Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
2621 MORGAN CIR
KNOXVILLE,TN 37996-4540
Performing Department
Plant Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Tobacco remains an important crop in Tennessee and Kentucky, ranking as one of the top five cash crops in Tennessee and one of the top three cash crops in Kentucky. In Tennessee, tobacco is produced in over 25 counties, and while some of these counties have few tobacco producers and small acreages, the crop is of vital importance to those who produce it and the communities in which they live. The income generated by tobacco provides a substantial contribution to the regions' economies, and this income has allowed thousands of farming operations in the two states to continue to prosper as family units. The end of the Federal tobacco program and increased competition in the world tobacco leaf market have brought new opportunities and new challenges to tobacco producers resulting in the exit of many producers and expansion by others. Existing producers must overcome increased input costs, labor issues, and competition for land from other profitable alternatives. Therefore, it is imperative that tobacco producers receive and implement the most up-to-date, current tobacco production recommendations, environmental stewardship and conservation guidelines, and farm labor management standards in increase tobacco leaf yield, quality, consistency, and profitability and stay in compliance with all rules and regulations.To meet these needs, this project will reinforce the validity and increase the implementation of currently recommended tobacco production practices through Extension agent trainings, verification field trials and information dissemination at field days, meetings, workshops, and farm visits in the forms of live presentations and instruction and printed and online publications and learning materials. This project will also utilize the collaborative research efforts of university scientists, industry representatives, producers, and others to develop new and improve existing tobacco production, pest management, and market preparation recommendations. These efforts will result in increased leaf yield, quality, consistency, and profitability while reducing tobaccospecific nitrosamines and nontobacco-related material in the cured leaf, conserving soil and water, improving nutrient use efficiency, reducing offsite environmental impacts of production, and protecting farm labor.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
90%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
1. During the last 25 years, greenhouse production of tobacco transplants has almost completely replaced field production of transplants in plant beds. Despite numerous advantages of greenhouse tobacco transplant production, the usage of polystyrene float trays have proven troublesome, due in part to pieces of these trays showing up as non-tobacco-related material during market preparation and processing. Other problems related with these trays include their difficulty to clean and sanitize, lack of durability and longevity, and problems associated with disposal. The recent development of plastic greenhouse trays offers advantages not realized by the polystyrene trays, including improved durability, longevity, cost-effectiveness over time, and ease of cleaning. However, research must be conducted to examine tobacco transplant production, plant performance, and the effect of abiotic and biotic stresses associated with usage of these trays.2. It has long been established that crop rotation is a necessary and recommended practice in tobacco production. Beneficial effects of crop rotation on tobacco include reduced disease incidence and severity, reduced soil erosion, and increased tobacco leaf yield and quality. However, much of the work leading to the realization of these benefits to tobacco utilized grass sod (pasture and hay ground) as the rotational crop with tobacco. In recent years, a significant amount of pasture and hay ground in tobacco-producing regions in Tennessee has been supplanted with row crops such as corn and soybean, and this trend continues as row crop acres increase in the state. As a result, an increasing number of acres of tobacco is now rotated with row crops such as corn and soybean rather than grass sod. The effects of rotating corn or soybean with tobacco on tobacco disease incidence and severity and leaf yield and quality are not fully known and should be examined. It is possible that tobacco production and disease management recommendations may require modification when row crops, such as corn or soybean, are used as rotational crops instead of grass sod. This is due to the different nutrient inputs and disease spectrums of the row crops, which could effect disease incidence and severity, tobacco leaf yield and quality, and soil erosion.3. Tobacco as traditionally grown results in a very high potential for soil erosion on sloping land due to the intensive tillage used to establish the crop and the low level of crop residue left on the surface after harvest. Use of cover crops and rotation with less erosive crops have been the traditional strategies used to control soil erosion in tobacco production, but on many fields in traditional burley growing areas of the United States, the rotations required to reduce erosion