Progress 03/15/18 to 03/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes perennial crop producers and service providers who are seeking new and more sustainable solutions to reduce cold damage in high-value perennial specialty crops. The advances in this research would greatly improve produce quality in Washington State and other parts of US that experience similar climatical obstacles. Agricultural equipment manufacturers, bionano material producers, and other technology providers who are involved in the production of spraying technologies and protecting from cold damage can also gain useful knowledge from the outcomes of this study. Because of the user-centered nature of this research project, the end-users of the resulting technologies, as well as fellow researchers and general public in northern parts of the US and beyond, are included in our research outcome dissemination group, with frequent communications to get feedback from them. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student and one postdoctoral research associate have been active members (part time bases) of the project team. These individuals were mentored by the PI/co-PIs to develop and refine a widespectrum of research skills in the complementary fields of engineering and horticulture. In addition, they furthered their professional development through opportunities to participate in a collaborative transdisciplinary working environment, present research findings to their peer groups, understand the process of protecting intellectual property, and publishing research findings in peer reviewed journals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Due to the pendamic, all planned in-person field demonstration or face-to-face stakeholder engagement were cancelled. However, the successful stories were released to both the stakeholders and general public through public medias. The team is also working on transmitting the developed technology potential businesses, some negotiations between WSU and interested businesses are under the way. Commercialization efforts - WSU Office of Commercialization is neogotiating on licensing the technology to a few commercial entities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Working directly with tree fruit growers and other stakeholders in Pacific Northwest (PNW) region, the project team has made significant progress in the following areas: Investigating various formulations of CNC dispersions: commercial CNC was purchased in gel form and modified to facilitate compatibility with dispersion sprayers in laboratory-scale and field-scale tests. In 2021, our team shifted focus to conducting larger, commercial-scale trials in stakeholder's orchards throughout the major production regions of WA. We estimate that our PBD treatment was applied by growers to a total of 150 acres of sweet cherry and apple orchards. Those tests were performed either on dormant buds or on developing flowers of apple and cherry using both Celluforce CNC and SAPPI CNF in February and March 2021. These trials were important for evaluating the practical issues related to application of PBDs using commercial sprayers in modern orchards. We received positive feedback from growers and their experiences were valuable as we evaluate practical strategies for moving the technology to commercialization. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of transient heat transfer was performed using ANSYS Fluent during the freezing process of buds treated with CNC to better understand the thermal behavior of CNC and the mechanism by which it provides cold damage protection. The numerical model developed were able to predict the temperature transition and the time required for the bud ice nucleation: the ice nucleation for the control bud started around 1080 sec at about 270.2?K (- 2.95 ?C), while the ice nucleation for the CNC treated bud started around 1450 sec at about 268?K (- 5.15 ?C). As a result, CNC delays the formation of intracellular ice at low temperatures and protecting cold damage. CFD model was able to estimate the convection heat flow, radiation heat transfer, and latent heat (phase change), all of which are difficult to investigate by making measurements in lab conditions. Multi-year large-scale trials build upon our past work and other small scale tests which further show the ability plant-based dispersions derived from CNC and CNF to be used as sprayable frost protectant in orchards. These films can be applied by growers with two different classes of commercially available sprayers to create a microscopic film. The coating greatly increases the freezing tolerance of reproductive buds by decreasing the rate of internal cooling and preventing ice nucleation. The application of these films immediately before frost events, as demonstrated, allows for better yield potential in frost affected orchards by increasing the survival of reproductive tissues. The rate of increase build survival and yield shown here would translate to a significant reduction in the economic loss by tree fruit producers from cold damage.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Alhamid, J. and Mo, C., 2021. Numerical Analysis of Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) for Reducing Cold Damage to Reproductive Buds in Fruit Crops. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress. 26: 101123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2021.101123.
