Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:During the last year our project focused on several target audiences. Our primary focus was on the hazelnut grower audience of Minnesota and Wisconsin and groups with an interest in the development of a hazelnut industry in the Midwest.This effort included both current hazelnut producers and potential hazelnut producers and processors. One of our primary target audiences was the farmers in the driftless regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota which we believe is one of the areas that is ideal for hazelnut production. We also continued to focus our educational activities on the forest managers of Minnesota and Wisconsin to help them learn about hazelnut production as a potential forest management component. We also focused our activities on aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. We worked with a wide range of end users to access and develop the market demand for hazelnut in Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of our audiences was our research peers as we reported our research results at meeting in Canada and Oregon. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Wisconsin, Jason Fischbach and his assistant Matt Cogger have engaged a group of Northland College undergraduates to learn how to conduct research. As a post-doc on this project, Lois Braun is learning how to manage a research project At least fifteen undergraduate students and recent graduates have worked with her on the hazelnut project during the five years of our SCRI grant, many but not all of whom were paid out of SCRI funds. Some have worked for only a few weeks during harvest or fall transplanting; others have worked for half a year or more and have had a chance to learn enough to take responsibility. Besides harvest and transplanting, they have been involved with spring seedling, pollinations, EFB inoculations, summer potting, watering, weed control, sample-processing and data entry. An additional four students have done UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) projects with hazelnut propagation. For this program, students are involved with all phases of a research project, from planning and supply procurement, through implementation, data collection and analysis, to presentation. All four of the UROP students worked on hardwood stem cutting experiments, because they are short enough to be completed within the timeframe of a UROP project, and all four presented posters with their results. The project has provided opportunities for learning and professional development for growers and interested parties in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The field days and growers conference are open to the public and the website can be viewed by all. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the project's final year, CIAS continued work to support a grower/consumer interface. We updated our report on nut businesses, linking the overview in the first edition with full case studies on each business. We added business overview summaries with multiple photos and captions to better tell the story. This full color, 25-page report is now available as a free download document on our web site and as a hard copy. We printed 1,000 copies for distribution because the report was highly sought-after by rural growers who did not have adequate internet access to download and print it. Further, we found that the report was useful beyond hazelnut growers, to growers of other perennial fruit and nuts that require processing. CIAS staff partnered with staff at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to develop a hazelnut storymap through Esri's ArcGIS on-line, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/.Through photos, maps and concise narrative, this storymap provides an interactive space for multiple audiences to learn about the history, foodways, research questions, and grower efforts with hazelnut production. It includes interviews with many of the key people involved in getting hazelnuts to market and how multiple agencies and organizations are working together. The storymap is in the final review and approval process and is expected to go live before January 1, 2017, when it will be linked to the project web site, as well as web sites that partner with the central project. DATCP is housing the storymap on their Esri account, where it is available online to anyone. After working with a hazelnut processing steering committee since 2009, UW-Extension (Jason Fischbach) assisted a group of 11 hazelnut growers in WI, IA, and MN organize and launch the American Hazelnut Company. Fischbach wrote a business plan, operating agreement, operating policies, and enterprise budgets for the Company and assisted with the sale of initial membership shares in the partnership business. The Company formally launched Phase 1 in November of 2014 to develop a hazelnut processing line, develop Company branding and marketing materials, and manufacture test product for the initial customers. To date, the Company has designed and built a size-sorter, aspirator, and conveyance equipment. The 2014 crop was processed by June of 2015 and sample products were shipped to customers. The 2015 crop was processed with sale of bulk product to bakers and sample packs to the University of Minnesota for their work educating elected officials and other stakeholders about hazelnuts. More information about the American Hazelnut Company can be found at: www.americanhazelnut.co. In July of 2015, the American Hazelnut Company hosted a tour stop as part of the Northern Nut Growers Association Annual Conference. Attendees were able to see the processing equipment developed by the Company and sample the Midwest grown hazelnuts. The main website portal for the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative is www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The website is intended as a tool for growers to access information about hazelnuts and to stay informed about what is happening and what researchers are doing. Currently, the website is receiving an average of 450 unique visitors per week. The hazelnut video that was produced with other funding has been viewed on You Tube 11,067 times as of Nov 1, 2016. A previous video produced to train growers on how to evaluate the performance of their own plants has been viewed 10,382 times. Researchers with the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative (Fischbach and Braun) hosted a meeting with representatives of other hazelnut development projects in North America on July 30, 2015. Representatives included folks from the Hazelnut Consortium (Mehlenbacher, Molnar, Claire), Ontario Hazelnut Association (Grimo, Nixon, Taghavi), and the Prince Edward Island growers (Glen). A few representatives from stakeholder groups in the Upper Midwest also attended, including the Iowa Nut Growers Association (Jensen), American Hazelnut Company (Meschke), and the Savannah Institute (Keeley). The goal for the meeting was to identify ways to collaborate in developing a hazelnut industry East of the Rockies. The main action item to emerge from this meeting was agreement to establish the Joint Hazelnut Production Trials at 13 locations (and counting) across the US Midwest, and Ontario and Prince Edward Island in Canada. The Trials will include hazelnut selections from the Oregon State, Nebraska, Rutgers, UMHDI, and Grimo breeding projects. The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (Michelle Miller) and UW-Extension (Jason Fischbach) co-sponsored and helped to organize and underwrite a two day program and tour in partnership with the Northern Nut Growers Association in July, in partial fulfillment of our scope of work to provide workshops for growers in the Driftless region. The focus of the conference program was on nut supply chain development and nut product marketing. A number of the processors CIAS worked with on the project participated as speakers at the conference, including Tom Rutllege, Hammonds Nuts; and Bill Nash, Chestnut Growers, Inc.. Conference participants also heard from Justin Gibson of the North American franchise VomFass, a company that specializes in gourmet oils, including nut oils, and had a chance to taste high-quality hazelnut oil while hearing how the company chooses products and business partners. CIAS also helped to organize the Driftless regional tour, including a stop for dinner at The Rooted Spoon in Viroqua, where diners had a chance to taste hazelnuts and other local foods. We communicated updates and the results of our work at the annual Wisconsin Hazelnut Field Day and the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference. The WI field day was held in Bayfield in 2016 (25 attendees), in Stoughton in 2014 (52 attendees), and in Viola in 2013 (57 attendees). The growers conference was held in Gays Mills in 2016 (101 attendees), in Gays Mills in 2014 (89 attendees), and in Eau Claire in 2013 (98 attendees). In lieu of the 2015 field day and conference, WI hosted the annual meeting and conference of the Northern Nut Growers Association. UMHDI researchers presented at both the classroom sessions and during the tour of the American Hazelnut Company and New Forest Farm in Viola, WI (117 attendees). In addition to the field days and conferences, Jason Fischbach and Lois Braun have provided research updates or information about the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative since 2011 to a wide range of stakeholder groups including: Establishment of the grower-owned hazelnut processing company and the organizing and business planning documents behind it, represent an enormous step forward toward development of a hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest. First, it allows growers to begin processing and selling hazelnuts from their plantings. Second, there is now an entity of growers that can lobby for and solicit resources and assistance toward continued development of their industry. Third, the company will now serve as the market pull at the small scale producer level that will allow growers to expand plantings and make investments in harvesting equipment. That said, until improved germplasm is available, hazelnut supply will be a major limitation. The lack of organized grower organizations and businesses is a major limitation toward securing the resources and support for new crop development. Between the American Hazelnut Company, the Iowa Nut Growers Association, and Minnesota Hazelnut Foundation, the industry now has organized grower entities that can more effectively partner with researchers in developing the industry. The StoryMap project about the emerging hazelnut industry will greatly aid early-adopter growers and stakeholder groups. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Develop a germplasm improvement program for the region: The major goal of this objective is to improve the crop characteristics of American and hybrid hazelnuts through a cooperative regional plant evaluation and breeding. Germplasm Performance Trials. In the course of our five year SCRI grant, we have added 74 accessions of hazelnut to our five replicated germplasm performance trials. These trials now have 17 pure C. americana, 5 pure European, 126 locally identified hybrids, and 29 hybrids from other sources, for a total of 177 accessions represented in these trials. The 2016 harvest was the fifth for the oldest accessions in the trials, which will give us enough data, when nut evaluation is complete, to select the top five from the oldest cohort to move into more intensively replicated trials. BC1 and F1 seedlings. Since 2012, we have also been backcrossing our top genotypes to advanced lines of C. avellana, using pollen from the Oregon State hazelnut breeding program. 2,080 BC1s have now been planted to the field. In addition, we have planted 990 C. americana x C. avellana F1 seedlings. All seedlings were inoculated with Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB) spores for EFB resistance screening while still in the greenhouse. As of winter 2015, only 5% had been identified with the disease, so it appears that levels of resistance are high. Winter survival has also been high. The oldest of the BC1 are expected to start producing nuts in 2017, so we will soon be able to start evaluating them for the superior nut quality which is the objective of this work. Controlled Crosses. In spring 2016 we made 66 additional back-crosses between high-ranking genotypes in our performance trials and advanced selections from OSU, from which 10,100 BC1 seed were harvested. In addition, high performing C. americana accessions at the Bayfield, WI planting, which were sourced by screening wild populations in Northern Wisconsin, were crossed with the same C. avellana selections from OSU. All seed are being stratified and will be planted in the spring of 2017. We will share some of both the BC1 and the F1 seed with our colleagues at Oregon State and Rutgers. 2. Develop viable methods of vegetative propagation. The major goal of this objective is to develop low-cost commercially appropriate propagation techniques, such as micropropagation and hardwood stem cuttings. Micropropagation of C. Americana: Over the last year progress was made in both understanding the biological dynamics of American hazelnut propagules and developing a reproducible micropropagation protocol. Selections from native hazelnut swarms located in different geographical regions of the upper Midwest have been successfully isolated and maintained in microculture. Attempts to root and acclimate microcuttings from these shoot cultures using varied in vitro and ex vitro rooting technologies generally produced rooted plants. We have made progress in our understanding of why these young plants usually failed to survive acclimation to a greenhouse environment. We have continued to conduct experiments to overcome this observable plant stress by modifying light and evaluating microelement levels. This has resulted in superior microcuttings that rooted at high percentages but still fail to live under greenhouse conditions. Micropropagation of hybrid hazelnuts: Hybrid hazelnut propagation research is being continued and expanded with support from other funding sources. Our current work focuses on two limiting steps in propagation: rooting and acclimatization. Research to describe the changes in IBA and IAA metabolism that occur during adventitious root formation in hazelnut has continued. We are continuing to employ a metabolomics approach to investigate hazelnut stress response during this transition and systematically analyze different environmental conditions to identify those which can improve transfer success rates. 3. Develop best-management practices (BMPs) for establishment and management of bush-type hazelnuts in an integrated production system including: The primary goal of this objective is to develop an understanding of weed management during establishment, nitrogen fertilization of bearing plants, and coppicing and pruning systems for rejuvenation of mature plants. Weed management: We have now completed the three year treatment phase of all four weed control trials. Data on bush size after three years showed a positive response to weed control measures in all trials. All methods used (cultivation, woodchip mulch, pre-emergent herbicides, post-emergent herbicide (glyphosate) and landscape fabric) significantly improved growth over the control (mowing only). The efficacy of the methods varied by site, probably due to the types of weeds present at each site, but treatments that included glyphosate consistently produced the best growth. Nitrogen fertilization: Nitrogen has now been applied at variable rates for two years in the four clonal plantings established in 2011 and 2012 for N fertilization trials. In 2016, applications were made only if leaf N fell below deficiency thresholds, with three thresholds being tested, 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2%. Application rates are 30 g N m-3 of plant volume, and therefore increase as the plants grow. In 2015 only one of the four sites produced nuts; in 2016 three of them produced nuts. 2016 plant growth and yield data has not yet been processed. Pruning and Coppicing: How to manage mature hazelnuts that are getting too big for harvest and/or with declining yields has been under evaluation. Coppicing the plants to the ground has been proposed as a way to rejuvenate them, but it eliminates two years of yield and results in an even-aged cohort of stems that isn't always desirable in shrub-crops. In 2011 we established two trials, one in an 11 year old seedling planting and the other in an 8 year old seedling planting, to determine whether pruning to open the centers of older plants or hedging the tops to keep them short might be alternatives to coppicing. In 2012 we added a third trial, on 12 year old plants. Results have been inconclusive. Yields were down significantly across all treatments at all three sites in 2013 and 2014. When yields rebounded in 2015, by far the most productive plants were those that had been coppiced either two or three years earlier. In other words, the yield bump observed for coppiced plants in 2015 was not sustained long enough to compensate for the lost years, at least not yet. Our conclusions are that: 1) pruning may be helpful for some genotypes, but not for others, and that until we develop clonal varieties, continued research on pruning is not likely to be productive; and 2) for older seedling plantings, coppicing is much easier to implement than pruning, and thus is the most feasible method of rejuvenation, even though it is not effective for all genotypes. The above trials on older seedling plantings suggestes that pruning trials needed to be implemented on clonal plant material and when plants are young. 4. Develop enterprise budgets based on these practices. Jason Fischbach developed and in 2016 continued to support a hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool was outlined at the grower's conferences during 2016. 5. Increase grower knowledge about bush-type hazelnut production. The results of our work have been disseminated to growers and stakeholders at field days, at the grower's conference, marketing workshops, via email blasts, the UMHDI website portal, the Driftless Food and Farming portal, and the Driftless Facebook page. The research reports are available at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Improvement Program continued to maintain its grower assisted online plant performance database.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:During the last year our project focused on several target audiences. Our primary focus was on the hazelnut grower audience of Minnesota and Wisconsin and groups with an interest in the development of a hazelnut industry in the Midwest. This effort included both current hazelnut producers and potential hazelnut producers and processors. One of our primary target audiences was the farmers in the driftless regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota which we believe is one of the areas that is ideal for hazelnut production. We also continued to focus our educational activities on the forest managers of Minnesota and Wisconsin to help them learn about hazelnut production as a potential forest management component. We also focused our activities on aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. We worked with a wide range of end users to access and develop the market demand for hazelnut in Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of our audiences was our research peers as we reported our research results at meeting in Canada and Oregon. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As a post-doc on this project, Lois Braun is learning how to conduct a research project; the three University of Minnesota undergraduates working on the project during the summer of 2015 got experience in carrying out research projects. In Wisconsin, Jason Fischbach and his assistant Matt Cogger have engaged a group of Northland College undergraduates to learn how to conduct research. The project has provided opportunities for learning and professional development for growers and interested parties in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The field days and growers conference are open to the public and the website can be viewed by all. