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Biological Control Of Three Major Cucumber And Pepper Pests: Whiteflies, Thrips, And Spider Mites, In High Plastic Tunnels Using Two Local Phytoseiid Mites, Yusuf Abou Jawdah, Nour Ezzedine, Aya Fardoun, Samer Kharroubi, Hana Sobh, Hagop S. Atamian, Margaret S. Skinner, Bruce Parker

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

To enhance food security, food safety, and environmental health, a bio-based integrated pest management (BIPM) strategy was evaluated at two coastal locations in Lebanon as an alternative to toxic pesticide sprays in commercial high-arched plastic tunnels common in many countries. The evaluation occurred during two cucumber and pepper cropping seasons: spring and fall. At each site, two commercial tunnels were used; farmers’ conventional practices were applied in one tunnel, while the BIPM approach was followed in the second tunnel. In the farmers’ practices, a total of 14 sprays of insecticide/acaricide mixtures were applied during the spring growing season, and 6 …

An Inquiry-Based Approach For Teaching Type Iii Functional Responses In Ecology, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Maize (also known as corn) has played an important role in human agriculture ever since its domestication by indigenous peoples of Mexico some 10,000 years ago. The crop is now planted across the world, including in China. However, several invasive pests, including the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda, have threatened this crop and lowered yield. Eupeodes corollae, an endemic syrphid hoverfly, has been proposed as a biological control agent. Here, students will explore the antagonistic relationship between S. frugiperda and E. corollae, with both species feeding on larvae of the other species, and learn about type III functional …

Mapping California Rice Using Optical And Sar Data Fusion With Phenological Features In Google Earth Engine, Li Wenzhao, Hesham El-Askary, Daniele C. Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

California, known for its diverse agriculture, is also a major producer of rice, especially in its northern regions in Sacramento River Valley. Traditional methods, predominantly reliant on optical-based satellite imagery, encounter limitations due to atmospheric interference and sensor resolution. The ability of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to penetrate atmospheric distortions and exhibit high sensitivity to vegetation structure presents a distinct advantage over optical-based methods. Utilizing Optical and SAR data fusion, this study advances the enhanced pixel-based phenological feature composite (Eppf) method using SVM classification algorithm, which can track phenological changes and patterns, providing valuable insights for agricultural planning and management. …

Weakly-Supervised Learning Method For The Recognition Of Potato Leaf Diseases, Junde Chen, Xiaofang Deng, Yuxin Wen, Weirong Chen, Adnan Zeb, Defu Zhang

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

As a crucial food crop, potatoes are highly consumed worldwide, while they are also susceptible to being infected by diverse diseases. Early detection and diagnosis can prevent the epidemic of plant diseases and raise crop yields. To this end, this study proposed a weakly-supervised learning approach for the identification of potato plant diseases. The foundation network was applied with the lightweight MobileNet V2, and to enhance the learning ability for minute lesion features, we modified the existing MobileNet-V2 architecture using the fine-tuning approach conducted by transfer learning. Then, the atrous convolution along with the SPP module was embedded into the …

Total Prevention: A History Of Schistosomiasis In Japan, Alexander Bay

History Faculty Articles and Research

In Japan, schistosomiasis was endemic in Yamanashi Prefecture and a few other hotspot areas where the Miya’iri snail lived. The parasite’s lifecycle relied on the intermediary Miya’iri snail as well as the human host. Parasite eggs passed into the agrarian environment through untreated night soil used as fertiliser or through the culture of open defecation in rural Japan. Manmade rice fields and irrigation ditches, night soil covered paddies and highly refined growing seasons put people in flooded rice paddies to intensively work the land in the spring and summer. The disease was equally dependent on human intervention in the natural …

Physicochemical And Pasting Properties Of Flour And Starch From Two New Cassava Accessions, Raphael Aidoo, Ibok Nsa Oduro, Jacob K. Agbenorhevi, William Otoo Ellis, Nana Baah Pepra-Ameyaw

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Some new cassava accessions have been developed and released because of their high yield, resistance to disease, adaptability to wider ecological environment, and less cost of production. However, their flour and starch properties have not been characterized for potential food applications. In the present study, starch and flour were produced from two new cassava accessions (Sika Bankye and Bankye Hemaa) and evaluated for their physicochemical and pasting properties. The flour samples recorded higher values for the various functional parameters compared to their starch counterparts. Both flour samples had a similar water absorption capacity (WAC) of ~263% but the associated …

A Microbiome Engineering Framework To Evaluate Rhizobial Symbionts Of Legumes, Kenjiro W. Quides, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Background

For well over a century, rhizobia have been recognized as effective biofertilizer options for legume crops. This has led to the widespread use of rhizobial inoculants in agricultural systems, but a recurring issue has emerged: applied rhizobia struggle to provide growth benefits to legume crops. This has largely been attributed to the presence of soil rhizobia and has been termed the ‘rhizobial competition problem.’

