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.
When comparing states with population percentages residing in major cities, Nevada is considered the third most urban state in the nation. It also has the distinction of being the driest, with less than 4 inches of precipitation annually in the Las Vegas Valley. Nevada is using 280,000 acre-feet of water from its 300,000 acre-feet allotment from the Colorado River annually. Approximately 60% of this is used for urban landscaping. With average water use at >300 gallons per person per day in the past, Las Vegans have been criticized as “water-wasters.” Rising water prices and an active research and extension education program begun in 1985 and supported by the local water utility has helped to contribute to changing water use patterns and a reduction in water use. Research, educational programs for commercial landscapers, and home horticulture programs conducted through Master Gardeners have helped to reduce water use in the Las Vegas Valley while providing information on sound horticultural practices.
Abstract
Apple orchards are highly diversified and complex ecological and economic systems. Production is affected by a wide range of insect, disease, weed, and mammalian pests, and is subject to the same economic and social constraints as any business enterprise. A computer technology, expert systems (ES), is being used to assist fruit growers, county extension agents, and private consultants in making better decisions about the complex horticultural, entomological, and pathological orchard problems.
The Internet has become a valuable tool in education in the traditional classroom. Although electronic publications and other visual information in the form of PowerPoint presentations, with or without streaming video, have proven very effective in disseminating information, these forms lack interaction with clientele. Horizon Wimba software circumvents this limitation by allowing interaction between presenter and remote audience as well as between individual students while the lecture is in progress. This Web-based tool was evaluated in two Extension programs, Master Gardener and county agent trainings. With both types of audience, evaluations showed high satisfaction and effectiveness of the delivery of information. Evaluations also showed that Master Gardeners who use the Internet on a regular basis considered the Web-delivered interactive lecture format similar to face-to-face interaction. Master Gardeners who do not use the Internet on a regular basis listed that Web-delivered interactive training could be used as a supplement to traditional face-to-face interaction. County agents were very comfortable with the format and indicated high interest in participating in future trainings via the Internet.
Abstract
Agricultural technology development and dissemination methodologies through on-farm research have advanced to the point that they can be blended into a highly efficient process that serves most farming systems in a community simultaneously. These methodologies can improve the social distribution of the benefits from public investment in agricultural research and extension and, at the same time, improve the efficiency of these activities.
Abstract
A volunteer weather observing network sponsored by the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service has been a valuable asset to horticulturists, agricultural meteorologists, and weather forecasters. Real-time temperature and precipitation data are used to assess microclimates and to compute derived parameters such as chilling hours and growing degree days. The procedures used to establish the network plus an example of its usefulness during a critical frost night are described.
updating horticulture curricula for undergraduate and graduate level education; 3) connecting university research and teaching to extension efforts in ways that improve horticultural production in the field; and 4) advocating for collaboration between
-applied ethephon. The effect of liming on ethylene release suggests a possible experimental approach whereby rate of ethylene generation may be modified by substrate pH. Despite the potential benefits of ethephon drenches in terms of regulation of stem extension
Abstract
Three hundred and one Extension professionals (88.3% response), working in home horticulture educational programs in the United States in 1984, indicated their greatest areas of inservice education needs in program delivery are: 1) increasing expertise in the various subject matter areas, 2) developing skills in plant disorder diagnosis, 3) managing information files for rapid retrieval and dissemination, and 4) developing and implementing innovative programs. Subject matter areas where respondents have the greatest training need are: 1) pest identification and control, 2) diagnosis of plant disorders, 3) weed identification, 4) home fruit production, 5) information on recommended cultivars, and 6) ornamental plant identification. Home vegetable gardening ranked 1st in respondent perception of importance and perception of proficiency needed for job performance.
New roots of Malus domestica Borkh MM106 apple rootstock were divided into two categories, 1) feeder roots and 2) extension roots based on morphology and their ability to take up NH4 +, were studied. The roots were harvested in August from 1-year-old potted plants growing under natural conditions in Corvallis, Ore. Extension roots were thicker and longer than feeder roots. Average diameter and length were 0.89 and 45.29 mm for extension roots and 0.27 and 5.36 mm for feeder roots. Root special length (cm/g FW) and surface area (cm2/g FW) were 11.94 and 33.17 for extension roots and 108.97 and 93.38 for feeder roots. Maximum uptake rate, Imax, Km, and root absorption power, α (α = Imax•1/Km), for NH4 + absorption were 6.875, 0.721, and 9.48 for extension roots and 4.32, 0.276, and 15.63 for feeder roots. Feeder roots had stronger affinity to NH4 + (low Km) and higher NH4 + absorption power (high α value) than extension roots. The feeder roots were better able to uptake NH4 + at lower external solution concentrations than extension roots according to the nutrient depletion curve, which indicates feeder roots being more efficient than extension roots in nutrient absorption when NH4 + availability was low.