moments - college of agricultural sciences

PIVOTAL MOMENTS | WINTER 2020‐2021 ISSUE 14

1 Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Family and Community Health, 4-H Youth, Forestry & Natural Resources, Extension Sea Grant, and Open Campus programs. Oregon State University, United States Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties cooperating. The Extension Service offers its programs and materials equally to all people.

From the Director Clive Kaiser, Interim Director, Professor Well, 2020 is finally drawing to a

close and although I am ready to

shut the door on this chapter of

life, I am still incredibly thankful

for everything that has gone right

this year. Firstly, a huge shout out

to the Faculty, staff and research

teams at HAREC. Without their

flexibility and dedication, we

would not have been able to

achieve the research outputs that

have kept us on the forefront of

science for local stakeholders. We

were able to hold several field

days, most of them virtual this

year and we had some great

feedback from the first Virtual

Hermiston Farm Fair too. Over 600

attendees logged participation

over the 3 days with the greatest

number of people attending on

Friday with 249 participants. No

mean feat and well‐orchestrated

by the team and led by Ruijun Qin,

our agronomist. We are also

extremely grateful to the

speakers, many of whom shared

outstanding results from other

regions around the country, which

helps stimulate new thinking and

relevance for introducing new

programs to address current

problems locally.

I also would like to take this

opportunity to thank our

stakeholders for their patience

and continued commitment to

HAREC. Without your support, we

would not be able to achieve the

things we do. Have a peaceful,

festive season and compliments of

the New Year to you all.

Best wishes

Clive

WINTER 2020‐2021

PIVOTAL MOMENTS

A Quarterly Newsletter

For Friends of HAREC



The 47th Hermiston Farm Fair was held virtually!!!! Ray Qin, Farm Fair committee program organizer

The Oregon State University

Hermiston Agricultural Research

and Extension Center Annual

Farm Fair was held virtually this

year due to the pandemic.

Farm Fair is one of the most

important meetings in the region

and our annual signature

extension program for the past 47

years. This year we offered

continuing‐education courses on

diverse topics such as potato,

vegetable, hemp, soil health, and

cutting‐edge technology.

Over 600 people joined us during

this 3‐day event. Regional, national and experts nation‐wide

including Idaho, Washington,

Minnesota, Michigan, Virginia and

New York were invited to present

at this year’s event.

I would like to send a special

THANK YOU to our sponsors this

year at our virtual Hermiston Farm

Fair. Without their

continued support

we would not be

able to provide this

service. THANK YOU

Wilbur Ellis, Umatilla

Electric Cooperative,

Corteva, Salmon

Safe and Nutrien Ag

Solutions.

I want to also thank

the Farm Fair

program committee

for all their help with

the organization, which took over

5 months. We hope to be back to

our in‐person meeting next year.

In the meantime, stay safe and

healthy.

Farm Fair sessions available to view: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/harec/news‐

events No Credit

The greeting remarks from the interim director at HAREC and the Associate Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU on December 4th

The moment when the peak attendee number (220) was shown during the meeting on December 4th



Plant Biology Lab By Aymeric Goyer, Plant Biologist, Associate Professor Senior Research

This fall, we have been busy

juggling between lab work and

online conferences. I used our

state‐of‐the‐art High‐Performance

Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

system to analyze various

biochemical compounds in 180

potato samples that were

harvested from fields

in Oregon and Idaho.

Our main target was

tyrosine, an amino

acid that is the main

precursor of colored

pigments found in

bruised potatoes. In

this project, we are

evaluating the effect

of plant maturity and

nitrogen fertilization

rates on blackspot

bruising.

We have also been busy

with PVY related

experiments that require

lots of plantlets

propagation, inoculation

of plants with the virus,

observation of plants’

response, and PCR to

detect the virus.

We wrote a short article about our

PVY research titled “It’s in the

Genes” which was published in the

December issue of Potato Country.

Check it out!

Carol Bvindi, a postdoctoral

scholar in my lab, has been

working, amongst other projects,

on editing the potato genome

using CRISPR/Cas9, also known as

molecular scissors. Although

CRISPR has been used to edit many

different plant species, it remains

a challenge in polyploid species

like potato. Our goal is to develop

a protocol for efficient editing of

the potato genome.

On Veterans Day, I gave my first

online seminar to more than 280

participants at the SOL

International Online Meeting

2020, an international conference

on the plant family of Solanaceae.

My talk was at 5:30 am Pacific

Time. Great way to start my day!!!

I also virtually attended the 4th

International Conference on Plant

Synthetic Biology, Bioengineering,

and Biotechnology. Plant synthetic

biology promises to be the next

revolution in plant sciences.

HAREC Horticulture in 2020 Scott Lukas, HAREC

Horticulture program director.

