigate PSNP uptake by plants in realistic production systems.

Speakers

Allison Cloyd

Kansas State University

Co-authors

Daniel Boyle

Kansas State University

Kimberly Williams

Kansas State University

MB Kirkham

Kansas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:00pm - 12:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA NIFA Hatch-Multistate project 7005973

12:15pm CDT

UG 1 - Growth and Physiological Responses of ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Salad Bowl’ (Lactuca sativa) Lettuce Varieties to Cut-and-Come-Again and Cut-and-Sow Harvest Techniques

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:15pm - 12:30pm CDT

Foster 2

The "cut-and-come-again" (P

Speakers

Brianna Drew

University of Wyoming

Co-authors

David Claypool

University of Wyoming

Elizabeth Moore

University of Wyoming

Gioia Massa

NASA Kennedy Space Center

Ji-Jhong Chen

University of Wyoming

Jill Keith

University of Wyoming

Nintya Avriantari

University of Wyoming

Shawna McBride

University of Wyoming

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:15pm - 12:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Source Wyoming Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Student Fellowship (Grant#: 1004680A) and Faculty Research Initiation Grant (Grant#: 1004680B), NASA EPSCoR Rapid Response Research (R3) Grant#: WY-80NSSC24M0162, University of Wyoming College of Agriculture, Life Sciences, & Natural Resources, Office of Research and Economic Development Designated, Department of Plant Sciences. United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Plant Sciences Hatch Funds (WYO-631-22)

12:30pm CDT

UG 1 - Investigating Silicon Supplementation for Lettuce Grown with Food Waste-Based Anaerobic Digestate

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:30pm - 12:45pm CDT

Foster 2

Food waste liquid anaerobic digestate (FWLAD) contains higher salt concentrations than synthetic fertilizers at comparable nutrient levels. As a result, plants may experience salt stress at optimal nutrient concentrations or nutrient deficiencies when electrical conductivity (EC) is reduced. Silicon (Si) has been shown to alleviate salt stress and promote plant growth under nutrient-limited conditions. This study investigated whether Si supplementation can mitigate salt stress under high EC and enhance growth under low EC when FWLAD is used to fertilize lettuce (Lactuca sativa ‘Muir’) transplants. Lettuce seeds were sown in either rockwool plugs or a 128-cell plug tray filled with a peat-based growing medium. One week after sowing, seedlings were sub-irrigated with one of nine nutrient solutions prepared from FWLAD. These solutions were adjusted to one of three target EC levels (1, 2, or 3 dS·m⁻¹) and amended with one of three Si treatments: (1) no Si (control, supplemented with 1.5 mM potassium sulfate to match potassium levels), (2) 1.5 mM lab-grade potassium silicate (prepared from silicic acid and potassium hydroxide), or (3) 1.5 mM commercial-grade potassium silicate (AGSIL16H, a commercially available product). Seedlings were grown indoors at 22 °C, with a photosynthetic photon flux density of 200 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ and an 18-hour photoperiod, for a total of three weeks after sowing. For the control treatment without Si, leaf number, total leaf area, and shoot fresh mass were highest at EC 2, indicating that moderate EC promoted optimal growth. Compared to the control, supplementation with lab-grade potassium silicate increased leaf number, total leaf area, and shoot fresh mass by 16%, 63%, and 56% at EC 2, and by 69%, 423%, and 255% at EC 3 in rockwool, and by 10%, 10%, and 11% at EC 2, and by 19%, 42%, and 63% at EC 3 in growing medium. At EC 1, lab-grade potassium silicate had little to no effect on leaf area and shoot fresh mass in either substrate. Commercial-grade potassium silicate did not affect leaf number, leaf area, or shoot fresh mass at any EC. These results suggest that Si supplementation using lab-grade potassium silicate can improve lettuce seedling growth under high-EC conditions when fertilized with FWLAD, with more pronounced effects observed in rockwool compared to the growing medium.

Speakers

Trevor Maxwell

Arizona State University

Co-authors

Estevan Felix

Arizona State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Yujin Park

Arizona State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:30pm - 12:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Source Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

12:45pm CDT

UG 1 - Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Increases Yield Without Negatively Affecting Fruit Quality of Everbearing Strawberries Produce

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:45pm - 1:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Strawberries are the top consumed and produced berry in the United States. Demand for local and off-season availability has increased the production of strawberries in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). While production protocols exist for many leafy greens, limited information is available for emerging CEA crops such as strawberry. Optimizing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations for CEA strawberry production is of interest, given that previous research has shown increased yields and enhanced organoleptic properties of strawberries with CO2 enrichment. However, strawberry chemical composition varies depending on cultural practices, environmental conditions, and cultivar. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the impacts of CO2 enrichment on yield and fruit quality of everbearing strawberries in a controlled environment. Two strawberry cultivars (Fragaria ×ananassa ‘Albion’ and ‘Ozark Beauty’) were propagated from vegetative runners and grown in 2.7-L pots for eight weeks in walk-in growth chambers under either an ambient (450 μmol·mol–1) or enriched (900 μmol·mol–1) CO2 concentration. Temperature and relative humidity setpoints were 20/12 °C and 55/65% (day/night), respectively, with a photosynthetic photon flux density target of 348 µmol∙m–2∙s–1 (18-h photoperiod; daily light integral of 21 mol∙m–2∙d–1). Fruit mass, width, and count were collected weekly on all ripe berries and a USDA grade was assigned based on width and presence of damage. During the final harvest, fruit firmness and Brix:acid were measured to further assess fruit quality and samples were collected for a sensory evaluation. Total yield (grams/plant) of both cultivars was highest under CO2 enrichment. Specifically, total yield increased by 22% and 37% under CO2 enrichment compared to ambient for ‘Albion’ and ‘Ozark Beauty’, respectively. No quality differences (e.g., fruit firmness and Brix:acid) were observed between CO2 concentration treatments for either cultivar. These results were similar to sensory evaluations for rate-all-that-apply (RATA) and affective (9-point hedonic scale) tests (n=84), with little difference observed between CO2 concentration treatments for either cultivar. Participants rated ‘Albion’ higher in overall appearance and overall liking compared to ‘Ozark Beauty’, regardless of CO2 treatment. ‘Ozark Beauty’ consistently rated higher in fermented flavor. In summary, CO2 enrichment increased everbearing strawberry fruit production without negatively impacting berry flavor for these two cultivars. Outreach efforts have sought to disseminate these results and, through program evaluation, identify interest and potential barriers to crop diversification and adoption of CEA strawberry production in Denver, CO.

Speakers

Yamilex Romero

Colorado State University

Co-authors

Gabriel Sanchez

Colorado State University

Jake Holley

Colorado State University

Jennifer Boldt

United States Department of Agriculture

Joshua Craver

Colorado State University

Kale Harbick

United States Department of Agriculture

Martha Calvert

Colorado State University

Samantha P. Rosado

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 12:45pm - 1:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA-NIFA Project #2023-38640-39571 through the WSARE program under Project #GW24-001

1:00pm CDT

UG 1 - Unravelling the rootstock-scion interaction in grafted watermelon plants

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:00pm - 1:15pm CDT

Foster 2

As the adoption of grafting technology is increasing among growers to manage soilborne diseases in watermelon production and new rootstocks are being developed, more research is needed to test different combinations of rootstocks and scions to identify growth differences that may be influenced by rootstock-scion interactions. In this greenhouse pot study, we examined the impact of the interspecific hybrid squash rootstock ‘Camelforce’ (Cucurbita maxima × C. moschata) and the wild watermelon rootstock ‘Carolina Strongback’ (Citrullus amarus) on the growth and development performance of two seedless watermelon scion cultivars with contrasting fruit maturity characteristics. Two weeks after seeding, early-maturing ‘Citation’ and late-maturing ‘Miramonte’ seedless watermelon plants were grafted onto each rootstock, respectively, with non-grafted scions and rootstocks as controls. The plants were arranged in a randomized complete block design with five replications and three plants per experimental unit. Non-grafted ‘Camelforce’ showed the longest primary vine, while ‘Miramonte’/‘Camelforce’ displayed significantly higher total vine length than other treatments. Non-grafted ‘Carolina Strongback’ exhibited significantly more leaves, followed by ‘Miramonte’/‘Camelforce’ and non-grafted ‘Miramonte’. ‘Camelforce’ also exhibited significantly greater above and below-ground dry weights, followed by ‘Miramonte’/‘Camel force’, although it did not differ from non-grafted ‘Miramonte’. The dry weights of ‘Citation’/‘Camelforce’ were significantly higher than non-grafted ‘Citation’. The above-ground dry weight of ‘Citation’/‘Carolina Strongback’ was significantly lower than all groups, except for non-grafted ‘Carolina Strongback’. Similarly, the below-ground dry weight of ‘Citation’/‘Carolina Strongback’ was significantly lower than treatments, except for ‘Miramonte’/‘Carolina Strongback’ and non-grafted ‘Carolina Strongback’. All treatments showed male and female flowers by week 3 after transplanting. Both non-grafted rootstocks showed more female flowers than non-grafted and grafted scions. At week 4 ‘Miramonte’/‘Carolina Strongback’ had more female flowers than all other treatments, while non-grafted ‘Camelforce’ exhibited the lowest. No difference in female flowers between the grafted and non-grafted scion groups was observed. Non-grafted scions exhibited more male flowers than the respective grafted plants by week 3. No differences were observed in male flowers except ‘Citation’/‘Carolina Strongback’ with fewer than grafted and non-grafted scions by week 4. Week 3 female flowers results suggest that grafting can significantly affect plant growth, but has a limited impact on flowering. The ‘Miramonte’/ ‘Camelforce’ group exhibited vigorous growth without significantly affecting flowering. Further research is necessary to explore how different types of rootstocks may impact fruit development of watermelon scions of varying fruit development characteristics in commercial production.

Speakers

Kendall Lindsay

University of Florida

Co-authors

Xin Zhao

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:00pm - 1:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Source Florida Specialty Crop Block Grant

1:15pm CDT

UG 1 - Accelerated Composting Of Spent Coffee Grounds For Horticultural Soil Amendments

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:15pm - 1:30pm CDT

Foster 2

Coffee grounds are generated by home residents daily. The objective of this study is to use an accelerated home food scrap composter to encourage residents to reduce waste volume and weight and provide garden compost to produce garden produce and flowers. Two accelerated composters (Lomi and Vego) were evaluated both for their compost soil health, physical and chemical properties after processing the spent coffee grounds. Lomi processed food for 24h only and the Vego composter for 1, 5, and 10 days. Compost volume and weight increased as days of composting increased. Compost health, nutrients, pH, C/N Ratio were suitable for a horticultural growing amendment. Physical components were within normal parameters for a soil substrate. Finer particles were increased with greater days of composting as expected. Plant growth differences were measured. Compost incorporated at 10 % v/v increased petunia biomass. Accelerated composters reduced volume and weight of food scrapes while providing essential plant nutrients.

Speakers

Claire Bradley

LSU

Co-authors

Alessandro Holzapfel

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Edward Bush

LSU AgCenter

William Dunford

Louisiana State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:15pm - 1:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Poster # csv
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

1:30pm CDT

UG 1 - Limonoid glucoside and dietary fiber co-treatment enhances salt tolerance, growth kinetics, antioxidant potential, and amino acid metabolism of Lactobacillus plantarum

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:30pm - 1:45pm CDT

Foster 2

The probiotic strain Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 is an ideal model for studying prebiotic interactions primarily due to its demonstrated ability to metabolize a wide range of prebiotic compounds. Hence, this study examines the potential synergistic effects of limonoid glucoside (LG), a citrus-derived phytochemical, in combination with dietary fibers on growth kinetics, amino acid metabolism, biofilm formation, and bacterial performance under salt stress conditions. Treatments included de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe Agar (MRS) media supplemented with various individual and combinations of LG and dietary fibers, pectin (PEC), and inulin (IN). Individual treatments contained 1 mg/mL of LG, PEC, and IN, while combination treatments used a 0.5 mg/mL concentration of each component. Among the tested NaCl salt concentrations of 1%, 2%, and 4%, concentrations below 2% showed sustained bacterial growth for all the combinations (LG: PEC/IN). Salt concentrations at 4 % negatively impacted the bacterial growth in all the treatments and control; however, an exponential rise in growth was observed after the 18th hour of incubation in PEC: LG, indicating a delayed lag phase. Such a pattern of growth at high salt stress possibly indicates that the co-treatment with LG and PEC could potentially maintain growth, help conserve energy demands, and display osmoregulatory effects to overcome salt stress. Additionally, differences in cell surface hydrophobicity between treatments suggest improved bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. The LG treatment resulted in significantly increased hydrophobicity, indicating enhanced adhesion potential. IN, LG: PEC/IN treatments showed moderate hydrophobicity, comparable to the MRS control, while PEC exhibited the least. These findings are important, as higher cell surface hydrophobicity is crucial for providing protection against environmental stressors and supporting healthy microbial interactions. Amino acid profiling showed treatment-dependent changes, suggesting that LG and PEC/IN combinations affect amino acid metabolism significantly. Additionally, digested samples exhibited enhanced radical scavenging, indicating potential antioxidative synergy between digested LG and dietary fibers. By analyzing the effects of limonoid glucosides in combination with dietary fibers, this study highlights the potential synergistic benefits of these compounds in enhancing their functional properties and supporting a healthy gut microbiome.

Speakers

Ananya Sharma

Texas A&M University

Co-authors

Bhimanagouda Patil

Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center, Texas A&M University

Deepak Kumar Jha

Texas A&M AgriLife

Vikas Dadwal

Texas A&M University

I am experienced in phytochemical extraction and LC-MS metabolomics of pre and post-harvested fruits and vegetables. My research focuses on the development of plant-derived bioactive formulations and the assessment of their biological activity in vitro and in vivo. I am currently... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:30pm - 1:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Undergraduate Student 1

Audience Undergraduate Students
Subject Undergraduate Student
Funding Source USDA-NIFA-2024-51181-43464
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

1:44pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT

Strand 11A

Presiding/Moderator

Al Kovaleski

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology

1:44pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT

Strand 12B

Presiding/Moderator

Alvaro Pantoja-Benavides

University of Connecticut

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

1:44pm CDT

MKEC - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT

Strand 12A

Presiding/Moderator

Ben Campbell

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics

1:44pm CDT

VCM 3 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT

Strand 11B

Presiding/Moderator

Laura Schulz

Graduate Research Assistant, Washington State University

I am a PhD student at Washington State University working with Carol Miles on introducing sweetpotato as a new crop in western Washington.

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:44pm - 1:45pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

1:45pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - Hydrogen cyanamide advances budbreak in grapevine by increasing rate of cold hardiness loss

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT

Strand 11A

The mechanism controlling dormancy in buds of woody perennial plants remains largely unknown. However, it is known that exposure to cold temperatures (chilling) promotes the transition from a non-responsive to a responsive status to growth-conducive temperatures (i.e., endo- to ecodormancy transition). In horticulture, hydrogen cyanamide (HC) has been used for decades to overcome chilling accumulation deficiencies for temperate fruit crops grown in subtropical climates. Given the connection between cold hardiness loss and budbreak, we hypothesized that HC would increase the rate of cold hardiness loss (deacclimation rate). To test this, we collected grapevine (Vitis hybrid ‘Petite Pearl’) cuttings from field conditions in Madison, WI in approximately bi-weekly intervals from December to April. Single node cuttings were prepared and randomly separated into two treatments: a control group [0.5% surfactant (Regulaid®, KALO, Inc.)], and an HC group [5% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex®, Alzchem Group AG) and 0.5% surfactant]. Both groups were treated by submersion for 10s. Cuttings were then placed in cups of water, and under forcing conditions. The forcing conditions used for all collections were 22ºC and 16h light. In later collections, two additional forcing temperatures were used: 8ºC and 16ºC. Cold hardiness was measured using differential thermal analysis on the day of treatment application, from field collected buds (n>10), and in semi-regular intervals from cuttings under forcing conditions, with interval length depending on temperature [e.g., quasi-daily at 22ºC (T0 1d, T0 2d, …); about every two days for 16ºC (T0 2d, T0 4d, …), about every five days for 8ºC]. At each collection time and for each temperature and treatment, 10 cuttings were set apart to observe time to budbreak. As expected, budbreak occurred earlier in HC treated buds compared to control. Using measurements of cold hardiness over time under forcing, we determined deacclimation rates as the slope of linear regressions. The rate of deacclimation in the control group increased progressively with each collection, as chilling accumulated in the field (1.0ºC/d in December to 1.4ºC/d in March). However, the deacclimation rate of the HC-treated group was always greater than the control (1.6ºC/d in December and 1.7ºC/d in March). In March, at 16ºC, there was also a difference between control and HC group in deacclimation rate (1.2ºC/d and 1.4ºC/d), while there were no differences at 8ºC. HC increases the rate of deacclimation in grapevines. We anticipate that understanding the interplay between cold hardiness, deacclimation, and budbreak will be helpful in uncovering the dormancy mechanism.

Speakers

Al Kovaleski

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-authors

Erica Kirchhof

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Francisco Campos-Arguedas

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael North

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Nadia Arias

Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco / University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Funding Source Fulbright

1:45pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Chitosan Effect on Petunia Plants Growing Under Different Deficit Irrigation Regimes.

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

Increasing the efficiency of irrigation practices is necessary to conserve water resources. However, extreme reductions in irrigation may lead to stunted growth. In this project, we aimed to evaluate if chitosan applied as a substrate amendment influenced plant growth, physiology, and marketable parameters of container-grown ornamental crops cultivated at different container capacities. The experiment was a full-factorial design with two factors: container capacity (100%, 70%, and 40%) and chitosan application timing (No application, Week 1, Week 3). The plants were kept in the greenhouse for six weeks and then in growth chambers set at 30°C or 40°C for two weeks to simulate post-production conditions. Plant growth and stomatal conductance were measured weekly and flower area after the sixth week. Significant differences were observed between the treatments. Plant growth was lowest at 70% and 40% CC when chitosan was applied at week 3. The stomatal conductance of plants under 70% and 40% CC was higher than 100% CC with no chitosan, but plants with chitosan at 40% CC had higher stomatal conductance. Flower coverage did not differ at the end of the crop cycle and in the first week at the two post-production temperatures (30°C and 40°C), but in the second week, the flower coverage decreased drastically in all the treatments, with the lowest values observed at 100% CC in both environmental temperatures. Deficit irrigation in petunia plants could be a strategy to produce marketable plants while reducing the volume of water. Chitosan applied in the first week of production seems to be the best application timing under deficit irrigation to see an amelioration effect from lowering container capacity.