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Outreach component of our project for the 2014/2015 reporting period had two main objectives: 1) Continue to provide research-based information on the agronomic production of bush-type hazelnuts, and 2) Provide information and technical assistance to growers for the processing and marketing of hazelnuts. Combined, these objectives are intended to help realize the vision for a vibrant hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest as outlined in the 2007 Upper Midwest Hazelnut Strategic Plan. Hazelnut Production: The main website portal for the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative is www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The website is intended as a tool for growers to access information about hazelnuts and to stay informed about what is happening and what researchers are doing. Currently, the website is receiving an average of 420 unique visitors per week. The hazelnut video that was produced with other funding has been viewed on You Tube 7640 times as of Oct 30, 2015. A previous video produced to train growers on how to evaluate the performance of their own plants has been viewed 5834 times. Researchers with the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative (Fischbach and Braun) hosted a meeting with representatives of other hazelnut development projects in North America on July 30, 2015. Representatives included individuals from the Hazelnut Consortium (Mehlenbacher, Molnar, Claire), Ontario Hazelnut Association (Dale, Grimo, Toghavi), and the Prince Edward Island growers (Glen). In addition, representatives from stakeholder groups in the Upper Midwest attended including the Iowa Nut Growers Association (Jensen), American Hazelnut Company (Meschke), and the Savannah Institute (Keeley). The goal for the meeting was to identify ways to collaborate in developing a hazelnut industry East of the Rockies. The following action items will be pursued over the coming year: Establishment of Joint Hazelnut Production Trials at 16 locations including hazelnut selections from the Rutgers, Oregon State, UMHDI, and Grimo breeding projects, collaboration on propagation of American and hybrid hazelnuts, exploration of regional branding options, development of flavor analysis and propagation protocols and capacity at the University of Minnesota, an annual hazelnut researcher meeting at the annual NNGA meeting. Hazelnut Industry Development: After working with a hazelnut processing steering committee since 2009, UW-Extension (Jason Fischbach) assisted a group of 11 hazelnut growers in WI, IA, and MN organize and launch the American Hazelnut Company. Fischbach wrote a business plan, operating agreement, operating policies, and enterprise budgets for the Company and assisted with the sale of initial membership shares in the partnership business. The Company formally launched Phase 1 in November of 2014 to develop a hazelnut processing line, develop Company branding and marketing materials, and manufacture test product for the initial customers. To date, the Company has designed and built a size-sorter, aspirator, and is working on a higher-capacity cracker. The 2014 crop was processed by June of 2015 and sample products have been shipped to customers. More information about the Company can be found at www.americanhazelnut.co. In July of 2015, the American Hazelnut Company hosted a tour stop as part of the Northern Nut Growers Association Annual Conference. Attendees were able to see the processing equipment developed by the Company and sample the Midwest grown hazelnuts. Northern Nut Growers Association Annual Conference: The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (Michelle Miller) and UW-Extension (Jason Fischbach) co-sponsored and helped to organize and underwrite a two day program and tour in partnership with the Northern Nut Growers Association in July, in partial fulfillment of our scope of work to provide workshops for growers in the Driftless region. The focus of the conference program was on nut supply chain development and nut product marketing. A number of the processors CIAS worked with on the project participated as speakers at the conference, including Tom Rutllege, Hammonds Nuts; and Bill Nash, Chestnut Growers, Inc. Conference participants also heard from the North American franchise owner Justin GIbson, of VomFass, a company that specializes in gourmet oils. For more information on the special session, go tohttp://cast.uark.edu/home/research/eutrd.html. Sprouting New Nut Businesses case study synthesis: The report synthesized the findings of the five case studies and includes sections on building a supply chain; production challenges; processing options; marketing and pricing unique products; lessons learned. One hundred copies were printed and distributed at the Northern Nut Growers Association conference at the end of July and available on-line athttp://www.driftless.wisc.edu/sprouting-new-tree-nut-businesses-in-the-midwest-five-case-studies/. Chef tasting: This year CIAS had chefs taste hazelnut oils and share their thinking on each oil, as well as how they might be used in their restaurants. Chefs are very interested in hazelnut products with a regional story and are looking for intense nut flavor. University of MN hazelnut marketing project: CIAS worked with Karen Korslund at University of MN on a project to interview chefs on their interests in purchasing hazelnut products. We shared our chef experiences in Madison and commented on research methodology and research questions. This collaboration continues as we get a better idea of product available, and grower plans for processing.Overall, we've made headway in helping growers understand what it takes to build a nut processing business and market for their products. We think there is considerable work to go to support growers in their efforts to commercialize hazelnut production and tell their story as part of their marketing efforts. For instance, chefs found the name of the processing company less-than-compelling and downright generic. The company now understands what it will take to catch the attention of chefs, if they choose to grow their market through this channel. SImilarly, growers better understand the different marketing channels available to them and what qualities, volumes, and prices they can expect from these channels. With respect to information delivery and grower outreach the focus of this reporting period was on development of the American Hazelnut Company by UW-Extension and education and development of a hazelnut supply chain by the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS). With the opportunity to host the annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association, we included the annual Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference and Wisconsin Hazelnut Field Day in the NNGA meeting and conference. Establishment of the grower-owned hazelnut processing company and the organizing and business planning documents behind it, represent an enormous step forward toward development of a hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest. First, it allows growers to begin processing and selling hazelnuts from their plantings. Second, there is now an entity of growers that can demand resources and assistance toward continued development of their industry. Third, the company will now serve as the market pull at the small scale producer level that will allow growers to expand plantings and make investments in harvesting equipment. The American Hazelnut Company is poised and ready for rapid growth in 2015. That said, until improved germplasm is available, hazelnut supply will be a major limitation. The lack of organized grower organizations and businesses is a major limitation toward securing the resources and support for new crop development. Between the American Hazelnut Company, the Iowa Nut Growers Association, and Minnesota Hazelnut Foundation, the industry now has organized grower entities that can more effectively partner with researchers in developing the industry. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Develop a germplasm improvement program for the region: We will grow out the BC1 seed from 2015 crosses, the F1 seed from Oregon State, and make additional crosses, using as parents the best plants identified from 2015 yield data. We will also continue to evaluate the older BC1 seedlings, initially for winter hardiness and EFB resistance, and eventually for nut quality and yield. In addition, with funds from a new SARE grant, we will attempt to micropropagate the top four genotypes identified to date for establishment in larger scale trials on farms of cooperating farmers and on experiment stations. Once we understand the impact of provenance (i.e. location) on genetic variability, we can tailor plant collections to capture the best genotypes. At this point, we know that within population genetic variability is higher than between population genetic variability when sampled in the narrow range of central and northern Wisconsin. The impact of this knowledge is that we currently select the best individuals within populations, as opposed to looking for high-producing populations. However, until the spatial scale of our understanding of the genetics increases to include the entire region, we are basing our selection protocol on incomplete knowledge. By mid-summer next year, we should have quite good knowledge on regional differences in genetic variability (if they exist) and will use that information to inform our selection protocols. Develop viable methods of vegetative propagation. Brent McCown will continue trials to overcome the remaining hurdles associated with acclimation and rooting of micropropagules in the greenhouse. Four selections of hybrid hazelnuts have been established in pots under greenhouse conditions. Collar or rhizome sucker shoots will be stimulated and the resulting juvenile softwood tissues from these shoots will be used in attempts for isolation, stabilization, and shoot culture production. At the University of Minnesota hybrid hazelnut propagation research will be continued and expanded with support from other funding sources. Our current work focuses on two limiting steps in propagation: rooting and acclimatization. One project aims to describe the changes in IBA and IAA metabolism that occur during adventitious root formation in hazelnut by analyzing very small samples of tissue during the early stages of root development. Understanding the biochemical changes that induce rooting could inform more effective hormonal treatment methods which would improve the efficiency of hazelnut propagation. Transitioning plantlets grown in vitro to the harsher conditions of a greenhouse or field is often problematic and can result in significant plantlet losses. To address this difficulty, we are employing a metabolomics approach to investigate hazelnut stress response during this transition and systematically analyze different environmental conditions to identify those which can improve transfer success rates. In addition to our work investigating fundamental biological questions important to propagation, we also recently hired a technician to optimize and apply our tissue culture methods to propagate many hazelnuts of elite germplasm for use in field performance trials. Develop best-management practices (BMPs) for establishment and management of bush-type hazelnuts in an integrated production system including. Weed management: With the exception of the youngest site, we will only mow the sites in 2016, discontinuing more intensive weed control treatments, because observations suggest that mowing is sufficient weed control after the three year establishment period. But we will continue to monitor for responses to earlier weed control efforts, especially as they start to yield. Although we plan to use preliminary results to write an extension bulletin on weed management this winter, we plan to wait until we have precocity data before writing up a full paper. That is because precocity is an essential response for calculating economic costs on weed management. We would also like to dig up several replications to evaluate root mass and morphology, though we have not figured out how to do this without compromising yield data