CROP PRODUCTION

Sorghum

2009-11-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

Sorghum
The wild sorghums present a diverse array of morphological variability and have presented taxonomists with an interesting challenge.

The three main native species located in Asia an Africa are Sorghum bicolor, Sorghum propinguum and Sorghum halepense.

Sorghum bicolor subp. Arundinaceum is an allotetraploid that is found in tropical Africa, while S. propinguum shares the same chromosome number and is located in Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

S. halepense or Johnson grass is a segmental auto-allo-octoploid and is located in an overlapping zone between the other two species.

The sorghums are summer growing crops which are used in a number of ways grain sorghum for grain; sweet or folder sorghum, Sudan grass and Columbus grass for silage, green feed and grazing; and broom millet for brooms and brushware.

However, the grain is used primarily as stock-feed and is an important source for supplementing other coarse grains for this purpose.
Sorghum

Soft Red Winter Wheat

2009-10-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Soft Red Winter Wheat
Wheat is named for the season (winter or spring) in which it is planted, its texture (hard or soft) and the color (red, white and amber).

Regarding season, winter wheat is planted on cold seasons (fall and winter) and harvested in June or July.

Examples of winter wheat include – hard red winter, soft red winter or white winter wheat.

Soft red winter wheat is grown primarily in the areas east and south of where hard red winter wheat is grown.

The principle soft red winter wheat producing states include Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Small acreage is also grown in The Pacific Northwest.

This type of wheat accounts for approximately 15% of the total wheat acreage of the United States. The flour is used for cakes, cookies, crackers and pastries.

It has a lower protein content that hard red winter wheat. The softer the wheat, the lower the protein content.
Soft Red Winter Wheat

Organic Farming

2009-09-26T01:07:00.000-07:00

Organic Farming
Some people in first-world countries now believe that modern practices have become so destructive of the environment and of the health and welfare of the populace.

It is argued that agrochemicals have polluted the environment and damaged the local ecology: this is highly debatable because far less land is needed for staple food production under modern intensive systems than organic systems, which are labor intensive and give low yields.

It is also argued that the crops produced by modern farming methods are “inferior” to those harvested by our forefathers.

It is claimed that they taste inferior, have different textures, and poorer nutritional value.

Pliny, wiring in Ancient Rome, said much the same: country bread was nicer and much more wholesome than the white bread eaten by city people.

Crops from farms using agrochemicals can also contain residual amounts of pesticides and other chemicals.

These chemicals will be a small part of the human diet. For these reasons alternative “organic farming practice” are being encouraged or at least experimented with in regions where food is in surplus.

Organic farming is becoming well established in the United States. In 1996 more than 7000 organic farms were recognized by the government.

Farmers following “organic” farming practices replace chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals with organic material such as composted vegetarian and manure from farm animals.

Crop rotation with the use of nitrogen-fixing plants such as clover increase the nitrogen levels in soil.

Weeds arte discouraged by hoeing, mulching (covering with manure, straw, or sacking, burning) or removing by hand, which is expensive.

Pests are controlled by a variety of methods.

Organic farmers may also design shelters that physically protect their crops from weeds and pests.

Organic farming is more labor intensive and therefore the products are more expensive; however, the defenders of organic practices argue that as less non-sustainable fossil fuel is needed and other “hidden” advantages such as better soil structure, less soil erosion and more diverse ecology are achieved, the price is worth paying.

However for the foreseeable future only a rich population can afford to pay for a luxury of organic staple foods should they wish to.
Organic Farming

Fruit Crops and Global Trade

2009-09-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

Fruit Crops and Global Trade
Humankind’s relationship with fruiting plants began long before the origin of agriculture in 8,000 to 10,000 BC, when all human beings practiced the hunter gatherer lifestyle.

Fruit mainstay of our diet, being excellent sources of fiber, vitamins and other healthful or medicinal compounds unbeknownst to us then.

While cereal grains, such as wheat and barley, were probably the first crop plants domesticated by humans, several of today’s fruit crops, were not far behind, since they were native to the very same area – the Fertile Crescent of Asia Minor.

Domestication of wild fruiting plants may have been inadvertent; the first groves of fruit trees probably sprang from seeds thrown in waste heaps at the edge of villages.

Careful observation and selection for useful traits, such as larger size, better taste and higher yield, started the transformation of those wild plants into the crops, which cultivate and enjoy today.

