Location: Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory
2019 Annual Report
Objectives
1: Improve strawberry production systems for fruiting from autumn to spring in the Mid-Atlantic region.
2: Enhance blackberry and raspberry production systems to extend the fruiting season and expand the suitable production area.
2.A. Develop new primocane training method for primocane-fruiting blackberry and floricane-fruiting black raspberry.
2.B. Establish relevant information for frost tolerance of blackberry flowers and fruit.
3: Improve commercial mechanical blueberry harvester to increase harvest efficiency and reduce fruit damage.
Approach
A whole-plant approach to maximize crop yield, fruit quality, and reduce adverse environmental impacts is needed to assure continued competitiveness of small fruit producers in the U.S. competing in the global marketplace. The proposed research uses a systems approach to combine overlapping areas of sustainable crop production. The goal is to mitigate the impacts of diseases and abiotic stress with improved crop management practices in order to ensure consistent and profitable production of small fruits. Studies will be conducted to: 1) determine the efficacy of new cultural treatments to mitigate low temperature damage, and accelerate and intensify floral bud initiation and subsequent reproductive development in blackberries; 2) improve understanding of mechanisms controlling flower development in strawberries and growth processes involved in regulating the flower size and inflorescence development by analyzing the effects of plant material source and environmental conditions for out-of-season fruit production; and 3) improve commercial mechanical blueberry harvester efficiency and quantify impact bruises during machine harvesting, field to packing house transportation, and packing house operation using an electronic sensor technology. Research into alternative production systems and evaluation of new germplasm is expected to provide new technology and create opportunities to produce blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries for the fresh market. These efforts will improve the viability of small fruit farming in several regions of the United States.
Progress Report
Substantial results were realized over the five years of the project. Progress was made on all three objectives, which fall under National Program 305, Crop Production. Under Objective 1, an improved disease management technology using UV-C light and microbial antagonists was developed for growing day-neutral and short-day strawberry cultivars in soilless media for greenhouse and high-tunnel environments. New findings on the effect of night-time UV-C on accelerating flower development and how microbial antagonists reduce the growth of fungal pathogens were shared with strawberry researchers and growers at the 2019 North American Strawberry Symposium through the USDA-ARS Tellus online communication platform and two articles in grower magazines. Our research has shown that night-time UV-C treatments of strawberry plants have a great promise to replacing chemical pesticides to control diseases and pests, resulting in several research agreements with industry partners. Objective 2.A, an alternative method of growing primocane-fruiting blackberries that promoted budbreak on the entire length of primocanes was developed. New findings were shared with local blackberry growers at Virginia Tech Berry Production Twilight meetings in Warrenton, Virginia, in March and July 2019 and through presentations at the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association annual conferences. Under Objective 3, additional information on mechanical impacts occurring in mechanical blueberry harvesters using a miniaturized instrumented impact recording device was developed. These findings were used to improve machine design for reducing bruise damage. An experimental imaging system was used to locate and quantify internal bruising in blueberries. Berry firmness analysis of non-bruised and bruised areas in the blueberry fruit confirmed that this imaging system accurately identified bruised areas within the blueberry fruit. Analysis of commercial optical sorters showed that they were not sorting blueberries based on the extent of bruise damage. Our research showed that bruised fruit softens more rapidly in storage than those that are not bruised. These new findings have been shared with several blueberry line equipment manufacturers and blueberry growers at the International Blueberry Congress in Jakaranka, Poland, in March 2019, which attracted nearly 900 attendees from 22 countries.
Accomplishments
1. New catch plate design for mechanical blueberry harvesters. Blueberry growers want to replace expensive hand pickers with machines to harvest blueberries, but current blueberry harvesting machines use hard fruit catching plates that cause a significant amount of impact damage to the detached blueberries that fall on them. ARS researchers at Kearneysville, West Virginia, developed and patented durable catch plates allowing mechanical harvesters to harvest blueberries without bruise damage. In 2018, new catch plates for commercial blueberry harvesters were manufactured using the USDA patent. Field tests conducted in 2018 and 2019 in Florida, California, Oregon, and Washington with the new catch plate design harvested blueberries with significantly less bruise damage. Commercial blueberry harvesters are harvesting high-quality blueberries using ARS patented design.
Review Publications
Wasko-Devetter, L., Yang, W.Q., Takeda, F., Korthuis, S., Li, C. 2019. Modified over-the-row machine harvesters to improve northern highbush blueberry fresh fruit quality. Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture9010013.
Short, B.D., Janisiewicz, W.J., Takeda, F., Leskey, T.C. 2018. UV-C irradiation as a management tool for Tetranychus urticae on strawberries. Pest Management Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5045.
Kim, E., Freivalds, A., Takeda, F., Li, C. 2018. Ergonomic evaluation of current advancements in blueberry harvesting. Agronomy. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8110266.
Takeda, F., Janisiewicz, W.J., Smith, B.J., Evans, B.E. 2019. A new approach for strawberry disease control. European Journal of Horticultural Science. 84(1):3-13. https://doi.org/10.17660/eJHS.2019/84.1.1.
Jiang, Y., Li, C., Takeda, F., Kramer, E., Ashrafi, H., Hunter, J. 2019. 3D point cloud data to quantitatively characterize size and shape of shrub crops. Horticulture Research. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-019-0123-9.
Debner, A.R., Hatterman-Valenti, H., Takeda, F. 2019. Blackberry propagation limitations when using floricane cuttings. HortTechnology. 29(3):276-282. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04266-18.
Gazula, H., Quansah, J., Allen, R., Scherm, H., Li, C., Takeda, F., Chen, J. 2019. Microbial loads on selected fresh blueberry packing lines. Food Control. 100:315-320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.01.032.
Quansah, J.K., Gazula, H., Holland, R., Scherm, H., Li, C., Takeda, F., Chen, J. 2019. Microbial quality of blueberries for the fresh market. Food Control. 100:92-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2018.12.034.
Gazula, H., Scherm, H., Li, C., Takeda, F., Chen, J. 2019. Ease of biofilm accumulation and efficacy of sanitizing treatments in removing the biofilms formed on coupons made of materials commonly used in blueberry packing environment. Food Control. 104:167-173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2019.04.036.
Gallardo, R., Stafne, E.T., Devetter, L., Zhang, Q., Li, C., Takeda, F., Williamson, J., Yang, W., Cline, W., Beaudry, R., Allen, R. 2018. Blueberry producers' attitudes toward harvest mechanization for fresh market. HortTechnology. 28(1):10-16. https://doi.org/10.21273/horttech03872-17.
Takeda, F. 2017. Climatic requirements. In: Hall, H. and Funt, R., editors. Blackberry and their Hybrids. Boston, MA:CABI. p. 35-48.
Strik, B.C., Takeda, F., Gao, G. 2017. Pruning and training. In: Hall, H. and Funt, R., editors. Blackberry and their Hybrids. Boston, MA:CABI. p. 169-201.
Yu, J., Li, C., Takeda, F. 2017. Non-destructive detection and quantification of blueberry bruising using near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral reflectance imaging. Scientific Reports. doi: 10:1038/srep35679.
Zhang, M., Li, C., Takeda, F., Yang, F. 2017. Detection of internally bruised blueberries using hyperspectral transmittance imaging. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. 60(5):1489-1502.
