Progress 07/01/15 to 06/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included commercial vegetable growers, crop advisors, federal agency field representatives, home gardeners, and private industry representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and the Arkansas ValleyResearch Center Field Day. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and the Arkansas ValleyResearch Center Field Day. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Rocky Ford growing region of Southeastern Colorado has a long history of producing cantaloupe melons of outstanding quality. Despite that reputation, the specific attributes that give rise to that notoriety have never been fully defined. As new melons varieties are developed and grown, it becomes crucial to understand the traits that will ultimately maintain consumer acceptance. In addition, traditional melon cultivars melons have a very short (1-2 days) harvest window that dramatically affects quality and post-harvest shelf life. If a melon is not harvested within the optimum window, it is unmarketable.One possible strategy to counter this emerging problem lies in extending the harvest window and improving the post-harvest stability of melons. The recent introduction of long-shelf-life and extended-shelf-life melons represents a significant breakthrough in addressing the issues. However, even less is known about the physical and chemical characteristics of newer varieties than popular varieties now grown in the Rocky Ford region. In 2020, a study examined the horticultural, physical, and biochemical traits of 14 melon cultivars grown at the Colorado State University's Arkansas Valley Research Center in Rocky Ford, Colorado. The cultivars included currently grown and new cultivars. Various horticultural traits including yield, disease resistance, size, and shape were evaluated. In addition, physical characteristics including internal and external melon texture and melon color were tested. Taste, %brix, and various biochemical attributes were also determined. Overall, at least three melon cultivars that contained extended shelf-life properties were identified that meet or exceed the physical and compositional standards of existing cultivars grown in the Rocky Ford region. These new cultivars could greatly improve harvesting windows and post-harvest shelf life and at the same time, maintain traditional sensory standards and marketability.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included commercial vegetable growers, crop advisors, federal agency field representatives, home gardeners, and private industry representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and field tours conducted at the Arkansas Valley Research Center. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours, newsletters, media articles, and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and field tours conducted at the Arkansas Valley Research Center. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Additional presentations will be made at grower meetings. At the conclusion of the project, an in-depth economic breakdown of production costs will be made.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Specialty-type peppers, including colored bells and other sweet types, are becoming increasingly popular in Colorado.Whether produced conventionally or organically, these peppers typically command a high price relative to other pepper types and can be sold in via multiple market channels. Colorado's production areas are at a relatively high elevation and receive high amounts of sunlight accompanied by high temperatures. As a result, bell peppers grown in the state are often prone to sunscald. In addition, frequent hailstorms cause significant pepper fruit damage. In 2019, a study examined the effects of a 30% shade (black) cloth on the growth, yield, and quality of 8 pepper cultivars including a pungent anaheim type. For all varieties, shading dramatically improved the yield and quality of marketable peppers. Unprotected peppers were a complete loss due to two hail events during the season. After yields were assessed, the variety Sweet Delilah was used in a packaging study to evaluate methods to extend post-harvest shelf-life. Despite the potentially high cost (approximately $1,200 for a 20'X100' structure) of erecting shade tunnels, colored pepper production with environmental protection can be productive and profitable in Colorado.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Capsaicinoids, Polyphenols and Antioxidant Activities of Capsicum annuum: Comparative Study of the Effect of Ripening Stage and Cooking Methods. 2019. M Hamed, D Kalita, ME Bartolo, SS Jayanty. Antioxidants 8(9), 364
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Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included commercial vegetable growers, crop advisors, federal agency field representatives, home gardeners, and private industry representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and the Arkansas Valley Research Center Field Day. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from this project were delivered to clients via presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show, Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference and the Arkansas Valley Research Center Field Day. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, an extensive economics analysis of the production methods will be done.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Specialty-type peppers, including colored bells and other sweet types, are becoming increasingly popular in Colorado. Whether produced conventionally or organically, these peppers typically command a high price relative to other pepper types and can be sold in via multiple market channels. Colorado's production areas are at a relatively high elevation and receive high amounts of sunlight accompanied by high temperatures. As a result, bell peppers grown in the state are often prone to sunscald. In addition, frequent hail storms cause significant pepper fruit damage. In 2018, a study examined the effects of a 30% shade (black) cloth on the growth, yield, and quality of 22 pepper cultivars. Shading dramatically improved the yield and quality of marketable colored pepper fruit. Highest yields were observed for the varieties, Karisma, Redbull, Alliance, and Sweet Delilah with marketable yields in excess of 68,000 lbs per acre. Despite the potentialy high cost of erecting shade tunnels, colored pepper production with some environmental protection can be productrive and profitable in Colorado.