Scope

Microbiome engineering has emerged as a methodology to circumvent the rhizobial competition problem by creating legume microbiomes that do not require exogenous rhizobia. However, we highlight an alternative implementation of microbiome engineering that focuses …

Assessment Of Agricultural Drought Considering The Hydrological Cycle And Crop Phenology In The Korean Peninsula, Chul-Hee Lim, Seung Hee Kim, Jong Ahn Chun, Menas Kafatos, Woo-Kyun Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Hydrological changes attributable to global warming increase the severity and frequency of droughts, which in turn affect agriculture. Hence, we proposed the Standardized Agricultural Drought Index (SADI), which is a new drought index specialized for agriculture and crops, and evaluated current and expected droughts in the Korean Peninsula. The SADI applies crop phenology to the hydrological cycle, which is a basic element that assesses drought. The SADI of rice and maize was calculated using representative hydrological variables (precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff) of the crop growing season. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of SADI, the three-month Standardized Precipitation Index, which …

Reporting Charcoal Rot In Chia And Developing A Susceptibility Assay, Reis M. Misaka, Hagop S. Atamian Dr., Julien Besnard Dr.

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Chia (Salvia Hispanica) cross breeds were planted in the summer of 2018 with the intent of selective breeding for agricultural benefit. Preexisting pathogens in the soil caused 40-50% fatality of adult plants. This was surprising due to the precursory knowledge that chia has antibiotic and antifungal oils (Elshafie et. al. 2018); chia was only recently documented to be susceptible to Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum). The primary pathogen responsible was identified as Macrophomina phaseolina (aka charcoal rot); a widespread soilborne pathogen which has multiple commercial hosts (Su et. al. 2001).

M. phaesolina on wheat seed vector where used as …

Effects Of Fruit Position In Standard Place Pack Cartons And Gamma 1 Irradiation On The Postharvest Quality Of ‘Barnfield’ Navel Oranges, Karina Cruz Rodriguez (Friscia), José De Jesús Ornelas-Paz, Vrani Ibarra-Junquera, Maria Criselda Toto, Akanksha Jain, Anuradha Prakash

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

The objective of this study was to determine if oranges in the top and bottom layers within a Standard Place Pack were impacted differently by irradiation after long-term storage. ‘Barnfield’ Navel oranges were packed in Standard Place Pack cartons and treated with 0, 0.15, or 1 kGy of gamma irradiation. The fruit were stored for 3 weeks at 5 °C and then for 1 week at 20 °C. After storage, the fruit from the top and bottom layers were separately evaluated for quality. The development of stem-end rind breakdown (SERB) was the main cause of quality loss and was greater …

Sequence Analysis Of The Potato Aphid Macrosiphum Euphorbiae Transcriptome Identified Two New Viruses, Marcella A. Texeira, Noa Sela, Hagop S. Atamian, Ergude Bao, Rita Chaudhury, Jacob Macwilliams, Jiangman He, Sophie Mantelin, Thomas Girke, Isgouhi Kaloshian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, is an important agricultural pest that causes economic losses to potato and tomato production. To establish the transcriptome for this aphid, RNA-Seq libraries constructed from aphids maintained on tomato plants were used in Illumina sequencing generating 52.6 million 75±105 bp paired-end reads. The reads were assembled using Velvet/Oases software with SEED preprocessing resulting in 22,137 contigs with an N50 value of 2,003bp. After removal of contigs from tomato host origin, 20,254 contigs were annotated using BLASTx searches against the non-redundant protein database from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) as well as IntereProScan. …

Responses Of Agroecosystems To Climate Change: Specifics Of Resilience In The Mid-Latitude Region, Menas Kafatos, Seung Hee Kim, Chul-Hee Lim, Jinwon Kim, Woo-Kyun Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the productivity and resilience of agroecosystems in the Korean Peninsula. Having learned valuable lessons from a Chapman University project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture which concentrated on the semi-arid region of southwestern United States, our joint Korea—Chapman University team has applied similar methodologies to the Korean Peninsula, which is itself an interesting study case in the mid-latitude region. In particular, the Korean Peninsula has unique agricultural environments due to differences in political and socioeconomic systems between South Korea and North Korea. Specifically, North Korea has been suffering from food shortages due to natural disasters, …

Wine Flavor Perception In A Person With Isolated Congenital Aglossia, Naïve Wine Taster, And Sommelier, Kristin Mahood, Long Wang, Betty Mcmicken, Cheryl Rock

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: This study aimed to augment previous research that investigated flavor perception in isolated congenital aglossia by a whole food/beverage approach. Isolated congenital aglossia is the rare condition of absence of a tongue at birth without the presence of other symptoms. Previous studies confirmed taste perception in isolated congenital aglossia using single taste solutions including sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and umami.

