Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached through the project during the reporting period included organic vegetable and strawberry growers, transitional organic producers, conventional growers who are interested in organic production or biological management approaches for soilborne pest control and soil health improvement, extension agents, and other agricultural service providers, educators, researchers, and industry stakeholders. Changes/Problems:In PA, for the Objective 1a experiment, we added a second control to the experimental design.Within the area where cover crops were planted, fallow plots receiving the ASD treatment served as our first control.These plots will allow us to understand how the cover crops and organic amendments changed the ASD treatment. We added an extra row of plots at the edge of the site (an area that had also been fallow) where raised beds were constructed, sensors and black plastic were placed, but no water was applied during the ASD treatment. These plots served as a second control by providing a baseline to compare to the fallow plots where water was applied, effectively separating the effects of the water application from the cover crops/organic amendments. In FL, due to unforeseen complications, Objective 1c experiments that were scheduled to start right at the beginning of the first year of the project at Citra and Wimauma, FL were initiated at the end of the first reporting period and will be completed by the second reporting period. Disease, insect, and weed pressure can be very high in Florida and is more difficult to manage in organic certified fields. This negatively impacted strawberry growth and yield in the 2021-22 season. For the 2022-23 season, we have some new OMRI-approved fungicides and insecticides available that we intend to use. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Extension activities are reported in the dissemination section. An important goal and productive outcome of this project have been training the next generation of scientists and professionals. During this reporting period, the project engaged 7 postdocs, 7 graduate students, and 8 undergraduate students. Moreover, the project engaged a minimum of 9 technical staff as they advanced their skills and expertise on Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation and its application in organic vegetable and strawberry crop systems. Students were engaged directly under the supervision of faculty or under teams of faculty (in the case of graduate student committees) and in some cases by faculty from multiple institutions. Trainees were trained in diverse disciplines consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of the project and worked in interdisciplinary teams. Trainees participated in weekly lab group planning meetings and had opportunities to learn about different aspects of the project in each laboratory group. Graduate students had the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students and started presenting project outcomes at meetings and were engaged in Extension and teaching activities. Training typically included the following activities/skills: i) planning and designing experimental protocols, ii) implementing the ASD treatment, iii) setting up and deploying data loggers and relative soil sensors used to monitor soil temperature, soil redox potential, and soil moisture, iv) collect soil samples in the field and process those to determine soil pH, EC, and mineral content, and DNA extractions in the laboratory, v) conduct biometric assessments on cover crops and tomato plant samples and process the samples for the analysis of the mineral profile, vi) scout and manage a tomato crop, vii) harvest and process tomato fruit samples for yield and fruit quality assessment, viii) collect and analyze data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Growers, Extension educators, and people who advise growers frequently ask questions about anaerobic soil disinfestation. Finding reliable research-based information can be challenging. During the reporting period, a website dedicated to the project was created within the eOrganic web platform (https://eorganic.info/ASDEasyOrganic). The websitewas updated with links to resources on anaerobic soil disinfestation and a photo gallery showing details of ASD applications. Results of the project and information on ASD have been disseminated to stakeholders through emails, phone and Zoom calls, or on-farm conversations initiated by growers and stakeholders;as well as through presentations at conferences and workshops. In PA two Extension talks were given at the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention, one in the Organic Vegetable session presented by F. Di Gioia and titled 'Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) for Organic Specialty Crop Production Systems' (45 attendees) and the second in the High Tunnel session I presented by R. Balaguer and titled 'Evaluating Carbon Sources for ASD in High Tunnel Production in PA' (25 attendees). Moreover, a webinar targeting vegetable growers was conducted through Penn State