collection. N fertilization: We will continue to apply variable rates of N and evaluate leaf N, growth, and yield responses for at least three more years, possibly much longer. We will write fertilization recommendations for growers when we have enough data to do so confidently, and will also write scientific publications when merited by the data. Earlier attempts to write recommendations based on data from non-clonal trials were confounded by genetic variability of plant material, and poor genetics, as discussed in the 2014 report. Pruning and coppicing: We will continue to monitor yield on the two mature seedling plantings in the pruning and coppicing trial, but will put most of our efforts into the younger clonal plantings. Mostly we consider these trials to be informal ways of learning what the options might be for shaping hazelnuts, so that when improved varieties are available we can initiate new trials comparing the best methods. Increase grower knowledge about bush-type hazelnut production. Our major effort in the next reporting period will be dissemination of our top genotype selections to growers. With separate funding and commitments from 15 growers we plan to propagate and distribute nearly 7000 liners from 4 select genotypes. Included in this effort will be field days and a feature at the hazelnut growers conference in March. We also plan to publish a report on the hybrid yields from the performance trials. With nearly all of the accessions in the trials from on-farm plantings, this report will provide the information the growers have been waiting for for years. Develop enterprise budgets based on these practices. Jason Fischbach developed and in 2016 will continue to support the hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool will be outlined at the grower's conferences during 2016.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Develop a germplasm improvement program for the region: The major goal of this objective is to improve the crop characteristics of American and hybrid hazelnuts through a cooperative regional plant evaluation and breeding. Germplasm Performance Trials: Approximately 170 accessions are now represented in the St. Paul germplasm performance trial, with good representation of these at the other four trials. The collection is comprised of 127 American x European hybrids, 6 pure European, 17 pure American, and 21 hybrids from other sources. We established the top four selections in larger scale trials, for the purpose of gaining experiences on harvesting, processing and marketing technologies. Eastern European Corylus avellana. Layers from fourteen accessions of Corylus avellana from Eastern and Northern Europe, identified to be EFB resistant by our colleague Tom Molnar at Rutgers University, were established in trials in St. Paul and Bayfield in spring 2015. BC1 and F1 seedlings: We just completed transplanting 568 BC1 seedlings from crosses made in 2014 between our hybrids and advanced selections from Oregon State University. This brings the number of BC1 seedlings we have in the field in Minnesota to over 1,000. We also transplanted an additional 631 C. americana x C. avellana F1 hybrid seedlings from seed sent from the Oregon State and the Hazelnut Consortium. The C. americana parentage of these seedlings came from collections made by members of the Northern Nut Growers Association in northern states. More F1 seed from Oregon State will be planted in 2016. Controlled Crosses: In spring 2015 we made 72 crosses, using as pistillate parents the putative top twelve accessions we had identified to date. Approximately 2,000 seed were harvested, which will be planted in spring 2016, and also shared with Oregon State. Last year, we characterized the diversity of the 164 accessions represented in the germplasm performance trials, which included interspecific hybrids as well as pure species. We conducted a broad field collection of plant materials from a wide region to complete a geographical genetics project assessing the genetic variability of American hazelnut across Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. 2. Develop viable methods of vegetative propagation. The major goal of this objective is to develop low-cost commercially appropriate propagation techniques, such as micropropagation and hardwood stem cuttings. Micropropagation of C. Americana: Considerable progress was achieved in both understanding the biological dynamics of American hazelnut propagules and developing a reproducible micropropagation protocol. Nine selections from native swarms located in different geographical regions of the upper Midwest have been successfully isolated into microculture. Attempts to root and acclimate microcuttings from these shoot cultures using varied in vitro and ex vitro rooting technologies generally produced rooted plants. However, these young plants did not continue growth and usually failed to survive acclimation to a greenhouse environment. After considerable varied experiments to overcome this observable plant stress, modification of the normal mineral nutrition involving both iron and nickel microelements resulted in superior microcuttings that rooted at high percentages (85%+) and acclimated to greenhouse conditions. Micropropagation of hybrid hazelnuts: Hybrid hazelnut propagation research is being continued and expanded with support from other funding sources. Our current work focuses on two limiting steps in propagation: rooting and acclimatization. One project aims to describe the changes in IBA and IAA metabolism that occur during adventitious root formation in hazelnut. We are employing a metabolomics approach to investigate hazelnut stress response during this transition and systematically analyze different environmental conditions to identify those which can improve transfer success rates. 3. Develop best-management practices (BMPs) for establishment and management of bush-type hazelnuts in an integrated production system including: The primary goal of this objective is to develop an understanding of weed management during establishment, nitrogen fertilization of bearing plants, and coppicing and pruning systems for rejuvenation of mature plants. Weed management: The weed management trials demonstrated the importance of weed management, though the specific management systems that worked best varied between sites, largely dependent on the type of weed pressure present at the various sites. N fertilization: Based on previous research, we do not expect to see much of an N response in the first year after application, except possibly a leaf N response. We may see a response in 2016, but it may not be until 2017. Pruning and Coppicing: 2015 was the first year that the coppiced plants at any of the sites bore nuts after coppicing two and three years ago. Although some of the coppiced plants bore abundantly, suggesting that coppicing may be a good way to rejuvenate older plants with declining yields, others did not. Yields varied greatly within the pruned, hedged and control treatments as well, suggesting that the best method of maintaining productivity in older plants may depend on genotype. 4. Develop enterprise budgets based on these practices. Jason Fischbach developed and in 2015 continued to support a hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool was outlined at the grower's conferences during 2015. 5. Increase grower knowledge about bush-type hazelnut production. The results of our work have been disseminated to growers and stakeholders at field days, at the grower's conference, marketing workshops, via email blasts, the UMHDI website portal, the Driftless Food and Farming portal, and the Driftless Facebook page. The research reports are available at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Improvement Program continued to maintain its grower assisted online plant performance database.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Kreiser M, Giblin C, Murphy R, Fiesel P, Braun L, Johnson G, Wyse D, Cohen JD Conversion of indole-3-butyric acid to indole-3-acetic acid in shoot tissue of hazelnut (Corylus) and elm (Ulmus). J Plant Growth Regulation (in press)
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: During the last year our project focused on several target audiences. Our primary focus was on the hazelnut grower audience of Minnesota and Wisconsin and groups with an interest in the development of a hazelnut industry in the Midwest. This effort included both current hazelnut producers and potential hazelnut producers and processors. One of our primary target audiences was the farmers in the driftless regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota which we believe is one of the areas that is ideal for hazelnut production. We also continued to focus our educational activities on the forest managers of Minnesota and Wisconsin to help them learn about hazelnut production as a potential forest management component. We also focused our activities on aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. We worked with a wide range of end users to access and develop the market demand for hazelnut in Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of our audiences was our research peers as we reported our research results at meeting in Canada and Organ. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? As a post-doc on this project, Lois Braun is learning how to conduct a research project; the three University of Minnesota undergraduates working on the project during the summer of 2014 got experience in carrying out research projects. In Wisconsin, Jason Fischbach and his assistant Matt Cogger have engaged a group of Northland College undergraduates to learn how to conduct research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The focus of the 2013/2014 reporting period was delivery of research-based information on hazelnut breeding and production to growers in the Upper Midwest. This was accomplished through field days, the annual grower’s conference, and publications posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative website. Working with the early-adopter growers from the beginning as we work to develop a commercial hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest helps ensure our work is relevant, understood, and appreciated. The 2014 Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference was held in Gays Mills, WI on March 3 and 4. The focus of the conference was on hazelnut processing and possible formation of a grower-owned hazelnut processing company. Prototype husking, cracking, sizing, and aspirating equipment was demonstrated and growers had the opportunity to process their own nuts. In addition, participants heard updates from UMHDI researchers on fertilization and breeding trials. Since the Conference, the Organizing Committee has worked diligently to develop a business plan, operating agreement, and policy statements for