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Progress 03/15/20 to 03/14/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes tree fruit/wine grape producers and service providers who are seeking new and more sustainable solutions to reduce cold damage in high-value perennial specialty crops. The advances in this research would greatly improve produce quality in Washington State and other parts of US that experience similar obstacles. Agricultural equipment manufacturers, bionano material producers, and other technology providers who are involved in the production of spraying technologies and protecting from cold damage can also gain useful knowledge from the outcomes of this study. Because of the user-centered nature of this research project, the end-users of the resulting technologies, as well as fellow researchers and general public in northern parts of the US and beyond, are included in our research outcome dissemination group, with frequent communications to get feedback from them. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student and one postdoctoral research associate are active members of the project team. These individuals were mentored by the PI/co-PIs to develop and refine a widespectrum of research skills in the complementary fields of engineering and horticulture. In addition, they furthered their professional development through opportunities to participate in a collaborative transdisciplinary working environment, present research findings to their peer groups, understand the process of protecting intellectual property, and publishing research findings in peer reviewed journals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Due to the pendamic, all planned in-person field demonstration or face-to-face stakeholder engagement were cancelled. However, the successful stories were released to both the stakeholders and general public through public medias. The team is also working on transmitting the developed technology potential businesses, some negotiations between WSU and interested businesses are under the way. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Expand field trial scale to more orchard sites at different locations of eatern-central WA in collaboration with commercial growers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Working directly with tree fruit and grape growers and other stakeholders in Washington State, the project team has made significant progress in the following areas: Investigating various formulations of CNC dispersions: commercial CNC was purchased in gel form and modified to facilitate compatibility with dispersion sprayers in laboratory-scale and field-scale tests. In 2020, the team was focused on conducting commercial scale on-farm tests on several commercial orchards located in easter-central region of WA. Those tests were performed either on dormant buds or on developing flowers of apple and cherry using both Celluforce CNC andSAPPI CNF in February and March 2020. These trials encompassed roughly a hectare of orchard area treated with plant-based dispersions and further demonstrate the suitability of these materials as a sprayable frost protectant for tree fruits. Dormant Cherry and Apple were tested in February 2020 at Zirkle orchards in Pasco WA. 2% SAPPI CNF and 3% Celluforce CNC was each applied to approximately 1000 m2 plots of each species at a rate of 0.014L/m2 using an electrostatic sprayer. Buds were collected at 1, 3, and 6 days post application and tested for cold tolerance with differential thermal analysis. The Celluforce CNC treated buds had no difference in cold tolerance than the control. The SAPPI CNF treated buds saw a 2-3C lower lethal temp for each sampling time compared to the control. Commercial scale field tests of CNF dispersions were carried out during a natural frost event during March 15-17 2020 at commercial orchards in Sunnyside, WA, and Pasco, WA. Each grower applied the 2.5% SAPPI CNF dispersion at a rate 0.014L/m2 to two 3000m2 plots of "Early Robin" Sweet Cherry using conventional air-blast orchard sprayers 24-72 hours prior to the frost event. After the frost event, 200 buds were dissected to visually assess damage to floral tissues. Coated buds exhibited a 76% reduction in mortality to 3%, from 13% in the control at the Sunnyside orchard, and a 46% reduction in mortality in Pasco. Yield data collected at harvest showed the Pasco site saw a proportional increase in yield from coated trees to 15 kg per tree from 7 kg in the control tree. The Sunnyside site however had no increase in yield, likely due to subsequent frost events that hit this site only. These large-scale trials build upon our past work and other small scale tests which further show the ability plant-based dispersions derived from CNC and CNF to be used as sprayable frost protectant in orchards. These films can be applied by growers with two different classes of commercially available sprayers to create a microscopic film. The coating greatly increases the freezing tolerance of reproductive buds by decreasing the rate of internal cooling and preventing ice nucleation. The application of these films immediately before frost events, as demonstrated, allows for better yield potential in frost affected orchards by increasing the survival of reproductive tissues. The rate of increase build survival and yield shown here would translate to a significant reduction in the economic loss by tree fruit producers from cold damage.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Jassim Alhamid (2020), Numerical and Experimental Investigation into the Thermal Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystal (CNC) Dispersion for Improved Cold Hardiness. PhD Dissertation, Washington State University, May 2020.
