Research Projects for 2007
ME08305-02 Smagula, J.
Physiology and Culture of the Lowbush Blueberry
Many commercial lowbush blueberry fields have poor plant cover, affecting profit. Nutritional deficiency limits crop yield. This project studies ways to maximize rhizome production on tissue cultured plants for effective spread of introduced plants. Determining optimum nutritional requirements will enable growers to monitor plant health through leaf samples and to apply fertilizer only when necessary. This will maximize profit and prevent over fertilization.
ME08314A Yarborough, D.
A National Agricultural Program to Clear Pest Control Agents for Minor Uses
Growers of minor crops have fewer pesticides available to them compared to major crops. The IR-4 program is aggressively funding research and residue studies on reduced risk alternative pesticides, so that safer alternatives will be available as those pesticides that present the greatest risk are withdrawn for use on minor crops. This will allow wild blueberry and cranberry and other minor crop growers to have the minor use pesticides they need to efficiently produce their crops.
ME08316 Zhang, D.
Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources
To prevent depletion and possible extinction of wild plants and produce quantities of native plants for horticultural trade, practical and commercial feasible methods of propagation are necessary. A DNA profile should be established for these native plants and new garden plants. This project will explore the potential garden plants from Maine and trial new garden plants (from other places) for Maine landscapes, together with their effective propagation methods and DNA profiles.
ME08318-02 Moran, R.
Rootstock and Interstem Effects on Pome and Stone Fruit Trees
The apple industry requires highly adapted and productive rootstocks to produce high quality fruit and to maintain competitiveness in a global market. This project evaluates size-controlling apple rootstocks for their adaptability to the local climate, and their effect on yield and fruit size.
ME08802-05 Porter, G.
Refinement of soil and nutrient management systems for irrigated and non-irrigated potato cropping systems
Potato producers in the Northeast require management pracitices which will provide a high quality product for new and expanding markets, while also optimizing yields under the region's variable soil and climatic conditions. This project will develop new information on supplemental irrigation, nutrient, soil amendment, and storage management practices to improve potato yield and quality in the Northeast.
ME08805-02 Porter, G.
Development of New Potato Clones for Improved Pest Resistance, Marketability, and Sustainability in the East
Markets for processing and fresh market potatoes have become more demanding. Better disease and insect resistance is needed to help eastern potato growers produce a consistent, high quality, and profitable potato crop. New potato varieties with improved quality and/or pest resistance for the eastern U.S. are developed and tested under widely varying environmental conditions within this project.
ME08806-02 Yarborough, D.
Weed Management in Wild Blueberries
Weeds limit yields and reduce quality of wild blueberry harvest. Purpose of this study is to develop chemical and cultural weed management techniques to allow wild blueberries to maintain production efficiency.
ME08807-06 Langille, A.
Utilization of tissue culture techniques to identify Poa annua clones with resistance to Anthracnose disease
The Anthracnose fungus attacks annual bluegrass on golf course putting greens. To preserve quality of play, having plants which are resistant to this fungus would be advantageous. This project would hopefully identify disease resistant plants which would reduce pesticide use and improve quality of play on putting greens.
ME08810-05 Osher, L.
Investigations of Soil and Soil-Landscape Relationships in Coastal Areas
Despite the importance of estuary ecosystems to the natural resource based marine economy of Maine, little is known about the soils of Maine's estuaries. While it is known that land use in uplands adjacent to coastal zones contributes nutrients, sediments and pesticides to estuary ecosystems, the impact of these contributions on soil and water quality and ecosystem health has not been quantified. This purpose of this research is to describe the soils in estuaries and learn about the factors of soil formation, including inputs from upland land use. The research will also investigate the movement of sediments, nutrients and pesticides from coastal uplands to estuaries areas. An important application of this research is to identify the best land management practices.
ME08814-01 Erich, M.
Effects of residue quality on rates of carbon mineralization and soil solution chemistry
Increasing soil organic matter levels represents an important way to improve soil quality. This project seeks to improve our understanding of the process and products of organic matter decomposition in soils and the factors controlling rates of decomposition.
ME08816-02 Calhoun, A.
Ecological Role of Small Wetlands in the Landscape
The terrestrial and aquatic habitat characteristics needed to support vernal pool-breeding amphibians have not been clearly identified, making pool conservation efforts difficult in managed or developing landscapes. This project examines both terrestrial and pool characteristics that explain levels of reproductive effort by vernal pool breeding amphibians.
ME08818-06 Ohno, T.
Chemical Characterization of the Hydrophilic Fraction of Organic Matter Isolated From Soils and Organic Amendments
The hydrophillic fraction of organic matter has not been investigated in detail by soil chemists. This project will determine the characteristics of the hydrophillic fraction of organic matter and how it reacts will soils.
