Performing Department
Agriculture
Non Technical Summary
Organically grown food commodities continue to experience rising consumer demand and usage, in both the national and international arenas. This increase may be attributed to a variety of reasons, including increased public awareness and sensitivity to healthy living and environmental stewardship environment. Consumers enjoy a variety of organic produce, designated either organic, or labeled certified organic. However, the practice in the U.S. requires the use of production and management practices that must comply with national and state guidelines for certified organic identity, while meeting production challenges such as available and approved plant materials, nutrient sources and appropriate pest management strategies.Nationally, pest management practices pose a significant challenge for organic growers, as they seek to learn about organic practices and optimize the development and health of the crops they produce. On the Delmarva Peninsula, a region located (38.5° N, 75.6° W) between the Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east and comprised of entire Delaware state and eastern portions of Maryland and Virginia, limited resource farmers also desire to produce more organic to fill consumer's needs. This is an agriculturally rich area, primarily due to the production of conventionally grown grain crops that support the poultry industry. Though the poultry industry is a major driving factor in Delmarva's agricultural community, there is also interest in sustainable agriculture and organic farming, particularly from smaller vegetable growers. They require more information on production techniques including pest management, availability of affordable organic supplies, and the costs to be effectively engaged in organic production. Unlike conventional agriculture practices that include readily available supplies of approved pesticides in their program, organic practices have fewer available materials, if required, as a part of the efforts to fight pest in an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. These pest protection inputs must also meet national organic program (NOP) guidelines to meet organic certification.One component of integrated pest management is the intercropping of the desired agriculture commodity crop with other species with pesticidal properties. Besides pesticidal repellant advantages, intercrops have been used as nutrient supplements, enhancements of habitats for beneficial organisms (natural enemies and pollinators), weed suppressive, and shade manipulations. However, their use with some organic crops is less widespread or unknown and this presents an opportunity to include / use intercropping as part of the organic IPM options in combatting pest problems in specialty crop production. The overall health benefits of specialty produce crops such as vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices to consumers are well known, and this knowledge will continue to stimulate consumer preferences for these foods, thus making it necessary to execute healthy management practices in producing them. Therefore, the overall benefit of this project is to produce selected specialty crops in an environmentally responsible manner with other intercropped species for optimized production, pest management and economic viability. It also addresses a focus of the UMES Experiment Station, namely, Sustainable Agriculture, and is aligned with the USDA Priority and NIFA Challenges in the areas of Protect America's natural resource base and environment and Enhance safety and security of U.S. agriculture and food supply. This project will be accomplished through the following objectives: (1) to assess insect repellent effects of intercropping tomatoes with lemon grass, in organic culture. (2) to assess crop development and economics of organic ginger produced from rhizome seed pieces and seedling propagation and (3) to compare the economic effects of intercropping selected organic crops grown with insect repellant plants against those not intercropped .The basic methods to achieve all objectives will entail field studies on an organic site. Objectives 1 and 3 will entail intercropping studies of tomatoes with lemon grass to determine yield, pest management and economics of the practices used. Objective 2 will involve high tunnel studies to determine best practices and the economics for producing ginger from seed pieces or seedlings. Through these objectives, the ultimate goal is to produce and assess selected specialty crops on Delmarva for optimized plant development and pest control. The expected general impact is increased knowledge about organic specialty crop management practices for small farmers, in the areas of intercropping, pest management and suitability of propagation materials, plus the adoption of organic management practices where applicable.
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The goal is to produce and assess selected specialty crops on Delmarva for optimized plant development and pest control. It is comprised of the following objectives; (1) to assess insect repellent effects of intercropping tomatoes with lemon grass, in organic culture. (2) to assess crop development and economics of organic ginger produced from rhizome seed pieces and seedling propagation and (3) to compare the economic effects of intercropping selected organic crops grown with insect repellant plants against those not intercropped.