Methods: The current randomized, double-blinded study age- and sex-matched a naïve wine taster and sommelier to the 46 year-old female with isolated congenital aglossia. A Nose and Palate Survey with 54 variables created based on the Court …

Estimation Of The Virtual Water Content Of Main Crops On The Korean Peninsula Using Multiple Regional Climate Models And Evapotranspiration Methods, Chul-Hee Lim, Seung Hee Kim, Yuyoung Choi, Menas Kafatos, Woo-Kyun Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Sustainable agriculture in the era of climate change needs to find solutions for the retention and proper utilization of water. This study proposes an ensemble approach for identifying the virtual water content (VWC) of main crops on the Korean Peninsula in past and future climates. Ensemble results with low uncertainty were obtained using three regional climate models, five potential evapotranspiration methods, and the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) crop model. The productivity results of major crops (rice and maize) under climate change are likely to increase more than in the past based on the ensemble results. The ensemble VWC is …

Postharvest Quality And Physiology Of ‘Fuji’ Apples Subjected To Phytosanitary Irradiation, Nasim Kheshti, Alan Baquero, Anderson Melo, Anuradha Prakash

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Irradiation is an effective treatment to sterilize and destroy insect pests on fresh fruit. It serves as an alternative to cold treatment and to fumigation which are time consuming and ozone depleting, respectively. In this study, the postharvest quality of Fuji apples was evaluated after irradiation at 400 Gy and 800 Gy. The quality of the apples which were stored at 1˚C for 7 days to mimic ground transportation and distribution and then at ambient temperature for another 7 days to mimic retail storage and consumer use, was assessed. Irradiation caused an immediate decrease in firmness by 12% at 400 …

Comparative Evaluation Of The Effect Of Methyl Bromide Fumigation And Phytosanitary Irradiation On The Quality Of Fresh Strawberries, Tamar Serapian, Anuradha Prakash

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Fresh strawberries are highly perishable and have a short shelf-life especially when the cold chain is not maintained. Strawberries exported to Asia are currently fumigated with methyl bromide for phytosanitary purposes, which exposes strawberries to warm temperatures for several hours and air freight without temperature control, resulting in a shelf life of just a few days in the destination country. Irradiation offers an efficacious alternative to fumigation and can be performed on cold fruit. This study was conducted to compare the quality of strawberries subject to methyl bromide fumigation or irradiation followed by simulated commercial air freight shipment of strawberries …

Regional Variations Of Optimal Sowing Dates Of Maize For The Southwestern U.S., Boksoon Myoung, Seung Hee Kim, Jinwon Kim, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Sowing date (SD) is sensitive to regional climate characteristics; thus, it is critical to systematically examine the effects of SD on crop yields for various temperature regimes. We performed a sensitivity study of SD for maize in the southwestern U.S. using the regionally extended version of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model. The model was run utilizing North American Regional Reanalysis at a 32 km resolution from 1991 to 2011, with an irrigation threshold at 95% of the soil water-holding capacity. Two types of SD optimizations maximizing yield potential (Yp), varying spatially or interannually, revealed that the optimal SD …

Sensitivity Of Maize Yield Potential To Regional Climate In The Southwestern U.S., Seung Hee Kim, Boksoon Myoung, David Stack, Jinwon Kim, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The sensitivity of maize yields to the regional climate in the Southwestern U.S. (SWUS) has been investigated by using the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model in conjunction with meteorological forcings [daily maximum and minimum temperature (Tmax and Tmin), precipitation, and radiation] from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) dataset. Sensitivity experiments showed that potential crop production responded nonlinearly to variations in Tmax, Tmin, and downwelling solar radiation at the surface. Mean annual yield potential (Yp) was changed by -3.0 and 1.79 Mg ha-1 for the +1 and -1 standard deviations (σ) of Tmax variation for entire the SWUS. The …

Citrus Notes-Agricultural Advantages Of So. California, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

These are notes from a speech given by Mr. Chapman at a banquet at the Pomona Farmer's Club Institute. He details the environmental advantages that Southern California has in relation to the rest of the world.

