Recipient Organization
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
FORT COLLINS,CO 80523
Performing Department
Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Non Technical Summary
Agribusiness is an important industry in Colorado, contributing $40 billion in sales to the state's economy (CDA, 2015; Davies et al., 2012), both in traditional rural regions and the rapidly expanding urban areas. However, agriculture also uses an estimated 56-80% of the water in the Colorado River Basin each year (Lee and Plant, 2013). Population growth places strains on these linked systems, but strategic planning driven by science-based information and tools can provide options and possible solutions. This proposal describes three objective-based projects that will consolidate research conducted at CSU RCs, develop a water use modeling tool, and provide field-based data to evaluate relative consumptive water use of vegetable and specialty crops.Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and protected agriculture include a range of structures and associated costs from fully automated and climate controlled greenhouse facilities to relatively simple high tunnels that can create a microenvironment for crop growth, but provide less precise climatic control. The greenhouse and nursery industry contributes approximately $1.8 billion to the state's economy each year (CDA, 2015). Food and specialty crop production systems in CEA can take advantage of Colorado's predominantly clear and partly cloudy days (245 d/year; CCC, 2017) while reducing water use and increasing yields up to 10 times that of traditional field-grown crops (Swiader and Ware, 2002). There is a need to advance our understanding of CEA and protected agricultural systems for food production in Colorado.The organic industry in the United States was a $5.5 billion dollar industry at the last census (USDA NASS, 2014), and is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors. Colorado consumers purchased $147 million in certified organic products in 2014, ranking 8th in the nation (USDA NASS, 2014). However, Colorado does not appear on either of the top ten lists for the number of organic farms or number of organic acres. This represents both an economic opportunity and need for science-based organic production system research that is specific to Colorado's growing conditions.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
70%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
1. Water use in Colorado cropping systems:Goal: Integrate CSU AES Research Center (RC) reports and existing databases to inventory and categorize recent (2005-2015) irrigated cropping systems throughout the state of Colorado.Objectives are:1) Produce a literature review of irrigated cropping systems in Colorado, and integrate the results of CSU RC alternative crop test yields, water use, and other performance measures.2) Develop an inventory tool that will allow landscape-scale analysis and modeling of the water use implications of alternative crops and/or cropping systems.3) Conduct field trials in northern Colorado to evaluate relative consumptive water use of new vegetable cultivars bred specifically for low water input systems.2. Controlled environment and protected agriculture:Goal: Advance understanding of protected and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) best management practices for food production across a wide range of technology types and growing regions in Colorado.Objectives are:1) Determine the impacts of light emitting diode (LED) lighting technology on food crop morphology, gas exchange, overall growth rate, and harvestable product (e.g. tomato) quality and yield in a greenhouse environment.2) Evaluate advanced pruning and training techniques as a means to increase quality and yield of food crops grown in high tunnels.3. Organic production systems:Goal: Enhance the science-based certified organic management recommendations for Colorado fruit and vegetable growers.Objectives are:1) Develop weed control systems for organic producers that include a variety of integrated approaches for maximum effectiveness.2) Evaluate reduced and/or no till options for Colorado organic cropping systems and soil types.3) Evaluate and provide performance feedback to organic growers and a national northern vegetable breeder network. The project will provide up-to-date, Colorado-specific yield and quality characteristic data from vegetable cultivars bred specifically for organic management systems.