During the age of discovery, fruit, seeds or live plants were often taken on transoceanic, voyages and exchanges in both direction helped spread many crops throughout the world.

Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries may not have realized the impact they would have on agriculture and society when they brought crops such as coffee and citrus to the New World, returning to Europe with previously unknown but now common, foods such as cocoa and pineapple.

Today, we have well established world trade networks and sophisticated cultural and postharvest technologies that allow fruits to be enjoyed throughout much of the year, instead of mere weeks per year, as our ancestor experienced.

Global trade has made formerly rare and exotic treats derived from fruit crops commonplace in countries with no hope of cultivating the plants.

Fruit crops are important agricultural commodities they add tens of billions of dollars per year to the global economy and are major source of income for developing countries.

World wide, over 100 millions acres of land has been devoted to their production, and the livehood of literally millions of farming families depends on continued global trade.
Fruit Crops and Global Trade

Lemons

2009-08-25T03:31:00.001-07:00

Lemons
Lemons trees may be grown from nursery root stock, but mostly the fruit is grown on graft made on stock of the sour orange.

Once established, the trees may bear fruit for many years. Since the trees, and particular the fruit, are damaged by freezing temperatures, they may have to be protected in cold weather.

Lemons are produced in United States, mainly in California and Arizona.

They are harvested when the skin in green or silver in color and ripened to a yellow color in bins, the air of which contains some ethylene.

Most lemons are marketed in the fresh state, and as such are handled in much the same manner as are grapefruit.

Cooled to about 32 degree F and held at this temperature, fresh lemons have a storage life of 1 – 4 months.

Some lemon juice is prepared and frozen as a lemonade concentrate. The fruit is washed, sized and inspected, after which the juice is extracted and screened.

Sugar is added to provide a soluble solid to acid ration of 14:1 – 19:1. The mixture is then evaporated at low temperature under vacuum to provide a 5:1 concentrate.

The screen pulp (which contains some liquid) is then added to the concentrate to provide 2.4 – 4% pulp by volume.

The concentrate mixture is frozen to a slush having a temperature of 25 degree F ( - 3.9% degree C) in a refrigerated heat exchanger.

The slush is filled into cans, the cans sealed and conveyed through a cold air tunnel until the product is cooled to a temperature of – 18 degree F (-27 degree C) or lower.

Some lemon juice is evaporated to a concentration of about 2:1 and packaged in glass or plastic containers with 0.1% sodium benzoate. Pulp and sugar are not added to this product, which requires no refrigeration. Pectin is manufactured from lemon peel as in the case of grapefruit.
Lemons

Hard Red Winter Wheat

2009-08-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hard Red Winter Wheat
Hard red winter wheat is grown principally in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota and Minnesota. This class of wheat is grown wherever the winters are not too severe because it yields more per acre than spring wheat.

This higher productivity occurs primarily because

Winter wheat, which is sown in the fall, has a longer growing season than spring-sown wheat.

Winter wheat matures before the onset of hot weather, drought and disease.

Hard red winter is the most important class of wheat grown in the United States and accounts for about 50% of the total wheat acreage in the country.

It is used for making bread and hard rolls. This class is divided on top three subclasses: dark hard winter wheat with 70% or more of dark, hard and vitreous kernels.

And yellow hard winter wheat with 40-75% of dark, hard and vitreous kernels a yellow hard winter wheat with less than 40% of dark, hard and vitreous kernels.
Hard Red Winter Wheat

Rye

2009-06-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Rye
There are three clearly defined species of rye:

Secale cereal L., the cultivated species, which also exists as a highly diverse annual weed in farms in Iran, Afghanistan an Transcaspia;
Secale montanum Gussh., an out-breeding, widely distributed assemblage of perennial races located from Morocco east through the Mediterranean countries to Iraq and Iran;
Secale sylvestre Host., an annual in-breeder, which is widely distributed from Hungary to the steppes of southern Russia.

One additional taxon, Secale vavilovii Grossh., may be sufficiently unique to warrant species status.

Most authorities believe that S. cereale evolved from S. montanum Gush.

These two species are similar cytologically, but vary by two reciprocal translocations involving three pairs of chromosomes.

As with oats, rye developed as a secondary crop. It was probably picked up as a weed when the wheat-barley assemblage arrived in western Asia, where the native species are widely distributed.

Like the other grain species, agronomic traits, such as rachis fragility, ear branching and growth habit, are determined by only a few genes.