operation of the American Hazelnut Company (AHC). Jason Fischbach of UW-Extension is a member of the Organizing Committee and has been providing leadership and assistance with the development efforts. In September of 2014, the AHC voted to incorporate and the Interim Board was tasked with initial capitalization of the AHC. In late-October of 2014, the initial sale of grower-members shares was completed and the company has since hired a general manager and operations are underway. In March of 2014, Jason Fischbach with UW-Extension spoke at the Ontario Hazelnut Growers Conference near Toronto, Ontario. The conference was attended by more than 100 people and Jason was able to present what is happening in the Upper Midwest with hazelnuts. Equally important, Jason was able to meet with hazelnut researchers at the University of Guelph and they have been collaborating on plant improvement efforts. In June of 2014, Jason Fischbach and Dave Bohnhoff of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Biological Systems Engineering travelled to the Oregon with a group of engineering students to study hazelnut processing equipment used with European hazelnuts. Information from that trip was presented to the Organizing Committee of the American Hazelnut Company and will be communicated to the broader group of growers at the 2015 Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference. In July, Jason hosted a tour of the Erickson hazelnut farm, site of one of our five germplasm performance trials, by participants in the Agroforestry Academy. The Academy was organized by the National Agroforestry Center and was a week-long training for agricultural professionals. During the tour of the hazelnut farm, participants learned about ongoing efforts to improve hazelnut germplasm, the agronomics of hazelnut production, and technology development related to hazelnut processing. Lois Braun presented an overview of the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative at the annual meetings of the Northern Nut Growers Association (NNGA), hosted by the hazelnut breeding program at Oregon State University in Corvallis Oregon, August 10-13. Lois shared our research strategies for breeding, propagation and agronomics, and received valuable feedback, especially from the OSU hazelnut team, with whom deeper ties were forged, which have already led to more collaboration. Lois’s write-up of her presentation will be published in an upcoming edition of the NNGA journal. The 2014 Wisconsin Hazelnut Field Day was held in Stoughton, WI on August 24. The focus of the event was on hazelnut establishment, management, and processing. As the field days have been implemented over the years we’ve been able to shift from general informational field days to events focused on specific research and development projects. In this case, the host farm had installed a one-acre test planting of full-sibling material from a controlled cross of two select parents developed by a private breeder in WI. The trial was one of four funded by a SARE-Farmer/Rancher grant program in 2010. 2014 was the first production year with roughly 25% of the plants having nuts. The field day was attended by 36 people. Participants had the opportunity to see first-hand the variability of plant material even within a full-sibling population and conduct plant evaluations for selecting the top-performing plants In Minnesota, our outreach partner Rural Advantage organized three field days featuring hazelnuts: On Sept 4, Don, Judy and Richard Moritz hosted a field day on their farm near Fairmont to showcase mechanical hazelnut harvest with a newly-purchased BEI blueberry harvester. On Sept 26, at the U of M’s Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca, one of the hazelnut weed control trials was featured as part of “Third Crops for Energy, Food Production and Wind Protection”. At the hazelnut stop, hosted by Lois Braun, participants got to see how robust two-year old layers can be with adequate weed control, and to learn about weed control options. On Oct 4, Norm Erickson hosted an open house at his Hazelnut Valley Farm in Lake City where he demonstrated the hazelnut processing equipment that he has developed. The main website portal for the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative is www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The website is intended as a tool for growers to access information about hazelnuts and to stay informed about what is happening and what researchers are doing. Currently, the website is receiving an average of 325 unique visitors per week. The hazelnut video that was produced with other funding has been viewed on You Tube 3983 times as of Nov 3, 2014. A previous video produced to train growers on how to evaluate the performance of their own plants has been viewed 3835 times. Jason Fischbach developed a hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool was outlined at the grower’s conference in March and at annual field days held in WI and MN. The focus of the 2013/2014 reporting period was delivery of research-based information on hazelnut breeding and production to growers in the Upper Midwest. This was accomplished through field days, the annual grower’s conference, and publications posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative website. Working with the early-adopter growers from the beginning as we work to develop a commercial hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest helps ensure our work is relevant, understood, and appreciated. This year the focus UW-CIAS was on disseminating research results. We finalized five case studies on nut businesses in the Midwest, with an overview of lessons that emerged from those cases. This next year we will be summarizing and printing the cases for use at the 2015 NNGA meeting, planned for LaCrosse, WI, July 26-29. These cases are posted on a tab at www.driftless.wisc.edu that specifically covers hazelnut work. We developed this tab in 2014 to serve a more general audience, and help direct people with an interest in Driftless region food ways to the more technical site www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tab includes workshop information and summaries, presentation slides, and a video about the project. All workshop participants are subscribed to this page (unless they opt out) and receive occasional project updates through MailChimp. UW-CIAS participated in an aligned participatory research effort with chefs, farmers and plant breeders this summer. The result was serious chef interest in local supply, expected to be available after this year’s harvest and processing. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to maintain the multiple, multi-state hazelnut field plantings but with an increased emphasis on data collection and evaluation. However, we will screen a minimum of 10 additional American hazelnut sites this in 2015 with the goal to identify 20 more accessions for further evaluation. We will continue to add hybrid accessions identified by collaborating growers and C. americana identified in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We will continue to add F1 seedlings as we make additional crosses, basing our selection of pistillate parents on information from the performance trials. In addition, we will start to gather data from the F1 seedlings now in the field, most importantly on winter hardiness and EFB resistance. We will continue to collect data from the germplasm performance trials, including yield and nut quality data, EFB resistance data, and bush size and architecture data. In addition, we have established a nitrogen trial to evaluate the performance of propagules generated from an unselected American hazelnut genotype using a micro-cutting protocol. Pending the results of that trial, we will likely propagate the American hazelnut selections already made for outplanting and evaluation. A number of approaches to overcome the problem of survival of rooted microcuttings of hazelnut selections have been identified and are being pursued. One major interest is a recent finding that specific nutrient deficiencies in the laboratory-grown and greenhouse-grown hazelnut clonal liners may be leading to poor development of overwintering shoot meristems and an unusually low ability of these plants to tolerate environmental stresses (particularly winter and drought), thus explaining in part the poor post-acclimation and field survival observations. Refinement and evaluation of these approaches will be a major work effort for the 2015 research period. Successful cloning will allow field test plantings to both confirm the usefulness of cloning methodologies and promote replicated testing of clone performance. Successful cloning will allow field test plantings to both confirm the usefulness of cloning methodologies and promote replicated testing of clonal plant performance. During the next year, we plan to establish the replicated performance trials at a minimum of three on-farm locations using clonal material from the C. americana accessions. During the next year all five years of trials with hardwood stem cuttings will be completed and prepared for a scientific peer-reviewed journal and extension bulletins for hazelnut producers, which will be posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut website. We are planning a workshop on woody perennials for September 2015 to improve the connection between hazelnut growers and people interested in forest management. We plan to offer additional field days in 2015 targeted to growers and interested stakeholders. We will also host a train-the-trainer workshop for agency personnel and University educators during the summer of 2015. The rotating annual grower’s conference will be held in Minnesota in March of 2015. We anticipate another hazelnut supply chain meeting for summer 2015 and will be listening to growers at the March meeting for agenda ideas. The Hazelnut Newsletter will be published annually for the foreseeable future.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Develop a germplasm improvement program for the region: The goal is to improve the crop characteristics of American and hybrid hazelnuts through a cooperative regional plant evaluation and breeding program with the following actions: conduct mass selection of wild C. americana populations in Minnesota and Wisconsin to establish accession blocks for future breeding work; maintain plant evaluation and selection program for existing hybrid hazelnut plantings; and maintain replicated performance trials at five locations with clonally propagated selections from the selection programs described above. Determine the genetic diversity of wild C. americana and its hybrids through micro-satellite analysis, Screen wild C. americana populations for EFB resistance and possible novel EFB resistance loci using C. avellana EFB disease resistance PCR-based markers. American hazelnut: The initial field screening of individual plants in WI and MN was completed in the fall of 2013 and expanded in 2014 to western regions of the Midwest with the top two selections from 35 unique sites transplanted into archival plantings in Bayfield and/or St. Paul. Of those plants, 18 accessions were selected for propagation and trial in replicated performance plantings. To date, 10 of the accessions have successfully been brought into micro-culture and work continues to generate rooted layers for out-planting. In 2013, we began seed collections from top-performing wild plants based on visual yield and taste sampling. In fall 2013 we planted seed collected from 20 sites in Minnesota, and 22 sites in Wisconsin, at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Hayward State Tree Nursery in Hayward Wisconsin. 