ME08822 Osher, L.
Soil Organic Matter and Soil Quality
Soils store a significant amount of the carbon that in terrestrial ecosystems, and thus play an important role in the global C cycle. Conventional land management tends to cause losses in soils C. Additions of organic amendments to landscape and agricultural lands improve soil quality and increase soil C content and improve soil quality. This project will quantify soil carbon content and study the mechanisms of carbon storage and loss in soils and ecosystems.
ME08823-05 Sarrantonio, M.
Cover Crops for Soil Quality Enhancement in Maine Cropping Systems
Cover crops are commonly used for soil improvement, and nitrogen additions, but there is little information guiding farmers about the effects of timing or species choice in fulfilling their goals. This project looks at a wide range of cover crop management and species choices to recommned the best combinations to accomplish various famring systems goals.
ME08825-02 Hutton, M.
Evaluation of Vegetable Varieties and Improvements in Vegetable Crop Management for Maine
Maine vegetable growers have difficult challenges in dealing with cool short growing seasons. This project seeks to identify vegetable varieties and cultural practices that will enable Maine vegetable farmers to profitably grow vegetables.
ME08828-06 Burnett, S.
Developing and Integrating Components for Commercial Greenhouse Production System
Some greenhouse irrigation practices use water inefficiently and increase the potential for leaching of water soluble nutrients. This project will determine whether irrigation and fertigation efficiency may be improved by automating irrigation using substrate moisture sensors.
ME08834-06 Gallandt, E.
Soil-Improving Practices for Ecological Weed Management
Throughout the Northeast, weeds are a recurrent and ubiquitous problem on organic and diversified vegetable farms. These two groups share the need for ecologically-based weed management strategies, the former because herbicides are not permitted, and the latter because relatively few herbicides are labeled for the so-called "minor use crops." Although alternative systems may successfully limit crop yield loss to comparable levels obtained with conventional management, weed control efficacy may be lower and more variable than in conventional systems, resulting in larger annual inputs into the weed "seed bank," i.e., the quantity of viable seeds present in the soil and on its surface. To assure success of alternative systems, biological and cultural weed management methods must be accompanied by efforts to reduce weed seed banks and maintain them at low levels. Higher weed densities and weed seed inputs associated with alternative management strategies may not have negative long term economic consequences if seed bank densities can be maintained at low levels. This project aims to develop soil-improving management practices that impose multiple stresses at key life-stage transitions in annual weeds, including germination and establishment, growth and reproduction, and persistence in the seed bank. Three field projects addressing distinct but related objectives will be conducted to determine the potential weed management contributions of cover cropping practices.
ME08845 Osher, L.
Hydropedology: Genesis, properties, and distribution of hydromorphic soils
Soil and water are connected across the landscape in a seamless pattern from the seasonally saturated soils of the upland to the continuously inundated subaqueous soils along the coast. At present, soil maps extend only to the high water line of lacustrine, river and tidal systems, and our knowledge of the processes occuring in the wet zones and the impacts of our land managment to these areas is limited. By taking a hydropedological approach across the northeast region, this project will investigate relationships between water and soil along this continuum.
ME08848 Moran, R.
Postharvest Biology of Fruit
New England varieties are less competitive with other varieties that now dominate the market. However, adoption of new or untried varieties is complicated by lack of storage protocol. New technology for improving storage of currently grown varieties can increase sensitivity to storage disorders. The purpose of this research is to evaluate new apple varieties for susceptibility to storage disorders and to test new storage practices for currently produced varieties.
ME08912-02 Porter, G.
Crop Rotation, Soil Management, and Pest Management Systems for Potato
Economic and environmental pressures weigh heavily on present potato production systems, which also face difficult challenges in terms of pest and soil management. This interdisciplinary project is focused on integration of animal manure use, forage and feed rotation crops, and alternative pest management practices into potato production systems. It involves ecological, biological, and economic analysis of potato production systems using data collected from a large-plot, research study.
ME09580-01 Dail, D.
Influence of N Source on C and N processes in Forest Soils
Fossil fuels use releases significant nitrogen (N) to the atmosphere. Many northern forests are limited in growth by N availability, thus may respond to increased N from urban areas and this may initially increase forest growth but eventually cause stress when other non-N nutrients become scarce. The project will investigate the role of soil organisms (bacteria and fungi) in tempering the increases in N and regulating the availability of N to trees in a commercial forest.
ME09803-05 Fernandez, I.
Forest Soils of Maine--Responses to Environmental Alterations
Long-term, chronic deposition of atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur from air pollution, combined with a changing climate, are changing forest ecosystems. This research provides information on how forested ecosystems function in these changing pollution and climatic regimes. This will help us predict future conditions in forests, develop policy to limit negative effects on forests and surface waters, and development management strategies to adapt.