Project Methods
Goal A: Water use in Colorado cropping systemsObjective 1: A graduate student (M.S.) will conduct a literature review of Colorado irrigated cropping systems, RC reports, and other resources including interviews with faculty and staff at each of the RCs. This information will be incorporated into a single document, and then distributed back to the RCs for their review. Edits will be incorporated into the final draft.Objective 2: Existing databases, data layers, and data visualization software such as USDA CropScape (https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/) and NASS will be integrated into a single inventory tool that will allow the user to assess the impact of current and future alternative cropping systems across the diverse geography of Colorado. The student will make at least one trip to each RC per year of the project to conduct interviews, compile physical reports, or "ground truth" any information that could not be collected in other ways. The tool will include crop production statistics for Colorado by region, and will provide alternative crop production scenarios that allow modeling of the associated water use implications. The inventory tool that is developed out of this work will be evaluated by at least one faculty and/or staff member at each RC to provide input.Objective 3: A second graduate student (M.S.) will establish replicated field trials at ARDEC South to evaluate relative consumptive water use of relatively new vegetable species (e.g. devil's claw- Proboscidea sp.) and cultivars (e.g. 'Dark Star' zucchini, 'Stella Blue' winter squash, 'Zeppelini' delicate squash, 'Christmas' watermelon, various okra cultivars, etc.) that have been selected to tolerate drought and/or less applied water, and have been identified by other similar programs such as the Dry Farming Collaborative (http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/su15dryfarm) in Oregon. These cultivars will be compared with an internal check cultivar that has not been selected for drought tolerance. Comparative yield, quality, and other factors such as physiological responses (e.g. degree of physiological leaf curl) and water stress indicators (e.g. canopy temperature) will be recorded, analyzed statistically (analysis of variance and general linear model procedures in SAS software), and summarized.Goal B: Controlled environment and protected agricultureObjective 1: A graduate student (M.S.) will establish a replicated greenhouse experiment consisting of two tomato cultivars and two LED canopy "interlighting" treatments (i.e. interlighting on or off). Tomatoes will be grown hydroponically in "Dutch buckets" in the greenhouse at the HLA Horticulture Center. The entire experiment will be repeated in 2018, and data collection will include changes in vegetative morphology, gas exchange, growth rate, and harvestable product quality and yield in a greenhouse environment. If there are no significant interactions, data will be pooled and means separated at the 0.05 level of probability in SAS statistical analysis software.Objective 2: A graduate student (M.S.) will evaluate the impacts of cluster pruning on tomato yield and quality grown in a high tunnel at ARDEC South. The replicated experiment will be conducted over two growing seasons and will include three cultivars: Cherokee Purple, Lola, and Jet Star. Plants will be trained on a single leader, flowers will be manually pollinated, and the resulting fruits will be thinned to 3 fruits/cluster, 6 fruits/cluster, or no-thinning (control). Tomato yield and quality (e.g. Brix, cracking, and marketability) data will be collected, analyzed statistically (analysis of variance and general linear model procedures in SAS software), and summarized.Goal C: Organic production systemsObjective 1: Demonstration field trials of organic sweet corn and field corn weed management treatments will be evaluated at ARDEC South. All treatments will include mechanical weed cultivation until the four leaf stage (V4), then an Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI)-approved herbicide (caprylic/capric acid) will be applied with a shielded sprayer to evaluate the impacts of spray timing on weed and crop damage. Spray timing treatments (3) will be applied at approximately two-week intervals roughly corresponding to V8, V10, and V12 growth stages. The control plots (C1 and C2) will be mechanically cultivated until V4, then left unsprayed but hand-weeded (C1) or unsprayed and unweeded (C2). One-meter square quadrats will be used to evaluate weed density, area cover, and degree of herbicide damage for each of the treatments. Sweet corn and field corn yield, quality, and crop damage will also be assessed. Data will be compiled from the first year and the best treatments will be incorporated into replicated field trials in future years.Objective 2: The SC program will rent, borrow, purchase or secure donations for one or more pieces of vertical till, strip till, or no till implements appropriate for vegetable farms. Demonstration plots will include a conventional tillage control and vertical till, strip till, and no till plots within a small grain stubble field. Sweet corn will be the primary crop and ear yield (wt), ear number, and quality will be assessed. Data will be compiled from the first year and the best treatments will be incorporated into replicated field trials in future years.Objective 3: A graduate student (Ph.D.) will evaluate and provide performance feedback to local organic growers and a national northern vegetable breeder network. This will be achieved by establishing replicated and observational field trials at ARDEC South. Several cultivars and experimental breeding lines of five vegetable species will be evaluated for yield, flavor, and other quality characteristics (e.g. storage, Brix, etc.) according to the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC- http://eorganic.info/novic/) protocols. Data from the project will be statically analyzed (data will be pooled if appropriate, and means separated at the 0.05 level of probability in SAS statistical analysis software) and summarized to provide up-to-date, Colorado-specific yield and quality characteristic data from vegetable cultivars bred specifically for organic management systems.