Extension. The outcomes of the project and teaching concepts about Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation were presented in the following undergrad and graduate level courses at Penn State: AGECO 201: Introductory Agroecology, Plant 461: Emerging Issues in Plant Science, and Plant Biology 513. An online guest lecture was offered to a graduate student class at Washington State University. Preliminary results of the project were also presented at the 2022 American Society for Horticultural Sciences Annual Conference held in Chicago, IL, and at the 2022 Methyl Bromide Alternative Outreach Annual Conference held in Maitland, FL. In FL, two in-person presentations were conducted for Master Gardener instruction in Florida, one in St. Lucie County (9 participants) on March 15, 2022, and a second in Martin County (18 participants) on April 13, 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we plan to complete the research activities initiated during the first reporting period and initiate new research trials and extension activities according to the project timeline. In more detail, the analysis of soil samples collected during the reporting period from field trials of Obj. 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d will be completed for chemical, microbial, and nutrient analyses (NH4-N, NO3-N, and labile P). Objective 1a experiment will be repeated at an adjacent site with the same cover crops and organic amendment. The Objective 1b experiment initiated in year 1 will be completed with biometric assessments and soil samples to compare the effectiveness of the organic amendments as carbon sources for a late-summer ASD treatment followed by a fall vegetable crop in a high tunnel. In PA we will initiate a new experiment to test summer cover crops before an ASD treatment followed by a fall vegetable crop. At the PSU horticulture research farm, the uncovered portion of the high tunnel is currently planted in the triticale-crimson clover mix, the treatment which generated the most biomass in year 1 of the Objective 1a experiment. This mixture will be mowed and incorporated into the soil in May, followed by a planting of summer cover crops, such as Sorghum sudangrass and Sunn hemp. One organic amendment will be selected (based on the results of the Objective 1b experiment from year 1) to apply to half of each cover crop plot before the ASD treatment. Following the ASD treatment, a fall vegetable crop will be planted under the high tunnel. In FL, during the next reporting period, the team will complete the field experiment examining various levels of nitrogen and carbon inputs for ASD application in organic strawberry production (Obj. 1c). This field study is ongoing in two locations, at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit (PSREU) in Citra, FL and the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Wimauma, FL. The ASD treatments initiated during the first reporting period consist of 25 combinations of five application rates of molasses and five application rates of organic N fertilizer. After the 21-day ASD treatment period, the 'Florida Brilliance' strawberry will be transplanted. A series of measurements will be conducted during the ASD treatment period to assess soil N status, anaerobicity, and nitrous oxide emission. Weed, disease, and nematode assessments will be performed throughout the strawberry production season. In addition to plant biomass and fruit yield components, basic fruit quality attributes will be measured. In connection with this study, a 12-week lab incubation study will be conducted to determine soil N mineralization dynamics of ASD treatments with different levels of N and C inputs. The field study conducted for Obj. 1d in the first reporting period at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Wimauma, FL, will be repeated on the same research plot, using the same treatments, to evaluate longer-term effects of the ASD treatment. For Objective 4, during the next reporting period, we plan to start on-farm demonstration trials both in PA and FL. For Objective 5a, during the first report period, a budget template has been developed by Gao's team in collaboration with researchers conducting field trials in FL and PA to coordinate the collection of data for economics analysis on ASD. During the next reporting period, following the budget template, ASD application costs and crop yield data and produce prices recorded will be used to conduct an economic analysis to determine the treatments that are most economically feasible. For Objective 6 we plan to continue updating the webpage and will conduct a series of Extension and outreach activities (including webinars, fact sheets, workshops, in-service training, field days, and videos) as planned in the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Regional coordinated trials were conducted in Pennsylvania (PA) and Florida (FL) in organic certified open field and high tunnel vegetable and strawberry production systems. These trials contributed to developing new knowledge on anaerobic soil disinfestation and the impact of alternative organic amendments