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included vegetable growers, crop consultants, NRCS field representatives, home gardeners, and private industry representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Multiple presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show and the Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Multiple presentations at field day tours and conferences including the Colorado Farm Show and the Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project will be expanded to examine additional varieties and hoop house designs that will optimize production.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Specialty-type peppers, including colored bells and other sweet types, are becoming increasingly popular in Colorado. These peppers typically command a high price relative to other pepper types and are usually marketed to the public via farmers markets or restaurants. Colorado's production areas are at a relatively high elevation and receive high amounts of sunlight accompanied by high temperatures. As a result, bell peppers grown in the state are often prone to sunscald. In addition, frequent hail stormscause significant pepper fruit damage. In 2017, a study examined the effects of two types of protective shade materials, a 30% shade (black) cloth and 15% shade (white) hail netting, relative to an uncovered control. Both types of shade materials significantly reduced the incidence of sunscald and dramatically improved marketable yield. The uncovered control plots were almost completely unmarketable with a high incidence of stand loss, sunscald, and hail damage. In general, the 30% shade cloth had consistently better yield and quality than the 15% shade netting. Overall, this study illustrates that colored bell pepper and sweet pepper marketable yields can be improved in Colorado by treatments that reduced the incidence of solar radiation and protect the crop from storm damage.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included vegetable growers, crop consultants, NRCS field representatives, and private industry representatives. In this portion of the project, information was specifically made available to onion growers and seed company representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information derived from this project was disseminated to growers and extension personnel via multiple field tours and seminars. Additional content was available via the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association website at www.coloradoproduce.org. Information was also presented at national meetings (National Onion Association/National Allium Research Conference). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Onion and soil samples will continue to be analyzed. Correlations between soil nutritional content and onion bioactive compounds will be determined.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Onions have numerous health-related benefits that are increasingly linked to reductions in the incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancers, and heart disease In food crops, the type and abundance of bioactive compounds is often influenced by genotype and environment (e.g. abiotic/biotic stress, soil mineral content). Allium species such as onion produce bioactive compounds that can protect against chronic diseases such as cancer. The influence of genotype and environment on the phytochemical profile of onion, however, is not fully understood. Therefore, it is important to identify varieties and growing conditions that provide enhanced benefits to human health. In 2016, we utilized a non-targeted metabolomics and ionomics workflow using GC-, UPLC-, and ICP-MS to survey the phytochemical diversity in nine onion varieties in three production environments (Northern Colorado, Southern Colorado and Central Washington) over 2 growing season. GC and UPLC-MS analyses revealed that onion phytochemical diversity was influenced by both variety and production environment. Ionomics analysis revealed that onion elemental composition was influenced primarily by production environment followed by growing season, specifically for Ca, Fe, K, Ni, and Se. In summary, compositional analysis of onion varieties revealed phytochemical diversity in onion and identified potential compounds with anti-cancer properties.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bartolo, M.E., A.L. Hueberger, J.M. Chapparro, S.B. Matthews, H.J. Thompson, T. Gourd, T. Watters, C. Wholeb. 2016. Effect of variety and production environment on the chemical composition of western long day onions and potential for cancer prevention. Abstracts National Allium Research Conference, Savannah,Ga.
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Progress 07/01/15 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included vegetable growers, crop consultants, NRCS field staff, and private irrigation industry representatives. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information derived from this project was disseminated to growers and extension personnel via multiple field tours and seminars. Additional content was available via the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association website at www.coloradoproduce.org. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Onions bulbs and corresponding soil samples will be analyzed for their respective chemical compostions. Individual chemical compounds will be identified and compared to known compunds will health-promoting attributes.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Increasing competition and subsequent cost for water in Colorado necessitates that as much economic value as possible be derived from any given water supply. Specialty-type peppers, including colored bells and other sweet types, are becoming increasingly popular in Colorado and represent crops that can be used to increase the economic impact of agricultural water. Colorado's production areas are at a relatively high elevation and receive high amounts of sunlight. These conditions predispose peppers to sunscald. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of growing peppers with 30% shade (black) cloth and a 15% shade (white) hail netting. All treatments were grown in conjunction with black plastic mulch and drip irrigation. Both shade cloth types significantly reduced the incidence of sunscald and dramatically improved marketable yield relative to an uncovered control. Further, covered peppers were protected from storm damage and secondary disease infections. In general, the 15% shade cloth had the highest overall market yield, followed closely by the 30% shade cloth treatment. Total seasonal water applied to the crop was 15.5 acre-inches per acre. Overall, this study illustrates that colored bell pepper and sweet pepper marketable yields can be improved in Colorado by treatments that reduced the incidence of sunscald and storm damage. In addition, water use can be dramatically reduced by employing drip irrigation with plastic mulch.
Publications
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