Strategic Research/Development

Strategic research and development focuses on improving crop production systems and system components as well as developing new production systems. Research in fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and miscellaneous crops is conducted to support current industries in Kentucky and to develop new ones, some of which are in the New Crop Opportunities Center. Recent results are summarized in the 2007 Fruit and Vegetable Crops Research Report and the 2007 Nursery and Landscape Program Research Report. Follow the links to faculty web pages for detailed descriptions of the projects below.

Fruit Research

Developing organic apple thinning agents for Kentucky fruit growers Douglas Archbold     New Crop Opportunities Center project

Plant Volatile Compounds and Microbial Development During Postharvest Storage Douglas Archbold and Thomas R. Hamilton-Kemp

Carbohydrate Metabolism and Apple Fruit Development Douglas Archbold

Plasticulture Strawberry Production John Strang     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Rootstock and Interstem Effects in Pome and Stone Fruit Production Joseph Masabni

Pawpaw Culture, Germplasm Evaluation, and Molecular Characterization Kirk Pomper

Pawpaw Fruit Ripening and Postharvest Storage Douglas Archbold and Kirk Pomper

Vegetable Research

Developing Optimized Organic Production Systems for Leafy Greens in Kentucky Mark Williams     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Development of organic production systems for horticultural crops in Kentucky Mark Williams     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Evaluating crop and soil fertility changes during transition to an organic vegetable production system Mark Williams     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Evaluating the Sustainability of Two Widely Used Organic Production Systems and Their Potential Use in Kentucky Mark Williams     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Evaluation of Natural Products for Mediating Plant Resistance to Arthropods and for Use in Protecting Horticultural Crops from Insect Damage John Snyder

Optimizing Market Quality of Edamame Douglas Archbold     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Tomato and Corn Seed Germination Bruce Downie

Agrichemical Residues and Dissipation George Antonius and John Snyder

Ornamentals Research

Cut Woody Stems for the Florist Trade Robert McNiel     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Development of a Novel Production System to Enhance the Survival and Growth of Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, a High Value Crop with Potential for Kentucky Producers Robert Geneve    New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Hydrangea Macrophylla as Cut Woody Stems for the Florist Trade Robert McNiel     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Optimizing Pot-In-Pot Nursery Production for Kentucky Growers Robert Geneve     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Towards a Dynamic System for Controlling Mist Propagation of Softwood Cuttings Robert Geneve and Richard Gates

Optimizing the Water and Air Relationship and Nutrient Concentration in a Controlled Water Table Irrigated Container Growing Medium Jack Buxton

Digitized Images to Assess Seed Vigor Robert Geneve

Rudy Haag burning bush as a non-invasive alternative to current burning bush cultivars for Kentucky nursery productionRobert Geneve     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Technical and Economic Efficiencies of Producing, Marketing, and Managing Environmental Plants Robert McNiel

Miscellaneous Crops

Ginseng Monitoring and Related Research Terry Jones

Management of the thermal environment of high tunnel and tobacco greenhouses in Kentucky Robert Anderson     New Crop Opportunities Center Project

Send mail to cgcass0@uky.edu with questions about this site.

This site was last updated on February 12, 2008