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Browsing by Author "Samtani, Jayesh"

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    2022-2023 Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations
    Reiter, Mark S.; Samtani, Jayesh; Torres Quezada, Emmanuel; Singh, Vijay; Doughty, H.; Kuhar, Thomas P.; Sutton, Kemper; Wilson, James; Langston, David B.; Rideout, Steven; Parkhurst, James; Strawn, Laura K. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2022-11-30)
    This copy of the 2022/2023 Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations replaces all previous editions of the Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations published individually for Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Information presented in this publication is based on research results from the University of Delaware, the University of Maryland, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, The Pennsylvania State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, West Virginia University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, combined with industry and grower knowledge and experience. This publication will be revised biennially. In January 2023, a Critical Update with important updates for this publication will be communicated through local Extension Agents and Vegetable Specialists. The editors welcome constructive criticism and suggestions from growers and industry personnel who may wish to help improve future editions of this publication. These recommendations are intended for the commercial vegetable grower who has to make numerous managerial decisions. Although the proper choices of variety, pesticides, equipment, irrigation, fertilizer, and cultural practices are the individual vegetable grower’s responsibility, it is intended that these recommendations will facilitate decision-making. Recommended planting dates will vary across the six-state region. Local weather conditions, grower experience, and variety may facilitate successful harvest on crops planted outside the planting dates listed in this guide. This can be evaluated in consultation with the local agents and state specialists. Government agencies and other organizations administrating crop insurance programs or other support programs should contact local Extension agents and/or vegetable specialists for guidance. Not to be used by home gardeners.
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    Brewer’s Spent Grain with Yeast Amendment Shows Potential for Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation of Weeds and Pythium irregulare
    Liu, Danyang; Samtani, Jayesh; Johnson, Charles; Zhang, Xuemei; Butler, David M.; Derr, Jeffrey (MDPI, 2023-08-08)
    Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is a promising alternative to chemical fumigation for controlling soilborne plant pathogens and weeds. This study investigated the impact of brewer’s spent grain (BSG), a locally available carbon source, on various weed species and the oomycete pathogen Pythium irregulare in ASD. Two greenhouse studies were conducted using BSG and yeast at full and reduced rates in a completely randomized design with four replicates and two runs per study. In both studies, ASD treatments significantly decreased the seed viability of all weed species and the Pythium irregulare inoculum, while promoting higher cumulative anaerobicity compared to the non-treated control. The addition of yeast had a notable effect when combined with BSG but not with rice bran. When used in reduced carbon rates, yeast supplementation enhanced the efficacy of BSG, providing comparable control to the full rate for most weed species, including redroot pigweed, white clover, and yellow nutsedge. Interestingly, no ASD treatment affected the soil temperature. Furthermore, BSG treatments caused higher concentrations of volatile fatty acids compared to ASD with rice bran and the non-treated control. This finding suggests that the inclusion of yeast in ASD shows potential for reducing the carbon input required for effective soil disinfestation.
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    Diverse landscapes but not wildflower plantings increase marketable crop yield
    McCullough, Christopher; Grab, Heather; Angelella, Gina; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Samtani, Jayesh; Olimpi, Elissa M.; O'Rourke, Megan E. (Elsevier, 2022-11)
    Biodiversity-friendly farming practices may create a win-win scenario for biodiversity and crop production by supporting ecosystem services to agriculture. On-farm wildflower plantings and conserving semi-natural habitat surrounding farms are two such practices that focus on the integration of non-crop components into production systems at the local and landscape scale, respectively. Here, we examine the impact of these practices on the regulating services of biological control and pollination, as well as the provisioning service of crop yield in four crops replicated across 22 farms in two US states. Wildflower plantings had no effect on pollination while their influence on pest control was both dependent on the landscape context and inconsistent across crops. In contrast, farms surrounded by higher amounts of semi-natural habitat had consistently higher marketable yields for all four crops. Our findings suggest a need to account for non-production values of wildflower plantings as they provide fewer direct production benefits than surrounding semi-natural habitats.