Citrus Talks-Welcoming Dr. Wickerson (Of U. Of C.), Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

In this speech Mr. Chapman welcomes Dr. Wickerson of the University of California to a gathering of Farmers in Placentia. He makes some comments about the usefulness of science and technology to horticulture. He also laments the loss of many young men from farming families to employment in the city.

Citrus Notes-The Value Of The Tariff To Citrus, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

Mr Chapman talks about the importance of the tariff on foreign-grown citrus fruits to the California citrus industry. He details some of the history of the battle to inact the tariff as well as the threats to it at the time this speech was given. He claims that the tariff is the most important factor in the profitabilty of California citrus fruits and that this in turn provides a major support to the economy of the state.

Citrus Talks-Soils And Subsoils, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

Mr. Chapman discusses the cultivation and maintenence of healthy, productive soils for citrus fruit farming. Topics he touches on include soil testing, soil composition, cover crops, fertilizers, drainage, irrigation, aeration and mulching. He emphasizes that neglect of any of these aspects of a growers' soil will lead to unhealthy, diseased trees.

Citrus Notes-Fertilization, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

This speech discusses the necessity of fertilizing citrus crops and delves into which kinds and how much per tree. Some of the soil amendments Mr. Chapman discusses are potash, bone meal, nitrogen, nitrate of soda, and phosphoric acid. He also stresses the importance of knowing your orchard.

Citrus Notes-Fertilizers, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

Charles C. Chapman discusses experimentation with various fertilizers on his Santa Isabel Ranch in Fullerton and fertilizing methods he discussed with orchardists in Fullerton and Placentia. He mentions trying sheep manure, lime cake, bone meal, commercial fertilizer, wood ashes and a combination of each. He concludes that he cannot discern any difference in his crops based on the type of fertilizer employed. He goes on to say that he feels that there is already much plant food in soil and that aeration and frequent cultivation are the key to utilize these nutrients.

Citrus Talks-The Orange, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

This talk examines the citrus industry, delves into various types of citrus such as Valencia Lates, and several varieties of the navel orange. It also covers the nuances of fumigation and dealing with pests such as Fuller's Rose Beetle and the red spider. Production, costs, and marketing are also discussed.

Citrus Talks-The Value Of The Farmer, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

This talk explores how farmers are sometimes preyed upon by big city folks. It also praises farmers as being strong, dependable, and resourceful and how these qualities add to the integrity of cities when farmers move there.

Citrus Talks-The Citrus Industry, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

While Orange County, California, is one of the smallest in area, it supports a more diversified farming industry than any other, due to the climate, soil, abundant water sources, and the progresses in technology for handling, packing, and shipping the fruit.

Chapman Speech Index, Charles C. Chapman

Charles C. Chapman Citrus Speeches

Index for Speeches indexes the following speeches: Citrus, Clubs & Organizations, College, Dedications, Funerals, Masonic, Memorial Addresses, Miscellaneous, Politics, Sermons (Applied Christianity, The Bible, The Church, Conventions, Doctrinal, Jesus, Miscellaneous), Miracles & Parables, Temperance, Y.M.C.A.

Irradiation D Values Of Salmonella Spp. In Diced Tomatoes Dipped In 1% Calcium Chloride, Anuradha Prakash, Nicole Johnson, Denise Foley

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Outbreaks of salmonellosis have been associated with eating raw domestic tomatoes. In this study, we examined the efficiency of combined irradiation and a 1% calcium chloride dip to reduce the population of Salmonella enterica strains on diced tomatoes. Tomatoes were contaminated with nalidixic acid-resistant strains of S. Hartford, S. Montevideo, or a mixture of 5 strains (S. Hartford, S. Montevideo, S. Poona, S. Michigan, S. Gaminara). We irradiated tomatoes at various doses up to 0.9 kGy from an electron beam source to conduct a D-value study (decimal reduction time required to eliminate 90% of the organism). Surviving Salmonella populations were …

1% Calcium Chloride Treatment In Combination With Gamma Irradiation Improves Microbial And Physicochemical Properties Of Diced Tomatoes, Anuradha Prakash, Pei-Chen Chen, Richard L. Pilling, Nicole Johnson, Denise Foley

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a combination of a 1% calcium chloride dip with low dose irradiation on microbial populations, and biochemical and physical properties, of fresh diced tomatoes during a two-week storage period. Vine tomatoes at the light-red stage (trial 1) and Celebrity tomatoes at the table ripe stage (trial 2) were diced, dipped in 1% CaCl2, and irradiated at 1 kGy from a Co-60 source. Tomatoes were also contaminated with cocktail of nalidixic-acid resistant Salmonella strains (S. Poona, S. Hartford, S. Gaminara, S. Michigan, and S. Montevideo) and subjected to gamma irradiation. …