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- Author or Editor: David Davis x
- HortTechnology x
A group of 53 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada offering degrees in horticulture, or closely related plant science degrees, was surveyed to determine various characteristics associated with the degree programs offered, demographics of students and faculty, and selected procedures and practices associated with administration of these graduate programs. Total response rate was 94%, yielding 85% usable completed surveys. Very few programs (0-3 per degree type) were offered via distance education and on average only 4.1% to 4.5% of resident instruction program students participated in distance education courses. Domestic students averaged 64% to 75% of enrollment. Students were 69% to 73% white. Asian students were the predominant minority group at 12% to 16% of enrollment, followed by African Americans (3% to 8%) and Hispanics (1% to 4%). Most institutions provided out-of-state tuition waivers (75%), and often in-state-tuition waivers (61%), to those students on assistantships or fellowships. Typical commitments to students were 3 years for a PhD and 2 years for a master's degree program. Research assistantships were the dominant form of assistance at all institutions (38% to 53% of students), while teaching assistantships contributed significant secondary funding (7% to 13%). With the exception of mean maximum fellowships, mean maximum assistantships ($11,499-$13,999) at non-1862 Morrill Act universities (NMAU) averaged near the mean minimums ($13,042-$14,566) for the corresponding assistantship types at 1862 Morrill Act universities (MAU). Requirements for teaching experience ranged from 41% of PhD programs to 18% of non-thesis master's degree programs. Typical departments contained 29 faculty members, of which 44% were full professors, 27% associate professors, 19% assistant professors, 6% junior or senior lecturers, and 3% were in other classifications. Traditional 12-month appointments (65.9% of faculty) were predominant at MAU. With the exception of junior lecturer positions, mean salaries at MAU averaged $9125, $6869, $8325, and $28,505 more for professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and senior lecturer, respectively, than at NMAU. This study provides useful information for departments undergoing external review or revision of graduate programs.
A computerized information delivery system (AgTiIPS) was developed to deliver lawn, garden, and horticultural information to the public. AgTiIPS was based on voice-mail technology, which allows the public to access about 100 messages through a tone-producing telephone. AgTiIPS has been functioning in a Wyoming community of 47,000 since July 1990, and has delivered more than 700 messages in 1.5 years. Economic analyses for setting up voice-mail systems were conducted and the role of voice-mail in delivering lawn, garden, and horticultural information was discussed.
A comprehensive survey of American and Canadian universities that offer masters, doctoral, or both degrees in horticulture resulted in responses from 27 academic units. Units were surveyed regarding types of degrees offered, admissions policies, demographic characteristics of students, financial assistance provided to students, faculty ranks and salaries, and metrics by which the programs were evaluated by university administration. About 80% of the programs resided in 1862 Morrill Act land-grant institutions (LG) with the remainder housed in other non-land-grant institutions (NLG). Thirty-eight percent of reporting LG programs existed as stand-alone horticulture departments, whereas horticulture programs were combined with other disciplines in the remainder. Admissions criteria were most consistent among LG programs. Participation in distance education programs was low, but growing. Financial support of graduate students was more common in LG programs. Most schools offered some sort of tuition reduction to those students on assistantships/fellowships and offered health insurance options. Payment of fees was rare and the level of stipends provided varied substantially among programs. International student enrollment was greatest at LG programs and had remained steady in recent years. Gender equity was present among graduate students, with nearly equal male and female enrollment. Most graduate students at both LG (63.6%) and NLG (75.0%) programs were non-Hispanic White; although overall minority enrollment had increased but was still not similar in distribution to that of the general U.S. population. Professors (46.7%) and Associate Professors (28.3%) dominated the faculty ranks while Assistant Professors (19.3%) and lecturers/instructors (5.7%) constituted a much smaller portion of the faculty. Faculty salaries varied tremendously among institutions, especially for senior faculty. Female and ethnic minorities were underrepresented in faculty ranks compared with the general U.S. population. Aside from total graduate program enrollment, the relative importance of various evaluation metrics for programs was highly variable among institutions. Data discussed herein should be useful to universities with horticulture graduate programs for peer institution comparisons during program assessments, accreditation reviews, or for strategic planning purposes.
Major citrus blackfly (Aleurocanthus woglumi) outbreaks occur periodically in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas, causing a reduction in citrus (Citrus sp.) tree yields. This research reports on the integration of airborne color-infrared (ACIR) imagery and geographic information system (GIS) technology for mapping citrus blackfly outbreaks appearing in this area in separate years. For this study, the 1993 and 2002 citrus blackfly infestations were mapped and compared. Outbreaks did not appear at the same sites for 1993 and 2002. In 1993, infestations occurred in the southern part of Hidalgo and Cameron counties compared with outbreaks primarily appearing in the western portion of Hidalgo County in 2002. For both years, Hidalgo County was affected more than the other citrus producing counties in the LRGV. This study demonstrated airborne remote sensing imagery integrated with GIS technology could be used to develop maps for comparing citrus blackfly infestations appearing in separate years.
Field experiments were conducted from 2008 through 2010 near Lyons, GA, to develop integrated weed management systems for organic Vidalia® sweet onion (Allium cepa) production. Treatments were a factorial arrangement of summer solarization, cultivation with a tine weeder, and a clove oil herbicide. Plots were solarized with clear plastic mulch during the summer fallow period before transplanting onion. Cultivation treatments were twice at 2-week intervals, four times at 2-week intervals, and a noncultivated control. Herbicide treatments were clove oil plus vinegar, clove oil plus an emulsified petroleum oil (EPO) insecticide used as an adjuvant, and a nontreated control. ‘Savannah Sweet’ onions were transplanted in early-December each year, with cultivation and herbicide applications events occurring the following January and February. Onions were harvested the following spring. In addition to yield measurement, a subsample of harvested onion was stored in a controlled atmospheric (CA) storage facility to evaluate treatment effects on diseases of stored onion. Summer fallow solarization did not control the cool-season weeds present in these trials. Cultivating transplanted onion with a tine weeder effectively managed cutleaf eveningprimrose (Oenothera laciniata) and swinecress (Coronopus didymus) and improved onion yields in 2 of 3 years. There was little difference in overall performance between two cultivations and four cultivations with the tine weeder. The 1 year of marginal weed control with the tine weeder was due to persistently wet soils during winter months that inhibited optimum performance of the implement. Clove oil, combined with vinegar or an EPO insecticide, provided marginal weed control and had no effect on onion yield. Diseases of stored onion were unaffected by any of the treatment combinations, although overall incidence of diseases of stored onion was higher in 2010 compared with other years. This corresponds with the 1 year of marginal weed control with the tine weeder, suggesting that the presence of weeds may be a factor related to disease incidence during storage.