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The long-term goal of the project is to develop organic production systems for processed and fresh blackberry that maximize plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and food safety; facilitate weed, irrigation, and nutrient management; provide healthy and nutritious food; and provide economic benefit to growers. <P>
To meet our project goal, two research activities are planned: i) an integrated production systems trial for machine-harvested trailing blackberry for processed markets on certified organic land at an experiment station in Oregon and ii) a trial of trailing, erect, and primocane-fruiting blackberry cultivars grown for hand-picked fresh markets on organic land at the experiment station and at organic grower cooperator farms in Oregon and North Carolina. The systems trial was designed in consultation with an industry advisory group. <P>Research objectives of this project are to: <UL> <LI> Evaluate organic weed management, irrigation, and production systems for effectiveness and impacts on cane growth and production, root distribution, and availability of water and nutrients in machine-harvested trailing blackberry cultivars grown for processed markets. <LI> Assess the impact of organic production systems on incidence of insects and plant diseases in machine-harvested trailing blackberry. <LI> Measure and evaluate presence of any fruit contaminants and the impact on food safety in hand and machine harvested systems. <LI> Develop organically allowable post-harvest handling and processing practices to increase food safety as well as shelf-life of fresh fruit and quality of processed blackberry products. <LI> Determine the impact of organic production systems for various fresh and processed cultivars on the nutritional and health promotion (bioactive) compounds of blackberry fruit that are hand (processed and fresh) or machine harvested (processed) and measure the nutritional/phytochemical properties of organic blackberry fruit as affected by processing and packaging technology. <LI> Compare the effect of machine vs. hand harvesting on the sensory quality of processed organic blackberry fruit using a trained sensory panel. </ul> Extension and outreach objectives of the project are to: <ul> <LI> Develop economic enterprise budgets for establishment and management of organic blackberries for fresh and processed markets as affected by production method. <LI> Develop extension publications on reducing food-borne illness through pre- and post-harvest practices. <LI> Develop an economic model to assess the potential liability costs and demand impacts of a food safety issue in the fresh and processed blackberry industries in the U.S. Produce workshops, field days, publications, and web-based tools to effectively disseminate research findings to industry. <LI> Use eOrganic to facilitate communication of PDs and advisory board members and involvement of clientele during the project, and to package our research findings and traditional Extension activities (e.g. workshops, field days) into products that are useful to a national audience. <LI> Assess changes in grower knowledge, intentions, and practices resulting from the project.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The proposed research will addresses organic blackberry production in the northwestern and southern USA (represent 91% of US acreage). There is a strong, emerging market for fresh and processed organic blackberry fruit, yet a lack of information on suitable organic production systems. Growers interested in the processed blackberry market have questions as to whether labor-saving machine harvesting technology can be used in organic systems when even beneficial insects could be harvest contaminants. Machine-harvested fruit are thought to be of more uniform ripeness and of better sensory quality than hand-harvested fruit, although this has not been proven. Little is known about the impact of cultivar response to organic production systems on nutritive/phytochemical value of fresh or processed fruit. Enterprise budgets are needed to determine whether best organic blackberry production systems are economically sustainable. There are no data on what organisms, if any, might be of concern for food safety in organic blackberry fields and whether there is a greater risk of food-borne illness in hand- or machine-harvested fruit. Finally, the potential liability cost and demand impact of a food-borne illness/safety issue in the blackberry industry is unknown; a forecast of potential economic costs of a food safety issue, knowledge of potential food-borne organisms in blackberry production systems, and associated extension educational programming would likely be of great benefit. Many of our objectives , including those on weed, water, and nutrient management, as well as those on the impacts of hand vs. machine harvesting on fruit nutritive/phytochemical value and food safety, will be of great benefit to all blackberry growers using not only organic but also sustainable cultural practices. Our long-term goal is to develop organic production systems for processed and fresh-market blackberry that maximize plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and food safety; facilitate weed, water, and nutrient management; provide healthy and nutritious food; and provide economic benefit to growers. To meet the goals, research will be conducted at a certified organic site planted with blackberry at the Oregon State University North Willamette Research and Extension Center and validated in organic grower fields located in both OR and NC. Our extension activities will involve growers and industry clientele, such as processors, sellers, and marketers, in the development of outreach tools through eOrganic, workshops, portals on web sites, and extension publications. Major outreach products will include development of best management practices and enterprise budgets for production and food safety of organic blackberry, oral presentations at regional and national grower meetings, extension publications on organic production systems, educational training events for growers and peers on methods to improve food quality and safety and production of organic blackberries for fresh and processed markets, papers in trade journals, newsletters, and refereed publications, and presentations to peers at national and international meetings.
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APPROACH: A one-acre planting will be established on certified organic land at the NWREC (OSU) in spring 2010. Treatments will be in a split-split-plot with 5 reps: cultivars (Marion and Black Diamond); irrigation strategies (post-harvest and no post-harvest irrigation); weed management (weed mat, hand-hoed, and non-weeded); and primocane training date (Aug and Feb). Fish fertilizer will be applied continuously by fertigation from early April through June. The water and nutrient status of plants will be monitored seasonally and irrigation controlled and metered. Soil water content will be monitored using a neutron probe. Root development will be monitored using minirhizotrons near plants and using a digital camera system to capture images of roots growing along the tubes in the soil; only weedmat and hand-hoed plots will be used to avoid any confusion with weed roots. Standing root biomass will be estimated using cores. Percent weed coverage will be rated along with general weed species presence, and weed height. Fruit will be machine-harvested and data collected on marketable yield, berry weight, a rating of harvest contaminants, and machine-harvest efficiency. Floricanes will be pruned out near the end of August each year after harvest. Yield component data measured include cane length , cane number, and fruiting sites/lateral. Treatment effects on the incidence of purple blotch and septoria cane disease will be evaluated each spring by counting lesions on the bottom meter of each cane in the center plant of each plot. Fruit from each harvest date will be evaluated before and after IQF (individually quick freezing) for: drip loss, soluble solids concentration, juice pH, total acidity, total phenolics, anthocyanins, vitamin C, ORAC and FRAP values, and reddening. Specific flavonoid and phenolic acid qualification and quantification will be done on selected subsamples using mass spectrophotometer. Fruit harvested by hand and machine will be compared for fruit quality attributes, and evaluated by sensory panels to evaluate the visual and taste characters of IQF and pureed fruit. Five trailing blackberry cultivars and several erect and semi-erect cultivars will be evaluated in organic production systems at the NWREC and at grower collaborator sites in OR and NC. Tunnels will be evaluated in OR. Fruit will be harvested by hand about every 7 days and assessed for firmness, leak, color, red discoloration, decay, and nutritive properties at pre- and post-storage for 3 to 7 days. Berries will be sampled for microbiological examination. E. coli, Salmonella, coliforms, and total bacterial load on fresh berries will be determined using established methods. We will collect pertinent blackberry production/consumption/price data and develop economic models to assess the potential impact of a food safety event (i.e. a food recall) on the industry. This project will build on the computer programs recently developed at NCSU and OSU for economic costs of conventional blackberries. These budgeting programs will be adapted to incorporate treatment effects and production techniques associated with growing organic blackberries for fresh or processed markets.