Progress 10/01/07 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Organic growers need crops that are not usually available in grocery stores such as heirloom varieties that have value-added traits such as attractiveness of fruits, limited availability, unique flavor or other characters. During the two years course of this project at-least 27 tomato, 20 pepper and 13 eggplant varieties were field-grown at Tennessee State University's main campus farms to test for Tennessee growing conditions. However, the continued heavy rainfalls effected the production and fruit quality of all varieties. Six heirloom tomato varieties, i.e., Andrew Rahat Jumbo, Brandy Wine, Brimmer, Marizol Red, Russian and Tidwell German were found suitable to Tennessee growing conditions as well as had good fruit quality. The nine pepper varieties that withstood the Tennessee growing conditions were; Anaheim, Cayenne, Cowhorn, Cubanelle, Habanera, Poblano Ancho, Red Bell, Serrano and Tabasco. None of the eggplant varieties survived the field trial conditions. Two staking methods used in field plots evaluations contributed in producing up to 70% more marketable tomatoes than compared to those plants that were grown on beds. For selected tomato varieties two demonstration plots, one in Cheatham County and one in Davidson County, were grown as well as informative presentations were made to TSU Extension audience in Grundy County and Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. In the taste tests the 10 best varieties were evaluated. Heirloom tomato cultivars are highly sought after by home gardeners and commercial organic growers alike. Home gardeners that visited the demonstration plot were enthusiastic about these varieties. We are presently being asked for the source of sale for the varieties demonstrated. Groups of high school and pre-college students visited the greenhouse and were shown how to transplant seedlings into pots so that they can grow these heirloom varieties in their homes. Procedures for production of tomato via seed were incorporated in a plant propagation course. Students' assignments thus included sowing, transplanting and growing of the 10 selected heirloom tomato varieties. All student participants received tomato transplants to share with their families and friends. Protocols have also been standardized to test antioxidant levels for the samples collected. In addition procedures were standardized for the use of IRD-800 and IRD-700 labeled primers for automated analyses of tomato and pepper varieties. 20 AFLP primer pairs were found suitable both in bulk and segregated analyses to provide ample molecular markers' amplification for each of the tomato and pepper varieties. More than 300 AFLP based DNA-fragments were generated via dual-dye AFLP analyses to compare genetic similarity between each of the six tomato and nine pepper varieties. Development of these tools can thus distinctively identify each variety for their characters and propriety issues etc. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. A. Naseer Aziz, Mr. William Hayslett, Dr. Roger Sauve, Dr. Suping Zhou TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. For tomato varieties two demonstration plots, one in Cheatham County and one in Davidson County, were grown. Some 400 farmers and home owners visited the Cheatham County Organic tomato demonstration plots. 2. Informative presentations were made to TSU Extension audience in Grundy County and Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. Thirty seven farmers in attendance at the two extension meetings. 3. For flavor testing tomatoes were collected and distributed among students and faculty at TSU. About 100 faculty and students received organic tomatoes gaining knowledge of heirloom varieties. Thus some 537 consumers gained knowledge about organic tomatoes. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None of 13 eggplant varieties survived the growing test conditions at TSU. The investigator responsible for egg plant field-trials has left TSU and these trails have not yet assigned to anyone. This project couldn't receive three years to complete all the objectives since it had to be terminated after two years of funding.
Impacts
This project has initiated a multidisciplinary research at TSU for field and flavor trails of heirloom vegetables suitable for middle Tennessee growing conditions along with nutritional and molecular marker studies. The field trails found six tomato (Andrew Rahat Jumbo, Brandy Wine, Brimmer, Marizol Red, Russian & Tidwell German) and nine pepper (Anaheim, Cayenne, Cowhorn, Cubanelle, Habanera, Poblano Ancho, Red Bell, Serrano & Tabasco) varieties that can be grown in middle Tennessee. The field trials were conducted at TSU farms located in Cheatham and Davidson Counties, attracting visits by around 400 farmers/home-owners. This information is usable by any grower interested in heirloom varieties in Tennessee. Through TSU extension service presentations were made to 37 farmers at Grundy County extension office and at the Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. Locally grown tomatoes varieties have been tested for flavor since fruits were harvested and distributed to around 100 students and faculty at TSU. Procedures for antioxidant levels in tomatoes have been standardized to assess the nutritional values of the fruits. In addition more than 300 molecular markers were produced, to distinguish each tomato and pepper variety, using 20 AFLP primer pairs selected through dual-dye (IRD-800 and IRD-700) automated analyses system. These protocols would thus facilitate DNA-fingerprinting of these plants using automated DNA analysis system of Li-Cor (Lincoln, NE). Through this project a graduate student had been trained in molecular markers, AFLP analyses and DNA sequencing electrophoresis procedures and applications. In addition undergraduate and pre-college students were also exposed to such techniques.