The precise origin of rye domestication is unknown, but it was being cultivated at several locations in the general area of Turkey, north western Iran and Armenia by 6000 BP.

Rye arrived in Europe as a cultivated crop by 4000 BP. Because of its tough constitution, it may have performed better than wheat and barley in the cooler, nutrient poor northern climates and therefore attracted human attraction.

In modern times, tetraploid and hexaploid wheat have been artificially hybridized with rye to form the new crop called Triticale.
Rye

Harvesting of Coffee Beans

2009-06-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Harvesting of Coffee Beans
The harvesting period varies from region to region, coffee tree to coffee tree, because not all of the berries ripen to maturity at the same time.

The harvesting period may take several weeks and demand tremendous labor costs.

There are two systems employed in harvesting – “picking” and “stripping”.

Picking ensures a perfectly uniform, top quality harvest, as trained pickers expertly select only mature berries – one by one. Pickers of quality coffees must return to the same tree, time after time, to pick more berries as they ripen.

Tripping is used in some countries where plantations are vast and labor costs are high. This economical, labor saving method is definitely faster; borrower, it results in a harvest of lesser quality beans, since unripe and overripe berries are savagely plucked by machines along with the mature ones. A striped harvest is usually rife with all sorts of impurities, such as leaves, stones and unripe and rotten berries.

Once the berries are harvested, they are transported for the preparation and processing of the beans.
Harvesting of Coffee Beans

Coffea Canephora

2009-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Coffea Canephora
Coffea canephora, which produces the popular robusta beans, is the second most important variety of the coffee plant.

Like its arabica cousin, C. canephora can grow tall; if left to its own device, it can attain a majestic thirty feet in height.

But like the Arabica plant, it is kept to about eight feet in height to allow for harvesting.

In other ways, too, the robusta plant resembles the arabica plant.

C. canephora doesn’t deliver a crop until three to five years after it is planted, after which the fruits take almost a year to mature. And the plant can continue to bear cherries for twenty to thirty years.

Like C. arabica and C. canephora appreciates sixty inches of rain per year. However, this plant likes it considerably hotter than its arabica cousin, and also tolerates higher humidity.

Grown mainly in West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of South America, robusta plants do best in equatorial conditions with temperatures ranging from the mid- seventies to the mid eighties, and altitudes ranging from sea level to 3,000 feet.

They also differ in that they are both more resistant to disease and higher yielding than robusta plants. The typical robusta tree yields as much as two to three pounds of beans per year – about twice the amount produced by an arabica plant.

Moreover, at 2 percent caffeine by weight, the caffeine content of robusta coffee is higher than that of arabica.

Robusta beans are considered inferior to arabica because they are far less flavorful, with a distinct bitterness.

This is why robusta beans are less expensive than arabica beans and are often used in lower grade commercial coffee blends, as well as in the processing of many instant coffees, both flavored and unflavored.
Coffea Canephora

History of Selection and Improvement of Blueberries

2009-05-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

History of Selection and Improvement of Blueberries
During the 1890s, various plant scientists in Maine, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, and other areas made limited efforts to select and transplant particularly good wild bushes for commercial production.

None of these was successful.

Recognizing both the potential widespread commercial value of the blueberry and the demand for the fruit on the Boston market, Dr. Frederick V. Coville, a botanist with the United States Department of Agriculture, began extensive research on the plant in 1906.

He joined forces with the commercial grower who had been instructing her workers to select and transplant especially good will blueberry plants from the wetlands surrounding her bog.

After discovery the plants’ soil requirements, Dr. Coville de devoted another two years to their culture from seed to fruit and investigated methods of propagating and pollinating the bushes.

In 1908, the first wild highbush blueberry plant for breeding purpose was selected in Greenfield, New Hampshire and named ‘Brooks.’

By the time of his death in 1937, Dr. Coville had propagated over 68,000 seedlings, from which he had selected and introduced 15 improved cultivars (some of them third generation hybrids).

Coville and others realized that interspecific crosses could readily be made between species with the same chromosome number (homoploids).

He recorded successful hybrids between Vaccinium stamineum L. (deerberry) and V. myrtilloides Mich. as well as between V. melanocarpum Mohr. and V. myrtilloides Mich.

The discovery of interspecific hybridization permitted plant breeders to combine desirable traits (such as cold hardiness, higher sugar content, and drought tolerance) of several species into a single plant.