Project Methods
For objective 1, seeds of two organic tomato cultivars, Brandywine Red and Wisconsin 55, will be grown in spring to produce transplants for this organic study. Lemon grass plantlets will be vegetatively propagated in greenhouse to be used as field intercropper. Both the tomato and the lemon grass will be planted in mid-May, the recommended time for planting tropical plants in the Delmarva region. For this site, seeding of a hairy vetch rye ground cover will have been done the previous fall. Following nutrient recommendations for tomato production, OMRI approved fertilizer will be applied to the sites after preparation. The experimental design will be a split plot design with four repellant treatments as main plot and tomato cultivar as sub plot, and four replications. The four repellant treatments will be; (1) a control tomato plot without any repellant lemon grass, (2) tomato plot intercropped with row of widely spaced lemongrass between tomatoes as repellant border, (3) tomato plot intercropped with row of closely spaced lemongrass between tomatoes as repellant border, and (4) tomato plot with tomatoes interspaced with lemon grass in row. All tomato plots will be two-rowed. Black plastic mulch and drip tape will be laid down to help control weeds and provide water as necessary. Plants will be grown following acceptable National Organic Program guidelines for disease control and any additional nutrients that may be needed. At the vegetative stage, non-destructive data will be recorded for plant growth and chlorophyll fluorescence. At the reproductive stage, fruits will be harvested at the red stage and yield data collected for marketable and non-marketable. Ripe fruits, leaves, and soil will be collected at harvest and at the end of the study, respectively to be analyzed for nutrient content.Insects and other arthropods will be sampled by visually inspecting the entire plots and recording the number present. Arthropods will be identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible at the field site. Sampling will be conducted at 7-day intervals initiating at seedling emergence. In addition to weekly visual counts of arthropod pest on tomato plants, light, water and yellow sticky traps will be used to monitor the number of pest .The level of leaf, stem, and flower and fruit damage will be recorded and correlated with the number and type of insect species visualized and trapped. Temperature, rainfall, humidity and wind speed will be recorded during each sampling period. The abundance of beneficial insects (parasitoids, predators and pollinators) will be compared among the treatments. Data will be analyzed using SAS and will include analyses of variance and applicable statistical tests to test means.For objective 2, ginger rhizomes will be prepared in two ways for eventual planting of three different groups/treatments in high tunnel. The first treatment will be seedlings having fewer than three leaves and produced in greenhouse from existing organic rhizome stock materials. The second treatment will be seedlings having three or more leaves and produced in greenhouse from existing organic rhizome stock materials. The third treatment will be rhizome pieces, that will be cut in sections referred to as seed sets. Following nutrient recommendations for growing ginger, OMRI approved fertilizer will be applied to a high tunnel site after soil preparation. Planting will be done in the high tunnel in spring as soon as air temperature records in the tunnel show consistent values above 10C. The experimental design will be a completely random design with with three treatments and four replications. Data will be recorded for plant growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, and leaf area index and yield characteristics. For objective 2, we will be looking at productivity ratio, benefit-cost ratio, and other economic indicators to compare the three propagation methods in terms of cost effectiveness and efficiency. Labor or other factors are important for growers in the sense that they want to maximize benefits ensuring the most efficient use of available resources/factors. Whatever productive activity is more beneficial, they can divert their resources toward that.For objective 3, we will be looking at productivity ratio, benefit-cost ratio, and other economic indicators to compare the four intercropping treatments in terms of cost effectiveness and efficiency. This objective is contingent on the results from Objective 1 that would have determined whether intercropping in the tomato cultivars is effective in pest incidence.The efforts to cause a change in knowledge, actions, or conditions of target audiences will include publications and presentations at conferences and meetings, field days and demonstrations, and experiential activities such as student internships. The outputs will be evaluated and/or quantified for their impact on the intended audience(s) by the number of farmers adopting and applying practices from the research and on the impact factor of journals in which the papers are published. Annual project evaluation will be conducted to assess project progress during that period. The evaluation team will include stakeholders and various individuals knowledgeable about specialty crops, pest management, intercropping and organic culture. Evaluation criteria will include progress in attaining the objectives, extent of dissemination of project work, and in attaining project outcomes.