920 of these seedlings were be transplanted to wider spacing in October 2014. Additional seeds from North Dakota and Minnesota, were planted at the Hayward nursery in October 2014. These half-sibling families will be evaluated over the coming years for desired traits including EFB resistance, yield, and kernel quality. DNA was extracted from the American hazelnut accessions archived at St. Paul and Bayfield for genetic diversity analysis using the same SSR markers developed and used for the hybrid populations. Data analysis is currently in progress. Germplasm Performance Trials. A total of 153 accessions are now represented in the five germplasm performance trials. The collection is comprised of 121 American x European hybrids, 8 pure European, 22 pure American, and 2 Corylus heterophylla hybrids. We will attempt to propagate the top four of these for larger scale plantings, for the purpose of gaining experience with managing high yielding selections and of developing infrastructure, such as harvesting, processing and marketing technologies, to handle larger volumes of nuts. Controlled Crosses. All but one of the initial 49 F1 seedlings, from crosses made in 2012 between our hybrids and advanced selections from Oregon State University, survived the brutal 2014 winter. An additional 496 F1 seedlings, from 40 crosses made in 2013 with pollen from the same source, were transplanted in Sept 2014. Seedlings from both years were greenhouse inoculated with EFB spores collected from around the region and from Rutgers University for EFB resistance screening. In spring 2014 we made an additional 45 crosses, this time utilizing data from our performance trials to select the best parents. We were able to harvest large numbers of F1 seeds and expect to add at least another F1 500 seedlings to our plantings. 2. Develop viable methods of vegetative propagation. Adventitious root formation is the preferred method for propagation from elite plants selection, but this process is also a critical and limiting step in all methods of vegetative propagation used in hybrid and American hazelnuts. Micropropagation: Commercially useful cloning methodologies for shrub hazelnuts, especially C. americana germplasm, have not been demonstrated or proven. Techniques were developed to force juvenile shoot production from both collar and rhizome regions of the stock plants. Such juvenile growth more readily went through both the isolation and early stabilization stages of microculture with 66% of the genotypes successfully established in early microculture. To date, growth in microculture continued for 10 of the genotypes with three showing microcutting multiplication rates suitable for propagule production phases of micropropagation. Although rooting of microcuttings was increased to over 90%, subsequent losses in acclimation were high and field survival of spring planted liners approached 100% loss. Major obstacles for using micropropagation to clone hazelnuts were identified and modes to overcome these problems are being formulated and tested. We are also exploring hormonal roadblocks to adventitious root formation in hazelnuts using stable isotope methods of analysis of plant hormone changes. Identifying these limitations will provide knowledge that can be used to make more informed decisions on how to optimize the rooting phase and also to identify which genotypes are most likely to form adventitious roots. Hardwood stem cuttings. We collected stem cuttings in September, October, and November, and prepared them for rooting in September, October, November, December, and January. None of the September or October stems rooted, but for stems collected in November, rooting was just as good regardless of whether the stems were started in November, December or January. This was in spite of complete lack of vernalization. Overall, the best rooting we attained in 2014 was still a low 33%. Develop best management practices for growing bush-type hazelnuts. Our goal is to develop best-management practices (BMPs) for establishment and management of bush-type hazelnuts in an integrated production system including by evaluating weed management during establishment, nitrogen fertilization of bearing plants, and coppicing and pruning systems for rejuvenation of mature plants. Weed management. Three weed management trials were established in spring 2013 and a fourth in fall 2013. 2014 was a year to continue implementation of weed management practices and collect data on weed pressure and plant responses. N fertilization. Plans are in place to complete a paper on these trials during winter 2015, and also an extension bulletin to give growers guidance on N fertilization. Pruning and coppicing trials. None of the four mature hazelnut plantings used for the pruning and coppicing trials initiated in spring 2012 produced many nuts at all in 2014, not even the controls. Thus, the impact of the pruning treatments could not be evaluated. Tree tube trials. A Minnesota tree tube trial results confirm a earlier study that the tall tubes result in taller and more spindly plants. The shorter and wider tubes produce plants that are more typical of the natural growth form of hybrid hazelnuts. Long-term impact will continue to be evaluated. 3) Develop enterprise budgets based on these practices. Jason Fischbach developed and in 2014 continued to support a hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool was outlined at the grower’s conference in March. 4) Increase grower knowledge about bush-type hazelnut production. The results of our work have been disseminated to growers and stakeholders at field days, at the grower’s conference, marketing workshops, via email blasts, the UMHDI website portal, the Driftless Food and Farming portal, and the Driftless Facebook page. The research reports are available at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Improvement Program continued to maintain its grower assisted online plant performance database.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Demchik, M.D. J. Fischbach, A. Kern, J. Lane, B. McCown, E. Zeldin and K. Turnquist (2014) Selection of American Hazelnut as a Potential Oilseed Crop. Agrofor. Sys 88:449-459.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Demchik, M., J. Fischbach, B. McCown, E. Zeldin and T. Kern. 2013. Update on Hazelnut Development Program in The Lake States. In North American Agroforestry Conference, Laura Poppy, John Kort, Bill Schroeder, Tricia Pollock and Raju Soolanayakanahally, Editors, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 19-21. P. 38-41.
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: During the last year our project focused on several target audiences. Our primary focus was on the hazelnut grower audience of Minnesota and Wisconsin. This effort included both current hazelnut producers and potential hazelnut producers. One of our primary target audiences was the farmers in the driftless regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota which we believe is one of the areas that is ideal for hazelnut production. We also focused our educational activities on the forest managers of Minnesota and Wisconsin to help them learn about hazelnut production as a potential forest management component. We also focused our activities on aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. We worked with a wide range of end users to access and develop the market demand for hazelnut in Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of our audiences was our research peers as we reported our research results at the North American Temperate Agroforestry Conference in Canada. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? As a post-doc on this project, Lois Braun is learning how to conduct a research project; the three University of Minnesota undergraduates working on the project during the summer of 2013 got experience in carrying out research projects. In Wisconsin, Jason Fischbach and his assistant Matt Cogger have engaged a group of Northland College undergraduates to learn how to conduct research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The focus of the 2012/2013 reporting period was delivery of research-based information on hazelnut breeding and production to growers in the Upper Midwest. This was accomplished through field days, the annual grower conference, and publications posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative website. Working with the early-adopter growers from the beginning as we work to develop a commercial hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest helps ensure our work is relevant, understood, and appreciated. The 2012 marketing event entitled “Specialty pork: growing flavor, growing markets” was held in Viroqua in August with a focus on hazelnut as a finish for heirloom pork. A number of hazelnut growers in Wisconsin are successfully processing their nuts this way, so the workshop featured growers, processors and restaurateurs engaged in this supply chain. There were 50 participants. An early outcome from the meeting is small business development to build this supply chain to handle market demand for the product. Farmers and processors are in the early stages of developing an artisan pork coop. The 2012 Wisconsin Hazelnut Field Day was held in Eagle, WI on August 25 with a focus on hazelnut establishment and processing. The event was attended by 25 existing or aspiring growers. Information on hazelnut establishment and production was provided by Jason Fischbach of UW-Extension. Following the classroom session, growers toured the new 2011 hazelnut planting and the mature nut-bearing planting established in 2004. After the tour, participants assisted with using a prototype hazelnut husker to husk recently harvested nuts. The 2012 Minnesota Hazelnut Field Day was held in Lake City, MN October 6, 2012. The event was led by the Minnesota Hazelnut Foundation and was held at a hazelnut planting owned by Norm Erickson. Participants heard updates from Lois Braun and had the opportunity to see new and mature plantings and prototype husking, cracking, and cleaning equipment developed by other growers. The 2013 Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference was held in Eau Claire, WI on March 1-2. The focus of the first day was Hazelnuts 101 where new and aspiring growers learned about establishment, care, and processing of hazelnuts. A grower-panel shared their experience growing, harvesting, and marketing hazelnuts. The focus of the second day was on research updates from around the country. Dr. Tom Molnar of Rutgers University discussed his work to develop EFB resistant European hazelnuts for the Eastern US. Dr. Adam Dale of University of Guelph shared his work evaluating existing hazelnut cultivars for establishment of a hazelnut industry in Ontario to supply the newly opened Ferrero-Rocher manufacturing facility in Ontario. The conference was attended by 110 learners and was effective in communicating information to growers as measured by survey. The 2013 marketing event for hazelnut growers entitled “Marketing the Native Understory: Selling Hazelnuts, Aronia, and Mushrooms Direct to Chefs” was on June 27, in Viroqua, WI. The event featured a panel discussion with chefs and growers sharing their stories about buying and selling hazelnuts and other forest products. Graduate student Brady Williams presented his case studies looking at other grower-owned nut processing companies in the Midwest. After the morning session, participants toured New Forest Farm near Viola, WI to see many of the products being produced using an agroforestry system. 