Interspecific hybridization ensures the diversification not only of the blueberry industry but also of the gene pool available to growers.

This diversification is nature’s way of guaranteeing that no single natural calamity will obliterate blueberry production.

To extend the range of blueberry production into northern areas, breeders following Dr. Coville’s lead have crossed the highbush with the lowbush species to reduce plant height, thus taking advantage of insulating snow cover, while at the same time increasing fruit size.

Many of the progeny also have flexible canes that bend but do not break, under snow.

The half highs are often twiggy and strongly rhizomatous, and they may spread out of their rows when planted too far south.
History of Selection and Improvement of Blueberries

Melons

2009-04-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Melons
Melons belong, as do squash, to the cucumber.

There are to general types, the cucumis species, which includes muskmelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melons and the citrullus species, including the watermelon and the Chinese watermelon.

There are numerous varieties of melon.

Although they may be grown in almost any of the 50 states, except possibly Alaska, cucumis species require warm weather for good growth and 75 – 130 days from planting to harvesting; therefore, most are grown commercially in the southern states.

The citrullus species are grown in the South, but can also be grown those northern states where 130 – 140 days of growing weather prevail. In warmer climates, about 85 days are required from planting to maturity.

Melons are planted as seed but may be started in greenhouses or hot frames and set out as plants.

Melons do not improve in flavor after harvesting, hence, are picked when fully ripe.

Care must be taken to prevent bruising during harvesting and handling. Melons are mostly handled as the fresh product.

At packing plant, melons are washed, drained, dried and shipped to retail markets in wooden crates.

Melons are not preserved by drying. Some melons are frozen as melon balls.

In preparations for freezing, the melons are halved, the seeds are removed. And the melon meat is removed in ball-shaped pieces.

The melon balls are washed with sprays of water drained and filled into liquid-tight cartons and covered with syrup (25-30% sugar), and the cartons are sealed.

This product is frozen and stored at 0 degree F or below until shipped to the retailer.

Frozen melons should be held at 0 degree F or below until sold to the consumer. Some melons used in the production of fresh fruit salad.
Melons

Cultivation of Coffee Trees

2009-03-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

Cultivation of Coffee Trees
The essential requirements for cultivation of coffee plants are water, illumination and ventilation.

The type of soil (edaphic factors) is less important; coffee trees grow as well in argillaceous-siliceous soil of granitic origin as in soil of volcanic origin.

However, the soil must be rich, with a pH between 4.5 and 6.0; also, the soil must be deep because root development is very extensive.

Coffea arabica is cultivated on plantations at altitudes of 3250 – 6500 feet (1000 – 2000 meters) where tropical climates are temperate.

Excessive heat and humidity are adverse conditions. Coffea canophera grows well in a tropical climate and needs atmospheric humidity near saturation.

Low temperatures around 32 degree F or temperatures above 86 degree F adversely affect coffee trees.

Even though coffee scrubs grow wild in shaded area, the coffee tress in highly productive plantations are cultivated in rows separated by banana tree and are well exposed to sunlight.

They are very sensitive to wind which explains the damage that cyclones can cause to coffee plantations.

Cultivation requires constant care and replacement of old trees with young plants obtained by germination of seeds or by cuttings.

Also, they must be protected from numerous parasites of which the most dangerous is rust caused by two fungi:
Hemileia vastatrix causes orange rust
Hemileia coffeicola results in flour like rust

A coffee tree attacked by rust loses its leaves. Other parasites (fungi, nematodes- thread worms, borers, scolytid-bark beetle, flies, pyralis-meal moth, crickets, caterpillars, bugs, etc) can also cause great damage.

Thus, it is necessary to ensure constant chemical or biological protection. For the past few years, this protection has been ensured by selecting coffee trees that are resistant to parasites without affecting the quality of the aroma of the finished product.

There is great hope that progress in genetic manipulation will result in long term improvement, especially since the chromosomal system of the coffee trees is now known.
Cultivation of Coffee Trees

Harvesting the Wheat

2009-03-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

Harvesting the Wheat
In the United States, the wheat harvest will usually start in early May in southern Texas reach its peak in the hard red winter areas of the Southwest in early June, and end in October in the northern portions of the red spring wheat area.

Many years ago, the common method of harvesting grains was the binder, which may possibly still be used on some small farms.

Binders have been replaced nearly everywhere by combines, large and small.

