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Extension postharvest quality maintenance programs in North Carolina were significantly enhanced by engineering inputs and Exxon violation escrow funds. Equipment and storage designs and recommendations have provided tangible results for North Carolina horticultural crops producers and shippers, including “Cool and Ship,” a portable, pallet-size forced-air cooling system, thermal storage immersion hydrocooling systems, and the horizontal air flow sweetpotato curing and storage system. Impacts include: 30% to 50% blueberry and strawberry loss reductions using forced-air cooling; and 20% to 30% sweetpotato packout rate increases when cured and stored with the new system. Useful materials include a video on cooling options, a computer decision aid for precooling, a storage poster, and more than two dozen publications on Maintaining the Quality of North Carolina Fresh Produce.
`Tiger Baby' mini watermelons were direct seeded into black plastic mulch with drip fertigation irrigation. Drip lines were run for 300 m feet, in excess of that recommended. Single plants were 45 cm apart in 1.5 m rows. Yields were taken from the total 300 m and from the first 90 m of row. Yields only slightly affected by drip tubing type. We also conducted a marketing test with these watermelons. Boxes of 9 melons each (2.5-3.6 kg) were sold at `upscale' grocery chain. Produce managers and customers were surveyed. Size seemed to be the most important selling point, followed by taste. Sales increased once the manager cut a sample melon. In general 40% of the melons sold in the first week and the remaining 60% the second week. Prices averaged $2.00 and minimelons competed favorably with standard sizes.
Abstract
Sixteen management systems for early muskmelon production were compared for marketable yield, gross revenue, treatment cost, net economic value, and benefit-cost index. Black plastic mulch and/or transplants increased yields, gross return, and net economic value over a conventional practice of bare soil, direct-seeded production. Row covers did not increase yields or gross returns. When net economic value and benefit cost criteria were evaluated, yield maximization was not necessarily the best strategy. Instead, careful analysis should be given to added costs of production practices and the added revenue these practices will generate.
The effects of plant spacing (15, 23, 31, and 38 cm) and date of harvest on yield and economic return of `Beauregard' sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] were studied. For comparison, `Jewel' was included at one spacing. As in-row plant spacing decreased, yield of U.S. No. 1, canners, and total marketable root production increased when plants were harvested 103 days or later after transplanting. The yield of jumbo roots generally increased with in-row spacing because of less plant-to-plant competition. Total marketable and No. 1 grade yields of `Beauregard' at the closest spacing (15 cm) were greater than those of `Jewel'. `Beauregard' roots sized more quickly than `Jewel' roots regardless of spacing. The optimal time for harvesting `Beauregard' was 100 to 110 days after transplanting, while acceptable yields could be obtained as early as 90 days after transplanting depending on market prices. Economic analysis of `Beauregard' spacing data indicated that 23 cm would be the preferred spacing if a late harvest was anticipated, while the 15-cm spacing would be best if harvested at ≈110 days after transplanting. Thus, sweetpotato growers should place `Beauregard' at an in-row spacing of 15 or 23 cm, depending on projected date of harvest, on or before 10 June, to obtain the best yields with the highest return on investment.
Abstract
Staked tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) grown in 8 soil management systems are compared for differences in marketable yields, gross revenues, treatment costs, and net economic values. Maximum marketable yields were obtained using a fumigant and straw mulch combinatory practice, but the highest net economic value (gross revenues less treatment costs) was realized by a fumigant and herbicide ground management practice. These data suggest that the use of mulch materials and/or herbicides increased yields and net returns over standard cultivation practices.