and application strategies on the efficacy of the ASD treatment and its impact on soil nutrient dynamics, soil microbiome, and crop growth and yield performance. Although most of the research activities are still ongoing our interdisciplinary team started disseminating the knowledge developed among organic growers and industry stakeholders and is contributing to form a number of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers and Extension educators. The project is contributing to integrating ASD as a sustainable soil management technology in organic vegetable and strawberry production systems. In PA, Di Gioia, Kaye, and Dini-Andreote teams established two ASD experiments on organic certified land at the Penn State Horticulture Research Farm in Pennsylvania Furnace, PA. One experiment was established in the open field, the second in a high tunnel. For Objective 1a the first study cycle was completed. The study aimed to investigate the opportunity to integrate ASD with the use of cover crops in an organic tomato crop system. The ASD treatment was applied prior to tomatoes using cover crops as carbon sources by themselves or supplemented with an organic amendment (wheat middlings). Two winter-hardy cover crop species were planted in mid-September: crimson clover and triticale and a mixture of the two with a fallow control. Several biometric assessments over the cover crops were done, including stand counts, fall sampling for %C and %N, and NDVI readings to estimate nitrogen content (fall and spring). Cover crop biomass was sampled in May, just prior to mowing and incorporating cover crops. Plots were split into two sections and wheat middlings was added to half of the plot. The ASD treatment was established with raised beds constructed, a drip irrigation system established, soil temperature and redox potential (ORP) sensors placed and covered with black plastic, followed by 4 hours of drip irrigation. Soils were sampled at 1,4, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after the initiation of the ASD treatment (Objective 2a and 2b). Soil samples were divided in the field to prepare for chemical, microbial and nutrient analyses. Soil subsamples from each experimental unit were processed for different analyses: soil water extracts (1:2 v:v) were used to measure variations in pH and electrical conductivity (EC). Processing included KCl extractions to prepare for NH4-N and NO3-N analyses, as well as air-dry soil samples, which were prepared for labile P analyses. Tomatoes were planted in June and biometric assessments were done in mid-July and mid-August, with soil samples collected on the same days. Soil subsamples collected for microbiome analysis (Objective 2a) were stored at -80 C pending microbial analysis. Total soil DNA extraction was carried out using 0.5 g of initial material with the DNeasy PowerSoil Pro Kit (Qiagen). The quality and quantity of extracted DNA were checked using NanoDrop (Fisher Scientific). To target bacterial communities, samples were subjected to partial 16S rRNA gene amplification using the primer set 505F and 806R. The amplicons in each sample were subjected to high throughput sequencing on an Illumina Miseq platform (2×250 bp). The raw sequence data for this experiment are currently being analyzed. The study revealed the key role cover crops and their C:N ratio play in determining the efficacy of the ASD treatment and the impact on nutrient dynamics during and post-ASD, and on plant growth and yield. A second experiment was established to test the effect of several organic amendments as carbon sources for the application ASD prior to a fall cabbage crop grown within the moveable high tunnel (Objective 1b). Treatments tested included untreated control (with and without initial water) and wheat middlings, soybean meal, and molasses applied at two application rates. The ASD treatment was established in late July and soil samples were collected with the same methods and frequency as Objective 1a. Cabbage was planted in late August following the ASD treatment. In FL, Hong, Rosskopf, and Desaeger teams established a coordinated strawberry ASD field trial at the organic certified research farm of the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) of the University of Florida in September 2021 and finalized in May 2022. This field trial was a multifactorial experiment, which compared various amendments and two types of plastic mulches. Prior to the experiment, the field was seeded with a mixture of cowpea and sorghum-sudangrass was planted in early July. In correspondence with the ASD application, the cover crop mix was mowed and tilled into the soil. The following day false beds were created for half of the trial, while for the other half flat beds were created. A combination of molasses, or molasses, and pelletized composted poultry manure were incorporated into the soil. Moreover, some beds did not receive additional soil amendments besides the mulched cover crops. The false beds were covered with black total impermeable film (TIF) and the flat beds were covered with solarization plastic film. Comparison of the plastics was