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- Author or Editor: Elizabeth M. Lamb x
A lab screening method has been devised to evaluate a diverse population of a heterogeneous wild tomato species for foliar resistance to tomato fruitworm. This method isolates neonate fruitworms on individual, 25-day-old plants. The larvae are allowed to consume the plant material for 4 days, after which they are removed from the plants, weights are taken and percent survival recorded. The trial is conducted in a growth chamber at a constant temperature of 28 °C with a 16-hour light cycle. The replications are set up as a complete randomized block design. Preliminary data reveal at least two plant introductions expressing strong foliar resistance to H. zea, showing a significant difference from the susceptible control, L. esculentum, and no significant difference from the resistant control, L. hirsutum f. glabratum.
The Univ. of Florida has had off-campus degree programs for over a decade. In 1998, a new program in a major agricultural region of the state developed under unique circumstances. Community driven support, leadership from local politicians, and guidance from academic administrators resulted in the legislative funding of a new undergraduate teaching program in south Florida. The program offers upper-division courses leading to Bachelor of Science degrees in horticultural science and food and resource economics. Another unique aspect was the partnership formed with local universities necessary to offer the degrees. Locally, Indian River Community College provides lower-division courses and Florida Atlantic Univ. offers four upper-division courses to complete the course offerings for the degrees. Funding was allocated for eight new faculty members with 70% teaching appointments, four support staff, and a new $3.7 million teaching complex. In today's academic climate, having eight new faculty members at one time is a rare occurrence that allowed for creative growth on the part of the new teaching program. What was successful and unsuccessful concerning recruitment, advertising, purchasing, advising, collaborative efforts with local colleges, and administration will be discussed. In addition, demographics on the student body will be presented.
Growers of greenhouse ornamentals in New York State (NYS) have identified the need for improved diagnosis and management of diseases, insects, and media/fertility problems to reduce crop loss and improve crop quality. With the objective of using an interactive small-group format to encourage active learning of topics, our team developed a hands-on workshop model that we termed integrated pest management (IPM) In-depth. In addition, we wanted to deliver the workshop in several locations around NYS to reach growers who traditionally have not attended on-campus programs. Each program consisted of three modules focusing on an insect, disease, or plant culture topic. Participants were divided into small groups that rotated through the areas. From 2009 to 2013, we present 20 In-depth workshops in 14 NYS counties reaching 309 attendees. The project succeeded in its intent to reach growers who had limited access to previous IPM programming; 59% of attendees had not previously attended any type of IPM programming. The majority of attendees (66%) reported that they had learned information they intended to implement at their operations. Additional impacts and challenges of offering this hands-on program are discussed.
Insect resistance in vegetable crops carries a new urgency as insecticide availability and usage become more restricted. The European corn borer (ECB) long has been the most costly sweet corn pest in the northern states, with corn earworm (CEW) and southwestern stalk borer most serious farther south. Resistance to ECB and CEW, as developed by classical methods, will be discussed. Newer methods (such as RFLPs) should speed transfer of this resistance to commercial stocks, and also facilitate transfer of resistance from other species. Gene modification and endophyte exploitation are longer-term possibilities. Resistance must be free from association with undesirable traits, such as long silk channel length (r = 0.3 to 0.4), unless consumer and processor specifications change.