Speakers

Alvaro Pantoja-Benavides

University of Connecticut

Co-authors

Rosa Raudales

University of Connecticut

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Poster # csv

1:45pm CDT

MKEC - Optimizing Asparagus Marketability: The Economic Impact of Controlled-Atmosphere Storage for Michigan Growers

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT

Strand 12A

Despite an increase in asparagus production in Michigan, which has surpassed California since 2015, national production has declined by 75% since 2000, while imports have surged from 159 million pounds to 580 million pounds. This shift has placed increasing pressure on domestic production, with Michigan growers facing challenges from high labor costs and import competition. By 2022, only 6% of the fresh asparagus supply in the U.S. came from domestic production, with imports accounting for the remaining 94%. As a result, Michigan's asparagus growers are vulnerable to price fluctuations caused by import competition, compounded by a very short six-week harvest season. Consumer demand remains high after the harvest season, driving market prices up by as much as 28% post-harvest, yet growers are unable to capitalize on this price increase. To address these challenges, this study explores the potential of extending the storage life of asparagus, particularly through controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage. This method could help mitigate the impact of price fluctuations on growers' revenues by enabling producers to allocate surplus produce to the market based on demand, while reducing produce losses. A comprehensive bioeconomic model was developed to simulate the economic impact of extending storage. This model integrates yield capacity and annual average costs per acre for Michigan growers, with data derived from interviews and focus groups with local asparagus producers. The model analyzes production costs and yield capacities over a 14-year lifecycle, with peak yields of 5,500 pounds per acre occurring between years 5 and 12. Despite high initial costs, positive net returns are anticipated from years 4 through 12 of the production cycle. The study evaluates four scenarios with varying post-harvest storage durations (i.e., immediate marketing, one-week storage, two-week storage, and three-week storage) and demonstrates that extending storage can capitalize on post-season price increases, thereby enhancing annual revenue, particularly during peak harvesting years. The results suggest that Michigan growers can improve profitability by adopting CA storage for two weeks, aligning storage strategies with market price fluctuations to optimize revenue.

Speakers

Simone Valle de Souza

Assistant Professor, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - EAST LANSING,MI,USA

Co-authors

Benjamin Werling

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - EAST LANSING,MI,USA

John Bakker

Michigan Asparagus Association

Philip Engelgau

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - EAST LANSING,MI,USA

Randolph Beaudry

Michigan State University

Dr. Randolph Beaudry, Professor, MSU Department of Horticulture (MSc, PhD, University of Georgia). His appointment is 50% MSU Extension and 50% AgBioResearch. His research program includes both regional and international projects and focuses on the physiology of plant responses to... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics
Poster # csv

1:45pm CDT

VCM 3 - Role of On-station and On-farm Trials to Test and Introduce New Crops

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT

Strand 11B

Many direct-market farmers in western Washington are interested in sweetpotatoes (Ipomoea batatas) for crop rotations, to increase farm sales, offer a culturally relevant crop to consumers, and adapt to climate change. We conducted research station and on-farm trials in 2023, 2024, and 2025 with the goal of testing cultivars, developing production guidelines, and introducing sweetpotato as a new crop for the region. The trials were a partnership between WSU researchers, who led the research station trials, and WSU Extension, who led the on-farm trials. Research station trials provided yield and wireworm resistance data for nine cultivars and breeding lines, and on-farm trials introduced sweetpotato to farmers in the region. On-farm trial participants were provided with slips or roots of three sweetpotato cultivars and a production guide. In 2023, 20 farmers across three counties signed up to participate, 15 farmers planted trials (75% of signups), 11 farmers returned surveys with some data (73% of planted trials), and 5 farmers provided complete data (33% of planted trials). Due to varying management practices and incomplete responses, 2023 on-farm trial data were largely unusable for evaluating yield or wireworm resistance. In 2024, 33 farmers across nine counties signed up to participate, 29 farmers planted trials (88% of signups), 25 farmers returned surveys and/or had data collected by a WSU Extension Field Assistant (89% of planted trials), and 20 farmers provided complete data (71% of planted trials). Hiring a part-time field assistant in 2024 who visited farms and collected data increased farmer response rate and data completeness. Yet, on-farm trial yield and wireworm resistance data still were not fully usable due to inconsistencies in how data were collected, and lack of adherence to production guidelines. In 2025, we redesigned on-farm trial data surveys to focus on farmers’ perceptions regarding suitability of sweetpotato production and marketability for their farm. Participating farmers are uniquely well-suited to answer these qualitative questions, which will assess if sweetpotato has been successfully introduced in the region. In all years of the project, online growing classes, in-person field days, and farm walks proved useful for introducing sweetpotato to new farmers in the region. Visits to on-farm trial locations proved an important avenue of offering support to farmers experimenting with sweetpotato. Completed surveys and conversations with on-farm trial participants provided valuable feedback that was incorporated into our sweetpotato production guide, and expanded and improved our on-line resources including several short production videos.

Speakers

Laura Schulz

Graduate Research Assistant, Washington State University

I am a PhD student at Washington State University working with Carol Miles on introducing sweetpotato as a new crop in western Washington.

Co-authors

Carol Miles

Washington State University

Jordan White

Washington State University

Laurel Moulton

Washington State University

Samantha Grieger

Washington State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:45pm - 2:00pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

1:59pm CDT

WUM 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:59pm - 2:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Presiding/Moderator

Andre Biscaro

UC Davis

Wednesday July 30, 2025 1:59pm - 2:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management

2:00pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - Evaluating Cold Hardiness Dynamics and Time to Budbreak of Dormant Grapevines Across the Continental US

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT

Strand 11A

Dormancy remains a poorly understood process in temperate woody perennial plants. These plants require cumulative exposure to low temperatures (chilling accumulation) during winter to respond to warm temperatures in spring (forcing) and properly break bud. For successful establishment of temperate woody perennial fruit crops, it is important to understand chilling accumulation and dormancy requirements of species and cultivars. Our recent work indicates cold hardiness is an important co-variate in the analyses related to timing of budbreak, and thus chilling accumulation models and dormancy progression studies. Here we set out to understand aspects of chilling accumulation in different conditions by evaluating two measures of dormancy progression, (i) a classic forcing assay, where time to budbreak is evaluated; and (ii) a newer phenotyping of cold hardiness deacclimation rates using grapevine (Vitis spp.). For a comprehensive analysis, we used grapevine canes from V. vinifera cvs. Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling, and V. hybrid cvs. Concord, Frontenac, Itasca, Marquette, and Petite Pearl. Canes were collected in several states across the continental United States (CO, IA, MN, NY, PA, SD, TX, WI), and in two locations for two states (NY, WI), representing approximately eight different USDA Cold Hardiness Zones (4a-7b), over the course of two winter seasons (2023-2025). Collections occurred in December, January, February, and March of each season. Upon collection or receipt of shipments, initial cold hardiness of buds was measured using differential thermal analysis (DTA). Following, canes were prepared into single node cuttings, and placed in cups of water and in a growth chamber for forcing (22ºC, 16h day/8h night). A subsample of 15 cuttings was used to evaluate time to budbreak, while the remaining cuttings were used for cold hardiness measurements in semi-regular intervals. We used simple linear regression with cold hardiness measurements to determine deacclimation rates (loss of cold hardiness over time; ºC/day). In general, buds from warmer locations (IA, TX, and Long Island, NY) had less initial cold hardiness (field cold hardiness) than colder locations. Dormancy progression was faster in colder locations than warmer locations, observed in both budbreak assays and evaluation of deacclimation rates. Based on our data, time to budbreak is a function of initial cold hardiness and deacclimation rate. Future work will examine the response of deacclimation rates to chilling accumulation models to determine chilling models that best describe dormancy responses across climates, which will then be incorporated into models that predict field cold hardiness and field budbreak.

Speakers

Al Kovaleski

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-authors

Ali Didevarasl

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Amaya Atucha

University of Wisconsin Madison

Jason Londo

Cornell University

Michael North

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Funding Source USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Award No. 2023-68008-39274.

2:00pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Substrate Water Status and Fertilizer Formulation Affect Growth and Tissue Nutrient Content of Petunia and Calibrachoa

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT

Strand 12B

Overwatered spring crops are subject to a range of biotic and abiotic disorders including hypoxia, nutrient deficiencies, and increased susceptibility to root rot diseases. Defining parameters associated with under- and overwatering would demonstrate how watering practices influence growth and abiotic disorders that develop during greenhouse production. Growth and nutrient content of petunia ‘Cascadias Indian Summer’ (IS) and ‘Headliner Strawberry Sky’ (SS; Expt. 1) and calibrachoa ‘Aloha Kona Midnight Blue’ (MB; Expt. 2) plants were grown under three different watering regimes of overwatered (rewatered when weight of sentinel pots dropped to 90 to 95 5% of container capacity, CC), optimally watered (60 5% of CC), and underwatered (35 to 45 5% of CC) and two different fertilizer sources of Jack’s Professional General Purpose and Jack’s Classic Petunia Feed. Across both plant species, the optimal watering regime generally yielded the largest plants based on width, fresh and dry weights. SPAD readings of youngest foliage were different based on fertilizer source. While IS petunia did not develop yellowing of youngest foliage in any treatment, SS petunia developed distinctive symptoms of interveinal chlorosis in youngest foliage of overwatered plants fertilized with general purpose fertilizer. However, tissue analysis of SS petunia revealed no difference in Fe between watering regimes or fertilizer formulations. Differences did occur across watering regimes in tissue P, K, Ca, Mg, S, and Mn and between fertilizer formulations in P, Mg, and S. Overwatering induced visual symptomology of chlorotic young foliage in SS petunia and MB calibrachoa, but not IS petunia, which suggests a genetic component to the disorder. Symptomology is effectively mitigated by using petunia feed. Tissue nutrient content is affected by overwatering, but Fe is not significantly different. Future work will explore a mechanism associated with substrate microbial activity that explains these results.

Speakers

Kimberly Williams

Kansas State University

Co-authors

Elise Girard

Kansas State University

Pierce Hayden

Kansas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Funding Source The Gloeckner Foundation

2:00pm CDT

MKEC - The Impact of Consumer Awareness and Treatment Information on Purchasing Decisions for Container-Grown Plants Amid the Jumping Worm Infestation

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT

Strand 12A

Jumping worms (Amynthas spp.), an emergent invasive species native to East-central Asia, threaten the health of temperate ecosystems and the vitality of the plant production industry in the United States. Aptly named due to their characteristic and distinctive ability to thrash, these invasive annelids contribute substantial alterations to soil structure, texture, and nutrient dynamics in temperate forests and with potted plants. Their impact on the physical and chemical properties of native soils result in plant health decline and lead to biodiversity loss of flora and fauna. An unintentional, yet predominant, vector of the spread of jumping worms throughout the U.S. is through horticultural materials such as mulch, potting media, compost, and potted plants. While controlling the spread of these invasive worms is a forefront goal of producers and regulatory authorities in the green industry, there is surprisingly little knowledge about consumer awareness of the worms and their willingness to purchase horticultural products infested with, or treated for, jumping worms, which may help inform green industry production management. The objectives of this study were to examine how purchasing decisions are impacted by consumer awareness and jumping worm treatment information. To achieve this, an online survey was conducted with a diverse sample of consumers in the U.S. to gauge their awareness and knowledge of jumping worms, gardening habits, and demographic information. How jumping worm treatment impacts consumers' value for potted plants in different US regions are also explored. The results revealed a notable decrease in willingness to buy and value for untreated potted plants after participants were informed about the negative effects of jumping worms. Further, consumer willingness to buy treated potted plants increased when participants were informed about potential jumping worm treatment options. The findings highlight the influence of consumer education and transparent communication from plant producers and retailers in shaping consumer decisions regarding potted plant purchases. The results of consumer valuation of treated plants have important implications for pricing strategies of jumping worm treated potted plants. These insights are essential for formulating effective communication and treatment strategies to mitigate the impact of jumping worms on ecosystems and the green industry.

Speakers

Jenna Simon

Research Assistant, University of Minnesota

Jenna Simon studies invasive jumping worms (Amynthas spp.) with a focus on containerized production. She has a strong passion for the nursery profession and strives to bridge the gap between horticulture and ecology. She believes that ecology should be viewed from many different lenses... Read More →

Co-authors

Brandon Miller

University of Minnesota

Chengyan Yue

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN)

Yang Wang

University of Minnesota

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics
Poster # csv
Funding Source Minnesota Department of Agriculture (Specialty Crop Block Grant Fund)

2:00pm CDT

VCM 3 - Impact of Native Wildflowers on the Yield of Three Sisters Crops On Green Roofs

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT

Strand 11B

Urban areas are expanding throughout the world, increasing infrastructure and impermeable surfaces and concurrently decreasing quantity and quality of natural landscapes. With a decrease in green spaces, human communities experience an increase in food scarcity. Ecological communities experience a decrease in biodiversity and suitable habitat. Here, we aim to utilize native wildflowers, vegetable crops and urban infrastructure to provide healthy food as well as biodiversity options to urban areas. In this study we examine (a) how the presence of native perennial Colorado wildflowers may influence the yield of crop plants, specifically the three sister’s guild of maize, beans and squash, plus sunchokes and sunflowers and (b) to evaluate how the crop yields may differ between sites in full sun and partial shade landscapes. To do so, we utilize green roofs and ground plots at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado to evaluate the yield differences. We hypothesize that the crops with wildflowers nearby will produce a higher crop yield than the crops grown without wildflowers. Additionally, we expect that shade treatments will reduce yield compared to the full sun treatments. Thus far with preliminary data analysis, we find crops grown on the green roof with native wildflowers nearby had a higher average leaf number (as a proxy for the size of the plant). The yield of the squash crop was the highest on the green roof with the native wildflowers while the yield of the pole bean crop was highest at grade with native wildflowers nearby. This shows the proximity to wildflowers may have a significant effect and there may be an effect of shade for the yield of pole beans. With this research, we hope to provide notable insight to continue working towards the most efficient crop growth on green roofs in urban environments.

Speakers

Isabella Rodelius

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

2:00pm CDT

WUM 2 - Assessing Drip Irrigation as an Alternative to Micro-sprinklers During Strawberry Establishment in Southern California – 2nd Season

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT

Foster 2

While approximately 80 to 90% of the sprinkler-applied water to a strawberry crop is lost through runoff, deep percolation and evaporation, all the strawberry fields in Ventura County are still irrigated with overhead sprinklers during crop establishment. Even though water use-efficiency for the in-season irrigation is on average high, the escalating regulatory pressure to achieve sustainable groundwater use in California, and therefore limiting water availability, will demand further efficiency. This study quantified differences in water use, yield, canopy coverage and root depth between drip tape (DT) and micro-sprinkler (MS) irrigation during crop establishment at a commercial field located in Oxnard, CA during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 growing seasons. This abstract shares the results of the second season. The treatments were applied during the first 42 days after planting, after which drip tape became the only irrigation method. The irrigation scheduling of the MS treatment was defined by the irrigator (grower standard), while the DT irrigation was guided by tensiometers and field observations. All other production practices remained the same. Each treatment was replicated four times in a randomized complete block design, with an area of 0.15 acre per plot (7 beds of 175ft long). Total water use during establishment was 74.4% greater for the MS treatment compared to DT (5.8 and 3.4 acre-in, respectively). Marketable yield up to March 31 was very similar between treatments (19,268 and 19,420 lb/acre for DT and MS, respectively) and not statistically significant (p-value = 0.9517). Although not statistically significant, canopy cover MS was 9 and 11% greater at 1 month and 3 months after planting, respectively. Root depth measured at 1 month after planting was very similar and not statistically different (p-value = 0.9496).

Speakers

Andre Biscaro

UC Davis

Co-authors

Gina Ferrari

UC Cooperative Extension

Oleg Daugovish

University of California Cooperative Extension

Raul Coronado

Good Farms

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:00pm - 2:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Poster # csv

2:15pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - Cellular Mechanism of Freeze-Injury Viewed Through Ionic Analysis of the Leachate from Spinach Leaves Injured at Varying Durations of Freezing

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT

Strand 11A

Freeze-desiccation due to exosmosis to extracellular ice is considered as the major stress during equilibrium freezing. This causes structural / functional perturbations in the plasma membrane which leads to leakage of cellular contents. To gain further insight into the cellular mechanism of freeze-thaw injury, four cations (K , Ca2 , Mg2 , Fe2 ), known for their critical roles in plant growth and development, were measured in the leachate from injured spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. ‘Reflect’) leaves exposed to four freezing-durations (FDs) (0.5, 3.0, 5.5, 10.5 h) at a fixed temperature. In general, leakage of K , Ca2 , Mg2 increased incrementally at longer FDs and leaves sustained greater water-soaking after prolonged freezing. Data indicated a higher abundance of reactive oxygen species (O2− and H2O2) in leaves with greater injury at longer FDs. PSII efficiency was incrementally compromised at longer FDs as determined by chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm). Total electrolyte leakage from tissues right-after-thaw versus those allowed to recover for 6-d revealed that injury at 0.5 or 3 h FDs was recoverable, but leaves were irreparably injured at 5.5 or 10.5 h FDs. K was the most abundant cation in leachate. Data suggests that K -leakage can be used as proxy for total electrolyte-leakage in determining LT50 and can serve as an ionic marker to delineate moderate (recoverable) versus severe (non-recoverable) freeze-injury. Ca2 - and K -leakage data, together, are compatible with an earlier conjecture that leaked K ions replace membrane-associated Ca2 during post-thaw. It is proposed that thus structurally weakened plasma membrane, together with inhibited active transport functions of plasma membrane (noted in previous studies) lead to enhanced K -leakage from more severely freeze-injured leaves. Unlike other cations, Fe2 -leakage was indeed lower in the injured (0.5 FD) leaves compared to unfrozen control. Moreover, Fe2 was undetectable in the leachate at longer FDs. It is hypothesized that such lack of Fe2 in the leachate could result from Fenton reaction in injured tissues which converts soluble Fe2 into insoluble Fe3 . Enhanced Mg2 -leakage at greater freeze-injury suggests structural/functional impairment of chlorophyll / chloroplast complex, resulting in reduced quantum yield of PSII.

