Injecting Extension into the American Zeitgeist

Extension is a product of times past and needs to be updated and upgraded for today\u27s world. Zeitgeist is a German term that encompasses the moral, cultural, and intellectual climate that exists within a certain time and place. Defining how this relates to Extension is not easy. Extension should examine popular culture and realize that story-driven and relatable visual media, such as television and film, are what capture the public interest. Extension must tap into that to assimilate with the younger demographics. Ultimately, we in Extension are responsible for telling and being the heroes of our own story

Proceedings of the 2022 Passion fruit Conference: Growing the U.S. Passion Fruit Industry A Strategic Conference for: Growers, Marketers, Researchers, and Stakeholders

We are pleased to deliver these proceedings of the passion fruit conference that was held in Homestead, Florida on June 14 and 15, 2022. It was a culmination of a lot of hard work by many people, most of them listed in the previous page. However, it would not have been a success without the attendees who came from various parts of the country to share their experiences growing passion fruit. What follows in these proceedings are the slides of the presentations with by notes taken by attendees along with notes taken of discussion regarding the five priority topic areas: Breeding/Genetics, Insect/Disease, Horticulture Production, Marketing/Economics, and Extension/Education. While these proceeding constitute a record of what transpired over those two days, it is not the end of the discussion. Moving forward we hope to engage you all on the best direction to take for more and better passion fruit production in the United States, as well as collaborating with others in other countries. To do this, we will need your continued support and future assistance. We are committed to research, teaching, and outreach for passion fruit in the U.S. and beyond

A Web-Based Chill Hours App for Fruit Growers

Many fruit plants have a chill hour requirement for breaking dormancy. Various models estimate chilling, but two models are commonly used for fruit crops. From 2000 to 2016, chill hour data were collected by Mississippi State University experiment station employees as well as by local fruit producers; however, the number of participants in the process dwindled over time. To address this issue, we developed a mobile-friendly web application to interface with Weather Underground data. From these data, fruit growers can assess growing conditions that affect plant physiology and prepare for events in the upcoming season. Extension professionals can introduce the app to fruit growers in their areas

Effect of phosphorous acid and pruning height on renovated \u27Woodard\u27 rabbiteye blueberry

Phosphorous acid is a fungicide that may have other plant health-inducing properties. A previous study showed greater vigor in blueberry plants treated with phosphorous acid. In the current study, old, low-vigor ‘Woodard’ rabbiteye blueberries were selected for renovation in 2017. The bushes had not been pruned or otherwise managed in several years. To test the hypothesis that adding phosphorous acid treatments (Agri-Fos) to the renovation process would increase plant vigor, three treatments were used: no addition of phosphorous acid, phosphorous acid applied as a drench at renovation pruning plus in the following spring, and drench plus monthly foliar applications of phosphorous acid after renovation pruning and again the following year. Renovation pruning was done at two height treatments on 14 July 2017: bushes were pruned at ground level and at 50 cm resulting in a 2 x 3 factorial. End of season shoot number was significantly different between the 50 cm cut and the ground level cut treatments (35.6 shoots/bush vs. 21.3 shoots/bush, respectively). However, shoot length was significantly greater for the ground cut (80.5 cm) vs. 50 cm cut (72.1 cm). Shoot diameters were not significantly different. Other factors such as first bud push after pruning and crop load rating were not significant. Yields were higher for the 50 cm cut treatment when compared to the ground level prune (318.7 g vs. 58.1 g, respectively) with similar results for average berry weight (1.78 g vs. 1.49 g, respectively). Interestingly, phenological development recordings of flower stage did not differ at stages 2 to 4, but were different in stages 5 and 6. Flower development on bushes in the 50 cm treatment was earlier by nine days at stage 5 and nine days at stage 6 compared to those in the ground cut treatment. There were no significant differences due to phosphorous acid treatments in any data evaluated, nor any significant interactions between phosphorous acid treatment and pruning height treatment. More time may be needed to ascertain any differences among phosphorous acid treatments as its effect may be induced rather than direct

Reader Time Investment as a Partial Impact Measure of Online Extension Content

Information published online can help many vineyard workers better understand concepts that relate to job performance. The eXtension Grape Community of Practice (GCoP) created numerous articles and other content to extend information to their community of interest. Assessing impact of these interactions is difficult; however, using economic models such as opportunity cost could help assign monetary value to each page view. Although it presents an incomplete picture of the impact of the article, deriving the opportunity cost allows authors of online articles to assess how readers value their time and the investment they are willing to make to read online information

Nuclear Ribosomal ITS Region Sequences for Differentiation of Rubus Genotypes

Previous molecular investigations into Rubus species diversity have yielded significant knowledge about species relatedness. However, little work has been focused at the cultivar level. Random amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD)-PCR studies have successfully differentiated closely related cultivars. The ability to definitively distinguish blackberry and red raspberry cultivars based on other molecular methods could prove useful in many aspects of breeding and proprietary protection. In this study, the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) of six Rubus cultivars were sequenced. DNA sequencing revealed little genetic variation among blackberry cultivars, but revealed distinctions between blackberry and red raspberry cultivars. Analysis by maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood confirmed the small variation among blackberry cultivars, although cultivars Apache, Brazos, and APF-12 did organize a weak sub-cluster within the blackberry genotypes. However, ITS region sequences do not appear to differentiate among closely related blackberry genotypes for purposes of cultivar discrimination or plant patent protection

Collaboration of Extension and Grape Industry Members to Create a New Extension Publication

Collaboration is an important part of the interaction between Extension and industry. Successful sharing of workload can provide benefits for both parties. A project to create a workbook to address vineyard sustainability was initiated by members of the Oklahoma grape industry with assistance from land-grant university Extension. Productive interaction between Extension workers and industry members included quick turnaround of rough drafts, praise and constructive criticism, give-and-take on ideas for content, active listening relative to problems and suggestions, and offering of advice when needed. The collaboration led to incorporation of new perspectives in a helpful final publication

Evaluation of an E-Learning Online Pecan Management Course

In February 2004, an online pecan management course was launched to educate pecan growers and assist them with decision-making. The interactive course was designed for both experienced pecan producers and first-time pecan producers. Since the inception of the course, only 24 persons have paid the registration fee. Several potential problems underlie the poor registration numbers, including low level of computer literacy, limited access to the Internet, download times, previous grower experience, cost, and awareness. Low registration numbers indicate that a more active approach to improve enrollment is needed to increase awareness

Profile and challenges of the emerging Oklahoma grape industry

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311