Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection
2025 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Develop resilient and scalable production practices, and products to reduce abiotic and biotic impacts in temperate fruit production.
Sub-objective 1.A: Develop sensitive behaviorally-based monitoring practices for internal fruit-feeding pests.
Sub-objective 1.B: Develop scalable management practices for persistent native and invasive arthropod pests using border-driven pest behavior.
Sub-objective 1.C: Generate new knowledge of apple abiotic stress tolerance associated with rootstock genotypes and virus status.
Sub-objective 1.D: Develop new knowledge on tree and fruit physiology, pest and disease susceptibility and optimized cultural practices for novel Super Sweet nectarine selections and economically important apple cultivars.
Objective 2: Generate new knowledge and develop new technologies for resilient production in post-harvest storage and controlled environment systems.
Sub-objective 2.A: Evaluate UV-C or far UV treatment for Alternaria fruit rot, brown rot, and arthropod pests of small fruit.
Sub-objective 2.B: Evaluate biocontrol agents for control of fruit rots on pome fruit.
Sub-objective 2.C: Evaluate pear genotypes for susceptibility to postharvest rots.
Objective 3: Develop cost-effective AI and autonomous technologies for quantifying key production metrics and plant phenotyping traits.
Sub-objective 3.A: Develop automated tools to detect pest movement more accurately in the environment and to distinguish and quantify both target and non-target pests captured in pheromone-baited traps.
Sub-objective 3.B: Develop computer vision and/or robotic plant and/or insect phenotyping systems including segmentation and measurement modules.
Sub-objective 3.C: Develop low-cost and open-source tools and technologies to further data-driven agricultural production systems and their research.
Objective 4: Generate new knowledge on orchard production carbon utilization and sequestration.
Sub-objective 4.A: Determine the carbon footprint of establishing a newly planted high-density apple orchard; contribution pools will be classified, and strategies for carbon footprint reduction will be identified.
Sub-objective 4.B: Develop recommendations for data-driven decision support systems for orchard management of water resources for reductions in water use, maintenance and improvement of fruit yield and quality.
Approach
Here, we propose to conduct research aimed at mitigating challenges generated by invasive and persistent native pests, emerging and persistent phytopathogens, climate impacts on tree health, regulatory changes, labor shortages, rising production costs, and global markets. In Objective 1, we will develop resilient and scalable production practices, and innovative products to reduce abiotic and biotic stresses in temperate fruit production. In Objective 2, we will generate new knowledge and develop novel and adaptable technologies for resilient production in post-harvest storage and controlled environment systems. In Objective 3, we will develop cutting edge, cost-effective artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous technologies for quantifying key production metrics and plant phenotyping traits to improve production systems and breeding programs, respectively. In Objective 4, we will generate new knowledge on orchard production carbon soil dynamics and innovative, data-driven water management tools. These interconnected research technologies and knowledge products will enable the industry to sustainably grow and store high quality temperate fruit both economically and ecologically, contributing to the longterm vibrancy of this agricultural enterprise.
Progress Report
For Obj. 1, studies aimed at accessing the sensitivity and reliability of available lure technology for key orchard pests including plum curculio, codling moth, oriental fruit moth, and Sesiidae is underway, with marked differences among available products. Long-term relative densities of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug are being measured in anticipation of augmentative releases of their key egg parasitoid, the Samurai wasp. Trials aimed at scalable mating disruption for both codling moth and oriental fruit moth are continuing, as is threshold-driven management of the invasive spotted lanternflies in vineyards. Plants of DRO1 apple germplasm with ‘M.26’ background were propagated in the tissue culture; a batch of DRO1 plants are kept own-rooted for root phenotyping while the remaining rootstocks were grafted with ‘Enterprise’ and ‘CrimsonCrisp’ apple scions for drought stress tolerance evaluation. For cold hardiness assessment, ‘G.11’, ‘Bud.9’, and ‘M.9’ rootstocks were inoculated with apple viruses via bud and patch grafts using budwoods collected from mixed virus infected trees in collaborator’s research block; virus-free ‘M.9’ plantlets were acquired from the Clean Plant Network and are maintained in tissue culture. Three advanced high-sugar selections from the Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS) nectarine germplasms and three commercial cultivars were propagated in-house on different rootstock varieties and subsequently planted in a research block at the AFRS; two commercial apple farmers in Maryland were recruited for the mixed-cultivar surveys.
