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Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences


Faculty Directory

Dr. Renae Moran

Research Area: Tree Fruits

E-mail: rmoran@umext.maine.edu

Phone: 207-933-2100

Office: Highmoor Farm

Bio: Dr. Moran received her BS from the University of Minnesota.  She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Arkansas.  She joined the faculty in 2000 and is now an Associate Professor of Pomology.

Current Research:

There are two major goals of the apple research program at Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. One is to improve the yield of new orchards through better rootstocks and through preplant soil ammendments. Because apple trees in Maine are slow growing, they take an extra year to come into production. Through preplant soil ammendments and precocious rootstocks, early yield can be increased, but planting costs may be substantially increased. We are evaluating the cost effectiveness of these methods. The second objective is to increase competitivenes of New England apples by planting better quality varieties and through improved storage methods. Traditional varieties such as McIntosh are high quality varieties at harvest. but because they soften quickly after harvest, they are less competive with crisp varieties. Honeycrisp a new variety with outstanding eating quality, but is prone to storage disorders. Current projects are testing different storage methods to prevent these from happening to Honeycrisp.

Recent Publications

Moran, R.E. 2006. Maintaining Fruit Firmness of ‘McIntosh’ and ‘Cortland’ Apples with Aminoethoxyvinylglycine and 1-Methylcyclopropene During Storage. HortTechnology 16(3): in press.

Miller, S.S., R.W. McNew, B. H. Barritt, L. Berkett, S.K. Brown, J.A. Cline, J.M. Clements, W.P. Cowgill, R.M. Crassweller, M.E. Garcia, D.W. Greene, G.M. Greene, C.R. Hampson, I. Merwin, D.D. Miller, R.E. Moran, C.R. Rom, T.R. Roper, J.R. Schupp, and E. Stover. 2005. Effect of cultivar and site on fruit quality as demonstrated by the NE-183 regional project on apple cultivars. HortTechnology 15:886-895.

Moran, R.E. and J.R. Schupp. 2005. Preplant monoammonium phosphate fertilizer and compost affects the growth and yield of newly-planted ‘Macoun’ apple trees. HortScience 40:1854-1856.

Moran, R.E. and P. McManus. 2005. Firmness retention, and prevention of coreline browning and senescence in ‘Macoun’ apple fruit with 1-methylcyclopropene. HortScience 40:161-163.

Watkins, C.B., M. Erkan, J.F. Nock, K.A. Iungerman, and R.E. Moran. 2005. Harvest date effects on maturity, quality and storage disorders of ‘Honeycrisp’ apples. HortScience 40:164-169.

Crassweller, R., R. McNew, A. Azarenko, B. Barritt, R. Belding, J. Cline, W. Cowgill, D. Ferree, E. Garcia, D. Greene, G. Greene, C. Hampson, I. Merwin, D. Miller, S. Miller, R. Moran, M. Parker, D. Rosenberger, C. Rom, T. Roper, J. Schupp, and E. Stover. 2005. Five year summary of NE-183 apple cultivar trial - growth and yield characteristics. J. Amer. Pom. Soc. 59:18-27.

Zhang, D., R.E. Moran, and L.B. Stack. 2004. Effect of phosphorus fertilization on growth and flowering of Scaevola aemula R. Br. ‘New Wonder’. HortScience 39:1728-1731.

Greene, D., A. Azarenko, B. Barritt, B. Belding, L. Berkett, J. Cline, W. Cowgill, D. Ferree, E. Garcia, G. Greene, C. Hampson, R. McNew, I. Merwin, D. Miller, S. Miller, R. Moran, M. Parker, D. Rosenberger, C. Rom, T. Roper, J. Schupp, and E. Stover. 2004. Multidisciplinary evaluation of new apple cultivars: the NE-183 regional project. J. Amer. Pom. Soc. 58:61-64.

Miller, S., R. McNew, R. Belding, L. Berkett, S. Brown, J. Clements, J. Cline, W. Cowgill, R. Crassweller, E. Garcia, D. Greene, G. Greene, C. Hampson, I. Merwin, R. Moran, T. Roper, J. Schupp, and E. Stover. 2004. Performance of apple cultivars in the 1995 NE-183 regional project planting: II. Fruit quality characteristics. J. Amer. Pom. Soc. 58:65-77.

Hampson, C.R., R. McNew, A. Azarenko, L. Berkett, B. Barritt, R. Belding, S. Brown, J. Clements, J. Cline, W. Cowgill, R. Crassweller, E. Garcia, D. Greene, G. Greene, I. Merwin, D. Miller, S. Miller, R. Moran, J.D. Obermiller, C. Rom, T. Roper, J. Schupp, and E. Stover. Performance of ‘Braeburn’, ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Yataka Fuji’ apple on Mark and M.9 rootstocks at multiple locations across North America. 2004. J. Amer. Pom. Soc. 58:78-89.

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Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
5722 Deering Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5722 U.S.A.
Phone: 207-581-2947 | Fax: 207-581-2999
 


The University of Maine
, Orono, Maine 04469
207-581-1110
A Member of the University of Maine System