Throughout the challenges of this

turbulent year we have all had to

re‐structure what is ‘normal’ life.

Carol Bvindi and Aymeric Goyer analyzing potato samples

Towards a sustainable bio‐based economy through plant

synthetic biology (from Shih 2018 Plant Science)

Continued on page 4

Blueberry research trial, established 2020



The HAREC horticulture program extends a great “thank you” to our staff, stakeholders, agencies, students, and everyone who has pulled together to help one another in this time of difficulty. Despite a hard year, our horticulture program has had many successful research trials and expanded our research team! In 2020 we were able to install a long‐term blueberry research study to evaluate nutrient management and soil acidification methods. We also established a multi‐state hemp irrigation project that aims to identify water

demands and a crop coefficient to

more precisely manage water

inputs. Both trials are off to a great

start and we are looking forward

to sharing results with you next

year at the Farm Fair.

We’ve also added two new post‐

doctoral researchers to the team!

Dr. Amin Nouri is focusing on soil

hydro‐physical properties with

re‐used water sources for crop

irrigation, and Dr. Shikha Singh, is

focusing on the impacts of soil

carbon amendments on nutrient

availability in blueberry crops.

We had to say farewell to our

program technician, Logan Clark,

who moved back to his North

Carolina home to pursue other

educational ventures.

Next summer we’ll also be adding

another graduate student to help

expand our irrigation and crop

nutrition services to Eastern

Oregon.

This student will be a part of a

recently funded USDA grant

program that will support a cohort

of 6 Master of Science students

that will be based at HAREC. Many

exciting updates to come! Feel

free to get in touch if you want

more details on our program.

In the meantime, let’s send 2020

off and hit the reset button for a

fresh start in 2021! Take care, and

stay safe.

Hemp irrigation and water use field trial

Dr. Amin Nouri, Post‐Doctoral researcher focusing on advancing irrigation opportunities with re‐used water

Dr. Shikha Singh, Post‐Doctoral scholar joins the horticulture program to study blueberry soil carbon and nutrient relations

Horticulture team waist deep in hemp, soon after this photo it was over their heads. (Left. Logan Clark, Program technician; Alex Gregory, M.S. student; Tim Gould, Undergraduate intern).



AGRONOMY PROGRAM IN 2020 By Ray Qin, Assistant Professor, Extension Agronomist

In the difficult year 2020, the

Agronomy team still carried out

several projects successfully. I

greatly appreciate the hard‐

working team members,

collaborators, and many

temporary workers in my

program. Based on the solid

background of past years, we are

expecting a fruitful 2021!

THE PROGRESS OF OUR

PROJECTS:

Potatoes: A field trial on

potassium fertilization was at a

grower’s field in Boardman. This

trial included three potato

varieties (Umatilla Russet,

Clearwater Russet, and Russet

Burbank). Two types of potassium

fertilizer (Muriate of Potash

[MOP]) and potassium sulfate

(SOP) was applied at a rate from 0

to 800 lbs./ac. The research

findings were reported at the 47th

Hermiston Farm Fair. A project

report will be submitted to the

Northwest Potato Research

Consortium, our major sponsor

for this project.

A field trial on nitrogen

fertilization was conducted at

HAREC this year. This trial was

aiming to evaluate the effect of N

fertilization on blackspot bruise

susceptibility on Russet Norkotah

and to evaluate the nitrogen

equipment for the new potato

variety, Rainier Russet.

Cereal crops:

A field trial, which is the second‐

year study, is being conducted to

evaluate the effect of plant growth

regulators (new tested product vs

Palisade) on winter wheat

(Bobtail) and spring wheat (Divo

and Louise). We planted 23

triticale varieties for evaluating

the yield potential as forage or

grain. We manually planted 510

winter wheat varieties for

evaluating stripe rust disease to

support a nation‐wide study led by

a USDA scientist, Dr. Xianming

Chen.

Kentucky bluegrass (KBG):

New field trials are being

conducted with the goals of 1)

identifying the optimum PGR rate

and nitrogen (N) rate, 2)

determining the interactive effect

of PGRs and N, 3) evaluating the

effect of various fertilization

(manure and N) on soil health and

crop performance, and 4) testing

new KGB varieties. The research

findings from the completed trials

are being summarized for

submission to our sponsors

(Washington Turfgrass Seed

Commission and OSU‐ARF). The

project report will also be

published in the 2020 OSU Seed

Production Research Report.

Agronomy team meeting online

Potatoes in Potassium experiment

Winter wheat nursery plants Continued on page 6



Adzuki bean: There are 30 Adzuki bean varieties

successfully producing seed

among 135 varieties from USDA

germplasm. Meanwhile, a field

trial on evaluating the best

agronomic condition for the

currently available variety, Erimo,

was completed. Hopefully, with

continuing studies, the adzuki

bean and other dry beans/pea

crops will be the promising

rotational crops grown in our

region.