60 farmers attended and the mix between aronia and hazelnut supply chains helped new growers see the production advantage of growing a proven cultivar, something the aronia growers already have. The main website portal for the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative is www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The website is intended as a tool for growers to access information about hazelnuts and to stay informed about what is happening and what researchers are doing. Currently, the website is receiving an average of 275 unique visitors per week. The hazelnut video that was produced with other funding has been viewed on You Tube 1190 times as of Aug 18, 2013. A previous video produced to train growers on how to evaluate the performance of their own plants has been viewed 2212 times. The Driftless Region Food and Farm Project (www.driftless.wisc.edu) added a page on the Initiative to promote marketing events and added a link to the main portal. This page includes a link to the nut business case studies and embedded video on the project. Jason Fischbach published a Research Bulletin for growers and stakeholders that presented an enterprise budget for hazelnut production and based on those numbers, compared per plant yields necessary to generate income to yields actually measured at grower plantings. In summary, the Bulletin concluded that the existing plant material has shown the capacity to generate yields sufficient to support an economically viable hazelnut industry in the Upper Midwest. The results of our work have been disseminated to growers and stakeholders at the field days, at the grower’s conference, marketing workshops, via email blasts, the UMHDI website portal, the Driftless Food and Farming portal, and the Driftless Facebook page. We’ve also reached out to aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. The research reports are available at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Improvement Program continued to maintain its grower assisted online plant performance database. Recently, the American hazelnut research was presented at the North American Temperate Agroforestry Conference in Canada. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to maintain the multiple, multi-state hazelnut field plantings but with an increased emphasis on data collection and evaluation. However, new selections will be added as potentially superior plants are identified. In most cases, this effort will continue, generally for another three years. A field evaluation nursery will be established at the Rosemount research station in Minnesota to facilitate the evaluation of hybrid seedlings from new crosses. We will screen a minimum of 10 additional sites this fall with the goal to identify 20 more accessions for further evaluation. In addition, we will establish a nitrogen trial to evaluate the performance of propagules generated from an unselected American hazelnut genotype using a micro-cutting protocol. Pending the results of that trial, we will likely propagate the American hazelnut selections already made for outplanting and evaluation. All of the hazelnut production experiments will be maintained and hazelnut performance data will be collected. We will report the results of our screening work in a Research Bulletin and distributed to growers. We are planning a workshop on woody perennials for September 2014 to improve the connection between hazelnut growers and people interested in forest management. We plan to offer additional field days in 2014 targeted to growers and interested stakeholders. We will also host a train-the-trainer workshop for agency personnel and University educators during the summer of 2014. The rotating annual grower’s conference will be held in Minnesota in March of 2014. We anticipate another hazelnut supply chain meeting for summer 2014 and will be listening to growers at the March meeting for agenda ideas. The Hazelnut Newsletter will be published annually for the foreseeable future.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Develop a germplasm improvement program for the region. Twenty sites were screened for high-performing C. Americana plants during the 2012 season (15 in Wisconsin, 5 in Minnesota). At each site, the top 100 plants were visually assessed to determine approximate yield. The top two plants were selected for propagation and further evaluation in replicated trials. In November, the top two plants were dug, divided, and transplanted either into pots or into the Bayfield Performance Trial in Bayfield, WI. Nine of the potted accessions were transported to Madison, WI for implementation of the micro-cutting protocol for propagation. In Minnesota, a total of 18 select plants were mound-layered and the propagules will be planted in the fall of 2013 in performance trials in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The hybrid hazelnut improvement program focused on two major activities: germplasm evaluation, and new controlled crosses. To access the potential of individual hybrid hazelnut plants that exists on Midwestern farms we obtained and analyzed data collected by hazelnut farmers to determine the yields of existing hybrid hazelnut selected seed races. To evaluate the potential of these selected lines five germplasm field trials were established in Minnesota and Wisconsin. These sites comprised over 100 hybrid hazelnut accessions that have outperformed most others in grower’s fields during the past years. Early yield and nut quality evaluations are being performed and in addition, the first screening for Eastern Filbert Blight resistance was conducted. The first controlled crosses have been made using pollen from seven selections in the hazelnut breeding program at Oregon State University where Eastern Filbert Blight resistance is a priority objective. 2) Develop viable methods of vegetative propagation. Continued work was performed on the clonal multiplication of C. americana and hybrid hazelnut selections. The focus was on determining the feasibility of developing hazelnut plants that meet commercial quantity and quality standards by three cloning approaches stem cuttings, mound layering of collar shoots, and micropropagation. The most success in rooting hazelnut stem cuttings has been using hardwood cuttings where rooting rates have approached 40% of cuttings. The problem of forcing continuous shoot growth after rooting was still apparent but this phenomenon was reduced with the reliance on hardwood versus softwood cuttings. Initial studies to measure the auxin levels in hazelnut shoot segments were begun to determine how the rooting hormone IBA is metabolized in hazelnut cuttings having different adventitious rooting capabilities. After multiple years of work, a standard protocol was developed for the successful micropropagation of C. americana hazelnut. As important, plants produced by this protocol were planted in the field at multiple sites and in replicated blocks for observation of growth and productivity responses in future years. In addition, the technique was transferred from the UW-Madison research lab to other laboratories for proof of concept and development of other aspects, including optimization of the handling and culture of microplants before field planting. Critical factors involved in the microculture cloning protocol include use of juvenile collar shoot stock for isolation, moderate levels of zeatin as the medium cytokinin, production of high quality microcuttings before attempted rooting, and maintenance of vigorous shoot growth after rooting and during acclimation for field planting. Major limitations include securing appropriate juvenile shoots of mature hazel stock plants for isolation in microculture and relatively slow multiplication rates of microchoots during the in vitro microshoot production phase. Even so, six selected genotypes were successfully placed into microculture and with one clonal genotype; replicated plantings were successfully established at three separate sites in northern Wisconsin. 