Publications
- Sahithi Kommireddy, L.V. and Aziz, N.A. 2009. DNA Fingerprinting of Heirloom Vegetables using Dual Fluorescent Dye Labeled AFLP Primers. Abstract Book of international Symposium on Molecular Markers in Horticulture, International Society for Horticultural Science. p. 68.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Heirloom varieties typically have value-added traits such as attractiveness of fruits, limited availability, unique flavor or other unique traits not found in hybrid crosses. This project attempts to fill the knowledge gaps that exist for heirloom vegetables related to crop production, genetics of varieties, and nutritional value for humans. At-least 27 tomato, 20 pepper and 13 eggplant varieties were field-grown at Tennessee State University's main campus farms to test for Tennessee growing conditions. Six heirloom tomato varieties, i.e., Andrew Rahat Jumbo, Brandy Wine, Brimmer, Marizol Red, Russian and Tidwell German were found suitable to Tennessee growing conditions as well as had good fruit quality. The nine pepper varieties that withstood the Tennessee growing conditions were; Anaheim, Cayenne, Cowhorn, Cubanelle, Habanera, Poblano Ancho, Red Bell, Serrano and Tabasco. None of the eggplant varieties survived the field trial conditions. For tomato varieties two demonstration plots, one in Cheatham County and one in Davidson County, were grown as well as informative presentations were made to TSU Extension audience in Grundy County and Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. For flavor testing tomatoes were collected and distributed among students and faculty at TSU. Protocols have also been standardized to test antioxidant levels in tomatoes. In addition molecular marker analyses on the six tomatoes were conducted. By standardizing procedures for the use of IRD-800 labeled primers via automated analysis, 20 AFLP primer pairs were found suitable to provide ample amplification for each tomato variety. AFLP profiles revealed ample polymorphism to distinguish each tomato variety and more than 300 AFLP based DNA-fragments were generated to compare genetic similarity between each of the varieties. A clustering pictorial image of genetic distances among these was created via TreeCon (Scanalytics Inc., Fairfax, VA) software. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. C. Catanzaro who was responsible for eggplant field-trials regarding this team project, has left the university. TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. For tomato varieties two demonstration plots, one in Cheatham County and one in Davidson County, were grown. Some 400 farmers and home owners visited the Cheatham County Organic tomato demonstration plots. 2. Informative presentations were made to TSU Extension audience in Grundy County and Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. Thirty seven farmers in attendance at the two extension meetings. 3. For flavor testing tomatoes were collected and distributed among students and faculty at TSU. About 100 faculty and students received organic tomatoes gaining knowledge of heirloom varieties. Thus some 537 consumers gained knowledge about organic tomatoes. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None of 13 eggplant varieties survived the growing test conditions at TSU. The investigator responsible for eggplant field-trials has left TSU and these trails have not yet assigned to anyone.
Impacts
This project has initiated a multidisciplinary research at TSU for field and flavor trails of heirloom vegetables suitable for middle Tennessee growing conditions along with nutritional and molecular marker studies. The field trails found six tomato (Andrew Rahat Jumbo, Brandy Wine, Brimmer, Marizol Red, Russian & Tidwell German) and nine pepper (Anaheim, Cayenne, Cowhorn, Cubanelle, Habanera, Poblano Ancho, Red Bell, Serrano & Tabasco) varieties that can be grown in middle Tennessee. The field trials were conducted at TSU farms located in Cheatham and Davidson Counties, attracting visits by around 400 farmers/home-owners. This information is usable by any grower interested in heirloom varieties in Tennessee. Through TSU extension service presentations were made to 37 farmers at Grundy County extension office and at the Organic Grower's Meeting in Davidson County. Locally grown tomatoes varieties have been tested for flavor since fruits were harvested and distributed to around 100 students and faculty at TSU. Procedures for antioxidant levels in tomatoes have been standardized to assess the nutritional values of the fruits. In addition more than 300 molecular markers were produced, to distinguish each tomato variety, using 20 AFLP primer pairs. These protocols would thus facilitate DNA-fingerprinting of these plants using automated DNA analysis system of Li-Cor (Lincoln, NE). Graduate students were also trained in procedures for antioxidant quantification and AFLP profiling.
Publications
- Aziz, N.A. 2008. IRD800 Fluorescent Dye may Alter AFLP Primers' Annealing in Flowering Cherries. Southern Nursery Association Research Conference Proceedings. 53: 162-166.