Forage:

The alfalfa/grass mixing or

intercropping was planted in late

August 2019. In 2020, there were

5 times the amount of harvests

occurring. The initial 2 harvests

suffered serious weed pressure

because of an improper herbicide

option. With the season

extending, the weed pressure

reduced dramatically. This project

will be continuing for an additional

two years.

Cover crops:

Like last year, cover crops such as

cool‐season cereals and brassica

crops showed good performance,

which means there will be more

cover crop options available for

our region in the future. The

project will be continuously

monitored until next March.

Mint:

The field trial initiated in 2019 is

on‐going. More data will be

available next year. This project

will provide valuable information

on irrigation amounts and

nitrogen fertilizer type/rates to

growers.

NEWS: A soil health project affected by

soil fumigation and cover crop in

potato fields was awarded by WA

Specialty Crop Block Grant

Program for three years. This

project will have collaboration

between our Agronomy team, at

HAREC, the potato breeding team,

at HAREC and a USDA team in

Adams, OR.

Welcome our newest member,

Dr. Shahram Torabian who joined

Dr. Shahram Torabian – Postdoctoral Scholar

Continued on page 7

Adzuki bean plants in fields

Intercropping of grass and alfalfa

Cover crop



our team in December as a

postdoctoral scholar. Dr. Shahram

Torabian received his PhD from

the University of Tabriz, majoring

in Crop Physiology and received

his MS degree from Isfahan

University of Technology majoring

in Agronomy.

Congratulations to Yan Yan who received a top prize for her Branch Experiment Station Research Poster and presentation at the 2020 CAS Undergraduate

Research Showcase.

PUBLICATIONS: Qin, R., C. Noulas, D. Wysocki, X Liang, G. Wang, and S. Lukas. 2020. The application of plant growth regulators on soft white winter wheat under different nitrogen fertilizer scenarios in irrigated fields. Agriculture, 10(7), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10070305 Qin, R., S. Moparthi, M. Feldman,

B. Charlton, V. Sathuvalli. 2020.

Effect of foliar application of 2,4‐D

and calcium on red‐skinned potato

cultivars. Agronomy J. (in press)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/agj2

.20444.

We made it!!! … and now we move forward

Silvia I. Rondon, Professor and Extension Entomology Specialist I am sure all of you will agree this

was a difficult year. However,

with good organization, planning,

and collaboration, programs like

our Irrigated Agricultural

Entomology Program at HAREC,

successfully completed all our

field activities. In summary, Dr.

Oppedisano, completed her

studies related to leafhoppers and

phytoplasmas in the Basin, and

now she is compiling

all her results and

presenting at the

Entomological

Society of America

Virtual Meeting

and the Pacific

Northwest

Vegetable

Association.

Similarly, Dr. Shrestha

completed his work around

several biological aspects of Lygus

bugs including, host selection,

movement, distribution,

landscape contribution to pest

and natural enemies’ presence in

potatoes. He is also summarizing

and presenting his findings in

different venues, including

Entomological Society and Farm

Fair. He also presented at an

invited seminar for the OSU Crop

and Soil Sciences Department.

Continued on page 8



My “right and left hand”, Ira

Thompson, ran several

pesticide trials during this

summer, including one related to

hemp. This was a unique

opportunity to learn more about

the agronomics, and more

specifically to our area of

expertise, recognizing insects and

mites that may be causing damage

on this relatively new crop in our

area.

My collaborators from the USDA‐

ARS in Prosser (M. Feldman),

North Dakota University (S.

Thompson) are planning a large‐

scale program to tackle the

emergent issue related to the

Colorado potato beetle.

I have been busy facilitating and

helping my team in all field

activities plus presenting virtually

both nationally and internationally

on several occasions. In addition, I

have been busy recruiting new

people to join our group.

At this point, I would like to

welcome Nima Rad. Nima did his

masters at University of Perugia,

Italy, and he is joining our group to

work on the Colorado potato

beetle.

If you ask me, professionally, the

hardest thing about this year, by

far; has been not seeing you during

our field days, farm fair, walk‐ins,

etc., but I am optimistic about next

season and hoping for the best.

Wishing you happy holidays and

health.

Become A HAREC

SUPPORTER ! Contact our office to find out how you can contribute

to the research,

programs and growth of HAREC

Nima Rad

Colorado Potato Beetle Research

Ira Thompson Bioscience Research Technician III



Mission Statement

To advance scientific knowledge in agriculture, natural resources and biofortified crops, and support and

educate our diverse local clientele and community in the areas of irrigated agriculture, plant breeding, natural resources, human health and youth

development.

6 Master of Science positions available Summer/ Fall 2021

https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/

GRADUATE STUDENT

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY

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