performed in block design, while comparison for amendments was performed in a randomized plot design. The soil was watered to field capacity. In each experimental unit were incorporated two different pathogen packets containing either Fusarium oxysporum sp. fragariae or Macrophomina phaseolina. The packets were collected after the three-week ASD treatment and platted to determine survivability of the plant pathogens. Soil conditions were monitored in each experimental plot using soil temperature and oxidation-reduction probes (Objective 1d). Soil samples were collected prior to adding the additional amendment and tarping of the soil, three weeks post-treatment, at first harvest, the last harvest, prior to planting a second crop, midseason, and harvest of the second crop. Soil samples were taken for nutrient content (Objective 2b), DNA extraction to observe the microbiome (Objective 2a), and to quantify parasitic and free-living nematodes (Objective 3b). Three weeks after application, solarization films were removed, raised beds were formed, and mulched with black TIF plastic strawberry plants were planted using two different varieties (Sweet Sensation and Florida Brilliance, one variety per row). The crop was monitored and rated every two weeks, evaluations included stand counts, plant vigor ratings (using a handheld GreenSeeker), weed counts, and nematode soil counts. Nematode samples have been extracted and counted and data are being analyzed. Plant-parasitic nematodes included lesion, sting- and root-knot nematodes, but populations were low throughout the season. Free-living nematodes were mostly bacterial and fungal-feeding nematodes. Strawberry plant tissue was collected to determine the nutrient content. The strawberry crop was followed by a second crop of zucchini squash. For Objective 1c, in July of 2022, Hong, Desaeger, Rosskopf, and Zhao teams initiated two coordinated ASD field trials to examine the pre-plant application rates of molasses and organic nitrogen fertilizer for optimizing the effectiveness of ASD in strawberries. The experiments were established on certified organic land at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit (PSREU) in Citra, FL and at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Wimauma, FL. Sunn hemp was planted as a cover crop at the seeding rate of 44.9 kg/ha in early July at both locations and its termination is scheduled for early September followed by the ASD treatment implementation prior to strawberry planting.
Publications
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Desaeger, J, Williams K, and Rosskopf, E. 2022. Organic Management Strategies for Nematode Control in Florida Plasticulture, pp. 293-325. In K. K. Chaudhary, M. K. Meghvansi (eds.), Sustainable Management of Nematodes in Agriculture, Vol.1: Organic Management, Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection 18, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09943-4_12.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Di Gioia, F. 2022. Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) for Organic High Tunnels. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention Proceedings. (pp. 126-127). Richfield, PA: Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Balaguer, R., Di Gioia, F., Rosskopf, E. 2022. Evaluating Carbon Sources for Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) in High Tunnel Production in Pennsylvania. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention Proceedings. (pp. 44). Richfield, PA: Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Fernandez-Bayo, J., Achmon, Y., Guerrero, M.D.M. and Di Gioia, F. 2022. Editorial: Upcycling organic waste for the sustainable management of soilborne pests and pathogens in agri-food systems. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:1012789.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
https://eorganic.info/ASDEasyOrganic
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Balaguer Barbosa R. 2022. Upcycling By-products of the Agri-food Industry as Carbon Sources for the Application of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation in Pennsylvania Vegetable Production Systems. Master of Science Thesis. The Pennsylvania State University.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Rosskopf, E. and Di Gioia, F. 2023. New Approaches to Soil Disinfestation for Specialty Crops. In W.H. Elmer, M. McGrath, R.J. McGovern (Eds.), Handbook of Plant Disease Management. Handbook of Vegetable and Herb Diseases. Springer, Cham. ISSN: 2509-4823. In press.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Erin Rosskopf, Jason Hong, Francesco Di Gioia, Raymond Balaguer Barbosa, Xin Zhao, Isaac Vincent, Nan Xu, Natalia Peres, Johan Desaeger, David Moreira Calix, Juliana Baggio Silveira, Joji Muramoto, Kaydene Williams, Ole Becker, Antoon Ploeg, Philipp Simon, and Carol Shennan. 2022. Progress and Pitfalls in the Development of Non-chemical Soilborne Pest Control. Proceedings of the 2022 Methyl Bromide Alternative Outreach Conference. Maitland, FL November 1-4, 2022.
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