- Pallapothu, S.S. and Aziz, N.A. 2008. AFLP Analysis of Six Heirloom Tomatoes. Middle Tennessee Collegiate Division Meeting, Tennessee Academy of Science, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Part 1) A protocol for quantification of antioxidant compounds has been developed. Part 2) Young leaf samples were collected from field-grown varieties of tomato, pepper and eggplant that were being tested for Tennessee growing conditions at Tennessee State University's main campus farms. There were at-least four plants for each 27 tomato, 20 pepper and 13 eggplant varieties. Several representative leaf samples from each tomato, pepper and eggplant varieties were collected. All collected leaves were washed with de-ionized water, blotted dry and stored frozen (-70oC) as 200mg samples. DNA from selected tomato, pepper and eggplant leaf samples were extracted using DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, Santa Clara, CA) and grinding matrix along with Bio Fast Prep System (Q. Biogene, Irvine, CA). Presence of DNA was verified in a 2% agarose gel. Field sample collections and DNA sample preparations were conducted while training college students in agricultural techniques. DNA
concentrations were quantified using a spectrophotometer (Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) from six tomato varieties that were found suitable to Tennessee growing conditions as well as had good fruit quality. These samples are to be analyzed by AFLP markers. Part 3) 26 heirloom varieties of tomato and 21 heirloom varieties of peppers were evaluated and compared to commercial cultivars under zero pesticide growing conditions.
PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Suping Zhou, Responsible for 'Part 1' of the project. Dr. A.N. Aziz. Responsible for 'Part 2' of the project. Dr. Roger Sauve and Mr. William Hayslett. Responsible for 'Part 3' of the project.
TARGET AUDIENCES: Parts 1 and 2) Target audience is the scientific community performing research on biologically and nutritionally functional compounds in vegetables. Part 3) Target audience include limited resource agricultural producers in Middle Tennessee. Students at Tennessee State University were targeted for experiential learning experience in Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this project.
PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: A scientist that was assigned to perform field evaluation research on heirloom eggplant varieties has left the university; a replacement has not yet been hired. This circumstance has led to the postponement of this portion of the planned research on eggplant.
Impacts
Part 1) A Capacity Building proposal led by Delaware State University has included this protocol developed in this project in a proposal to measure pepper, tomato and other species for their functional compounds. Part 2) This project has standardized the molecular procedures for tomato, pepper and eggplant varieties. AFLP procedures are currently being standardized for the six superior tomato varieties. The project undertaken has also trained three of TSU's students. Students were exposed to field plots of tomato, pepper and eggplant varieties. They were able to collect leave samples from tagged plants in replicated blocks and were able to preserved labeled samples on ice. The students also learned to prepare samples in requisite sizes for cryogenic storage. Students also learned the use of DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, Santa Clara, CA), Bio Fast Prep System (Q. Biogene, Irvine, CA), agarose gel analyses and Eppendorf spectrophotometer (Hamburg, Germany). Part 3) All
24 heirloom cultivars of tomato produced commercially acceptable fruits that were superior in taste and size than a commercial cultivar without the use of pesticides: 'Greek Domata', 'Abe Lincoln', 'Kornesevsije', 'Marizol Red','Old Virginia','Russian', 'Aker's West Virginia', 'Andrew Rahart's Jumbo', 'Brimmer', 'Erica D' Australie', 'Brandywine Red', 'Fuzzy Bomb', 'Sandul Moldovan', 'Jeff Davis', 'Giant Oxheart', 'Brandywine', 'Tidwell German', 'Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato', 'Black Prince Tomato', 'Yellow Brandywine Tomato', 'Grandma Freida's Tomato', 'Jefferson Giant Tomato', 'Mortgage Lifter Tomato', 'Old Virginia Tomato', 'Tiffin Mennonite Tomato', 'Rio Grande Tomato', 'Crystal Fabulous'. Of these, 6 cultivars were selected for further studies: they are 'Tidwell German', 'Marizol Red', 'Andrew Rahart's Jumbo', 'Brandy Wine', 'Brimer', and 'Old Virginia'. These cultivars were selected on the basis of taste and fruit sizes. 16 heirloom pepper varieties performed well in Middle
Tennessee: 'Anaheim chili pepper', 'Beaver dam pepper', 'Black Hungarian pepper', 'Aconcagua pepper', 'Bull nose pepper','Buran pepper', 'California wonder pepper', 'Chervena chushka pepper', 'Golden summit pepper', 'Hungarian sweet wax pepper', 'Sweet banana pepper', 'Napolean sweet pepper', 'Pimento red cheese pepper', 'Bularian carrot pepper', 'Fish pepper', 'Jamaica red hot pepper', 'Pepperoncini pepper', 'Ancho pepper', 'Balloon pepper', 'Large hot cherry pepper'. The second phase of the experiment is to evaluate these cultivars using different cultural practices (mulches) to conserve moisture and reduce weeds.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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