The Vegetable and Forage Crop Research Unit

Prosser, Washington

The Vegetable and Forage Crop Research Unit is co-located with Washington State University’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC). Over 150 faculty, scientists, permanent and temporary staff work at this location. The Center is well equipped to engage in a wide range of research, from field biology to molecular biology. Resources include over 500 acres of irrigated land at various locations suitable for agricultural field experiments, numerous greenhouses, growth chambers and storage facilities including a state-of-the-art potato storage and tuber sorting facilities.

Laboratory equipment includes an Agilent 1100 HPLC with FLD and DAD detection, LECO-CNS Analyzer, Auto Analyzer, Ion Chromatograph, Varian 3740 GC with ECD, TCD and FID detectors, and an ADC 2250 infra-red gas analyzer equipped with a gas multiplexer.

Equipment for molecular work includes many PCR thermocylclers, a PE 7000 Real-Time Fluorescent PCR apparatus, centrifuges, UVP chemiluminescent Bioimaging System, multiple fluorometers including an AP Cytofluor multiwell plate reader, and an ABI Genetic Analyzer.

Some interesting facts about the research conducted at the Vegetable and Forage Crop Research Unit include:

Potato

• Potato production contributes substantially to the economy of the Northwestern states, including Washington, Oregon, and Idaho states with a total area of about 631,000 acres, which accounts for up to 52% of total potato production acreage in the U.S. Most of the potato production is under irrigated conditions.

• About 200,000 acres of potatoes are grown in the Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon (150,000 in Washington and 50,000 in Oregon). The region produces about 25% of the nations potatoes on 14% of the acreage.

• Washington produces approximately 20% of the nation’s potatoes on 10.7% of the potato acreage, with average yield approaching 600 cwt/acre, which is the highest in the world and is nearly twice the national average.

• The farm gate value of potatoes, approaching $600 million, ranks fourth in the state of Washington behind apples, milk, and wheat.

• The green peach aphid is the most important vector for five of the six major potato viruses. We discovered a new and the only virus known to infect the green peach aphid. (The virus markedly decreases fecundity of the aphid. Aphids become infected with the virus by feeding on plants that have been sprayed with a suspension of the virus.) Beans

• Domestic consumption of dry beans continues to rise in response to consumer and scientific recognition of beans as a major health food. In addition to being high in fiber and protein, beans serve as an important natural source of folate and other B-vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants.

• Dry edible beans are grown on 1.9 million acres and snap beans on 280,000 acres across the United States with a farm-gate value averaging $850 million.

• Forty percent of the dry bean crop is exported, contributing favorably to U.S. trade balance.

• The Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) produces 150,000 acres of dry edible beans, and more than 22,000 acres of snap beans on average are grown in the Willamette Valley alone.

• Eighty-five percent of the seed industry for dry edible beans and snap beans is based in the Pacific Northwest.

• The 30,000 acres of seed production in the Pacific Northwest is for export as well as domestic use and is valued at $75 million.

• Snap bean seed production in the Columbia Basin is on the rise as seed companies realize the benefits of the early planting season prevail in the region.

Peas

• Pacific Northwest accounts for 125,000 acres of dry edible peas, 150,000 acres of peas for canning and freezing, 70,000 acres of seed peas, and 12,000 acres of Austrian winter peas in the Pacific Northwest.

• The estimated farm-gate value of these crops often exceeds $100 million.

• Besides their economic value, peas are used in place of summer fallow, where soil moisture is adequate and cereal-legume rotations offer an improved soil fertility and pest management options.

Alfalfa

• Alfalfa is the oldest and most important forage crop worldwide. Alfalfa is fourth in the United States in terms of total area harvested on an annual basis (23.4 million acres in 1998) and contributes about $6.4 billion annually.

• In the state of Washington, alfalfa ranks sixth among all agricultural commodities in terms of production value ($395 million).

• The Pacific Northwest (PNW) states (WA, OR, ID) account for approximately 10% of the total national alfalfa acreage. The production value of alfalfa in these three states is about $990 million, accounting for 15.5% of the total value produced nationally.

• The PNW states produce approximately 50% (35 million pounds) of the alfalfa seed produced annually in the United States.

• Alfalfa forage production in the PNW is limited by both biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors limiting production include soilborne diseases such as root rots caused by fungi and nematodes. Abiotic factors limiting production include cold which results in winter injury, soil salinity, and limited availability of water.