These machines cut and thresh the crop and are usually self-propelled. Spring wheat may be cut windrowed or swathed before thrashing.

After combining, most spring and winter wheat is either stored in the farms for a time or promptly taken by truck to local elevators it is loaded on railway cars and carried to terminal markets.

Each year better highways and larger payloads increase the distances wheat can be hauled economically by truck.

Particularly in the corn belt area, soft red winter wheat is often stored in the farm, since smaller amounts are produced in the region and adequate storage facilities are not prohibitive in cost.

Both farm storage and hugh cooperative terminal storage facilities are common in the major wheat producing areas, where government programs in some years subsidize both types of storage.
Harvesting the Wheat

Rice

2009-02-10T14:25:00.000-08:00

Rice
The most commonly cultivated rice species, Oryza sativa (Asian or paddy rice), is grown primarily in the humid topics and subtropics, with some cultivation on flooded upland sites, such as central California.

Another less important rice, Oryza glaberrima (African rice), is grown in east Africa, but is being replaced by Oryza sativa.

The cultivated rices and their ancestors are considered to be diploid (2n = 24), although their high chromosome number indicates that they could be ancient, diploidized polyploids.

Ten genomes have been identified among the various sections of Oryza, based on chromosome pairing relationships, molecular markers and sequencing.

The cultivated species and their closest relatives carry the A genome and form what is referred to as the sativa complex. The A genome is further divided with superscripts to denote small pairing aberrations and partial sterility among the various diploid species.

The origins of Asian rice cultivation are also clouded. Many authorities consider India to be its cradle, but strong cases have been made for much earlier origin in central China and South East Asia.

From its beginning somewhere in Central Asia around 10,000 BC, rice cultivation probably moved into Korean and Japan by 3000 BC. The cultivation of African rice probably began in the Niger delta about 3500 years ago and spread gradually across tropical East Africa.

Asian rices arrived in Africa about 2000 BC. Rice found its way to the New World in 1647, when its cultivation was begin in the Carolinas.
Rice

Wheat Classes: Hard Red Spring and Red Durum

2009-01-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

Wheat Classes: Hard Red Spring and Red Durum

Hard Red Spring Wheat
Hard red spring wheat is grown principally in North and South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and the Prairie Provinces of Canada.

It may be grown in other areas to replace winter wheat that has failed due to winter killing, drought or other causes. Hard red spring wheat is divided into three subclasses according to its content of dark, hard, and vitreous kernels.

These subclasses are dark northern spring wheat (75% or more), northern spring wheat (25 – 75%), and red spring wheat (less than 25%). Overall, hard red spring accounts for about 20% of the total wheat acreage in the United States. This class of wheat is used for bread and rolls.

Durum and Red Durum Wheats
Durum and durum wheats are grown in the north central states, especially North and South Dakota.

These classes of wheat account for approximately 5% of the wheat acreage of the United States. Durum wheat cannot be used to produce flour for bread making; rather it is milled to supply semolina for making macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, etc.

Durum wheat is divided into three subclasses,: hard amber durum wheat, which has 75% or more of hard, vitreous kernels of amber color; amber durum wheat, which has 60 - 75% of hard, vitreous kernels of amber color; and durum wheat, which has less than 60% of hard, vitreous kernels of amber color, the red durum class includes all varieties of red durum wheat and has no subclasses.
Wheat Classes: Hard Red Spring and Red Durum

Oranges

2009-01-06T05:24:00.001-08:00

Oranges
The orange is utilized as a food to a greater extent than any other citrus fruit. The trees are set out from nursery stock and must be protected from freezing weather. As with other citrus trees some pruning has to be done each year.

The five states that produce oranges commercially are Florida, California, Arizona, Texas and Louisiana, with Florida being by farm, the greatest producer.

About three quarters of all oranges in this country, are used for the production of frozen juice concentrate and for the so-called “fresh” orange juice.

Fresh oranges are pick, and handled much in the same manner as are grapefruit. When picked, the solids to acid ratio should be 12:1 – 18:1. Oranges may be dyed by immersing in a solution of certified food dye at 120 degree F for about 3 min prior to waxing polishing and cooling, since the color of the skin often green when the fruit is picked.