Speakers

Rajeev Arora

Iowa State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Poster # csv

2:15pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Evaluating Sugarcane Bagasse Amended Substrates to Reduce Phosphorus Fertilizer Use in Petunia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT

Strand 12B

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB), a byproduct from the refinement of sugar, is an abundantly available material in tropical and semi-tropical regions. The use of SCB as a component in soilless substrates and other horticulture applications has gained attention due to its regional availability, use as a peat alternative in floriculture production, and as a phosphorus-rich material. Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for the growth of plants; however, P leaching losses from excessive fertilizer applications can pose environmental concerns. This study evaluated using SCB as a soilless substrate amendment in the production of Petunia ‘E3 Easy Wave Coral’, where two particle sizes of SCB (hammermilled at 4 mm and 6 mm) were blended with a peat moss/perlite (7:3 by vol.) floriculture media at rates of 15% and 30% by volume. Two fertilizer rates were investigated, one applying P at 100 mg L-1 and one applying P at a reduced rate of 30 mg L-1. Plant growth and vigor was assessed through measuring growth index (average of plant height and two widths) and chlorophyll content (SPAD). Leachate collected from containers following the “Pour-Through” method was assessed for pH and electrical conductivity (EC), with subsamples collected and analyzed for nutrient content. Plants appeared to grow larger in the control (peat moss/perlite media only) and 15% SCB amended soilless substrates compared to the 30% SCB substrates, regardless of SCB size or fertilizer rate. Substrates amended with SCB at 30% resulted in less vigorous growth than either the control or the 15% SCB amended substrates; however, the differences were less visible in the 30% SCB media when provided the higher P fertilizer rate. Given the important role of P in plant growth and the environmental concerns associated with fertilizer applications, evaluating P availability in sugarcane bagasse and its potential contribution to plant nutrition could provide a more sustainable alternative for soilless substrate systems in floriculture production.

Speakers

Martha Vilchez

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Co-authors

Damon Abdi

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Jeb Fields

University of Florida

M.P. Hayes

Louisiana State University

Mysha Ahmed

Louisiana State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Funding Source Floriculture Nursery Research Initiative

2:15pm CDT

MKEC - Willingness to Pay for Wildlife-Friendly Plants: Insights from Discrete Choice Experiment

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT

Strand 12A

Native plants are defined as species present in North America before European settlement which have coevolved with local flora and fauna. Demand and popularity of native plants in landscaping have increased in the U.S. partially due to a rise in awareness of their ecological benefits. Various factors such as income, education, native labeling, and perceptions of wildlife welfare have been linked to consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for native plants. However, fewer studies have explored how different types of wildlife influence these preferences. In this study, we conducted an online survey of 2,011 U.S. consumers. Mixed logit models were used to estimate willingness-to-pay for different wildlife benefits and customer segments were identified using Latent Class Analysis (LCA). Overall, consumers were generally willing to pay a premium for native plants over exotic species, particularly when the plants attracted birds or pollinators. In contrast, plants associated with deer or offering no wildlife benefit required a discount to be considered. Four customer classes were identified with varying levels of interest in attracting songbirds, pollinators and deer. Marketing implications will be discussed based on class membership.

Speakers

Nama Bhusal

University of Tennessee

Co-authors

Alicia L Rihn

University of Tennessee

Ariana Torres

Purdue University

Bridget Behe

Michigan State University

Sue Barton

University of Delaware

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics
Poster # csv
Funding Source Horticulture Research Institute

2:15pm CDT

VCM 3 - Evaluating Impact of Rooftop Agrivoltaics (RAV) on Chile Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Production and Growth

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT

Strand 11B

Climate change progression has created many challenges for our current agriculture system such as the degradation of arable land and more intense weather patterns. Rates of food insecurity and population growth are simultaneously increasing in urban areas, so reimagining food production and land management is vital for the future of agriculture. Rooftop agrivoltaics (RAV), growing crops under solar panels on a green roof, may be an effective way to produce clean energy and high yields of specialty crops in underutilized spaces. Chile peppers hold economic and cultural significance to the southwest region of the US. Previous studies show chile peppers perform better under 35% shade than in full sun due to heat stress reduction. This study focused on three cultivars of chile peppers: ‘Hatch’, ‘Mosco’, and an unnamed CSU experimental. Individuals of each cultivar were planted in four on the green roof (under opaque photovoltaics (PV), under bifacial PV, under 40% shade cloth, and full sun) and in one at-grade plot. The 40% shade cloth was used to simulate semi-transparent solar panels. Plants were evaluated by yield (fruit production), water efficiency (stomatal conductance), and plant growth index (average of two widths and height). Analysis shows yield was significantly higher in the full sun and shade cloth plots than all other plots, possibly due to the bifacial and opaque plots providing too much shade for optimized fruit production. Stomatal conductance was reduced in the shade cloth, bifacial, and opaque plots in the first part of the growing season and varied by cultivar and treatment at other times. Plant growth index was highest for plants grown in the shade cloth plot at most time points, but significance varied by cultivar across treatments. Growing chile peppers in RAV systems utilizing semi-transparent solar panels can reduce plant water use while producing more fruit than traditional at-grade growing. Sensory evaluation using a just-about-right (JAR) test and was conducted to assess consumer acceptance of sensory attributes of roasted ‘Hatch’ and ‘Mosco’ chile peppers grown in full sun on a green roof and at grade. A standard 9-point hedonic scale was used to assess overall liking. There was no significant difference in JAR ratings for each of the 7 attributes assessed and no significant difference in overall liking. Growing ‘Hatch’ and ‘Mosco’ chile peppers on green roofs does not significantly impact consumer acceptance. This provides urban farmers with more confidence to grow chile peppers on green roofs.

Speakers

Maria Chavez

New Mexico State University

Co-authors

Jennifer Bousselot

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

2:15pm CDT

WUM 2 - Evaluating OpenET against field scale surface renewal ET in walnuts

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT

Foster 2

Walnut is currently grown on over 400 thousand acres in California with the majority of production in the Northern San Joaquin Valley (NSJV). The recurring droughts and climate change in California will likely increase the uncertainty in water supply to walnuts and other specialty crops. Site-specific irrigation is critical to cope with these challenges. Knowing the water use of walnuts is crucial in optimizing irrigation management since it affects nut quality, and productivity. Unlike traditional methods, which are often limited by spatial coverage, high costs, and less precise crop coefficient values, satellite remote sensing offers a cost-effective, widely accessible solution. It enables large-scale evapotranspiration (ET) estimation with increasing adoption in irrigated agriculture, providing a valuable tool for water management. This study compares OpenET models, an open-source database providing ET estimates, against commercial in-situ surface renewal ET sensor. Utilizing OpenET platform provides a good opportunity for growers to improve water use efficiency. Such improvements could lead to the adoption of publicly available irrigation management tools and ensure healthier tree development, better resource utilization, and more resilient orchards in the face of climate change. Based on the data of 2024 season, the Satellite Irrigation Management Support (SIMS) model had the highest accuracy in estimating actual ET when compared to measurements from a commercial in-situ surface renewal system in the orchard, with a mean percent error (MPE) of -18.45%, and R² and mean absolute error (MAE) values of 0.88 and 0.03 inches/d⁻¹, respectively, followed by the Ensemble model. In contrast, the SSEBop model showed the lowest correlation with ETa, with an R² of 0.77 and a relatively high MAE of 0.06 inches, indicating a higher level of uncertainty in its estimates which could potentially lead to over-irrigation if adopted without correction. Based on these findings, growers can confidently incorporate the OpenET SIMS model into their irrigation scheduling, ultimately enhancing water use efficiency. However, further validation through replication over a second year and across multiple sites is essential to substantiate these findings.

Speakers

Abdelmoneim Mohamed

Irrigation and Soils Advisor, University of California ANR

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:15pm - 2:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Poster # csv

2:30pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - Characterization of Fulvic acids-mediated Drought Tolerances in Tomatoes using Untargeted Hormonomics and Metabolomics Approaches

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT

Strand 11A

Drought stress poses significant environmental challenges to agricultural plants, especially tomatoes, by hindering their growth and reducing yields. Biostimulants like fulvic acids (FA) have emerged promising strategies for mitigating drought effects and enhancing water-use efficiency. However, the regulatory mechanisms of FA-induced drought tolerance are not yet fully understood. This study aimed to characterize FA-induced drought tolerance mechanism in tomatoes. Four-week-old plants were treated with FA at 240 mg per plant, and drought conditions were imposed by withholding 75% of the water supplied to well-watered plants. The plant growth performance and the physiological responses were evaluated. Leaf samples were collected at two stages: the early drought stage (3 days after treatment) and the later stage (7 days after treatment), for untargeted hormonomics and metabolomics analysis using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). Under drought conditions, control plants exhibited significant stress symptoms, including reduced height and leaf wilting during the later phase. In contrast, FA-treated plants developed less drought symptoms and improved stomatal conductance. The hormonomics and metabolomics analysis identified 114 hormones and 243 metabolites in ESI . Using orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), we determined that 39 hormones and 162 metabolites (with a VIP score > 1.0) were significant discriminants among the different treatments. Under drought conditions, 2-hydroxy melatonin and abscisic acid (ABA) levels were significantly increased in FA-treated plants, along with higher concentrations of amino acids such as glycine and threonine. These findings suggest that fulvic acids modulate the phytohormones ABA and melatonin to induce drought tolerances, orchestrating a response that enhances drought tolerance by sustaining elevated levels of osmoprotective amino acids.

Speakers

Md Al Mamun

University of Tennessee

Co-authors

Ethan W. Darby

The University of Tennessee

Mahadi Hasan Redoy

University of Tennessee

Tabibul Islam

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Poster # csv

2:30pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Temperature Management and Supplemental Lighting Strategy Effects on the Coloration and Morphology of Petunia ×hybrida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT

Strand 12B

In high latitudes (≥40°), commercial greenhouse growers utilize supplemental lighting (SL) and heating to offset low solar radiation, air average daily temperature (ADT), and root-zone temperature (RZT) during peak young-plant production. Growers have historically used high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps to deliver SL but are transitioning to light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures, mostly because of their improved energy efficacy. However, many growers report changes in crop morphology and undesirable purple leaf pigmentation when cuttings of some species, especially petunia (Petunia ×hybrida), were grown under LEDs. The objectives of this study were to 1) quantify how light intensity during callusing, ADT, RZT, and SL sources influence the morphology, rooting, leaf pigmentation, and quality of petunia and to 2) develop strategies to mitigate the purpling of leaves. Shoot-tip cuttings of petunia SureShot ‘Dark Blue’ and ‘White’ were inserted into 72-cell trays and propagated inside a greenhouse at an air ADT of 21 or 23 °C and with an RZT of 21 or 25 °C. Cuttings were grown under SL delivered by HPS lamps or LED fixtures proving different light qualities (low blue or moderate blue) at a photosynthetic photon flux density of 60 or 120 µmol·m–2·s–1 for the first 6 d, then 120 µmol·m–2·s–1 for the remaining 16 d. Cuttings of both cultivars grown at an air ADT of 23 °C often had greater stem lengths and shoot dry masses than cuttings grown at 21 °C, as well as lower concentrations of anthocyanins. Cuttings of both cultivars grown with an RZT of 25 °C typically had longer stems than those grown with an RZT of 21 °C. Overall, cuttings of both cultivars propagated under LEDs were of greater quality (shorter stems, greater root dry mass) than those grown under HPS lamps. The color of cuttings grown under LEDs were more red and blue than those grown under HPS lamps, especially at low ADT and RZT. Additionally, the anthocyanin content of ‘Dark Blue’ cuttings grown under LEDs was greater than those grown under HPS lamps. Little differences were observed between cuttings grown under either LED fixture. These results indicate that growers using LEDs may have to adjust other environmental parameters, such as light intensity, ADT, and RZT, to produce cuttings of similar morphology and quality to those grown under HPS lamps.

Speakers

Charles Smith

Michigan State University

Co-authors

Erik Runkle

Michigan State University

Nathan Jahnke

Ball Horticultural Company

Roberto Lopez

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Funding Source Project GREEEN, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Specialty Crop Block Grant, Ball Horticultural Company

2:30pm CDT

MKEC - Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for Lettuce and bell peppers grown under different supplemental lighting sources

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT

Strand 12A

As sustainable agricultural practices become increasingly important, the use of supplemental lighting technologies—particularly light-emitting diodes (LEDs)—is gaining momentum in greenhouse and indoor farming systems. While LEDs offer advantages in terms of energy efficiency and plant growth potential, consumer perceptions of crops grown under artificial lighting remain uncertain. This study explores how consumers respond to vegetables—specifically lettuce and bell peppers—produced using different lighting sources, including LED, high-pressure sodium (HPS), and natural sunlight, along with other product attributes such as production origin, organic certification, price, and point of purchase. A nationwide online survey was conducted to assess consumer awareness, preferences, and willingness to pay for produce grown under various lighting and production conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to different informational treatments that presented either positive, negative, or no information about LED lighting. A choice experiment was used to simulate real-world purchasing scenarios, allowing researchers to examine how these informational messages influenced consumer decision-making. The findings indicate that both production methods and the way information is communicated can significantly impact consumer preferences. Lighting source, in particular, emerged as a key factor, but its influence varied depending on the context in which it was presented. These insights underscore the need for thoughtful messaging and education strategies when introducing new agricultural technologies to the market. Understanding consumer attitudes toward lighting and other production attributes is essential for supporting the broader adoption of sustainable practices in modern food systems.

Speakers

Andres Mauricio Mayorga-Gomez

The University of Georgia

Co-authors

Ben Campbell

University of Georgia

Julie Campbell

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics
Poster # csv

2:30pm CDT

VCM 3 - Effect of intercropping asparagus with King Stropharia mushroom in woodchip mulch at three depths

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT

Strand 11B

Intercropping mushrooms with field-grown vegetables may provide farmers additional revenue without sacrificing bed space or investing in indoor production facilities. The King Stropharia mushroom (Stropharia rugosoannulata), also called wine cap, can colonize organic material, like woodchips or straw mulch, making it a good candidate for intercropping with vegetables that can be grown on organic mulches. However, no research has evaluated the impact of this strategy on the vegetable yield. This project seeks to evaluate the compatibility of intercropping wine-cap mushrooms with asparagus in woodchip mulch. A randomized complete block experimental design (RCBD) experiment was initiated in 2021, and data was collected during the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons. The trial evaluated two factors: intercropping – inoculated vs. non-inoculated and mulch depth – 0 in (control), 4 in, 8 in, and 12 in. Wine-cap mushrooms were successfully established in the inoculated plots. The woodchip mulch depth had no effect on the timing or overall yield and marketability of the mushrooms, although 4 in mulch produced a smaller proportion of small-medium, Grade 1 mushrooms resulting in higher average weight fruiting bodies compared to deeper mulch treatments. During the first spring harvest, wine-cap mushrooms were also observed on the edges of non-inoculated plots; therefore, we were unable to evaluate the effects of mushroom on asparagus growth. Woodchip mulch did not affect the date of first harvest or harvest duration in either year, except at 12 in depth, which delayed harvest and shortened the production season. Relative to bare ground, woodchip mulch only affected asparagus yield (by number or weight) at 12 in depth, which decreased the number and weight of harvested asparagus. In 2023, asparagus spears grown with 8 in non-inoculated woodchips weighed 80 % more, on average, than spears grown in 4 in and 12 in inoculated plots. While the experiment provides a proof of concept for intercropping wine-cap mushrooms with asparagus, further research is needed to determine whether intercropped mushrooms directly impact asparagus production.

Speakers

Olalekan Sipasi

Post Doc, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University

Sipasi Olalekan Ayodele is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Horticulture and Natural Recourses at Kansas State University, ONE Champion 2017, Fellow Thinking School Africa, 2016 Winner of the African Youth Award in Agriculture, a seasoned NYSC SDGs Facilitator, The Future Award... Read More →

Co-authors

Jeremy Cowan

Kansas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

2:30pm CDT

WUM 2 - Evaluation of the Effects of Treated Wastewater on the Growth of Rose-Scented Geranium and English Lavender

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT

Foster 2

Water scarcity is one of the major challenges facing the agricultural industry, necessitating the use of treated wastewater for irrigation purposes. However, not all crops can effectively utilize this water, as it may have negative effects on plant growth, including disruptions in nutrient uptake and photosynthesis. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of treated wastewater on the growth of rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) and English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). The experiment was conducted between 2022 and 2023 at the University of Fort Hare, Dikeni, South Africa. Two harvests were carried out in May 2023 (Harvest 1) and October 2023 (Harvest 2). Five irrigation treatments were applied to both geranium and lavender plants, consisting of treated wastewater from Dikeni town mixed with tap water at varying proportions: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% (v/v). Water and soil used were tested for nutritional composition. Treatments commenced four weeks after transplanting from cuttings, and the experiment followed a completely randomized block design with four replications across four blocks. The results showed no treatment differences in stem diameter, number of shoots, or plant height across treatments for both plant species during the two harvesting seasons. However, English lavender plants irrigated with 25% wastewater exhibited a slight increase in plant height at week 11, while geranium plants treated with 75% wastewater showed an increased plant height from week 5 until harvest at week 11. Additionally, plants receiving the 25% wastewater treatment produced the highest number of shoots from week 8 to week 11. These findings suggest that treated wastewater, both in its diluted and undiluted form, did not adversely affect plant growth. Therefore, it has the potential to serve as an alternative water and nutrients source for geranium and lavender plants, which farmers could utilize in collaboration with local municipalities to mitigate water scarcity challenges. However, further studies, particularly under open-field conditions, are needed to validate these results.

Speakers

Sandile Manzi Ngwenya

University of Fort Hare

Co-authors

Bahlebi Kibreab Eiasu

University of Fort Hare

Yandisa Tokota

University of Fort Hare

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:30pm - 2:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Poster # csv
Funding Source University of Fort Hare Reasearch and Innovation Department

2:45pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - New Methods to Assess Drought Resistance in Turfgrass

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT

Strand 11A

The irrigation of grasses dominates domestic water use across the globe, and a better understanding of water use and drought resistance in grasses is of undeniable importance for water conservation. Drought resistance is a complex trait composed of three distinct, but complementary, strategies: escape, avoidance, and tolerance. In grasses, drought escape is commonly displayed via summer dormancy, and drought avoidance and tolerance are displayed by grasses experiencing dehydration. Breeding programs have released cultivars with improved drought resistance, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, we used a number of plant physiology methods to characterize the mechanisms driving drought resistance in four zoysiagrass cultivars reported to exhibit contrasting levels of drought resistance. They were Lobo, Zeon, Empire, and Meyer. A dry-down was performed through deficit irrigation until 70% decline in evapotranspiration. No drought escape mechanism was identified in this project. Drought avoidance was characterized by the rate of dehydration over time, and drought tolerance was characterized by the decline in functional traits with increasing dehydration. Through this approach, we were able to separate avoidance from tolerance and demonstrate that drought tolerance governs drought resistance in commercial cultivars of zoysiagrass. Interestingly, we also demonstrated that canopy mortality during drought can only be reliably assessed using image analyses shortly after rehydration. This is because severe leaf rolling occurs during drought, confounding leaf rolling with actual leaf mortality. This study advances our understanding of i) drought resistance across commercial cultivars of zoysiagrass and ii) potential methods to select drought-resistant cultivars in turfgrass breeding programs.

