Integrated Research and Outreach Initiatives

American elms represent some of the most culturally and economically significant urban trees. Their contributions to the urban landscape are numerous and include: carbon sequestration, capture of storm water and airborne particulate matter, reduced heating and cooling costs through wind buffering and shade and enhanced aesthetics with their large, sweeping canopies. Prior to the introduction of Dutch Elm Disease, American elms dominated the urban and suburban landscape because of their beauty, rapid growth rates and ability to tolerate difficult growing conditions.

Despite the devastating effects of the disease, millions of American elms still occupy the urban and forest landscape today. But, after decades of regular injection the costs associated with these treatments are adversely impacting tree heath and this issue must be addressed. The UMass Shade Tree Laboratory, now the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory, was founded in 1935 with the sole purpose of combating the DED epidemic. Now, 80 years later the fight against this destructive disease continues in ways that could never be predicted decades ago.

Controlling the final fruit number on an apple tree is one of the most economically critical management practices in apple growing. Through this project we will further develop precision crop load management tools consisting of computer models, machine vision, robotics and decision support tools to which will allow apple growers to accurately calculate a target fruit number for each tree and then quickly count flower buds and later fruitlets using machine vision and geo-referenced maps to guide the severity of pruning and later guide bloom and post-bloom chemical thinning, and lastly to guide human workers when hand thinning to maximize crop value. This project directly addresses SCRI priority area number 3 “to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, productivity, and profitability over the long term” using a systems approach of plant physiology, crop management, computer vision, robotics, economics, sociology and Extension.

This project will link fluvial geomorphology to New England-specific climate, landscape, ecology, population, and infrastructure to develop best management practices for flood prevention. Also, it will uncover challenges and constraints caused by distinct jurisdictional and institutional fragmentation, highlighting successful strategies for overcoming these. The extension aspect will take this much-needed scientific and institutional knowledge and disseminate it among towns, government officials, landowners, businesses, environmental organizations, road crews, and others.

This project aims to increase the skills, productivity or safety practices of small-scale Massachusetts food producers or food processors. The long term goal is the reduction of produce-related foodborne illness.

This study will examine the influence of policy and outreach efforts on residents' adoption of water conservation and storm water strategies in the residential landscapes of the Ipswich and Parker River watershed north of Boston. It will trace watershed conservation measures from policy incentives to impact so as to develop a clearer picture of the relationship between local policy and outreach efforts, and actual decisions to engage and install residential landscape water conservation practices.

Improving water management is of increasing importance in horticultural operations. A growing global population and changes in water availability will mean that less water will be available for ornamental plant production.  In order to help growers improve their irrigation practices, the current state of nursery production in New England needs to be assessed in order to identify key areas for improvement.

Phytophthora species consistently rank as some of the most devastating disease agents in Massachusetts farms. Two species, P. infestans and P. capsici, attack regionally important vegetable crops, including cucurbits, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes. In 2009, an outbreak of P. infestans in the northern United States and eastern Canada devastated tomato and potato crops. Current disease forecasting models for Phytophthora have been developed for use over large areas, and do not incorporate case-history information or site-level monitoring. While these forecasting models have enormous utility, they cannot provide the resolution required to adequately predict disease outbreaks at the farm-scale in Massachusetts. The most fundamental component for an effective risk map, and often the most difficult to obtain, is accurate data on the current distribution of the targeted pathogen. Without this foundation, risk maps cannot accurately predict where and how a pathogen may spread and management plans often fail to meet their objectives. This project will develop a system for gathering data at a farm-scale level.

The Acid Rain Monitoring Project began at the University of Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center in 1983. The project's mission was initially to develop a comprehensive picture of the sensitivity of Massachusetts surface waters to acid deposition, and later evolved to determine long-term trends in this sensitivity.

Lacto-fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles are vegetables that are fermented with the presence of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), which has seen a recent increased consumer demand due to its nutritional benefits. Fermentation, a traditional method of food preservation, presents new business opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs to reduce waste and extend their selling season by offering value-added foods. However, concerns about food safety have emerged since enacting the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, mandating that processors meeting certain criteria establish a food safety plan.

Issues such as under-acidification and microbial contamination have led to outbreaks and recall, underscoring the existing microbial risks and the necessity for rigorous food safety controls. Despite this, there is a notable gap in research on microbial safety and the specific parameters of fermentation that mitigate pathogen survival. This project investigates the process parameters used in the lacto-fermentation of sauerkraut and their effect on the survival of pathogenic bacteria. The project aims to provide technical support to lacto-fermented vegetable processors aiding them in validating their food safety plans.

The Food Science team at the University of Massachusetts investigated the risk of microbial cross-contamination associated with postharvest drying processing using modified washing machines to spin dry leafy green processing. Conducting the scientifically-based assessment of postharvest practices helped to identify risks and determine practical, easily implemented measures for small-scale production operations.

Two fungal diseases, Eutypa dieback and Esca complex, cause economic losses in grapevines. They involve fungal consortia that deteriorate the wood in grapevine trunks. The process behind this wood tissue degradation is not well understood. Our study focused on the metabolites produced by these fungal consortia and their role in generating oxygen radicals, potentially contributing to trunk decay and pathogenesis. Unique metabolites were identified, some reducing iron and others involved in generating hydrogen peroxide. The metabolite profiles differed when fungi were grown separately versus in consortia. We propose that this mechanism may be linked to the deterioration of grapevine trunk wood in these diseases.