Some oranges are cooled to 32 degree – 40 degree F and others to 40 - 44 degree F depending on variety. They should be held at these temperatures until sold to the consumer, under these conditions, they have storage life of 1 – 3 months, depending on variety.
Oranges

Sorghum

2008-12-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

Sorghum
The genus of Sorghum is found in warm, dry climates, especially in Africa, India, Pakistan, China and the Southern USA where its members are grown as important grain or forage crops. Because sorghums have been in cultivation for a long time and because interspecific hybrids are easily formed, the taxonomy of the genus is somewhat confused. Until recently the cultivated types were loosely grouped together in the species Sorghum vulgare, but a thorough revision of taxonomic relationships suggests that Sorghum bicolor is the species to which the grain crops should belong.

The seed of grain sorghum or dura as it is often called, contains no gluten, and hence is by itself not suitable for bread making. Normally for human consumption the grain is group into flour, mixed with water or fat and cooked to form a porridge or batter. Alternatively, the grain is fed to pigs or poultry, its starch may be used for a variety of purposes such as an adhesive or for sizing or it may be fermented to produce alcohol. Sorghum are also grown as forage crops and may produce high yields of the order of 30,000 kg/ha from several cuts throughout the year.

Best resulted are obtained from special forage types such as sorgo, sweet or sugar sorghum which is variously described as a variety of sorghum or as a separate species (Sorghum saccharatum). Sudan grass (S. Sudanese), a tall and tufted tropical grass, is often used top produce hybrids with sorghum, as for example the production forage plants Sudax or Sordan.

One possible problem with these forages is that contained in the leaves there may be a cyanogenic glycoside, dhurrin, which when eaten by animals hydrolyses to form poisonous hydrogen cyanide. In ruminants, hydrogen cyanide is rapidly detoxified in the rumen and liver by reaction with sulphide or cystine, but the danger of toxicity remains of glycoside levels are high or sulphur intake is low. The problem can be avoided by the choice of safe cultivars by not allowing stock to graze very immature growth, or by feeding as hay or silage.
Sorghum

Raspberry

2008-12-09T07:09:00.001-08:00

Raspberry
The red raspberry was first cultivated about 400 years ago on European soil. Cultivation spread to England and the United States, where the native American raspberry was already well known.

In 1845, Dr. Brinkle of Philadelphia became the first successful producer of raspberry in United States and he originated many varieties. By 1870, this berry had become an important crop in the United States.

The red raspberry is native to the northern United States, and the black raspberry is found in the South. The purple raspberry is a hybrid between the red and the black, and did not become important until about 1900.

The raspberry has a wide range of color. A yellow raspberry is found growing wild in many areas, particularly in Maryland. The Asiatic species of raspberry has a color that ranges though red, orange, yellow, lavender, purple, wine, to black. Even white berries have been found in Alabama and Oregon, and lavender ones in North Carolina. In the West the wild black raspberry is often not quite black, but rather a deep wine in color.

The market berry is usually the cultivated berry and is not red and black. There are many varieties of each that are popular. The market supply runs from mid April through July, and the peak month is July.

A quality berry is plump, with a clean, fresh appearance, a solid, full color, and is usually without adhering caps. Berries with caps attached may be immature. Overripe berries are usually dull in color, soft, and sometime leaky.
Raspberry

Small Millets

2008-12-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

Small Millets
Small millets are small grained cereals mainly grown in arid, semi arid or montane zones as rain fed crops under marginal and sub-marginal conditions of soil fertility and moisture. Small millets are important to global agriculture and are a major cereal crops, grown in fairly large areas of South Asia, China, the former USSR and Africa. They are also found in areas of the United States and Europe on a limited scale.

Finger millet is the principal small millet species grown in South Asia, followed by kodo millet, foxtail millet, little millet, proso millet and barnyard millet, in that order. Foxtail millet and pros millet are important in China and the latter is grown extensively in southwestern USSR. In Africa, finger millet, teff and fonio have local importance.

The average global productivity of small millets is almost 1 t/ha. There has been a trend in the last two decades to replace these crops with major cereal like maize and wheat, which has been a factor in the reduction of area under these crops. Presently, small millets are cultivated in areas where they produce a more dependable harvest than other crop, this has been largely responsible for their continued presence and cultivation in many parts of the world there is now an increasing realization of this fact and a greater awareness that these crops merit more research and development.
Small Millets

Peaches Fruit

2008-11-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Peaches Fruit
Peaches are grown commercially in about 35 states in United States, California producing by far the largest amount. There are a number of varieties classified as clingstone or freestone varieties. The flesh of clingstone varieties, use primarily for canning, adheres tightly to the pit. In freestone varieties used both as fresh and for canning, the flesh is easily separated from the pit.

