Read more about the article Trials of Advanced Raspberry selections to evaluate suitability for IQF processing and to promote adoption

Trials of Advanced Raspberry selections to evaluate suitability for IQF processing and to promote adoption

A new cultivar, ‘Cascade Premier’, and an advanced selection, ‘WSU 2188’, were compared with industry standard cultivars under commercial production and processing conditions. The cultivars were evaluated for Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) processing quality, yield, pest tolerance, disease susceptibility and winter hardiness. ‘Cascade Premier’ was compared with adjacent, similarly managed ‘WakeHaven®’. ‘Cascade Premier’ yields were limited at one location by cane botrytis, which reduced the numbers of fruiting laterals. ‘Cascade Premier’ generally produced fewer, but larger fruits than WakeHaven®. Under warm conditions favoring rapid ripening, ‘Cascade Premier’ produced IQF quality fruit when harvest intervals were short enough (less than 3 days), but became too soft for IQF processing at longer harvest intervals.

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Read more about the article Enhanced IPM of Rose Stem Girdler, an Emerging Pest of Pacific Northwest Caneberries

Enhanced IPM of Rose Stem Girdler, an Emerging Pest of Pacific Northwest Caneberries

Rose stem girdler (RSG) is an invasive beetle pest of caneberry crops that is becoming increasingly problematic for Pacific Northwest (PNW) growers. It has progressively become naturalized throughout the northern Willamette Valley northward to the south Puget Sound region throughout the 2000s-present due to abundant wild bramble hosts. Grower reports of damage to crops has been variable, but with incidental claims of up to ~70% crop loss in a given year due to cane girdling by the beetle’s larvae. Control has been difficult and inefficient due to narrow windows of time for effective control (after adults emerge from canes, but before egg-laying begins 7 days later), and the lack of region-specific information to predict emergence and longevity of egg-laying activity. Our project objectives were: 1) to refine determinants of risk to PNW caneberry plantings from RSG through coordinated regional pest surveys, 2) to develop an enhanced integrated pest management (IPM) program with refined information on RSG detection methods, life cycle, and development of a pest management prediction model, and 3) to investigate biocontrol potential of a parasitoid wasp that may mitigate RSG’s viability and play a role in future IPM programs.

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Read more about the article Detection of wine faults using the electronic tongue

Detection of wine faults using the electronic tongue

Faulted wines pose a serious economic problem to the wine industry, these off flavors can cause consumers, new to a region or variety, to reject that region entirely. Wine faults can include off-aromas or flavors associated with chemical compounds produced by spoilage organisms Brettanomyces, Acetobacter, Pediococcus or Lactobacillus. From the producers and winemakers’ perspective, early detection of wine faults would allow for remediation before the fault becomes more serious, intractable, and costly. Research in wine fault detection continues to develop as more sensitive and rapid analytical methods are identified that can reflect the complexity of the faulted wine.

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Read more about the article Biology and Management of Cutworms in Washington Vineyards

Biology and Management of Cutworms in Washington Vineyards

Cutworms are capable of causing severe damage in vineyards during the early spring months when vines buds and tender shoots are at their most vulnerable. Damage to buds can cause severe crop loss in Washington vineyards, and this study supports the idea that the Cutworm species found on vineyard floors (on weeds, etc.) are a minor component of the fauna that actually damages grapevines. Vineyard sites with a large number of Cutworms on the vineyard floor did not necessarily sustain major bud damage. Conversely, sites with small numbers of Cutworms sometimes sustained major bud damage. This appeared to be related to ground cover presence/absence and/or type, but was also, in view of the rearing data, a consequence of most ground-dwelling species preferring to remain on the ground and not climb up grapevines.

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Read more about the article Investigation of Potential Climatic and Nutritional Causes of Grape Chlorosis

Investigation of Potential Climatic and Nutritional Causes of Grape Chlorosis

Nitrogen levels in grape must that are either too high or too low can cause sensory and economic issues in the production of fine wine. The amount of available nitrogen during fermentation is key to the healthy formation and reproduction of yeast, and completion of the process to dryness. The major yeast strain that dominates healthy alcoholic fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, typically produces one molecule of urea, glutamate, and proline from the metabolism of the amino arginine.

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