Speakers

Amanda Cardoso

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Funding Source This work was supported by the Research Capacity Fund (HATCH), project award no. 7003279, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education Board at NC State University.

2:45pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Evaluate the effects of photoselective shade nets on physiology and morphology of Zinnia (Zinnia elegans ‘Cherry Queen’)

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

Photo-selective shade nets substantially benefit ornamental plant production by mitigating excessive radiation, enhancing light diffusion, and promoting adequate ventilation. These nets establish favorable microclimates that optimize water utilization, thereby reducing plant water demand through physiological and environmental adjustments. Shade nets of different colors vary notably in their spectral distribution and light transmission characteristics, directly impacting plant morphology, physiology, and development. This study aimed to evaluate how different colored photo-selective shade nets influence physiological, morphological, and floral characteristics, as well as water usage, in Zinnia elegans ‘Cherry Queen’. We used four distinct shade net colors: blue, red, white, and black with 30% shade factor as treatments. The 107 cm x 61 cm shade structure was prepared using the PVC pipes with different colored shade nets wrapped around it. Seeds of zinnia were sown in a commercial substrate, Metro-Mix® 820, and kept on a misting bench. Following germination, the plugs were transplanted in a 3.6 L pot filled with the same commercial substrate and kept under four distinct color shade nets. Substrate moisture content was consistently maintained at 35% volumetric water content using an automated irrigation system using capacitance-based soil moisture sensor, ECH20 10HS from Meter Group. Black shade nets transmitted the least radiation across all wavelengths. Blue shade nets increased transmission in blue and green wavelengths while reducing red and far-red light transmission. Red shade nets enhanced red and far-red wavelength transmission, whereas white nets provided the highest overall radiation across all wavelengths. Morphologically, plants grown under red and white shade nets exhibited similar growth and floral characteristics to those under blue nets, and all showed improved growth compared to plants under black nets. Physiological responses, including photosynthetic assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and anthocyanin content measured via leaf spectrometry remained similar across all treatments. Water use per plant was highest under white shade nets, significantly exceeding usage under black nets but comparable to blue and red nets. Growers may prefer red or white shade nets for optimal growth and water efficiency, blue for balanced spectral quality, or black for reduced radiation needs.

Speakers

Anju Chaudhary

Utah State University

Co-authors

Shital Poudyal

Utah State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Poster # csv

2:45pm CDT

MKEC - Living Near A Greenhouse: Proximity and Perception

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT

Strand 12A

Perceptions of production agriculture vary from unconcerned to concerned. These positive and negative perceptions can be greater for green industry firms given many firms locate near urban areas. Using a nationally representative survey of 4,000 U.S. residents, this study examines respondent concern level for living near a food and plant producing greenhouse. Furthermore, we examine the role distance a respondent lives from a greenhouse plays in their concern level. We then breakdown concern levels for different production practices (e.g., water usage, energy use, noise pollution, light pollution, etc.) by distance a respondent lives from a greenhouse. Results indicate that distance lived plays a role in greenhouse concern level. Demographics also play a role in concern level. Greenhouse producers can use these results to better understand how their "neighbors" view their operations and what types of educational efforts may be needed when interacting with their community.

Speakers

Ben Campbell

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Poster # csv

2:45pm CDT

VCM 3 - Evaluating New Broccoli Cultivars: Effect of Planting Time on Growth and Yield in North Dakota

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT

Strand 11B

Small-scale growers face challenges in optimizing the quantity and quality of new broccoli cultivars due to shifting weather patterns and the prevalence of heat-sensitive cultivars. This study aims to identify high-performing cultivars and optimal planting dates for late spring to enhance the competitiveness of cool-season specialty crop growers in North Dakota. The research took place at the NDSU Horticulture Research Farm, near Absaraka, ND, to examine how planting time impacts cultivar performance through field experiments on four planting dates: May 1st, May 15th, June 1st, and June 15th. Early planting of broccoli, particularly in May, resulted in higher yields and better quality across all cultivars. Some cultivars outperformed others. 'Jacaranda' yielded significantly more than any other cultivar, which is a noteworthy. Conversely, 'Gypsy' and 'Monty' had yields similar to the standard cultivar 'Green Magic', while 'Purple Peacock' yielded less across all planting dates, indicating poor adaptation. Early planting benefited all broccoli cultivars, with later dates bringing higher temperatures that negatively impacted head formation and curd size across all cultivars. These elevated temperatures alter key physiological parameters, such as increased transpiration and vapor pressure deficit, while potentially reducing photosynthetic efficiency and stomatal conductance. The physiological changes induced by higher temperatures ultimately lead to accelerated maturation, smaller heads, and reduced overall yields. Notably, early planted broccoli potentially achieved up to 35% higher yields than late-planted crops. The findings provide valuable insights into the relationships between planting dates, temperature effects, and cultivar-specific responses, emphasizing the importance of these factors in maximizing yield and quality for cool-season specialty crop growers in the region.

Speakers

Ajay Dhukuchhu

Graduate Research Assistant, NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

I have developed a great interest in sustainable management practices improving the resiliency of agriculture and ecosystem services to sustain the food production system and ecosystem worldwide, which have long term support in sustainable development. And, I believe maintaining economic... Read More →

Co-authors

Harlene HattermanValenti

NDSU

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

2:45pm CDT

WUM 2 - Evaluating Nutrient Remediation and Growth of Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Luna Pink Swirl’ in Modified Raingarden Medias

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Runoff containing excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is detrimental to environmental and human health. Bioreactors are biological treatment systems that can be used to combat these problems, which often consist of a lined trench filled with a carbon-rich media (often woodchips) to promote biological remediation through denitrification and other processes. Various carbon-rich organic materials, such as woodchips and sugarcane bagasse (a byproduct of sugarcane production), can be used to fuel biological processes, whereas inorganic materials, such as expanded shale, can provide binding sites for P adsorption as well as physical stability within medias. Raingarden installations utilize similar concepts for trapping runoff water and remediating contaminants; however, the inclusion of ornamental plants provides aesthetic appeal, an important consideration in urban and suburban areas. Seven unique medias were evaluated to determine potential to a.) remediate N and P from runoff and b.) support plant life. An aged pine bark/sand media commonly used for landscape beds (bed mix; BM) served as the control. Organic carbon sources (woodchips (WC) and sugarcane bagasse (SB) to support bacterial communities) and several inorganic materials (including expanded shale (S) and activated aluminum (AA) to bind P) were blended with BM to provide potential enhancement of nutrient removal capabilities. Media blends were homogenized by hand before being transferred into media containers (MC; 2.36 L of substrate per container), wherein Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Luna Pink Swirl’ seedlings were transplanted. Pots were placed within plastic containers (leachate containers (LC)), which served as a collection receptacle for leachate. Simulated runoff water containing N and P was prepared and applied to each replicate, after which leachate was analyzed and collected as sub-samples. Simulated runoff applications were limited in the initial phase of the study (one application per week; three total) and intensified in the final phase (three applications per week; nine total), with all leachate volumes collected between applications. Health and growth of Hibiscus was assessed via SPAD readings, growth index, and destructive harvest at the termination of the study. While the growth of all Hibiscus replicates was generally equivalent between treatments, it was observed that BM amended with SB produced more shoot biomass. Additionally, leachate nutrient content and water chemistry dynamics were influenced by several of the investigated amendments.

Speakers

Brianna Slade

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Co-authors

Damon Abdi

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Jeb Fields

University of Florida

Jeff Kuehny

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center

Jeffrey Beasley

University of North Carolina - Pembroke

John Pardue

Louisiana State University

M.P. Hayes

Louisiana State University

Mysha Ahmed

Louisiana State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 2:45pm - 3:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Funding Source Environmental Protection Agency

3:00pm CDT

EcoPhys 1 - From Classic to Cutting-Edge: Optimizing Salinity Tolerance Detection in Brassica juncea

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT

Strand 11A

Salinity stress is a growing concern in agriculture, particularly as climate change accelerates soil salinization and limits freshwater availability. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of classic (low-throughput) versus high-throughput physiological phenotyping methods in detecting early salinity tolerance in Brassica juncea cultivars (‘Carolina Broadleaf’ and ‘Southern Giant Curl’). Traditional phenotyping relies on point measurements such as shoot biomass and leaf gas exchange, which, while valuable, are time-intensive, offer limited temporal resolution, and can be destructive. In contrast, high-throughput phenotyping enables continuous, real-time monitoring of plant physiological responses, providing a dynamic and detailed understanding of stress adaptation mechanisms. We conducted a 42-day experiment in a controlled greenhouse environment, exposing mustard green cultivars to three salinity treatments: control (0.397 dS/m), moderate salinity (10.81 dS/m, ~20% of seawater), and high salinity (24.93 dS/m, ~50% of seawater). The high-throughput PlantArray system was used to measure key physiological parameters, transpiration rates, and net plant weight gain, while traditional phenotyping involved weekly surveys of including stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence, and biomass accumulation. We found that high-throughput phenotyping allows for earlier and more precise detection of salinity tolerance. Classic methods confirmed significant reductions in biomass, with shoot fresh weight decreasing by up to 80% in high-salinity treatments, but these differences were only detectable at harvest and not before. In contrast, high-throughput phenotyping revealed early signs of osmotic adjustment within the first 20 days, as plants initially maintained transpiration before exhibiting a decline due to ion accumulation. ‘Carolina Broadleaf’ resist moderate salinity, maintaining growth comparable to the control for the first 20 days, suggesting that early harvesting could mitigate yield losses. Overall, this study underscores the advantages of high-throughput phenotyping in improving the precision and efficiency of breeding programs. By integrating continuous physiological measurements, this approach enables earlier and more informed selection of salt-tolerant cultivars, reducing time needed for tolerance screening. Future research should focus on expanding these methods to operational conditions and integrating genomic data to enhance genotype-environment modeling for stress adaptation.

Speakers

Raiza Castillo

University of Florida

Co-authors

Cross Heintzelman

University of Florida

Elias Bassil

University of Cyprus

Gerard Sapes

University of Florida

Laura Torres

University of Floridaa

Marylou Mantova

University of Florida

Melanie Correll

University of Florida

Neus Alcon Bou

University of Florida

William Hammond

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Ecological Physiology 1

Subject Ecological Physiology
Funding Source USDA SAS CEA: 2506-207-2015906
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

3:00pm CDT

FLOR 1 - Growing Opportunity: Enhancing Dahlia Production for Maryland's Small-Scale Farmers

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT

Strand 12B

Maryland’s cut flower industry represents an expanding sector within the broader U.S. horticultural market, currently valued at $6.69 billion with Maryland alone contributing significantly ($139 million in 2018). Recent surveys conducted at the 2025 Bay Area Fruit School and University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Small Farm Conference-2024 provided critical insights into the demographic diversity, interests, and barriers faced by Maryland cut flower growers. Survey results indicated a diverse population, with participants spanning various ages, experience levels, and farming backgrounds. The largest demographic segment (25%) ranged between 35-44 years, suggesting an active, economically productive age group interested in cut flower production. Notably, the survey underscored a strong existing interest, with half of the respondents expressing a high level of enthusiasm toward cultivating cut flowers. Despite this enthusiasm, significant barriers impede growth and expansion. Key limitations identified included a lack of expertise and technical knowledge (41.7%), limited availability of relevant workshops and training (33.3%), and restricted market access (37.5%). Other reported challenges comprised high production costs (29.2%), pest and disease management issues (25%), limited labor availability (20.8%), and environmental factors such as weather variability and soil conditions. Dahlias emerged from these findings as a particularly promising crop, offering distinct advantages for Maryland farmers, especially those with constrained resources. Due to their delicate blooms and brief vase life, dahlia imports into the U.S. are minimal, primarily limited to pompon varieties. This creates a substantial market gap and an opportunity for local growers to supply diverse, premium-quality blooms tailored to consumer preferences. Consumers increasingly favor locally grown, sustainably produced flowers, especially when sourced directly from local farms, enhancing market potential for dahlias. To enhance dahlia production in Maryland, growers should consider collaborative research trials and evaluations of variety selection, sustainable cultural practices, and integrated pest management strategies under varying conditions, including open fields and protected cultivation such as high tunnels. Developing specialized extension materials, hands-on workshops, and practical demonstrations can also significantly address existing knowledge gaps. Such focused, region-specific guidance and facilitation of access to lucrative markets would empower Maryland's small-scale growers to capitalize fully on the growing demand for locally produced specialty flowers, significantly enhancing their productivity, profitability, and long-term sustainability.

Speakers

Naveen Dixit

University of MD Eastern Shore

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Floriculture Floriculture 1

Subject Floriculture
Funding Source USDA-EIP

3:00pm CDT

MKEC - Identifying Boundaries of Profitability in Horticultural Production: Economic

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT

Strand 12A

As the human population grows in number and in urban locations, global food production will need scale to demand while concurrently minimizing its environmental impact. One possible answer for sustainably meeting future food demand is the adoption of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. CEA includes indoor, greenhouse, and other types of growing systems that allow for the control of light intensity and duration, temperature, and humidity. As a horticultural approach, CEA has the ability to reduce water use by 95% while occupying 90% less land than traditional field agriculture. CEA also improves growers’ control over crop quality, which contributes to premium prices, while improving yield and reducing waste. Despite this promise, the emergent CEA industry faces a critical challenge: achieving economic feasibility while improving its systemic environmental sustainability; a problem underscored by the energy-intensive nature of the controlled environment. Our study integrates production efficiency with economic and environmental evaluation using a combination of a bioeconomic modeling approach followed by a strategic profitability analysis as well as a life cycle analysis (LCA). A case study was used to develop the spatiotemporal model, integrating three modules: production, labor and economic performance. The model employs a mathematical framework to represent interactions between biological systems, technological settings, and the economic systems that exploit them, which allow for the identification of relationships and production patterns amongst variables. The model’s economic output was then evaluated using the DuPont equations: measures of asset turnover (return on assets [ROA]), leverage (return on equity [ROE]), and profitability (net income/sales). These key performance indicators framed our analysis of the sample farm’s financial health. Finally, the LCA evaluated the farm's externalities across environmental impact multiple categories. The LCA evaluates CEA’s built environment as well as production resource use. The analysis focused on 4 different varieties: romaine, pak choi, red radish and basil. Results show that economically, labor is the most significant operating expense (41%) and environmentally, the crop production stage is the most significant contributor environmentally (due to lighting and HVAC energy use). These results conclude that deployment of automation could improve the financial viability of CEA farms; while investing in energy efficient lighting could reduce CEA’s environmental impact.

Speakers

Megan Burritt

MSU

Co-authors

Liping Wang

University of Wyoming

Simone Valle de Souza

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - EAST LANSING,MI,USA

Sujit Dahal

University of Wyoming

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Marketing and Economics

Subject Marketing and Economics
Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture - Specialty Crop Research Initiative [grant no. 2019-51181-300]

3:00pm CDT

VCM 3 - Rhizome Growth Dynamics of High Tunnel Ginger in Virginia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT

Strand 11B

As a tropical crop, ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizomes will not fully mature inside high tunnels in Virginia. The objective of this study was to monitor the growth and development of ginger rhizomes throughout the season, as reflected in the fresh and dry weights. The ultimate goal was to determine the harvest time of rhizomes for profitable fresh and dry ginger. Ginger cultivars Bird, Blue Ring, Buffalo Gung, Chinese, Indian, Peruvian Yellow, Red, and Yellow were pre-sprouted in a greenhouse in mid-March of 2024. Sprouted ginger rhizomes were transplanted into raised beds in a 26’ x 150’ high tunnel on May 16, 2024, on Randolph Farm of Virginia State University. The in-row spacing was 1 ft. Monthly destructive samples of 3 plants/cultivar (one in each of the 3 replications) were conducted for fresh and dry weights. Cultivars differed in the rhizome fresh and dry weight over time. Fresh rhizome weight of cultivar Bird, Chinese, Indian, Peruvian Yellow and Yellow reached 0.5 lb/plant 3 months after transplanting (MAT). “Red” had significantly higher percentages of dry weight (> 8%) than other cultivars (< 6%) until 5 MAT, when other cultivars began to catch up. Pooling data from all cultivars, we found that ginger rhizomes will reach 0.5 lb/plant, which is a profitable yield, around 3 MAT. The percentage of dry weight remained low (5.3-5.7%) until 4 MAT, but the number spiked quickly to 8.3 % at 5 MAT and 13.4 at 6 MAT. Our results suggest that young ginger harvest can happen as early as 3 MAT. However, to harvest rhizome for dry ginger, 5 MATs are needed and harvest should occur at the end of season for maximal yield. “Red” is a unique cultivar. It has the lowest yield (1.3 lb/plant), but its percentage of dry weight remained high (8.2-8.8%) for 5 months, compared to all other cultivars (4.4-6.4%).

