Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) represents a transformative paradigm in agricultural practices, often harnessing advanced technologies and scientific principles to cultivate crops within controlled indoor facilities. This approach encompasses various system types, including soilless production systems (e.g., hydroponics), designed to optimize plant growth conditions and resource utilization. In contrast to traditional open-field production, CEA operations combine production, harvesting, and packaging within one indoor facility which presents unique plant disease and food safety management challenges not manifested in field harvested cropping systems. A key component within CEA systems are soilless substrates which serve to physically support the plant and as a medium to deliver oxygen, nutrients, and water to plant roots via recirculating nutrient solution. Because of their use at the very beginning of the production process, soilless substrates are identified by stakeholders as a critical point for potential pest and pathogen introduction. To align with the pesticide-free goals of most CEA operations, there is a need to validate, non-chemical bio-based strategies for mitigating plant disease and food safety issues. The objectives to attain our goal are to 1) establish the impact of soilless substrates on pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production; 2) determine efficacy of biopesticide amendment of soilless substrates to control pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production; and 3) create outreach and training materials on best practices related to soilless substrates and biopesticide use. Stakeholders have communicated a critical research and extension need which fits within the goal of the USDA CARE program area.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
50%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) represents a transformative paradigm in agricultural practices, often harnessing advanced technologies and scientific principles to cultivate crops within controlled indoor facilities. This approach encompasses various system types, including soilless production systems (e.g., hydroponics), designed to optimize plant growth conditions and resource utilization. In contrast to traditional open-field production, CEA operations combine production, harvesting, and packaging within one indoor facility. While combining activities within a single operational system offers many benefits, it also presents unique plant disease and food safety management challenges not manifested in field harvested cropping systems. A key component within CEA systems are soilless substrates which serve to physically support the plant, and as a medium to deliver oxygen, nutrients, and water to plant roots via recirculating nutrient solution. Because of their use at the very beginning of the production process, soilless substrates are identified by stakeholders as a critical point for potential pest and pathogen introduction. To align with the pesticide-free goals of most CEA operations, there is a need to validate, non-chemical bio-based strategies for mitigating plant disease and food safety issues. The objectives to attain our goal are to:Establish the impact of soilless substrates on pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production.Determine efficacy of biopesticide amendment of soilless substrates to control pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production.Create outreach and training materials on best practices related to soilless substrates and biopesticide use.
Project Methods
Obj 1. Establish the impact of soilless substrates on pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production. In this first objective, greenhouse experiments will evaluate different types of soilless substrate on persistence of foodborne pathogens within the system and subsequent colonization of the leaf lettuce cultivars. Likewise, impact of soilless substrate on the infection from plant pathogens and infestation of pests will also be evaluated. Soilless substrates to be evaluated include those which are most commonly used (peat-based mix, rockwool, and high-density foam cubes) as well as less common options (coco coir, wood [pine] shavings). Obj 2. Determine efficacy of biopesticides amendment of soilless substrates to control pest and pathogen risk in hydroponic leaf lettuce production. Biological pesticides/fungicides/additives will be evaluated for their effect on controlling pests and plant pathogens in CEA systems using primarily butterhead lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. Flandria) or a selection of cultivars for development of IPM. Soilless substrates could affect the performance of biologicals and also the response of pathogens and pests. Within this framework, we will evaluate the performance of biopesticides in CEA systems under different soilless substrates and how those affect plant growth and yield. Biopesticides derived from polyphenols (i.e., pericarp extract from colored corn) and biochar (i.e., produced through walnut shell pyrolysis) as a biological additive will be evaluated under different substrates using previously established protocols, specifically those from Objective 1 that demonstrated adequate plant performance along with disease and pathogen suppression properties. Obj 3. Create outreach and training materials on best practices related to soilless substrates and biopesticides. We plan to rapidly deliver research findings from objectives 1 and 2 in each year of this project as well as promote long-term and much needed extension support to meet critical CEA needs in the future. Each PD and Co-I will participate in extension outreach activities consisting of two main components: 1) Deliver training and outreach materials directly to CEA producers and 2) Strengthen CEA academic and extension communities for a sustainable future.