Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service have secured new USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant funding to support projects addressing emerging challenges in strawberries, blackberries and muscadine grapes. One major effort focuses on Neopestalotiopsis, a recently identified and highly aggressive strawberry disease that caused statewide yield losses of up to 20 percent this year. Associate professors Aaron Cato and Amanda McWhirt will use the grant to develop Arkansas-specific best management practices, studying varietal resistance, cultural controls and fungicide strategies. They will also work directly with berry growers in Rudy and Judsonia and share findings with producers across the Midsouth.
A second project, led by horticulture professor Ryan Dickson, will evaluate an annual blackberry production system using container-grown primocane varieties. With Arkansas breeding new high-yielding cultivars adapted to local conditions, the annual system could give growers access to off-season markets and help reduce losses from fusarium, a soilborne disease threatening the industry. Dickson will assess planting dates, tipping practices, shading and production costs before presenting results at upcoming grower events.
A third initiative, guided by food scientist Renee Threlfall and McWhirt, aims to expand the fresh-market muscadine industry by developing pest-management recommendations and evaluating promising muscadine and hybrid selections statewide.
Source:aaes.uada.edu