Speakers

Sanjun Gu

Virginia State University

Co-authors

Peter Coffey

Virginia State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management
Poster # csv

3:00pm CDT

WUM 2 - Evaluating Colorado Native Plants for Green Infrastructure: Survivability and Performance in Semi-Arid Bioretention and Green Roof Systems

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT

Foster 2

Green infrastructures, when implemented, need to consider the specifics of the local area and climate. The semi-arid climate along Colorado’s front range creates a challenge for plants in green infrastructure systems such as bioretention facilities and green roofs. These plants experience inundation and fast infiltration during rain events and long periods of hot and dry conditions between storms. To accommodate these periods of inundation and drought, Colorado native plants were evaluated due to their adaptation to the challenging conditions that occur in green infrastructure. The experiments in this study are intended to build upon existing work performed by our collaborators and funders Mile High Flood District, the City and County of Denver, and Colorado State University. We aim to improve green infrastructure facility design by using new bioretention media mixes, amended native soils with 5% compost (SSC) and amended native soils with biochar and zeolite (SBZ), green roof components/systems, new plant growth and establishment strategies, and lower irrigation regimes. In 2023 and 2024, data on plant survivability were collected from the bioretention facilities and the green roofs using 100 containerized and bare-root plants. The five native Colorado species selected were Agastache rupestris, Liatris ligulistylis, Amorpha canescens, Ratibida pinnata, and Schizachyrium scoparium. L. ligulistylis, in container, had a higher survival rate after one year on the green roof, on the other hand, it had a low survival rate after a year in the bioretention facilities. The bare-root L. ligulistylis had a higher survival rate, especially in the SSC media. A. canescens, bare-root, had a higher survival rate in the SSC media, while only 25% survived in the SBZ media. All other species overwintered and grew larger the second year on the green roof and bioretention facilities. The Colorado native plants tolerated challenging conditions better than the nonnative plants in the surrounding area.

Speakers

Amanda Salerno

Colorado State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:00pm - 3:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Poster # csv

3:15pm CDT

VCM 3 - The nitrogen requirement for Sweet Corn in the Columbia Basin

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:15pm - 3:30pm CDT

Strand 11B

Sweet corn is one of the important high-value crops in the Columbia Basin, and it requires a significant amount of nitrogen (N) input to achieve the optimal yield target. However, with many varieties planted, the N requirements should be evaluated to ensure the economic and environmental sustainability. In a field trial conducted from May to August in Hermiston, OR, six sweet corn varieties were tested under six nitrogen application rates (ranging from 0 to 308 kg N/ha). The results showed that the optimal N rate for maximizing corn yield and marketable ear number was approximately 247 kg/ha across all tested varieties. Among the varieties, Driver R and Sorel produced the highest yields, the most marketable ears, and relatively longer ear lengths, while Turbine had the lowest yield. Megaton had the highest proportion of non-marketable yield, which may reduce its marketable value, although it produced the longest cobs. Multiple-year evaluation is needed to develop a conclusive recommendation for nitrogen fertilization of sweet corn in the region.

Speakers

Ruijun Qin

Oregon State University

Co-authors

Haoyang Lyu

Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:15pm - 3:30pm CDT
Strand 11B

Oral presentation, Vegetable Crops Management 3

Subject Vegetable Crops Management

3:15pm CDT

WUM 2 - Partitioning Evapotranspiration in a Young Pistachio Orchard Using the Conditional Eddy Covariance (CEC) Method in the Mesilla Valley, NM

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:15pm - 3:30pm CDT

Foster 2

Understanding the partitioning of evapotranspiration (ET) into soil evaporation and plant transpiration is critical for improving irrigation management in young orchards with limited canopy cover. This study focuses on partitioning ET in a 4-year-old drip irrigated pistachio orchard located in the Mesilla Valley, Southern New Mexico, using the Conditional Eddy Covariance (CEC) method. The orchard is equipped with a high-frequency eddy covariance system along with sensors to make meteorological measurements. The CEC approach was applied to identify and isolate flux contributions under specific atmospheric conditions, thereby separating transpiration-driven and evaporation-driven fluxes. The CEC separates fluxes using conditional sampling based on the hypothesis that when transpiration is dominant, CO₂ and H₂O fluxes should be highly correlated. Preliminary results show that the total ET values measured from June to August varied between 1.5 and 4.5 mm/day, with about 20% contributed through transpiration from the plants in the year 2024.

Speakers

Uduwarage Perera

New Mexico State University

Co-authors

A. Salim Bawazir

New Mexico State University

Alexander Fernald

New Mexico State University

Chris Chavez

New Mexico State University

Richard Heerema

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:15pm - 3:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Funding Source SWF: USDA NIFA Award No. 2021-69012-35916, USDA-NIFA-SCRI-2022-51181-38327

3:30pm CDT

WUM 2 - Seasonal Water Use and Yield Productivity: Comparing Organic vs. Conventional Iceberg Lettuce with Different Irrigation Scheduling Strategies under Surface Drip Irrigation in Yuma, Arizona

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:30pm - 3:45pm CDT

Foster 2

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a key winter vegetable with significant consumptive water use in the Lower Colorado River Basin, especially in Yuma, AZ. Generally, lettuce requires about 300 – 400 mm to produce a desirable crop, which can vary significantly depending on irrigation method, soil type, field slope, temperatures, and planting window. However, the magnitude of the quantified differences in seasonal evapotranspiration and crop water productivity among different irrigation scheduling strategies under the subsurface drip irrigation method for organic vs. conventional iceberg lettuce production systems has not been sufficiently investigated. Field experiments were conducted in the fall 2024 growing season at the Valley Research Center at the University of Arizona Yuma Agricultural Center, Yuma, Arizona. This project was conducted in a one-acre field (half-acre organic field and the other half conventional field) under the subsurface drip irrigation method with two irrigation scheduling strategies (sensor-based irrigation (SI) and traditional irrigation (TI) based on growers' standard decision basis that is common in the Yuma area. The field was planted with the iceberg lettuce variety SVLD0023 on October 29th, 2024, on Gadsden clay loam soil. The fertilizer treatments imposed included (1) organic fertilizer, (2) combined biostimulant and organic fertilizer in an organic lettuce field, (3) nitrogen, and (4) combined biostimulant and nitrogen in a conventional lettuce field. Each treatment was replicated three times within each experimental block. Each experimental unit had three beds, and each bed was approximately 120 feet long and 3.5 feet wide, with a randomized complete block design. The objectives of this project include: (1) quantify and compare the seasonal iceberg lettuce evapotranspiration between organic and conventional iceberg lettuce production systems, (2) measure and compare the crop water productivity, and irrigation water use efficiency between two irrigation scheduling strategies for organic and conventional iceberg lettuce production systems, and (3) quantify and compare improvements in soil water retention under the combined application of biostimulant and organic fertilizers in organic lettuce versus the combined application of biostimulant and nitrogen in conventional lettuce. Data collection is currently in progress and will be analyzed in a manner consistent with the experimental design and the objectives of the study. Results will be presented with preliminary conclusions and directions for further research.

Speakers

Ali Mohammed

University of Arizona/Yuma Ag Center

Dr. Ali Mohammed is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona, based at the Yuma Agricultural Center. His work focuses on advancing sustainable organic agricultural practices in arid desert regions and holds statewide... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:30pm - 3:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Water Utilization and Management 2

Subject Water Utilization and Management
Poster # csv

3:59pm CDT

CE 4 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

Presiding/Moderator

Neil Mattson

Cornell University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments

3:59pm CDT

HIH - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT

Strand 11A

Presiding/Moderator

Elizabeth Diehl

Director of Therapeutic Horticulture, University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture

3:59pm CDT

OPB - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT

Strand 12A

Presiding/Moderator

Navdeep Kaur

Texas A&M University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding

3:59pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT

Foster 1

Presiding/Moderator

Guo-qing Song

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology

3:59pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Oral Session

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Presiding/Moderator

Chris Marble

University of Florida/IFAS

Wednesday July 30, 2025 3:59pm - 4:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management

4:00pm CDT

CE 4 - Multimodal Deep Learning for Lettuce Growth Forecasting to Enhance Resource Use Efficiency in CEA

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT

Strand 12B

Regulating the microclimate to achieve the desired crop quality and yield demands substantial resource consumption, making it essential to optimize resource use. AI models can be used to forecast future plant development based on microclimate conditions, allowing controllers to preemptively adjust climate settings to optimize growth and resource consumption. However, the current paradigm of microclimate controller lacks AI-assisted feedback to predict how crops respond to dynamic climate conditions (crop × environment interactions). Thus, there is an urgent need to develop an AI-assisted predictive analytics system that can support decision-making processes. This study presents a multimodal deep learning approach for forecasting lettuce growth in CEA using both microclimate (aerial and rootzone) and early-stage plant image data. We employed Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to model the temporal dependencies of microclimate variables such as temperature, humidity, and light intensity. Further, we integrated image and microclimate data into the multimodal growth predictor to enhance T-days ahead prediction accuracy by capturing visual and temporal cues of plant growth and development. The model effectively predicted the lettuce growth trend using multimodal data, achieving high accuracy in its forecasts for the next few days. The combined use of LSTM and image data provides an efficient framework for forecasting lettuce growth, offering valuable insights for optimizing resource use in CEA.

Speakers

Azlan Zahid

Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

AI and Robotics for CEA

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

4:00pm CDT

HIH - Using Nearby Nature to Increase Health

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT

Strand 11A

The role of nature in improving health is being explored in a growing number of healthcare fields. At the University of Florida, programs using nature-based interventions include physical medicine and rehabilitation, oncology, addiction recovery, Parkinson’s Disease, mental health, and autism, among others. These expanding program opportunities are slowly but steadily moving nature into the domain of public health. Some of the more recognizable examples of this trend are therapeutic gardens and nature prescriptions but there are many other ways to use nature to boost health in cities around the world. Spending time in green spaces (plant-dominated) and blue spaces (water-dominated) is linked to improved life satisfaction, reduced anxiety, and increased happiness. Nature exists on a spectrum and whether experiencing ‘big’ nature or ‘micro’ nature, high quality contact generates an increase in positive emotions and feelings of vitality, a decrease in negative emotions, relief from mental fatigue, and an improvement in our attention span. This presentation will explore research that highlights the health benefits of nature interaction, the primary components of high-quality nature experiences, and the key factors in connecting people and nature.

Speakers

Elizabeth Diehl

Director of Therapeutic Horticulture, University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture

4:00pm CDT

OPB - Loropetalum Genome Size Survey

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT

Strand 12A

Loropetalum chinense, is a popular ornamental shrub known for its distinctive flowers and foliage color. Due to its aesthetic appeal and adaptability, Loropetalum is widely used in landscaping and has become an important crop for U.S. nurseries. However, limited understanding of genetic diversity among cultivars presents challenges for breeding efforts, as genome size and ploidy levels play a crucial role in hybridization success and in determining phenotypic traits such as flower size, color, and plant vigor. This study aimed to measure the ploidy levels and relative genome sizes of a wide range of Loropetalum cultivars in the U.S. to inform future breeding strategies. Flow cytometry was used to determine genome size and estimated ploidy, and chromosome countings were performed to validate the ploidy data. A total of 33 accessions were inspected, with 32 found to be diploids and one triploid. The 1Cx genome size ranged from 2.42 to 3.06 pg across cultivars. These results provide a foundational knowledge on ploidy and genome size variation in the Loropetalum germplasm that would benefit future Loropetalum breeding decisions.

Speakers

Rick Shih

North Carolina State University

Co-authors

Hsuan Chen

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding
Poster # csv

4:00pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × anannassa duch.) with GFP visual selection

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT

Foster 1

The origin of the cultivated strawberry traces to the 1700s, when representatives of the octoploids F. chiloensis and F. virginiana – previously brought to Europe from South and North America, respectively – were grown in proximity in European horticultural gardens. Cross-pollination produced hybrids that were quickly recognized for their unique and desirable combinations of morphological and fruit characteristics and were brought into cultivation and breeding (Hancock 1999). Traditional breeding objectives are the following (Rosati 1993): a production of relatively large berry size in order to limit the cost of harvest, a firmer fruit with regular shape and long shelf life, which is easy to harvest, an increase in the total yield, an improvement in fruit appearance (color, shape, brightness), and disease resistances. The recent origin makes F. ananassa one of the youngest of contemporary crop species. Bottle neck existing in strawberry traditional breeding is that it is difficult to manipulate single genes to control strawberry characteristics, modern genetic transformation and genome editing technology provide promising ways for single gene control in strawberry. Diploid strawberry transformation has been reported, limited report was available for transformation of octoploid cultivated strawberry. We report an efficient Agrobacterium mediated strawberry transformation system with the aid of GFP visual selection. First three open leaves from 4 weeks old in vitro plants were harvested, and leaflets were separated from each other and inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens GAV3101 contains a binary vector with GFP and hygromycin resistance genes. Transgenic callus and shoots obtained with GFP visual selection with high efficiency. PCR double check proved transgenes in transgenic plants. Transgenic plants are phenotyping in the greenhouse.

Speakers

Kedong Ka

North Carolina State University

Director of plant transformation lab at North Carolina State University

Co-authors

Anna Nelson

North Carolina State University

debao huang

NCSU

Huani Leng

North Carolina State University

Seth Cockman

North Carolina State University

Sydney McLennan

North Carolina State University

Tianbao Yang

USDA-ARS

Wusheng Liu

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv
Funding Source USDA-ARS
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

4:00pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Effect of seed placement on the efficacy of rice hulls for control of 5 common nursery weed species

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT

Foster 2

Many types of mulch have been shown to reduce weed growth in container crops. In the past, mulch use in nurseries was not as feasible due to its high cost, but as costs of hand weeding increase, labor shortages become more severe, and environmental awareness rises, utilization of mulch has become more popular in recent years. Parboiled rice hulls are a waste product of the rice industry and are dry rice husks removed from rice grains. They are light weight, hydrophobic and make for an ideal mulch choice in container nursery production and have been previously evaluated for use as a weed management tool in container nurseries. However, research was typically conducted on a limited number of species and studies were performed in greenhouses or other protected structures. The objective of this research was to evaluate rice hulls for control of five common nursery species in an outdoor environment in Florida during the summer season. Nursery pots (1.7 L) were filled with a standard pinebark based potting soil and amended with standard control release fertilizers via incorporation. Upon filling, pots received one of three levels of rice hulls, 0 cm or the non-treated control, 1.3 cm, or 2.5 cm. To test efficacy, approximately 30 seeds of crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), doveweed (Murdannia nudiflora), longstalk Phyllanthus (Phyllanthus tenellus), spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata), or eclipta (Eclipta prostrata) were sown either above or below the rice hull mulch layers mentioned above. Data collected included weed coverage ratings (0 to 100%) at 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks after planting (WAP) and shoot dry weights at 12 WAP. Few differences were observed among the different depths of mulch when seeds were placed below. For seeds placed on top of the mulch, the higher 2.5 cm depth generally provided greater control. For all 5 weed species, control significantly increased when seeds were placed on top of the mulch compared to seeds beneath the mulch layer. Control, as measured by a percent reduction in shoot weight compared to the non-mulched control, ranged from 80 to 100% for seeds placed on top compared with decreases of 0 to 40% when seeds were placed below mulch. Overall, data suggest that because rice hulls are more effective on weed seeds placed on top of the mulch layer, growers would likely see increased efficacy when mulching as soon as possible after potting.

Speakers

Chris Marble

University of Florida/IFAS

Co-authors

Yuvraj Khamare

The University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:00pm - 4:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Funding Source Horticulture Research Institute

4:15pm CDT

CE 4 - Comparison of AI-driven and conventional climate control strategies for greenhouse tomato production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT

Strand 12B

Greenhouse tomato production with high-wire system and indeterminate tomato cultivars facilitates year-round production with high quality and productivity. However, maintaining optimal climate conditions in greenhouse is expensive due to high operational costs. Optimizing climate control strategies requires in-depth understanding of controlling systems, outdoor climate, and plant physiology. But skilled and experienced growers may not always be available. Artificial intelligent-driven climate control (AI) has been emerged as a potential solution. Yet, few trials have conducted, which may not be at an equivalent scale as the industry and following the industry standard. To address this gap, we compared AI and conventional climate control strategies (human decision-based; CV) for greenhouse tomato production in two identical high-tech greenhouse compartments (namely, AI and CV each with 481.7 m²) over 145 days after the final transplanting with management practices established by commercial growers. Each compartment had 420 plants of the indeterminant cultivar Maxxiany at a planting density of 3 plants m⁻². The AI algorithms were developed using datasets from commercial growers and a digital twin via physiology-informed neural network (photosynthesis and transpiration modules). Leaf pruning in AI was determined based on weekly light integral below canopy (Kim and Kubota, 2025), while CV followed conventional pruning based on harvesting trusses. To evaluate the performance of AI, parameters for crop development, yield, and fruit quality were collected in addition to environmental conditions and resource usage for lighting, cooling, heating, and fertigation. AI maintained relatively higher day and night temperature with high heating pipes temperature and keeping windows closed. AI also resulted in more leaves within canopy from fewer leaf pruning compared to CV. Those contributed to increase in cumulative irrigation volume (936 vs. 785 l m⁻² for AI and CV) and thus total fertilizer use (878 vs. 639 g m⁻²). AI used more natural gas for heating (190 vs.79 MJ m⁻²) and more electricity for supplemental lighting (91.4 vs. 80.4 kWh m⁻²). However, AI had higher cumulative yield (9.3 ± 0.3 vs. 8.5 ± 0.3 kg m⁻²) and greater PAR-based productivity (grams of fruits per PAR mol; 4.1 vs 3.6 g mol⁻¹). These findings suggest that AI increased resources use (water, fertilizer, natural gas, and electricity) but also resulted in higher yields as a trade-off. Further optimization of AI’s algorithms regarding fertigation and heating strategies may improve economic feasibility of AI application in greenhouse tomato production.

Speakers

Changhyeon Kim

University of Connecticut

Co-authors

Chieri Kubota

The Ohio State University

Kenneth Tran

Koidra Inc.

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Funding Source This project is supported by the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (grant no. 2022-51181-38324, Project ADVANCEA) from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Funding Option SCRI funded all or part of the research associated with this abstract

4:15pm CDT

HIH - Indigenous Perceptions Of Agrivoltaics In The Navajo Nation: Insights From A Community-Based Assessment

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT

Strand 11A

The dissemination of agrivoltaic technology within Indigenous communities remains insufficiently understood, posing significant challenges to its successful implementation. As agrivoltaic systems continue to expand across the United States, it is imperative to examine how different social groups perceive and accept this technology. The Navajo Nation, the largest Indigenous tribe in the U.S., spans the Four Corners region, with the San Juan River Valley serving as a critical agricultural hub. To evaluate the feasibility of agrivoltaic adoption within this context, a sub-study was conducted as part of a broader Indigenous farmers’ needs assessment, focusing specifically on Navajo farmers in the San Juan River Valley. This study employed a qualitative survey consisting of eight binary-response questions to assess participants' knowledge of and interest in agrivoltaics. Results indicate that only 6% (n=126) of respondents were previously familiar with agrivoltaics, yet 88% expressed interest in learning more about the technology upon receiving an explanation. Furthermore, 73% of respondents were interested in exploring the use of photovoltaic systems to support their farms’ energy needs, although only 12% had prior experience with solar energy systems, underscoring key barriers to adoption. These findings suggest that agrivoltaic systems hold promise as a strategy for enhancing both local support for renewable energy development and food security within the Navajo Nation. However, significant knowledge gaps and limited technical expertise present obstacles to widespread implementation. The results emphasize the necessity of targeted educational and training programs to facilitate the successful integration of agrivoltaic systems. Without such efforts, adoption may remain limited due to a lack of familiarity and technical proficiency. Ultimately, this research underscores the potential for agrivoltaics to contribute to sustainable agricultural practices and renewable energy expansion within the Navajo Nation, highlighting the critical role of knowledge transfer and capacity-building initiatives in ensuring long-term success.