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Progress 03/15/19 to 03/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes tree fruit/wine grape producers and service providers who are seeking new and more sustainable solutions to reduce cold damage in high-value specialty crops. The advances in this research would greatly improve produce quality in Washington State and other parts of US that experience similar obstacles. Agricultural equipment manufacturers, bionano materialproducers,and other technology providers who are involved in the production of spraying technologies and protecting from cold damage can also gain useful knowledge from the outcomes of this study. Because of the user-centered nature of this research project, the end-users of the resulting technologies, as well as fellow researchers and general public in Pacific Northwest (PNW) region and beyond, are included in our research outcome dissemination group, with frequent communications to get feedback from them. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students (Jassim Alhamid and Brent Arnoldussen) are active members of the project team as well as one post-doctoral research associate (Peipei Wang). These individuals were mentored by the PI/co-PIs to develop and refine a wide-spectrum of research skills in the complementary fields of engineering and horticulture. In addition, they furthered their professional development through opportunities to participate in a collaborative transdisciplinary working environment, present research findings to their peer groups, understand the process of protecting intellectual property, and publishing research findings in peer reviewed journals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The research outcomes to date have been presented on CPAAS AgTech Day held in August 2019 at Prosser, WA. About 100 stakeholders from US PNW region participated in this AgTech Day events. Xiao Zhang attended Tappi Nanotechnology Conference in Japan and discussed with Sappi biomaterials and Celluforce for potential supplies of CNC for field trials and commercial trials. NDAs with Sappi biomaterials and Celluforce have been signed. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The efficacy of the protective window will be expanded to 10+ days following CNC application. We will also sample for remaining CNC residues following a rain event to determine the longevity of the treatment on the bud surface. Large-scale field trials will be continued to conduct in commercial orchards because there was no frost event occurred in 2019 to provide final yield comparison. We will complement small-scale field trials with larger-scale evaluations in collaboration with commercial growers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Working directly with tree fruit and grape growers and other stakeholders in Washington State, the project team has made significant progress in the following areas: Preparing various CNC dispersions: commercial CNC was purchased in gel form and modified to facilitate compatibility with dispersion sprayers in laboratory-scale and field-scale tests. SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) test was conducted to measure the CNC layer thickness in Pullman. The layer thickness of 2% wt. CNC was ca. 29 micron and ca. 40 micron for 3% wt. CNC. DSC (Differential scanning calorimetry) test was conducted at the USDA in Wapato, WA to understand the thermal behavior of reproductive buds. The experimental results using DSC showed that 2% wt. CNC spray decreased the onset temperature of crystallization (Tc) for the reproductive buds ca. 1°C and 3% wt. CNC spray ca. 2°C. Large-scale field trials were conducted in commercial orchards at two locations, Mattawa and Pasco, WA. Near Mattawa, a treatment of 2.5 wt% CNC dispersion was applied via commercial electrostatic sprayer at a rate of ca. 0.014 L/m².CNC was applied to a single block of ca. 400 m² ofcherry andapple orchards . A similar trial was established to ca. 400 m² ofcherry andapple orchards near Pasco, WA. The effectiveness of the CNC was investigated with the infrared thermal camera in Zirkle farm in Pasco, WA. From the thermal images the emissivity of the buds was estimated using MATLAB code developed. The avarage emissivity for the treated cheery buds was ca.0.72, while the non-treated buds was ca.0.85.The bud with lower emissivity means that the bud emitted less radiation to the outside and is more protected from cold damage. The ice nucleus inside the buds for the CNC treated- or non-treated groups was investigated using micro- thermocouples and date loggers. Numerical modeling and simulation were also carried out to validate the test results using ANSYS and COMSOL. The numerical simulation results were in accordance with the measured values.
Publications
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Progress 03/15/18 to 03/14/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is tree fruit and wine grape producers who are seeking new and more sustainable solutions to reduce cold damage in high-value specialty crops. The advances in this research would greatly improve produce quality in Washington State and other parts of US that experience similar obstacles. Agricultural equipment manufacturers and other technology providers who are involved in the production of spraying technologies and protecting from cold damage can also gain useful knowledge from the outcomes of this study. Because of the user-centered nature of this research project, the end-users of the resulting technologies, as well as fellow researchers and general public in Pacific Northwest (PNW) region and beyond, are included in our research outcome dissemination group, with frequent communications to get feedback from them. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Three graduate students (Jassim Alhamid, Andrew Porter, and Brent Arnoldussen) are active members of the project team as well as one post-doctoral research associate (Peipei Wang). These individuals were mentored by the PI/co-PIs to develop and refine a wide-spectrum of research skills in the complementary fields of engineering and horticulture. In addition, they furthered their professional development through opportunities to participate in a collaborative transdisciplinary working environment, present research findings to their peer groups, understand the process of protecting intellectual property, and publishing research findings in peer reviewed journals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The research outcomes to date have been presented by co-PI Whiting at two grower meetings in Washington - the Cherry Institute Meeting (ca. 450 growers in attendance) and at the Technology Research Review of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission (ca. 50 growers in attendance). In 2018, co-PI Xiao Zhang visited FPInnovations in Montreal (Canada) and Auburn University to discuss potential collaborations for expanding the project. WSU also signed a non-disclosure agreement with Sappi Biomaterial and InnoTech (Alberta, Canada) to further develop/evaluate cellulose feedstock. Our project team is also in contact with a number tree fruit farmers regarding the technology in the US as well as Chile. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Our investigation into the influence of CNC concentration rate will be expanded to 3% wt.; in addition, the efficacy of the protective window will be expanded to 10+ days following CNC application. We will also sample for remaining CNC residues following a rain event to determine the longevity of the treatment on the bud surface. We will collaborate with USDA ARS to estimate the emissivity of the tree buds for the CNC treated- and non-treated groups using a high-resolution infrared camera. The ice nucleus inside the buds for the CNC treated- or non-treated groups will be investigated using micro-thermocouples and date loggers. Field and laboratory experiments will be conducted to study the thermal insulative properties of the CNC by using high definition infrared thermography to study the ice nucleation and emissivity of the buds. Scanning electron microscopy will be used to better investigate the coating change that occurs on the surface of the bud following treatment with CNC. A portion of the thermal modeling work is expected to be completed and will be validated through field trials. We will complement small-scale field trials with larger-scale evaluations in collaboration with commercial growers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Working directly with tree fruit and grape growers and other stakeholders in Washington State, the project team has made significant progress in the following areas: Preparing various CNC dispersions: commercial CNC was purchased in gel form and modified to facilitate compatibility with dispersion sprayers in laboratory scale- and field tests. Testing the effect of varying CNC concentration: three different CNC concentrations - 0% (water-sprayed control), 1% wt., and 2% wt. - were tested to investigate the influence the rate of CNC application may have on improving cold hardiness in apple and sweet cherry. In March and April 2018 (i.e., early stages of 'flowering' through 'full bloom'), the project team conducted numerous field trials in both research- and commercial orchards. Our results indicated that, at 24 hrs. after application, cold-hardiness could be improved by 0-1 °C for the 1% wt. CNC treatment group and by 2-4 °C for the 2% wt. CNC treatment group. Testing the duration of the protective effects of CNC: buds from sweet cherry and apple (var. Jazz) trees were assessed (day +1 and +2) after spray application with 2% wt. CNC to investigate the length of the protective window. Preliminary studies show that improved cold-hardiness could be maintained up to 2 days after treatment with CNC. Our project team assessed the effect of applying 2% wt. CNC on 'flowering time' and observed a slight hastening of bud-break and flowering in CNC-treated trees, compared to untreated control groups. Sweet cherry yield per tree improved by 40% following treatment with 2%wt.CNC. We attribute this change to improved resistance to cold damage in the treated trees. Preliminary testing was completed to embed micro-thermocouples into tree buds, which provides continuous monitoring of the temperature profile inside the buds. The subsequent data will help quantify the protective effect of CNC treatments during programmed freezing, and inform future studies. MATLAB code was developed to estimate the emissivity of tree buds from the images captured by an infrared camera for the CNC treated and non-treated groups. This aspect of the study is important to better understand the underlying mechanism that CNC treatment uses to mitigate protection from cold damage. ANSYS simulation software was used for modeling the thermal properties of CNC formulations, and to investigate their influence on protecting tree buds from cold damage.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Alhamid, J., Mo, C., Zhang, X., Wang, P., Whiting, M. and Zhang, Q. (2018). Research Note: Cellulose Nanocrystals reduce cold damage to reproductive buds in fruit crops. Biosystems Engineering Journal, 172: 124-133.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Whiting, M. 2019. Horticulture program research update. North Central Washington Stone Fruit Day. 15 January. Wenatchee, WA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Alhamid, J., Arnoldussen, B., Mo, C., Zhang, X., Wang, P., Zhang, Q., and Whiting, M. (2018). Cellulose Nanocrystals reduce cold damage to reproductive buds in fruit crops. 11th International Plant Cold Hardiness Seminar (IPCHS): Importance of Cold Hardiness in a Warming Climate; 5-10 August; Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Alhamid, J., Mo, C., Zhang, X., Wang, P., Whiting, M., and Zhang, Q. (2018). Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) for Preventing Cold Damage in Tree Fruit and Grapes, Washington State University SHOWCASE 2018; Pullman, WA.
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