Peach trees not long lived, are set out form nursery stock and produce significant quantities of fruit for 7 – 16 years. Yearly pruning and thinning of peach trees is practiced. Peaches are harvested or picked when in the firm, ripe condition, but before they come soft. The fruit is picked into buckets or bags that are emptied into lug boxes for transportation to processing plants.

At the processing plant, peaches to be handled as fresh are washed in dilute cid or alkaline solutions to remove spray residues, then rinsed in water and allowed to drain and dry. Decayed specimens are removed as the fruit passes over an inspection belt, and the unblemished fruit is packed in boxes. The fruit is air-cooled to 31 degree to 32 degree F, and should be held at this temperature until sold to the consumer. Handled in this manner, the fresh fruit has a storage life of 2 – 4 weeks.
Peaches Fruit

Early Food Crops

2008-10-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Early Food Crops
The angiosperms provide most of our food crops. They first appeared in the early Mesozoic or late Paleozoic era about 200 – 250 million years ago, but fossil evidence of them is extremely limited until they began to dominate during the Cretaceous (136 – 190 million years ago). The angiosperms were the first plants to have double fertilization and the enclosure of seeds in fruit. Double fertilization provided zygotes with copious resource to help them get established and fruits attracted animals for dispersal, it was the appearance of the angiosperm that set the stage for the development our mammal ancestors.

A wide range of hypotheses implicating selection have been presented for a rapid emergence and diversification of the angiosperms. The most popular hypothesis is that the concomitant rise of pollinating insects led to powerful divergent selection as foragers and hosts developed complex relationship.

It was the angiosperms that ultimately provided us with most of our crops and their emergence predated the appearance of our species, Homo sapiens. In fact, most of our food families or their close relatives were in existence long before we began farming. The only completely new crop type to appear after the advent of agriculture was maize, Zea mays, which has an ear and tassel arrangement not found in its progenitors. In most cases, human beings did not influence the overall structure of crop species, only the size of their edible organs and their ease of harvest.

Human beings now consume a diverse array of plant structure, and at least 64 families of angiosperms and 180 genera are utilized as crops. This is a broad systematic group, but represents only a small fraction of the total number of angiosperm families (300) and genera (3000). The dicotyledons provide the highest number of crop plants; however, the bulk of the world is fed by a few monocotyledonous grains (maize, rice and wheat).
Early Food Crops

Cowpeas Production and Storage

2008-10-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Cowpeas Production and Storage
Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) are believed to have originated in India and have been spread by man to other parts of Asia and Africa and then in the seventeenth century by way of the West Indies, to the Americas. They are now grown in warm and tropical climates around the world and about 80,000 ha of the crop is cultivated in southern parts of the Unites States, particularly in California, Georgia and Texas. There is considerable variation in the appearance of cowpea according to variety: one of the most popular varieties is the blackeyed bean. About 60,000 t of dry cowpeas are produced annually in U.S.A, of which originate from the state of California, they are consumed locally and also exported to over 40 countries.

Cowpeas are moved from farm to warehouse. Scheduled fumigations with methyl bromide or phosphine protect the commodity from insect infestation. There is a zero tolerance of insects on cowpea; this results on stocks being fumigated at least four times a year to ensure that they are pest free. It is extremely rare for the crop to be marketed within the year of production, resulting in an overlap of harvest in store and subsequently an increase in the cost of pest management.
Cowpeas Production and Storage

Pears Production

2008-10-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

Pears Production
There are many varieties of pears. The trees are set out as 1 year old stock, and once they start to bear fruit, they may continue to do so for many years.

Ordinarily, the trees are lightly pruned each year. Pears are grown in essentially all states of United States, but California, Oregon and Washington account for the bulk of the commercial production. The Bartlett pear is the most important variety, both for consumption as fresh ad for preservation by canning. Pears do not ripen successfully in the tree and are harvested while still green. They are transported to processing plants in lug boxes or pallet bins, latter holding about 1000 lb (453.6) of fruits.