Speakers

Emiliano McLane

New Mexico State University

Emiliano McLane (Newe) is from the Tosawihi clan of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone and was primarily raised on the South Fork Indian Reservation near Jiggs, Nevada. He is also a descendant of the Pomo, Wailaki, and Nomlaki tribes and spent part of his upbringing on his father’s... Read More →

Co-authors

Don Edgar

New Mexico State University

Kevin Lombard

New Mexico State University

Kevin Lombard is a Professor of Horticulture and Research Director of the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, a 250 acre research farm uniquely located on the Navajo Nation. His research encompasses specialty crop evaluations including grapes, fruit... Read More →

Olga Lavrova

New Mexico State University

Shannon Norris Parish

New Mexico State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture

4:15pm CDT

OPB - Bridging Breeding and Design: An Innovative Model for Anthurium Cut Flower Varietal Development

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT

Strand 12A

The University of Hawaii's anthurium breeding program established a partnership with floral design professionals, transitioning from informal collaboration in 2016 to a formalized Professional Advisory Team (PAT) in 2021. This collaboration integrates established phenotypic selection practices with artistic design expertise to enhance new variety development. The PAT, comprising influential floral designers and growers, provides essential feedback on spathe and spadix color, conformation, and size at the early flowering stage, directly influencing breeding decisions, such as advancement to cloning and field evaluation, thereby ensuring market relevance. By incorporating designer insights from the seedling stage through advanced testing, the program prioritizes selection based on perceived market demands. Grower feedback during field testing focuses on plant vigor, pest and disease resistance, ease of shipping and customer acceptance. The breeding program released three new cultivars developed with the model, at national floral design events, including the AIFD symposium and Fresh Floral Expo; social media and trade publications covered the varietal release events. Integrating grower feedback, a long-standing practice, with the new design-focused evaluations strengthens the breeding program’s ability to produce new varieties which meet the needs of growers, designers, and consumers.

Speakers

Teresita Amore

University of Hawaii

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding
Poster # csv

4:15pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Functional analysis of blueberry TFL1 and FD using RNAi

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT

Foster 1

Flowering plays a crucial role in blueberry production since fruits develop from flowers. In plants, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1), which interact with the bZIP transcription factor FD, are central regulators of flowering. This study investigates the roles of their homologs in blueberries, VcTFL1 and VcFD, using RNA interference (RNAi) to silence these genes. Two RNAi constructs, VcFD-RNAi and VcTFL1-RNAi, were introduced into the northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivar ‘Aurora’ via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Phenotypic analysis of first-generation (T0) transgenic plants accessed flowering time, architecture, fruit and leaf bud development, plant height, and branching. Preliminary results revealed that VcFD-RNAi plants produced fewer shoots, while VcTFL1-RNAi plants exhibited reduced branching per shoot compared to nontransgenic ‘Aurora’ controls. Significant differences in leaf bud number were also observed between nontransgenic and transgenic lines. VcFD-RNAi plants were smaller than nontransgenic ‘Aurora’ plants, whereas no significant size difference was detected between VcTFL1-RNAi and wild-type plants. Transcriptomic comparisons between nontransgenic ‘Aurora’ and transgenic lines revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The VcFD-RNAi vs. nontransgenic ‘Aurora’ identified 2,108 DEGs, including 49 flowering-related genes, 116 genes hormone pathway genes, and 57 sugar metabolism genes. Similarly, the VcTFL1-RNAi vs. nontransgenic ‘Aurora’ uncovered 2,030 DEGs, with 52 flowering-related, 111 hormone-related, and 55 sugar-metabolism-associated genes. Ongoing analyses of these DEGs aim to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying VcFD- and VcTFL1-mediated flowering regulation of flowering and development in blueberry. This study will reveal the functional roles of VcFD and VcTFL1, offering potential targets for genetic improvement of blueberry architecture and yield.

Speakers

Jirapa Jaikham

Michigan State University

Co-authors

Guo-qing Song

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv

4:15pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Comparison of Postemergence Herbicide Efficacies Under Elevated and Normal Temperature for Controlling Large Crabgrass in Ornamental Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT

Foster 2

Elevated temperatures can intensify weed issues by accelerating weed growth and germination, especially for C4 species, due to their heat tolerance and efficient carbon fixations, making their control more challenging. Temperature also influences herbicide absorption, translocation, and metabolism. Large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), a highly problematic C4 weed, poses a significant threat to nursery and field-grown ornamentals under these conditions. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of postemergence herbicides at different rates (0.5X, 1X, 2X) under normal and elevated temperatures for managing large crabgrass in ornamental production. Experiments were conducted in summer and fall 2024 using a growth chamber and an open hoop house setup. Large crabgrass seeds were sown in pots filled with standard substrate, irrigated, and placed in separate growth chambers where temperatures were maintained at normal (22–28°C) and at 2-5°C above the species’ optimum range (28-34°C). Once weeds reached the 3–6 leaf stage, they were transferred to an open hoop house for herbicide application. Postemergence herbicides such as topramezone and glyphosate were applied at 0.5X, 1X, and 2X rates using a CO₂ backpack sprayer. After the restricted entry interval, treated weeds were placed back to their respective growth chambers and maintained there for four weeks. A control treatment without herbicide application was maintained in both growth chambers. Weed control ratings were visually assessed at 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after treatment (WAT) using a 0–10 scale, where 0 = no control (green foliage, upright growth, no damage) and 10 = complete plant death (dark brown foliage, no green tissue, collapsed structure)). At 4 WAT, all weeds were harvested, and dry weight of aboveground parts of weed was recorded. The experiment followed a completely randomized design with eight replications per treatment and was repeated twice. Data were analyzed using ANOVA in SAS 9.4, and treatment means were separated using Fisher’s LSD test. The results showed that at 4 WAT glyphosate weed control efficacy at normal temperature was 88% which reduced to 73% under elevated temperature condition. Whereas the high temperature increased topramezone efficacy by 10%. The lowest amount of weed dry weight was observed at 2X rates in high temperature conditions, but no difference was observed among rates at normal temperature. Hence it can be concluded that with an increase in temperature, higher rates of the tested herbicides will be required for effective weed management in ornamentals.

Speakers

Supti Saha Mou

Michigan State University

Co-authors

Debalina Saha

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:15pm - 4:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Poster # csv

4:30pm CDT

CE 4 - Forecasting Plant Growth Patterns Dynamics in Controlled Environment Agriculture through Vision-Based Phenotyping and Time-Series Modeling

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT

Strand 12B

In controlled environment agriculture (CEA), accurate yield forecasting remains challenging due to reliance on environmental sensor data, which fails to capture plants’ dynamic morphological responses to growth conditions. This study bridges the gap by establishing a vision-based framework to forecast plant growth dynamics through automated phenotyping and time-series modeling. A plant phenotype monitoring framework was implemented using commercially available cameras and off-the-shelf deep learning-based models (YOLO). The robustness of the YOLO and time-series models was evaluated under various treatment conditions, including salt stress and variations in root architecture, in hydroponic greenhouse trials across two seasons. Top-view images of the plants were collected using GoPro and Raspberry Pi cameras, and different YOLOv8 instance segmentation model variants were trained on four image datasets to extraction of morphological traits such as area, major, and minor axes. Results indicated that YOLOv8 generalized well, achieving mAP50 for bounding boxes and masks in the range of 0.897 – 0.952 and 0.896 – 0.947, respectively. Plants with split root systems exhibited superior growth under the highest salt stress levels compared to single-root systems. Comparisons between physical measurements and image-derived parameters such as major and minor axes yielded high R² values of 0.85 and 0.92 for single-root systems, and 0.90 and 0.84 for split root systems. Additionally, the area parameter obtained from images showed an R² of 0.882 when compared with plant fresh weight. Area parameters were forecasted using an ARIMA model over 2-, 4-, and 8-day windows, evaluated using MAPE. The lowest MAPE values (3.99 in the fall and 1.70 in the spring) were attained by single-root plants under salt stress when projected for two days. The forecasted area values demonstrated R² values of 0.623, 0.671, and 0.75 for the 2-, 4-, and 8-day forecast windows respectively when compared with fresh weight, indicating that the area parameter is a reliable predictor of yield. These findings confirm that morphological changes capture environmental influences and can be reliably forecasted, introducing a scalable, data-driven method to predict yield in CEA while helping growers optimize resource usage and reduce productivity risks.

Speakers

Md Hasibur Rahman

Auburn University

Co-authors

Tanzeel Rehman

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

4:30pm CDT

HIH - The effect of a school gardening program on horticultural career interest, environmental locus of control, and climate anxiety among elementary-aged students

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT

Strand 11A

Climate anxiety among children is on the rise and research shows that discussing the issues and empowering youth are some ways to approach the issue. Historically, school gardens were used to teach children many subjects while addressing environmental issues and while fostering a love of plants and ecosystems. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of a 10-week outdoor, after-school youth gardening education program for first through third-grade students, specifically evaluating the effects on horticulture interest, environmental locus of control, and climate anxiety before and after participation in the program. The treatment group participated in an outdoor gardening program that involved hands-on learning related to growing plants and providing sustainable habitats while working through measures to create a National Wildlife Schoolyard Habitat as well as a recognized San Marcos Certified Habitat Stewardship Program landscape. The control group participated in the pre- and post-survey only and was not a part of the outdoor gardening or wildlife certification program, but was involved in other after-school activities offered at the elementary school. The survey questions were adopted from pre-determined, reliable, and valid instruments as well as adjusted for reading levels. Surveys utilized 5-point Likert scale questions with answer options employing emoticons that ranged from happy to sad. Pre- and post-survey data was analyzed through The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests and descriptive statistics. Data from this study determined the potential for school programs to increase horticultural interest in schools while empowering youth to make positive environmental action.

Speakers

Mackenzie Bark

Texas State University

Co-authors

Tina Waliczek Cade

Texas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture

4:30pm CDT

OPB - Genomics and phenomics variation of dwarf gladiolus for the potted plant market

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT

Strand 12A

Gladiolus(-i), Gladiolus ×hybridus (Iridaceae), is a tetraploid, asexually-propagated, herbaceous perennial floricultural crop. Gladiolus is in the top five cut flower crops in the world for use in floral design. Despite their ability to widely intercross with dwarf stature wild type species, gladiolus have not been developed for the potted plant market. The objective of this analysis is to identify potential genetic marker(s) related to dwarfism to direct future breeding efforts towards the gladiolus potted plant market. In this study we examine 2,662 unique gladiolus cultivars and numbered selections using DNA marker-based analysis. Samples were collected from the public (University of Minnesota) and private (Meyer, Otto) sector gladiolus breeding programs in Minnesota and elsewhere in Europe. A total of 194 dwarfs (90cm) genotypes were identified in our analysis. Dwarfs were defined as being less than 90cm in height of the entire plant including inflorescence at first bloom. Population genetic diversity was analyzed using 17,556 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) low-density markers using DArTseq technology. After filtering call rates at the 95% level a total of 2,026 SNPs remained, separating genotypes into 177 dwarfs and 2,235 standard individuals. No private alleles were found when comparing dwarfs to standards. When we narrowed the definition of dwarf to those

Speakers

Marie Abbey

University of Minnesota

Marie Abbey is a researcher at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Science department. She has studied perceptions of biotechnology, invasive plant species, and aquaponics. Her current research is in flower breeding and molecular genetics.

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding
Poster # csv
Funding Source MN Agricultural Experiment Station

4:30pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Chitosan-dsRNA Nanocomplex: A Stable and Effective sprayable RNAi-based Solution for Fungicides Resistant B. cinerea Management

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT

Foster 1

Botrytis cinerea is the second most economically important fungal phytopathogen causing gray mold disease. Multiple fungicide-resistant B. cinerea strains have also been reported, especially in strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and tomatoes. RNA interference (RNAi) is a post-transcriptional gene silencing mechanism in all known eukaryotes. The exogenous application of dsRNAs to knock down the target organism's essential genes is called spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS). This non-transgenic SIGS-based approach has emerged as an appealing alternative biofungicide. Despite the great potential of sprayable RNAi-based pesticides, this innovative technology encountered challenges. The low stability and the limited uptake efficiency of dsRNA are significant challenges facing SIGS. Nanomaterials-based delivery systems and structured modification of dsRNA molecules could be innovative SIGS approaches for improving its stability, uptake efficiency, and biofungicidal efficacy. This study aims to develop sprayable RNAi (SIGS) solutions by modifying dsRNA structure and using chitosan-based nanoparticles to control fungicide-resistant B. cinerea. Chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) were generated using ionic gelation, and different forms of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), either linear or secondary-structured, were loaded into them. The positive charges from the amine groups present in chitosan facilitated the self-assembly of the CNPs-dsRNA complex through electrostatic attraction. The stability of CNPs-dsRNAs complexes was evaluated ex-vivo by incubating naked-dsRNAs and complex-dsRNAs with the RNase A. Gel retardation assay revealed that CNPs-dsRNA complex of either linear or secondary structured-dsRNAs exhibited substantial protection of dsRNA from RNase A degradation for up to 72 hours, suggesting its potential for improving stability and long-lasting efficacy. The CNPs-dsRNAs significantly reduced the mycelial growth of wild-type and fungicide-resistant B. cinerea isolates. The results from this study indicated that chitosan-based polymer could be an effective delivery technology for both linear and secondary-structured dsRNA and hold great promise for the management of gray mold diseases.

Speakers

Md Al Mamun

University of Tennessee

Co-authors

Tabibul Islam

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv

4:30pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Implementing Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation On-farm for the Management of Soilborne Pests and Pathogens in High Tunnel Production Systems

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT

Foster 2

Intensive cultivation in high tunnel production systems is leading to the emergence of soilborne pest and pathogen issues which over time can compromise crop productivity and profitability. Growers facing such challenges are in search of sustainable and effective solutions capable of suppressing soilborne pests and pathogens while preserving soil health. Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is a broad-spectrum pre-planting biological approach proposed for the management of soilborne issues affecting high-value specialty crops. ASD is applied by incorporating in the soil readily labile organic amendments as a carbon (C) source, tarping the soil with an impermeable film, and irrigating the soil to saturation. Although ASD already proved to be effective against a range of soilborne pests and pathogens across different US regions, crops, and production systems, its adoption at commercial scale remains relatively limited. Factors hindering the adoption of ASD include application cost, complexity of microbial driven processes, and lack of knowledge of the method, its implementation steps, and its efficacy and benefits. Capitalizing on over six years of research aimed at optimizing the ASD application method and its integration in high tunnel production systems in Pennsylvania, a series of on-farm ASD applications were conducted over the 2023 and 2024 growing season with the purpose of demonstrating the technology and let growers evaluate first-hand its viability and efficacy. The on-farm trials were conducted on selected farms growing vegetables and small-berries in high tunnels and employing both conventional and organic production methods. Raised-bed and broadcast application were tested along with the use of clear and black film. Wheat middlings alone or in combination with feed-grade sugarcane molasses were tested as C sources testing different soil incorporation equipment and methods. Depending on the specific crop system, and the grower planting schedule, ASD was applied between the end of the Spring (before a late high tunnel crop planting) and mid-October (after an early high tunnel crop). Parameters measured included soil redox potential, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity and mineral nitrogen. The level of anaerobiosis achieved varied depending on the amount of labile carbon applied, the type of tarp used, and the temperature levels achieved. High levels of cumulative soil redox potential were achieved and the use of clear film allowed to achieve relatively higher soil temperatures and cumulative redox potential levels in most on-farm applications. Additional demonstration efforts are needed to facilitate the adoption of ASD and demonstrate its efficacy.

Speakers

Francesco Di Gioia

Pennsylvania State University

Co-authors

Beth Gugino

Pennsylvania State University

Caterina Roman

Pennsylvania State University

Claudia Schmidt

Pennsylvania State University

Erin Rosskopf

USDA-ARS U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory

Joe Ono-Raphel

Pennsylvania State University

Kathy Demchak

Pennsylvania State University

Leah Fronk

Penn State Extension

Mihail Kantor

Pennsylvania State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Funding Source USDA-NIFA, Organic Research and Extension Initiative Grant # 2021-51300-34914, the USDA NIFA Crop Protection and Pest Management Grant #2021-70006-3531, and the USDA-NIFA Organic Transition Program Grant #2024-51106-43166.

4:45pm CDT

CE 4 - Chlorophyll Fluorescence Estimation Using Machine Learning for Dynamic Supplemental LED Control

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

Efficient supplemental lighting control is crucial for optimizing crop productivity and energy use in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). While environmental factors such as temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration significantly influence photosynthesis, current lighting control strategies rely solely on ambient sunlight levels. To address this limitation, a chlorophyll fluorescence (CF)-based biofeedback system has been proposed to dynamically adjust LED light intensities based on real-time photosynthetic responses. However, frequent CF measurements using pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometers can induce severe photoinhibition due to repetitive saturating light pulses, limiting long-term application. This study explores an alternative approach by developing a machine learning model to estimate the quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII) from environmental parameters, eliminating the need for the fluorometer and continuous physical measurements. Four-week-old green and red lettuce (Lactuca sativa) cultivars (‘Casey’ and ‘Cherokee’) were grown in a greenhouse for a month, where ΦPSII was measured every 15 minutes using a fluorometer (Monitoring-PAM; Heinz Walz, Effeltrich, Germany) alongside environmental data, including extended photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, CO₂ concentration, and vapor pressure deficit. A linear regression model was developed to estimate ΦPSII, generating cultivar-specific equations that were integrated into the biofeedback system for LED control. The estimated ΦPSII values exhibited a strong correlation with the measured data, allowing the biofeedback system to optimize lighting without the risk of photoinhibition associated with frequent PAM fluorometer measurements. This approach enabled dynamic light adjustment based on environmental conditions and lettuce cultivar, with the regulated light levels closely aligning with direct measurements. These findings highlight the potential of integrating predictive models into the biofeedback-controlled lighting systems, offering a cost-effective and non-invasive alternative to direct CF measurements for precision lighting management in CEA.