to sustainable levels may result in tobacco being grown in the field only one out of every three to six years. This is not feasible for many medium to large producers due to lack of available land, distance to curing barns, and lack of profitable crops during the years out of tobacco. These producers need to follow more intensive rotations. In other major crops, use of conservation tillage has been a successful strategy for controlling soil erosion. However, adoption of this practice in tobacco production has been slow due to poor weed control and equipment limitations. In recent years, great progress has been made in these areas. Research has shown that conservation tobacco production systems can produce yields equivalent to conventional tillage systems, but results, particularly with no-till tobacco production, tend to be inconsistent. To address the challenges associated with conservation tillage tobacco production and to familiarize tobacco producers with this concept and its options, continued and sustained conservation tillage tobacco production research and demonstrations will be conducted. These efforts will continue to identify potential problems, address problems that arise in field production, and continually improve the system.4. Diseases and insects continue to limit tobacco yields and reduce quality. Despite tremendous advancements in varietal resistance to many of the most problematic diseases in tobacco, black shank continues to be the most significant disease in tobacco. Although many varieties offer good resistance to this disease, resistance alone will not provide adequate control of this disease. Therefore, cultural practices, such as crop rotation, and pesticides are necessary to provide acceptable control of black shank and other diseases. Likewise, insects can cause significant yield and quality losses when the correct product is not used. Because there are relatively few pesticides labeled for use in the tobacco, the most effective pesticides are often used exclusively, resulting in tremendous selection pressure on pests and increasing the likelihood of resistance to these pesticides. To ensure the availability of viable disease and insect management options in tobacco, evaluations of pesticide application methods, rates, and timings on disease and insect control efficacy and leaf yield and quality are essential.
Project Methods
Objective 1: To examine tobacco transplant production, plant performance, and the effect of abiotic and biotic stresses associated with usage of plastic greenhouse trays, replicated greenhouse studies will be conducted at the Highland Rim Research and Education Center and the Research and Education Center in Greeneville. Dry cells, germination, spiral root, usable plant number, and plant growth rate, height, weight, and stem diameter data will be recorded, analyzed, summarized, and published. Plants will be transplanted in the field and monitored for differences in growth characteristics. Objective 2: To evaluate the effects of rotating corn or soybean with tobacco on tobacco disease incidence and severity and leaf yield and quality, long-term field trials will be established at the Highland Rim Research and Education Center and the Research and Education Center in Greeneville examining continuous tobacco, tobacco-sod, tobacco-corn-soybean, and other rotations. Disease incidence and severity and tobacco growth rate and leaf yield and quality data will be recorded, analyzed, summarized, and published. Soil and tissue samples will also be taken to monitor soil and plant nutrient status among the rotations.Objective 3: To address the challenges associated with conservation tillage tobacco production, continued and sustained conservation tillage tobacco production research and demonstrations will be conducted. These efforts will continue to identify potential problems, address problems that arise in field production, and continually improve the system. Field studies will be established at the Highland Rim Research and Education Center and the Research and Education Center in Greeneville comparing conventional tillage, no-till, and strip-till tobacco production systems. Tobacco growth rate and leaf yield and quality data will be recorded, analyzed, summarized, and published. Soil and tissue samples will also be taken to monitor soil and plant nutrient status among the systems. Differences in weed, insect, and disease incidence and severity will be recorded if present. Objective 4: To ensure the availability of viable disease and insect management options in tobacco, evaluations of pesticide application methods, rates, and timings on disease and insect control efficacy and leaf yield and quality will be conducted at the Highland Rim Research and Education Center and the Research and Education Center in Greeneville. Disease and insect incidence and severity and tobacco growth rate and leaf yield and quality data will be recorded, analyzed, summarized, and published. The results of these studies will be published in Extension and scientific journals. The results will also be summarized and utilized on the UT Burley Tobacco website, and in producer meetings, scout schools, workshops, and visits and in Extension agent trainings. Surveys completed by participants in these events will be used to evaluate the levels of achievement of the objectives.