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    An Economic Comparison of High Tunnel and Open-Field Strawberry Production in Southeastern Virginia
    Mbarushimana, Jean Claude; Bosch, Darrell J.; Samtani, Jayesh (MDPI, 2022-12-02)
    High tunnels have been reported to extend the harvest season for fruits and vegetables in several North American regions. This study was conducted to evaluate whether there are additional economic returns from strawberries produced in high tunnel structures compared to open-field in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A total of eight strawberry cultivars were evaluated in a randomized complete block under high tunnel and open-field conditions. Total costs were estimated for all eight cultivars under high tunnel and open-field, and gross and net revenues from all cultivars were estimated over three marketing strategies (pre-pick wholesale, pre-pick retail, and U-pick) for both high tunnel and open-field. The average net revenues per hectare in the high tunnel were −$62,077 (−$25,122 ac−1), −$15,151 (−$6131 ac−1), and −$27,938 (−$11,306 ac−1) for pre-pick wholesale, pre-pick retail, and U-pick, respectively, compared to open-field net revenues of $39,816 ($16,113 ac−1), $112,102 ($45,366 ac−1), and $81,850 ($33,123 ac−1) for wholesale, pre-pick retail, and U-pick, respectively. Net revenues in the high tunnel were lower due to lower yields and higher production costs including overhead cost of the high tunnel structure. Almost all cultivars in the high tunnel generated negative net revenues regardless of the marketing strategy. The exceptions were ‘Camino Real’ which generated positive net revenues with U-pick and pre-pick retail marketing and ‘Merced’ which generated positive net revenues for pre-pick retail marketing. In contrast, net revenues from open-field cultivars were always positive. Results imply that growers should focus on open-field rather than high-tunnel strawberry production. Results are from one season of production. Replication of the study under one or more production seasons would contribute to more robust findings of the economic viability of strawberry production under a high tunnel.
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    Information System for Detecting Strawberry Fruit Locations and Ripeness Conditions in a Farm
    Liu, Tianchen; Chopra, Nikhil; Samtani, Jayesh (MDPI, 2022-04-15)
    Many strawberry growers in some areas of the United States rely on customers to pick the fruits during the peak harvest months. Unfavorable weather conditions such as high humidity and excessive rainfall can quickly promote fruit rot and diseases. This study establishes an elementary farm information system to demonstrate timely information on the farm and fruit conditions (ripe, unripe) to the growers. The information system processes a video clip or a sequence of images from a camera to provide a map which can be viewed to estimate quantities of strawberries at different stages of ripeness. The farm map is built by state-of-the-art vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques, which can generate the map and track the motion trajectory using image features. In addition, the input images pass through a semantic segmentation process using a learning-based approach to identify the conditions. A set of labeled images first trains an encoder-decoder neural network model. Then, the trained model is used to determine the fruit conditions from the incoming images. Finally, the fruit in different conditions is estimated using the segmentation results and demonstrated in the system. Generating this information can aid the growers’ decision-making process. Specifically, it can help farm labor direct traffic to specific strawberry locations within a farm where fruits need to be picked, or where berries need to be removed. The obtained system can help reduce farm revenue loss and promote sustainable crop production.
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    A Longer Marketing Life for Blackberry and Raspberry Fruit
    Kushad, Mosbah M.; Samtani, Jayesh (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2020-12-07)
    Caneberries, which include blackberries and raspberries, must be picked when the berries are ripe or nearly ripe to ensure quality. Their thin fruit skin, high respiration rate, and high ethylene production make these berries extremely susceptible to postharvest losses. Although both raspberries and blackberries are considered 'soft' fruits, raspberries are slightly more perishable in nature.
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    Strawberry Variety Evaluation, Opportunities, and Challenges of High Tunnel Production
    Das, Sanghamitra; Samtani, Jayesh (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2021-02-01)
    High tunnels can be used as a season extension tool allowing the growers to gain an early entry into the market, when berry prices are high, and when consumers are typically most excited about berry consumption and picking. There is limited information on variety choice and economic viability of strawberry production in high tunnel for Virginia strawberry growers. This study was our first effort to determine (i) suitability of strawberry varieties new to coastal Virginia and (ii) to understand strawberry cultivation in high tunnel environment. 'Sweet Ann' and 'Ruby June' were identified as promising high tunnel varieties for coastal Virginia climactic conditions. Here we document variety performance, opportunities and challenges of high-tunnel strawberry production.