At the processing plant, pears are washed in weak acid or alkaline solutions to remove spray residues. They then washed in water, drained and inspected to remove defective specimens. They are also usually graded for size, especially if they are to be canned, before placing in storage. Pears to be sold as fresh are cooled to 30 - 32 degree F and stored at this temperature pears have a storage of 2 – 7 months depending on variety. The storage life of pears may be extended by about 3 months by regulating the oxygen content of the storage atmosphere to 2.5% and the carbon dioxide content to 5%. Pears that are overripe when picked are subject to scald and core breakdown during storage. Pears to be used as fresh fruits are ripened at 60 – 70 degree F prior to or during shipment. After they are ripened, they should be held at 32 – 35 degree F until processed or sold to the consumer.

World wide, China is the largest pear producing country, followed by Italy. The United States is the third largest pear producer in world. 30% of United States fresh pear is shipped top foreign markets. There are 81 countries commercially produced pears on 4.3 million acres.
Pears Production

Genetic Resource of Rice

2008-10-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

Genetic Resource of Rice
Cultivated rices fall into two groups similar in appearance but distinguish by their different areas of origin and by the sterility of hybrids between them, indicating significant genetic separation. They are Oryza sativa, Asian rice, and Oryza glaberrima, African rice. Both are presumed to have descended from a common ancestor, perhaps O. perennis, a wild perennial species widely distributed throughout the tropics. The evolution of the two groups proceeded independently with the similar steps in each case; first, the evolution from the presumptive common ancestor, of two wild perennial, one Asian the other Africa. Each in turn gave rise to a wild annual species from which the cultivated annuals arose. Chromosome studies show that the species in the two pathways share the same genome AA, which appears to have undergone some modifications in the O. glaberrima pathway. These differences are associated with, though not necessarily responsible for, the genetic isolation between the two groups. Uncertainties exist about the precise identity of ancestral species, partly because of the absence of major genomic differentiation, which provided strong evidence of origin in other species groups such as wheat and cotton. All cultivated rices are diploids.

O. glaberrima occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, in flood plain habitats where it is sown before the floods arrive and harvested after they have receded. Upland or ‘dryland’ varieties are also grown. Although it is hardier than O. sativa, it nevertheless has been replaced by O. sativa whenever condition permit the latter’s cultivation. The greatest diversity of O. glaberrima is in West Africa.

The starting point for the differentiation of the Asian rices is perennial wild grass O. rufipogon, widely distributed in south and south-east Asia, south China, and South America, from which the annual wild species O. nivara arose. O. nivara has a wide distribution range in India, south-east Asia and Oceania. Domestication of nivara involved selection for non-brittle ears, larger plants and grain, and shorter dormancy and it probably occurred, perhaps in several independent cases, within the large area north east India, northern Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and south east China. From this diffuse area origin, cultivate rice was rapidly and widely dispersed into new regions and habitats by farmers who doubtless could see the immense benefits to be gained from the addition of a cereal crop to a farming culture which up to that time had lacked one.
Genetic Resource of Rice

Classification of Wheat

2008-09-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Classification of Wheat
Wheat belongs to the grass family, Gramineae, and the genus Triticum. The known species and varieties of the genus Triticum are said to number over 30,000. They can be assembles into three groups (races), which are traced from separate original ancestors and which differ in their number of chromosomes.

The classification suggests a possible explanation for differences in the flour from three wheat groups. Einkorn (T. monococcum) is used only as an animal feed. Emmer wheats are used for macaroni, spaghetti, and other pasta products, and not for breadmaking. Wheat from the spelt group is used in baked goods and other cereal products. The principle wheats of commerce are Triticum aestivum, Triticum compactum, both in the spelt group and Triticum durum, in the Emmer group.

In addition to their classification into groups based on chromosome number, wheats are classified as hard or soft referring to milling character and strong or weak.

The terms hard and soft wheat relate to the way the endosperm break during milling. In hard wheats, the endosperm tends to fracture along the lines of the cell boundaries, whereas in soft wheats the endosperm fractures in a random ways. Hard wheats yield coarse flour, consisting of regular-shaped particles, which is free flowing and easily sifted. In contrast, the flour from soft wheats is very fine and consists of irregularly-shaped particles, which tend to adhere together; such flour sifts with some difficulty.

Strength is a characteristic of wheat associated with the ability of its flour to produce bread of large loaf volume, good crumb texture and good keeping qualities. Strong wheats as a rule have a high protein content, whereas weak wheats have low protein contents. The flour from a weak wheat produces bread of small loaf volume, coarse crumb structure, and low protein content. Thus protein content is related to baking characteristics.
Classification of Wheat