For Obj 2, Alternaria alternata and Monilinia fructicola isolates grown on potato dextrose agar were treated with Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) or far UV light for durations ranging from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. A Streptomyces biocontrol agent reduced the growth of Penicillium expansum and Alternaria alternata by >40% on dual plate assays. Natural postharvest rot incidence was evaluated in 35 pear genotypes and ranged from 8.3 to 100% after 12 weeks in air cold storage. A total of 988 isolates of fungal pathogens were recovered from pear fruit and included Penicillium spp., Colletotrichum spp., Fusarium spp. Diaporthe spp., Botryosphaeria spp. Alternaria spp., and Aspergillus niger. Diverse pear genotypes harvested from trees at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station and the National Clonal Germplasm Repository Pear Germplasm Collection were inoculated with P. expansum and C. fioriniae and rot lesion diameters were measured 3-, 5-, and 7-days post infection.
For Obj. 3, a fully functional measurement and datalogging prototype was developed for dendrometry measurements (fruit/trunk) leveraging 3-D printed mounting hardware and low-cost integrated circuitry incorporating a 16-bit analog-digital converter, linear potentiometer, and solar maintained power supply. Preliminary testing of the device occurred in 2024, adaptations for improvement are under consideration. Firmware of the autonomous irrigation controller, Open_Irr, has transitioned to JSON datalogging; firmware for traditional calendar-based irrigation scheduling has been tested and shall be incorporated in subsequent hardware release(s). An invention disclosure (Docket 0038.25) was submitted surrounding development of logic-level controlled and reverse polarity capable hardware for control of diverse commercial latching-type DC solenoid valves commonly used for agricultural irrigation. Additionally, trap liners from codling moth monitoring traps were collected and imaged of target (codling moth) and non-target species, and preliminary tools developed for the automated detection of the target species in trap liners. This is the first step in developing an improved method for automating monitoring efforts for this critical worldwide pest of deciduous fruit and nut crops.
For Obj. 4, approximately 12,000 apple trees have been contracted for delivery in spring of 2026; upon receipt trees will be planted in a prepared 4-ha location commensurate with commercial block standards. This location has undergone soil amendment, cover seeding, and continued cover maintenance. Further preparations have involved row mapping and pre-plant soil sampling, with planting preparations continuing into fall and winter 2025. Studies pertaining to plant drought response have included trial of commercially relevant apple rootstock (‘B.10’, ‘B.9’, ‘G.11’, ‘G.935’) on ‘Honeycrisp’ scion, and peach rootstock (Controller 6, Krymsk 86, Lovell) on select scion (Cresthaven, John Boy, Redhaven). Specific survival strategies involving modification of stomatal sensitivity and biomass partitioning conferred by rootstock were observed that readily translate to water management strategies in temperate tree fruit.
Accomplishments
Review Publications
Whitt, L., Bennett, J.S., Collum, T.D., Evans, B.E., Raines, C.D., Gutierrez, B.L., Janisiewicz, W., Jurick Ii, W.M., Gottschalk, C.C. 2025. Genome-wide associations within diverse wild apple germplasm for postharvest blue mold resistance to Penicillium expansum. Postharvest Biology and Technology. 225. Article 113513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2025.113513.
Medeiros, H., Tabb, A., Stewart, S., Leskey, T.C. 2025. Detecting invasive insects using uncrewed aerial vehicles and variational autoencoders. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 236. Article 110362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2025.110362.
Culver, J., Vallar, M., Burchard, E.A., Kamens, S., Lair, S., Qi, Y., Collum, T.D., Dardick, C.D., El-Mohtar, C., Dawson, W., Rogers, E.E. 2025. Citrus phloem specific transcriptional profiling through the development of a citrus tristeza virus expressed translating ribosome affinity purification system. Plant Methods. 21(49). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-025-01368-7.
Tang, L., Farcuh, M., Dardick, C.D. 2025. Pillar tree architecture increases canopy light interception and impacts fruit quality in European plum. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2025.2458100.
Kohler, A.R., Hollender, C., Raines, C.D., Demuth, M.A., Dardick, C.D., Tang, L. 2025. Working smarter, not harder: silencing LAZY1 in Prunus domestica causes outward, wandering branch orientations with commercial and ornamental applications. Horticulture Research. 12(7). Article uhaf106. https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhaf106.