Speakers

Suyun Nam

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Leo Bastos

University of Georgia

Rhuanito S. Ferrarezi

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

4:45pm CDT

HIH - Enhancing Foot Health and Safety in Farmers and Horticultural Professionals through Extension Education

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT

Strand 11A

Foot health in the workplace, particularly among farmers and agricultural professionals, is often neglected, despite its significant impact on overall health and well-being. In Florida, environmental conditions frequently lead to hot, damp feet, exacerbated by improper footwear, which contributes to poor foot health. Due to a reluctance to seek medical intervention, foot issues often progress to more severe complications. This commercial horticulture extension program aimed to improve foot health awareness, increase learning gains, and promote healthy behavior changes in agriculture and horticulture workers. Objectives: The primary objectives were: (1) to improve knowledge and skills related to foot health, and (2) to encourage the adoption of healthy foot care behaviors. Methods: A total of 238 clients were pre-surveyed from 2020 - 2024 to assess their foot health and identify areas of need. Participants were then invited to attend an extension program in-person or via webinar. Four classes were presented over the four-year span, focusing on foot health and safety, addressing issues like foot or leg pain, diseases, and deformities. Practical solutions were provided, including individual diagnostic assessments by a podiatrist/surgeon who demonstrated exercises and discussed the use of orthotics for improving foot health. Participants were encouraged to rate their foot health and report discomfort. A post-intervention survey was conducted three months later to evaluate changes in knowledge, behavior, and foot health status. Outcomes and Results: The pre-survey revealed that 69% of participants reported foot issues, with an average self-assessed foot health grade of 6.85 out of 10. After attending the educational session and implementing recommended practices, 98% of participants (n=25) reported significant relief from foot discomfort. Moreover, 95% committed to behavior changes, such as performing leg exercises, using orthotics, and changing footwear. The average foot health grade improved to 8.0 out of 10, representing an 11.5% improvement. Additionally, 96% (n=9) of participants shared their knowledge with 35 others, expanding the intervention's impact. Conclusion: This study shows that educational interventions focused on foot health can lead to significant improvements in knowledge and foot health outcomes among agricultural workers. The adoption of behaviors like using orthotics, performing exercises or consulting with a podiatrist resulted in measurable improvements. The widespread sharing of information indicates that the intervention had a positive ripple effect. Continued efforts to promote foot health in high-risk occupations are essential to prevent long-term complications and improve quality of life.

Speakers

Karen Stauderman

Commercial Horticulture Agent III, UF/IFAS Extension Volusia County

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture
Poster # csv

4:45pm CDT

OPB - Genetic Mapping of Black Spot and Cercospora Leaf Spot Resistance in Autotetraploid Roses Using Three Biparental Populations

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT

Strand 12A

Roses are among the most important ornamental crops globally. Major fungal diseases affecting this crop in East-Central Texas are Cercospora leaf spot (Rosisphaerella rosicola Pass.) and black spot (Diplocarpon rosae F.A. Wolf). This study aims to uncover the genetic basis of resistance to these diseases using three biparental F1 autotetraploid rose populations derived from the following crosses: ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ × ‘Morden Blush’ (MoHxMB, N=196), ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ × ‘Morden Fireglow’ (MoHxMF, N=180), and ‘Morden Blush’ × ‘Brite Eyes’ (MBxBE, N=182). The populations, planted in a randomized complete block design with two replications, were scored for disease severity monthly from May to November over two years (2023 and 2024) at the Texas A

Speakers

Navdeep Kaur

Texas A&M University

Co-authors

David Byrne

Texas A and M University

Ivan Perez

Texas A and M University

Jeekin Lau

USDA

Oscar Riera-Lizarazu

Texas A and M University

Patricia E. Klein

Texas A and M University

Tessa Hochhaus

Texas A

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding
Poster # csv

4:45pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Identification of the interacting protein of a tomato bacterial wilt resistance gene

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT

Foster 1

Bacterial wilt (BW), caused by the soil-borne vascular bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs) species complex (RSSC), is one of the most devastating diseases affecting tomato and many other economically important crops. Rs infection leads to quick wilting and eventually plant death. Unfortunately, tomato bacterial wilt resistance genes have not been identified yet. Our previous study identified a candidate resistance gene from Hawaii 7996, a highly resistant tomato cultivar, that appears to be associated with qualitative resistance to bacterial wilt. Overexpression of the allele from Hawaii 7996 resulted in enhanced resistance in Heinz 1706, a model bacterial wilt susceptible cultivar. Gene editing-assisted gene knockout of the allele in Hawaii reduced bacterial wilt resistance. Yeast two-hybrid assay revealed a potential kinase that interacts with this resistance gene. The identification of the resistance gene and its interacting partner provide a better understanding of the resistance mechanisms and can be used for tomato bacterial wilt resistance breeding.

Speakers

Debao Huang

NCSU

Co-authors

Frank Louws

North Carolina State University

James Duduit

North Carolina State University

Tika Adhikari

North Carolina State University

Wusheng Liu

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv

4:45pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Pest Management Using Insect Netting in Organic Chinese Cabbage Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT

Foster 2

Organic farming with its reliance on natural fertilizers, cover cropping, and crop rotation, presents a sustainable approach to food production. However, a significant challenge in organic production is insect and disease management. Organic insecticides often have limited efficacy, are expensive, and require repeated applications. Mesotunnels, medium-sized (36-40 inches tall) tunnels covered with insect netting, have emerged as a pest management tool for organic vegetable growers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of mesotunnel and low tunnel systems for pest management and season extension in organic Chinese cabbage (cultivar ‘Minuet’) production. The first season of this two-year study was conducted in Fall 2024 on certified organic land at Iowa State University Horticulture Research Station, Ames, IA. The experiment was set up as a randomized complete block design with four replications and following treatments: i) 85 g ExcludeNet insect netting, ii) 0.55 oz Agribon row cover, iii) 85 g ExcludeNet insect netting + OMRI-listed insecticide iv) OMRI-listed insecticide, and v) an untreated control, uncovered with no insecticide. Weekly pest surveillance focused on Brassica insect pests such as aphids, loopers, harlequin bugs, flea beetles, and their damage was recorded. Hobo data loggers recorded variations in light intensity, air and soil temperature, and relative humidity to observe microclimate variations in each treatment. At harvest, yield data was categorized as marketable or nonmarketable and graded according to USDA commercial standards. Among all treatments, the highest marketable produce was recorded in ExcludeNet + OMRI-listed insecticide treatment (42%), followed by Agribon row cover (31%) and the lowest in OMRI-listed insecticide (15%) during the first harvest. The earlier maturity in these treatments was likely due to warmer temperatures and improved humidity regulation under the tunnels. The insect abundance and their damage on leaves was significantly lower in ExcludeNet & ExcludeNet + OMRI-listed insecticide treatment. Integrating netting and row covers with limited use of organic insecticides provided the highest pest suppression, suggesting that physical barriers can effectively optimize pest management and enhance marketability in organic vegetable production systems. Findings from this study will inform growers and the research community about the feasibility of insect nettings as a sustainable pest management tool in organic specialty crop systems.

Speakers

Smriti Chaudhary

Iowa State University

Co-authors

Ajay Nair

Iowa State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 4:45pm - 5:00pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Poster # csv

5:00pm CDT

CE 4 - Quantum Dot Greenhouse Glass as a Light-Management Strategy for Improved Lettuce Growth

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT

Strand 12B

Using luminescent quantum dot (QD) films as greenhouse coverings offers a novel approach to enhancing plant growth by modifying the light spectrum. This study evaluates the effects of novel QD glass on the growth, morphology, and yield of butterhead lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. butterhead) in a greenhouse setting. Two identical greenhouses were employed: one fitted with a QD film and the other with conventional glass, serving as a control. Lettuce seedlings were cultivated in a deep-water culture hydroponic system, with continuous monitoring of key environmental parameters—including temperature, relative humidity, CO₂ concentration, and light spectrum. After four weeks of growth, various morphological traits were assessed, such as canopy diameter, leaf count, total leaf area, and fresh and dry biomass. Results indicated that lettuce grown under the QD glass displayed enhanced leaf development and significantly higher biomass accumulation, with a 37% increase in fresh weight and a 27% rise in dry weight compared to the control. The spectral modifications induced by the QD film, especially the conversion of blue photons to red wavelengths, likely contributed to these improvements in plant morphology and productivity. These findings highlight the potential of QD glass to boost greenhouse lettuce production by increasing radiation capture and biomass accumulation.

Speakers

MD SHAMIM AHAMED

University of California, Davis

Co-authors

Amrit Kumar Thakur

University of California, Davis

Damon Hebert

UbiQD

Laura Cammarisano Cammarisano

University of California, Davis

Nazmin Akter

University of California, Davis

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Funding Source USDA SBIR

5:00pm CDT

HIH - Comparison of United States Professional Florists’ Perceptions of Environmentalism and their Use of Sustainable Floral Design Practices Based on Geographical Regions

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT

Strand 11A

As environmental sustainability becomes increasingly important to consumers of fresh cut flowers, the educators of floral design should consider adding topics covering sustainability within the floral industry into their curriculums. Perceptions of sustainability can vary depending on the US region in which a person lives and works. The main purpose of this study was to compare the perceptions of environmentalism and the use of sustainable floral design practices currently being implemented by professional florists based on the geographical area in which they live within the US. By investigating florists' attitudes toward sustainability and their current practices based on the US region in which they live, this study sought to shed light on the current sustainable practices being implemented within the floral design industry so that educators can make informed decisions when modifying their curriculums depending on where they are located within the US. A majority of respondents from each region in the study indicated they were personally aware of sustainable products (75.4% overall) and mechanics (80.5% overall) in floral design. Differences were found in the sustainable practices being implemented by professional florists based on the US region in which they live. Overall respondents from the West indicated they used fair-trade products, sustainable and/or compostable containers, sustainable and/or compostable floral foams, recycled carboard, composted flower waste, and is attempting to eliminate plastic at a higher rate than other US regions. Based on what professional florists are currently implementing into their own business models and what consumers have indicated as being important sustainable considerations to them when making floral purchases in past research studies, topics that focus on sourcing locally grown fresh cut flowers, post-harvest care for specialty cut flowers, growing specialty cut flowers within limited space, methods for composting fresh cut flower waste, sustainable design techniques that can be incorporated into multiple design styles an occasions, and current sustainable floral products on the market for use in floral design are all example of sustainable topics that could be incorporated into a floral design curriculum.

Speakers

Lauren Baskins

Mississippi State University

Co-authors

Cole Etheredge

Mississippi State University

James DelPrince

Mississippi State University

Tina Waliczek Cade

Texas State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, Human Issues in Horticulture

Subject Human Issues in Horticulture
Funding Source This study was facilitated and funded by the Floral Marketing Fund (FMF), in cooperation with the American Floral Endowment (AFE), and co-sponsored by BloomNet® and Syndicate Sales.

5:00pm CDT

OPB - Flowering and vegetative phenology was consistent across a ploidy series in Acer ginnala

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT

Strand 12A

Amur maple (Acer ginnala) is a medium sized street tree grown for its durability in challenging environments. Unfortunately, it has escaped cultivation from prolific seed production and is banned in multiple regions. To breed for reduced fertility, a ploidy series was developed including 3x, 4x, and 5x genotypes. As part of the evaluation for fertility, phenology of field plants including the range from diploid to pentaploid were evaluated between 2020 and 2023. Reproductive traits included first flower, 50% flowering, full flower, seed set, seed abortion, and seed ripening. Vegetative traits included first leaf, full leaf, first fall color, full fall color, and leaf drop. There were no differences in phenology of any reproductive or vegetative traits relative to ploidy, and across all genotypes there was a high degree of consistency in timing of all observed traits. Confirming simultaneous flowering of all genotypes will provide confidence in future data collected on relative fertility of accessions to facilitate cultivar release. Additionally, this study confirmed that ploidy does not alter early or late season events that may expose plants to more damage from frost events during these periods.

Speakers

Ryan Contreras

Oregon State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT
Strand 12A

Oral presentation, Ornamental Plant Breeding

Subject Ornamental Plant Breeding
Poster # csv

5:00pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Constitutive Expression of Full-length or Partial of SOC1 genes for Yield Enhancement in Tomato

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT

Foster 1

Manipulating the expression of flowering pathway genes holds potential for regulating tomato fruit productivity. SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) is a MADS-box gene that serves as a key integrator in the flowering pathway. In this study, two full-length SOC1 genes cloned from maize (ZmSOC1) and soybean (GmSOC1), along with a partial SOC1 gene from blueberry (VcSOC1K, containing the K-domain), were individually transformed into tomato for constitutive expression. Phenotypically, the expression of VcSOC1K and ZmSOC1, but not GmSOC1, led to early flowering. Most transgenic lines for all three constructs exhibited a significant increase in fruit number per plant. More importantly, compared to non-transgenic plants, all three constructs resulted in varying degrees of increased fruit production per plant, primarily through enhanced branching. At the transcriptomic level, comparative analysis of GmSOC1 revealed the broader impact of the transformed genes. The increased expression of CLF and EZA1 appears to explain the unchanged flowering time of the GmSOC1 transgenic plants, while the repressed expression of DWARF genes likely contributes to enhanced branching. Additionally, numerous genes associated with biotic and abiotic stress tolerance displayed differential expression. These findings demonstrate that constitutive expression of either full-length or partial SOC1 has the potential to enhance tomato fruit production.

Speakers

Guo-qing Song

Michigan State University

Co-authors

Gharbia H. Danial

University of Duhok

Jirapa Jaikham

Michigan State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv

5:00pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Do Bicultures of Sunn Hemp with Sorghum Sudangrass Decrease Its Weed and Plant-Parasitic Nematode Suppression Efficacy?

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT

Foster 2

Sunn hemp (SH, Crotalaria juncea L.) is used in Florida strawberry production as an off-season summer legume cover crop to provide agroecosystem services such as weed and plant-parasitic nematode (PPN) suppression. Bicultures of SH with sorghum-sudangrass (SS) (Sorghum bicolor Moench × S. sudanense [Piper] Stapf) are of interest to reduce the cost of SH use. Our study objective was to determine whether bicultures retain the weed and PPN suppression benefits provided by SH grown in monoculture. A replacement series experiment was conducted in summer 2022 and repeated in 2023 in north-central Florida in a PPN-infested field. A factorial treatment arrangement of five SH:SS biculture proportions (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100) and three seeding rates (20, 40, and 60 lb/acre) were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with four replications. A no-cover crop, weedy control was also included in each block. Data were collected on cover crop biomass and carbon: nitrogen ratio (C:N), weed density, weed biomass, and PPN populations at eight weeks after planting. Bicultures consistently produced higher total cover crop biomass than the SH monoculture. Bicultures were as effective as the SH monoculture in reducing total weed density and resulted in either lower or equivalent total weed biomass. Averaged over year, only the 60 lb/acre seeding rate had a lower total weed density than the 20 lb/acre rate. In 2022, both the 40 and 60 lb/acre seeding rates resulted in lower weed biomass than the 20 lb/acre rate, while seeding rate had no significant effect on total weed biomass in 2023. Root-knot nematode populations in both years and sting nematode populations in 2022 were detected at levels too low for analysis. However, in 2023, the lowest and highest sting nematode populations occurred with the SH and SS monocultures, respectively; and sting nematode populations increased as the proportion of SS in the bicultures increased. Bicultures with ≤50% SS had significantly higher sting nematode populations than the weedy control. An increase in C:N was observed as SS proportion in bicultures increased. Thus, we conclude that SH/SS bicultures maintain the weed biomass suppression benefits of SH monocultures while increasing cover crop biomass. However, bicultures may lead to higher sting nematode populations, which will be of concern in organic strawberry production where soil fumigation is not permitted. Growers will also need to consider the effects of the higher C:N ratio of biculture residue on nitrogen fertilizer immobilization.

Speakers

Jean-Maude Louizias

University of Florida

Co-authors

Carlene Chase

University of Florida

Gabriel Maltais-Landry

University of Florida

Johan Desaeger

University of Florda

Nathan Boyd

University of Florida

Rosalie Koenig

University of Florida

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:00pm - 5:15pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Poster # csv

5:15pm CDT

CE 4 - Right on the Dot? Validation of a Lettuce Growth Model Under a Mock Silicon Quantum Dot Spectrum

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT

Strand 12B

Incorporation of quantum dots within greenhouse films has the potential to enhance local food production with a reduced carbon footprint, without compromising yield or quality. Silicon quantum dots in particular hold advantages over other photoluminescent nanoparticles in that they have low toxicity and are highly tunable. The down-shifting of photons observed under silicon quantum dot films can enhance vegetative productivity of plant commodities, but due to a relatively low photon emission efficiency of the films, the transmitted light to crop canopies below is reduced. A growth model has been used to predict the performance of lettuce grown under a silicon quantum dot spectrum, but no studies have been conducted to validate these predictions. Our study aimed to evaluate the yield and physiological performance of Lactuca sativa cv. ‘Rex’ grown in controlled environment growth chambers fit with tunable 11-channel LEDs which were used to match the color fraction of a solar spectrum transmitted through glass greenhouse glazing or a solar spectrum transmitted through a silicon quantum dot film. Light intensity levels of 500 and 350 µmol m−2 s−1 were also tested to simulate the expected 33% loss of light transmission through the silicon quantum dot film at a density of 5 wt%. The spectrum and light intensity treatments were tested in a factorial design for a total of four treatments, with each treatment replicated five times. Fresh biomass results from the growth chambers showed that growth model predictions underestimate the performance of ‘Rex’ under the mock silicon quantum dot spectrum. The elimination of UV-A photons and enrichment of red and far red photons in the mock silicon quantum dot treatment increased leaf area and growth at their respective light intensities compared to the mock solar spectrum; however, the yield of the 350 µmol m−2 s−1 mock silicon quantum dot spectrum did not surpass that of the 500 µmol m−2 s−1 mock solar spectrum. This research highlights the importance of coupling solar cells with silicon quantum dot films to increase their economic feasibility and further illuminates the effects of down-shifted spectra on lettuce physiology.

