No description available.

Pests and diseases have a significant economic impact on yield, quality and sale of processing carrots. In an effort to combat certain pests and diseases, the effects of photo, physical and mechanical (PPM) treatments on carrot (Daucus carota L. var. Sativus cv. Carson) were investigated. Generally, the incidence of certain pests and diseases was reduced through a variety of PPM treatments during two separate field experiments. However, not all of the reductions were statistically significant owing in large part to the low level of incidence of certain pests and diseases during the growth trials. To counteract this difficulty, experiments were conducted to determine the conditions necessary to induce blight in a controlled laboratory environment, with little success. In addition, HPLC-based detection of the defence hormone, salicylic acid, in carrot seedlings was established to help characterize the effects of PPM treatments from a biochemical perspective in future experiments.

Pests and diseases have a significant economic impact on yield, quality and sale of processing carrots. In an effort to combat certain pests and diseases, the effects of photo, physical and mechanical (PPM) treatments on carrot (Daucus carota L. var. Sativus cv. Carson) were investigated. Generally, the incidence of certain pests and diseases was reduced through a variety of PPM treatments during two separate field experiments. However, not all of the reductions were statistically significant owing in large part to the low level of incidence of certain pests and diseases during the growth trials. To counteract this difficulty, experiments were conducted to determine the conditions necessary to induce blight in a controlled laboratory environment, with little success. In addition, HPLC-based detection of the defence hormone, salicylic acid, in carrot seedlings was established to help characterize the effects of PPM treatments from a biochemical perspective in future experiments.

No description available.

No description available.

Four carrot varieties were tested at the Safford Agricultural Center in response to local growers needs. Yields in excess of 15 tons per acre were achieved which, when coupled with the harvest price, would have yielded a gross per acre income larger than $3,000.

Approximately one-third of the global food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted somewhere along the food chain. Carrots are one of the most important and widely produced root vegetables grown worldwide; they are rich in many beneficial bioactive compounds such as dietary fiber and carotenoids. Every year, an estimated 29% of processed carrots are lost as waste. The U.S. is the 3rd largest producer of carrots worldwide, 85% of which come from California. During carrot juice processing, up to 50% of the raw material remains as carrot pomace. Carrot pomace may contain up to 55% total dietary fiber, which is thought to have important functional properties such as water holding and fat binding. The objectives of this project were to: 1) Investigate how physical pretreatment and drying treatment affect the functional and chemical properties of carrot pomace, 2) evaluate the impact that carrot pomace as a functional ingredient will have on the physical and chemical properties of beef patties, and 3) validate the developed beef patties using a consumer sensory test to ensure that the products have acceptable sensory attributes. High shearing and hydraulic pressing pretreatments (HSHP) increased the swelling capacity of freeze-dried carrot pomace by 59% and dehydrated carrot pomace by 34%. Freeze-dried carrot pomace also retained 33% more carotenoids compared to dehydrated pomace. The drying method significantly impacted the functional properties of carrot pomace. Freeze drying improved the water holding capacity by 22% and fat binding capacity by 194% over dehydrated carrot pomace. The addition of dried carrot pomace increased the cooking yield and water-holding capacity of beef patties by 5-15% and 12%, respectively, without significantly changing their textural properties or chemical composition. Eighty-six (86) consumers took part in sensory testing to evaluate beef patties formulated with carrot pomace. Overall, there were no significant differences in liking scores between the carrot pomace patties at 1% & 3% and the control patty. Scores were not changed significantly when patties were consumed with a bun. These results suggested that carrot pomaces may be physically modified to be utilized as a functional ingredient in the food industry.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Endophytes are a unique group of microorganisms that spend at least part of their life cycle within plant tissues. These microbes are increasingly being recognized for their potential to improve the health and productivity of their host plants. Recent studies indicate that endophytes could also influence human health by altering the composition of chemical compounds within plants, thereby affecting their nutritional quality and flavor. In addition, the presence of endophytes in edible plant tissues could directly affect human health by introducing microbes that can stimulate the immune system or act as opportunistic pathogens in people with compromised immune systems. However, despite their potential importance for plant and human health, these plant-associated microbes have been understudied due to a lack of visible symptoms associated with their presence and difficulty in isolating them from plant tissues. In the present studies, we hypothesized that endophytes play an important role in carrot, one of the most important vegetable crops in the world.</p> <p> Carrot is well known as an important source of vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients in the human diet, and carrot taproots are often consumed raw. Carrot crops are slow to establish and are subject to assault by a wide range of pests that negatively affect the health and productivity of this crop, as well as the storage potential of its taproots. Consequently, the aim of these studies was to examine endophyte dynamics in carrot. Studies were carried out in field, greenhouse and laboratory trials using a diverse set of carrot genotypes with broad genetic backgrounds and physiological characteristics. Endophyte communities were studied using traditional culture-based techniques, along with low and high throughput sequencing technologies.</p> <p>Results of these studies demonstrate that carrot seeds and taproots are colonized by an abundant and diverse set of endophytic microbial taxa. Many of these endophytes could solubilize phosphorous, fix atmospheric nitrogen, produce siderophores and auxin and suppress infection by a key carrot pathogen, <i>Alternaria dauci</i>, demonstrating their potential importance for maintaining carrot health and productivity. Some of the endophytes identified in these trials were vertically transmitted to progeny inside carrot seeds, indicating that they could be part of a core microbiome that evolved alongside carrot plants, and are likely to be critical in early seedling establishment. We also determined that carrot endophytes could be acquired via horizontal transmission from soil with greater soil health in an organic relative to a conventionally managed system resulting in greater populations of endophytes with antagonistic activity against <i>A. dauci</i>. Finally, endophyte communities varied among the genotypes evaluated in this study, with some being more responsive to the presence of greater populations of beneficial endophytes in their environments. This indicates that it could someday be possible to begin selecting for these beneficial plant microbial relationships in breeding programs.</p> <p> Based on the results of these studies, we conclude that endophytes do indeed play an important role in carrot. Additional research aimed at determining how these microbes functionally interact with carrot plants and identifying practical approaches to manipulate these communities to enhance the productivity and quality of carrot taproots, are recommended. A new isolation technique identified in these trials will aid in these efforts.</p>