3) Develop best management practices for growing bush-type hazelnuts. Studies were initiated to develop best-management practices (BMPs) for establishment and management of bush-type hazelnuts in an integrated production system including: weed management during establishment, nitrogen fertilization of bearing plants, and coppicing and pruning systems for rejuvenation of mature plants Three of four planned weed management trials were planted in the spring of 2013; using mound layers produced in 2012. We initiated studies to determine what level of weed control is economically profitable in hazelnut production. Thus our five basic treatments (cultivation, herbicides, woodchip mulch, landscape fabric, and mowing) were implemented at two intensities individually and in combination, for a total of 13 treatments at two locations. Data collected included initial hazelnut transplant size and estimates of weed intensity. We also initiated an herbicide trial to evaluate the tolerance of hazelnut to pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides. Three N fertilization trials on mature hazelnut plantings are on-going, two on clonal plantings and the third on a seedling planting on a sandy low organic matter soil where N deficiency is likely. Although we have already demonstrated that the N requirements of immature hazelnuts are very low, theoretically they should rise when they start to produce nuts, because of the N exported with harvest. In this set of trials, our first year results showed no response to fertilization. Second year results showed a weak response at one of the sites, but data analysis for the other two is not yet complete In spring 2012 we initiated trials comparing pruning with coppicing with doing nothing on two of the plantings described above; in spring 2013 we initiated a trial on the third. We are also repeating this trial on three younger clonal plantings (three to four years old), to see whether the need for radical pruning might be avoided by shaping the bushes when they are young. When the coppiced plants have produced two or three full crops we will compare their yields with the cumulative yields of the pruned plants and the unpruned controls. In spring 2011 four trials to evaluate tree tubes were implemented in Wisconsin on three month-old full-sib hazelnut seedlings. For the first year all seedlings were protected in 30 inch tall tree tubes, but in the spring of the second year the following tree tube treatments were implemented: 1) tree tubes were removed, 2) tree tubes were shortened to 15 inches, 3) tree tubes were left at 30 inches. In the spring of the third year the tree tubes were removed and the plants were measured. As expected, the tall tree tubes produced plants that were significantly taller and less bushy than the plants without tubes, with the plants grown in short tubes being intermediate in height and form. 4) Develop enterprise budgets based on these practices. Jason Fischbach developed a hazelnut enterprise budgeting tool, which is now available for growers at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The tool allows growers to develop budgets for their hazelnut operations based on their own calculated input costs. Use of this tool was outlined at the grower’s conference in March. 5) Increase grower knowledge about bush-type hazelnut production. The results of our work have been disseminated to growers and stakeholders at field days, at the grower’s conference, marketing workshops, via email blasts, the UMHDI website portal, the Driftless Food and Farming portal, and the Driftless Facebook page. We’ve also reached out to aronia growers and chefs as strategic processing and marketing partners. The research reports are available at www.midwesthazelnuts.org. The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Improvement Program continued to maintain its grower assisted online plant performance database. Recently, the American hazelnut research was presented at the North American Temperate Agroforestry Conference in Canada.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Demchik, M., J. Fischbach, B. McCown, E. Zeldin and T. Kern. 2013. Update on Hazelnut Development Program in The Lake States. In North American Agroforestry Conference, Laura Poppy, John Kort, Bill Schroeder, Tricia Pollock and Raju Soolanayakanahally, Editors, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 19-21. P. 38-41.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Fischbach, J. and Braun, L. 2012. Setting a yield goal for hazelnut breeding in the Upper Midwest. UW-Extension Research Bulletin #23. http://www.midwesthazelnuts.org/research.html
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Brandner, H., M. Demchik, E. Zeldin, B. McCown and J. Fischbach. 2013. Optimizing Stem Culture Expansion for American Hazelnut. In North American Agroforestry Conference, Laura Poppy, John Kort, Bill Schroeder, Tricia Pollock and Raju Soolanayakanahally, Editors, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 19-21. P. 38-41.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Demchik, M., J. Fischbach, B. McCown, E. Zeldin and T. Kern. 2013. Update on Hazelnut Development Program in The Lake States. In North American Agroforestry Conference, Laura Poppy, John Kort, Bill Schroeder, Tricia Pollock and Raju Soolanayakanahally, Editors, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 19-21. P. 38-41.
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Five hazelnut performance trials were established, comprised of 112 accessions of the best hybrid hazelnuts from Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 2012 we got our first confirmation that field inoculations for screening for resistance to Eastern Filbert Blight were successful. We completed our second year of scouting for superior wild American hazelnut germplasm on public lands, and this winter we will start to propagate the best individuals identified. We implemented a screening protocol to identify the highest yielding plants within a given field site. The yields of the top plant at each site were reported in a Research Bulletin published by University of Wisconsin Extension and posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative website. Based on two years of yield data, 20 plants were selected for further evaluation in replicated germplasm trials. Shoot tips from rejuvenated plants have been successfully rooted to generate clonal propagules. With funding through this project, the screening protocol was implemented at 15 additional sites in the fall of 2012. Potted transplants will be forced and rejuvenated in February with shoot tips harvested and rooted in late-Spring. Propagules from each plant will be transplanted to field trials in the fall of 2013 for further evaluation. In the fall of 2011, leaf collections were made for each select plant in support of on-going work to understand the genetic diversity of American hazelnut. Young leaf tissue was gathered from 50 individual plants at 18 locations spread across a broad geographical range in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin for genetic analysis. Samples are currently frozen, with DNA extractions and quantifications currently being performed. To date, we have screened > 40 C. avellana SSR markers against DNA extracted from C. americana. We have begun initial experiments to determine whether syntenic regions exist in the genomes of C. americana, which tend to show naturally high levels of resistance to EFB. Two years of data collection was completed in 2012 on three N fertilization trials on mature hazelnut plantings, two of them clonal. The plants we produce by mound layering are now being used to establish plantings to address agronomic questions. An enterprise budgeting tool was created and posted on the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative website. A publication was posted that uses the enterprise budgeting tool to determine the necessary hazelnut yields given four separate economic return scenarios. This publication will help growers develop their own enterprise budgets and determine the suitability of locally-adapted hazelnut germplasm. In March, the 3rd Annual Upper Midwest Hazelnut Growers Conference was held in Dubuque, IA and was attended by more than 75 current and aspiring hazelnut growers. Three field days were held in 2012 with the Wisconsin Hazelnut Field Day held in Eagle, WI, the Minnesota Hazelnut Field Day held in Lake City, MN, and the Iowa Hazelnut Field Day held in Fenton, IA. Each of the field days provided opportunities for growers to tour hazelnut plantings and receive training from UMHDI partners on hazelnut cultivation. PARTICIPANTS: The project includes all of the PI's and collaborators included in the original proposal and the participants in the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative through the website. TARGET AUDIENCES: We are targeting current and future hazelnut producers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Our propagation trials with hardwood stem cuttings suggested that rooting is enhanced with supplemental greenhouse lighting. We have developed the ability to micropropagate and are now in the process of figuring out how to fine tune micropropagation techniques to genetically diverse germplasm. Both to supply high numbers of uniform clonal plants for field evaluations and to determine the commercial application of various approaches for Midwest commercial plantings, three general paths for creating clonal propagules are being tested: softwood/semi-hardwood stem cuttings, dormant hardwood cuttings, and micropropagation. A number of trials utilizing treatments involving rooting hormone levels, timing, and rooting environments were conducted on softwood/semi-hardwood stem cuttings. Some approaches did result in low levels of rooting, most of the propagules did not survive subsequent growth. After a number of marginally successful trials on hardwood stems, the best rooting was observed utilizing relatively small first year crown suckers obtained from potted or field grown plants. The highest rooting success was obtained when cuttings from suckers were left as long-in-length as manageable. Taking cuttings before early February and treating with 1,000 to 2,000 ppm IBA provided the most successful rooting. Preliminary results have shown that rooted cutting survival using hardwood cuttings is higher than that observed with the softwood/semi-hardwood trials and approached 90%. Avoiding sodium hypochloride pretreatments, utilization of supplemental greenhouse lighting, and avoiding excessing greenhouse temperature are all promotive of root regeneration. Successful micropropagation has been achieved with a number of clones of C. Americana in three stages of commercial micropropagation (isolation, stabilization, and ex-vitro propagule growth). After initial unsuccessful trials in attempting to isolate tissues from mature stock plants, two to three-year-old seedlings were chosen as stock plants based on their production of basal collar buds. By pruning, these buds were forced to grow, but the resulting stems were very difficult to isolate due to damage during isolation procedures and latent contamination. Isolates that were free of contamination typically failed to grow or took a very long time to develop an elongated shoot in vitro. Subsequently a pretreatment of stock plants to induce more active buds prior to surface sterilization was found to be very effective in producing an improved in vitro response. Using such pretreatments resulted in less damage to the tissue and little latent contamination, but more significantly, there was a more rapid resumption of shoot growth in vitro. The specific cytokinin in the medium to promote shoot growth was critical. After a period of stabilization resulting in a more continuous shoot growth pattern, enough shoot cultures were produced to do ex-vitro rooting trials. These rooting trials showed a very high rooting percentage that was enhanced with exogenous auxin dips. Such rooted microcuttings acclimated readily to greenhouse conditions and have produced vigorous liners that will be planted in field trails.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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