Speakers

Christopher Nieters

University of Minnesota

Co-authors

Bryan Runck

University of Minnesota

Nathan Eylands

University of Minnesota

Walid Sadok

University of Minnesota

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv

5:15pm CDT

HIST - Evolution of ASHS Conferences: 60 Consecutive Years' Attendance

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT

Strand 11A

ASHS Annual Meetings (now conferences) have evolved over the 60 years of my attendance. From the 1965 Annual Meeting in Urbana Illinois where I stayed in a tent on the University quadrangle, to the most recent conference in Honolulu, they have been professionally stimulating, exciting and memorable. The dogwood pin given to attendees of the 1966 meeting with ISHS in Maryland, the long drive from St. Paul to College Station, Texas in 1967 and the ISHS/ASHS meeting in Davis stimulated my involvement and commitment to attending these important conferences. Involvement with the ASHS infrastructure began when I became a Board member representing the Great Plains Section when attending the meeting in Manhattan Kansas. I was immersed into the ASHS system further as the Chair of Local Arrangements for the 1972 meeting in St Paul (remember the chicken fiasco?) The Guelph meeting in 1974 was memorable because I attended "on the way" to sabbatical at the University of Nottingham and was "on the way back" to the 1975 meeting in Honolulu (September meeting). It was an easier drive from St. Paul to Ames in 1982 where I took my grad students in a van to save them money (I have always encouraged my students to become ASHS members by paying for their first year's memberships). Past President Dermot Coyne sponsored me for ASHS Fellow, awarded at the meeting in East Lansing in 1988. My second meeting in Honolulu was of note because following inducements of pineapples, luau and more, I purchased a timeshare to make sure that I'd take a "real" vacation in addition to my usual tacking on a few days to ASHS conferences. Among the important changes with which I had the privilege to assist was the creation of the ASHS Endowment Fund, and now the "$125 for Five" campaign that will continue to help deserving students. Of course I am humbled to say that one of my greatest honors was election as President of ASHS. Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, I was inundated with "where can we meet", "when can we meet" emails and calls. I was proud to respond that we will help New Orleans by following through with our commitment to meet there. I will mention many more important ASHS changes and insights as part of my presentation this year as we return to the site of my Presidential Address in the "Big Easy".

Speakers

Paul Read

University of Nebraska

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, History of Horticultural Science

Subject History of Horticulture
Poster # csv

5:15pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Testing Different Plant Growth Regulators for Germination and Conversion of Cornus florida Somatic Embryos

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT

Foster 1

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) is a native tree species to the Eastern US that is susceptible to powdery mildew fungus. Genetic transformation of somatic embryogenic tissue in conjunction with gene editing are molecular methods used to breed pathogen-resistant cultivars. This research investigates the most effective germination treatment in regenerating plantlets from genetically transformed somatic embryos of flowering dogwood. From somatic embryogenic callus cultures containing the reporter transgene ß-glucuronidase (GUS), we grew tissue in liquid suspension and size fractioned using sterile metal sieves of different pore sizes. We collected pro-embryogenic masses (PEMs) from the small mesh size sieve, plated PEMS onto nylon supports using vacuum, and placed the nylon supports to semi-solid maturation media for embryo development. We chose somatic embryos elongating beyond the torpedo stage with the best quality and appearance and placed them across the four germination treatments. The germination experiments evaluated four different treatment concentrations of four different plant growth regulators (PGRs), gibberellic acid (GA3), abscisic acid (ABA), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), and melatonin. The environmental conditions for the first experiment included fluorescent lighting (10 μmol/m²/sec), temperature at 23 ºC (±1), and a photoperiod of 16h light:8h dark. Somatic embryos growing in germination media supplemented with GA3 (1, 2mg/L) had a higher percentage of embryos showing emergence of the apical shoot meristem between the cotyledons. The next highest percentage of somatic embryos with emerging apical meristems occurred using BAP at the concentrations 0.5 and1mg/L. The second germination experiment assessed the same treatments above except used early- stage torpedo somatic embryos and the light intensity increased to 35 μmol/m²/sec. BAP at 0.5 and 1mg/L showed the highest percentage of greening cotyledons and rooting rates. However, in 60 days, all the somatic embryos died in the GA3, ABA, melatonin, and BAP germination treatments. Although we successfully developed healthy transgenic somatic embryos, converting them into plants was a major challenge. The furthest germination stage we reached was the emerging of apical shoots, where the meristem elongates and continues to primary leaf formation. The difficulty in obtaining complete conversion to plants from these transgenic somatic embryos suggests there may be unintended impacts on growth or germination based on the location of the GUS transgene in the genome. Additionally, the original transgenic embryogenic culture was eight years old prior to the germination experiments, which could have influenced embryo conversion to plants.

Speakers

Heather Gladfelter

University of Georgia

Co-authors

Dayton Wilde

University of Georgia

Will Johnson

University of Georgia

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv
Funding Source University of Georgia CURO and CAES Undergraduate Research Grants

5:15pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Bed Architecture and Fumigation Strategies for Strawberries in Eastern NC

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT

Foster 2

Management of plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs), soil-borne diseases, and weeds in the strawberry industry is fundamental for every North Carolina grower, to achieve a successful production season. The prohibition of methyl bromide (MBr) in 2005 caused significant challenges for growers leading to the search for new and efficient strategies to suppress and control the impact of pests and diseases that affect strawberry growers. Hence, the objective of this project was to evaluate alternative fumigation strategies combined with new bed architectures for the control of soil-borne pests in strawberry production. Two experiments were conducted in North Carolina where, compact beds (24 inches wide by 12 inches tall) were compared to traditional North Carolina strawberry beds (30 inches wide by 6 inches tall). Both bed architecture designs were fumigated with either shank or drip-applied fumigants (Pic-Clor 60 and Pic-Clor 60 EC, respectively), with and without the inclusion of a soil surfactant for the drip fumigation treatments. In both studies, we measured strawberry plant biomass, volumetric water content in multiple points of the planting beds, plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) and weed pressure before and after fumigation, plant reflectance indexes, bed compaction, and crop yield. Post-treatment results demonstrated that compact beds with both shank and drip-applied fumigants achieved comparable control of weeds and PPNs to traditional beds with shank fumigation. Bed compaction measures indicated that compact bed treatments present less compaction at 4-, 8- and 12-inch depths compared to the higher compaction observed in North Carolina’s traditional strawberry beds.

Speakers

Josue Alarcon Mendoza

North Carolina State University, Horticultural Science

Co-authors

Emmanuel Torres Quezada

North Carolina State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:15pm - 5:30pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Poster # csv

5:30pm CDT

CE 4 - Advancing Energy Efficiency: Insights from the New York State Greenhouse Energy Benchmark Project

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT

Strand 12B

Energy costs are typically the second largest operational cost for greenhouses behind labor and these costs are increasing over time. Energy use varies greatly between operations based on their geographic location, type of technology, months of operation, and type of crops grown. Energy benchmarking is a process used for many commercial buildings whereby energy performance of facilities are quantified. The information can be used by operations to better understand their energy use relative to their peers and can help identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements and cost savings. The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium leads a project with a goal of benchmarking energy use in 40 greenhouse operations in New York State. The process began with implementing a database tool with EnSave’s FEAT (farm energy audit tool) specific to greenhouse operations. The tool allows energy efficiency contractors to enter information from farm site visits on: building dimensions and properties, equipment usage (including HVAC and lighting), past utility bills, crops grown and months of the year they are grown. The database tool outputs a benchmarking report to give operations a clear understanding of energy use (total energy, energy use intensity and on a per square foot production space and per crop unit basis). Through New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), funding was made available for up to 80 greenhouses in New York State to participate. More than 40 operations have now enrolled in the project. Findings will be presented on the initial results. Challenges in reporting include the diversity of types of operations (with different types of products produced) and in many diversified farms there are not specific energy meters relative to greenhouses vs. other diversified farm activities. Nevertheless the results provide a baseline of energy use intensity in New York State greenhouses.

Speakers

Neil Mattson

Cornell University

Co-authors

Gretchen Schimelpfenig

Cornell University

Kyle Clark

EnSave Inc.

Matthew Del Buono

Cornell University

Timothy Shelford

Cornell University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT
Strand 12B

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments

5:30pm CDT

HIST - Gardening During the World Wars – Horticulture Efforts to Feed the US and the War Effort

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT

Strand 11A

The United States during the national crises of the First and Second World Wars developed gardening and food production programs in order to support the war effort and to supply food for the troops and those at home. The National War Garden Commission, a private organization, was created in 1917 one month before the US entry in World War 1. The role of the commission was to encourage US citizens to cultivate in all available space, offering free seeds and plants and to “Sow the Seeds of Victory!” President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 indicated “everyone who creates or cultivates a garden helps,” and tasked government agencies with aiding the effort to conserve food and other supplies for soldiers. The civilian garden program was supported by the commission who gave away free booklets on gardening, canning, and food preservation. These gardens, termed “war gardens” were grown throughout the country on vacant land, parks, backyards, and schools; there was call for schools to join the United States School Garden Army. There were many war gardens in the USA and around the world. There were more than 5.2 million war gardens in the USA by 1918. Towards the end of World War 1 the effort shifted to victory gardens with the goal of feeding the hungry, and prevention of starvation. With the advent of World War 2 the victory gardens were mobilized to provide resources to fight the war and support the US allies. Almost 20 million Americans planted gardens – in backyards, vacant lots, athletic fields, schools, roof tops. Produce from their gardens would help to lower the price of vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops, thus saving money that could be spent elsewhere on the military. An estimated 40 % of the nation’s fresh vegetables were produced in victory gardens. The federal government, via the USDA provided resources such as seeds, production guides, and guidance in order to support victory gardens. The guides were intended to provide information to novice gardeners on growing food as well as proper canning and preservation techniques. The current farm to school movement and the People’s Garden program have their roots in the previous wartime efforts in order to support a more diverse resilient food system and address issues such as food access and climate change.

Speakers

Carl Motsenbocker

Professor, Executive Director Louisiana Farm to School Program, Louisiana State University

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT
Strand 11A

Oral presentation, History of Horticultural Science

Subject History of Horticulture
Poster # csv

5:30pm CDT

PBIG 2 - Hormonomics-Guided Bloom Regulation: Enhancing Climate Resilience in Peach

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT

Foster 1

Spring frost is a major environmental stressor caused by sub-zero temperatures (≤ 0 °C), often accompanied by freezing dew points, and poses a substantial economic threat to fruit crops. While the frequency of spring frost events may be influenced by climate change, the severity of damage has increased in recent years. This is largely due to elevated early spring temperatures that induce precocious bloom, making developing flower buds more vulnerable to subsequent frost events. Although no bloom-delay plant growth regulator (PGR) has been fully established to date, the use of PGRs to postpone flowering and mitigate frost risk remains a highly sought-after strategy in horticultural production. Our previous research demonstrated that fall applications of ethephon can delay bloom by 3–6 days in peach (Prunus persica). However, this treatment has also been associated with severe gummosis, necrosis, and branch damage. In the present study, we employed a plant hormonomics approach to investigate the relative abundance of endogenous hormones in flower buds of ethephon-treated versus untreated peach trees. Our analysis revealed dynamic profiles of abscisic acid (ABA), auxins (e.g., indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-acetamide, 2-oxo-indole-3-acetic acid), brassinosteroids (e.g., 28-norcastasterone), cytokinins (e.g., zeatin, kinetin, N6-isopentenyladenosine), jasmonate-related compounds (e.g., cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, dinor-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, jasmonic acid [JA], JA-phenylalanine), salicylic acid, gibberellins (e.g., GA1, GA3, GA4, GA6), and strigolactones, with distinct accumulation patterns related to chilling and heat accumulation during dormancy and in response to ethephon treatment. Among these, jasmonates exhibited a unique pattern: levels remained low during dormancy and spiked sharply near bud break, but this spike was significantly suppressed in ethephon-treated trees. Based on this observation, we hypothesized that JA biosynthetic inhibitors could serve as effective bloom-delay agents. Indeed, over two consecutive seasons (2023 and 2024), we tested two JA inhibitors—propyl gallate and antipyrine—in two peach cultivars, ‘Sunhigh’ and ‘Redhaven’. Both compounds significantly delayed bloom progression compared to untreated controls. Furthermore, in 2025, antipyrine treatment resulted in a marked reduction in flower mortality following a killing freeze, which caused 100% damage in untreated trees versus approximately 90% in antipyrine-treated trees. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first hormonomics-driven translational approach aimed at regulating bloom time in perennial fruit trees to enhance their resilience to climate-related frost events.

Speakers

khalil Jahed

Virginia Tech

Co-authors

Amolpreet Kaur Saini

Virginia Tech

Lauren Erland

University of Fraser Vally

Mohammad Monirul Hasan Tipu

Virginia Tech

Sherif Sherif

Virginia Tech

Dr. Sherif M. Sherif is an Associate Professor at Virginia Tech, where he channels his fervent zeal for life sciences and educational outreach into his specialization in tree fruit physiology and molecular biology. His career is defined by a dedication to overcoming the biological... Read More →

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT
Foster 1

Oral presentation, Plant Biotechnology 2

Subject Plant Biotechnology
Poster # csv

5:30pm CDT

WCPM 2 - Residual herbicide degradation on nursery trees following drift events

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT

Foster 2

Minnesota (MN) in the US ranks 2nd for corn silage production and 3rd for soybean production. Studies have shown that off-target movement (drift) from an unshielded sprayer, in row crops, can range from 1 to 16% of the target dose; however, boom height and wind can double or triple these doses. Pre-study 37 pesticide residue tests were conducted in five Minnesota nurseries in 2018. Nine different herbicides were detected in the 37 tests. Glyphosate (sold as Roundup Power Max 32% glyphosate) became the focus of 2019 studies, conducted at concentrations of 0, 6, 18 and 54% for glyphosate as drift events. Relating ppm’s disclosed in laboratory analyte foliar residue samples collected by various state agriculture departments after drift events to injury symptom, development, and growth reduction or time after application have ever been conducted for nursery crops. From personal communication with nursery owners experiencing neighbor’s drift event (MD; KY, OH, MI, FL) the average time from the drift event to recognizing problems, and sample collection is six weeks (6 weeks after drift event) (6 WADE). Slower metabolism of glyphosate at higher residues, explained our finding that the largest residues were detected in all, but one species/ treatments used with glyphosate, versus three other herbicides examined or in combinations. Higher residues meaning higher injury, does not occur with glyphosate. Potentially high residues mean slow metabolism for glyphosate, and thus less injury. In five cases glyphosate applied alone had no impact on growth measured as caliper over the season, even though glyphosate had the highest residue in three of the five. In only one case was caliper growth reduction highest with glyphosate (Syringa 18%) over the entire study. In terms of phytotoxicity rating, glyphosate caused no commercially unacceptable injury in four cases. Residues increased with all rates on the three species evaluated between 3 DADE and 6 WADE. With Acer freemanii and Tilia cordata residue levels declined slightly between 6 WADE to 14 WADE with all rates. Only, Syringa reticulata showed an increase in foliar residues between 6 WADE to 14 WADE. Since carry over injury the next year (or three) is a concern with all glyphosate applications to perennial plants, all trees were observed in 2020. None were commercially acceptable and in severe decline (regardless of rate) in spring 2020, only 6% glyphosate on Syringa survived to the fall , and by spring 2021 were dead.

Speakers

Hannah Mathers

Mathers Environmental Science Services, LLC

Owner of Mathers Environmental Science Services, established 2010, active since 2015 resigning from Ohio State University, as Full Professor/ State Extension Nursery/ Landscape Extension Specialist 2000 to 2015. Previous to OH State University was Assistant Professor and Regional... Read More →

Co-authors

James Beaver

Mathers Environmental Science Services, LLC

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:30pm - 5:45pm CDT
Foster 2

Oral presentation, Weed Control and Pest Management 2

Subject Weed Control and Pest Management
Funding Source Specilaty Crop Block Grant/ MDARD/MNLA

5:45pm CDT

CE 4 - An Argument in Favor of Creating a United American Society for Greenhouse and Controlled Environment Growers to Build a Connected, Collaborative Grower Network for More Efficient Technology Transfer and Production

Wednesday July 30, 2025 5:45pm - 6:00pm CDT

Strand 12B

While Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) continues to expand rapidly across North America, the U.S. lacks a unified national organization to represent, support, and connect greenhouse growers. In contrast to Canada and the Netherlands, which benefit from strong national-level grower associations, American growers remain fragmented across states, commodity groups, or scale-specific networks. The existing groups tend to be state-specific, crop-specific, or focused on suppliers and hobbyists—leaving a major gap for commercial growers who need actionable support and a unified voice. This fragmentation further limits access to shared knowledge, economic leverage, and consistent representation in research and policy. To address this, we propose the creation of the United Greenhouse Growers Association (UGGA), a national, grower-led association designed to support collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and improved market efficiency. Initial development will begin in Kentucky, where the University of Kentucky has already mapped CEA activity across the state, providing a strong foundation for data-driven outreach, pilot engagement, and program testing. What distinguishes this initiative is its emphasis on practicality, inclusion, and tangible value. Rather than serving as a passive affiliation, the UGGA will offer direct support through group purchasing programs, collective marketing strategies, access to shared services, and the translation of academic research into usable tools. There will be the opportunity for the UGGA to set training and certification standards for professional growers which will give guidance to trade schools and colleges. Membership will be kept affordable and low-barrier, intentionally structured to welcome small and mid-sized growers alongside larger operations. Most critically, the organization will be led by growers themselves—not just vendors or researchers—ensuring the priorities reflect real operational challenges and opportunities. The society will address national gaps that existing groups often overlook: the need for peer-to-peer knowledge on transitions from soil to substrate, crop management under protected/controlled environments, strategies for reducing the isolation of growers in low-density CEA states, and creating a network that supports national-scale coordination without losing local relevance. The UGGA structure would also allow for cross-state collaboration and integration with USDA priorities around regional supply chain resilience and U.S. producer support. This abstract proposes launching an organizing committee to begin outreach, host stakeholder roundtables in Kentucky and beyond, define founding principles, and formalize UGGA’s nonprofit framework in preparation for national rollout.

Speakers

Melanie Yelton

GrowBig Consulting

Melanie Yelton, Dr. Yelton leverages over 25 years of plant science leadership to guide controlled agriculture entities towards climatically resilient food systems. Via her consultancy company, GrowBig, she advises controlled environment agriculture farms, lighting partners and R... Read More →

Co-authors

Oral presentation, Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments 4

Subject Growth Chambers and Controlled Environments
Poster # csv