THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP GREEN CHILE PEPPERS AMENABLE TO MECHANICAL HARVESTING. THE CRITICAL NEED IS TO REDUCE LABOR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVESTING FOR PROCESSED PEPPERS, ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF THE US INDUSTRY AND A GROWING MARKET WORLDWIDE. OUR SUPPORTING OBJECTIVES FORMULATE A SYSTEMS APPROACH COMBINING GENOMICS, BIOLOGY, PLANT BREEDING AND MECHANICAL HARVESTING. THEY INCLUDE: 1) CHARACTERIZE AND INTROGRESS A NOVEL FRUIT DESTEMMING TRAIT IN JALAPEÑOS AND NEW MEXICO TYPE GREEN CHILE BREEDING LINES. 2) DEVELOP AND APPLY DNA MARKERS TO INTROGRESS AND DETERMINE THE INHERITANCE OF TRAITS IMPORTANT FOR MECHANICAL HARVESTING. 3) EVALUATE ADVANCED JALAPEÑO AND NEW MEXICO TYPE GREEN CHILE BREEDING LINES FOR MECHANICAL HARVESTING IN MULTISTATE TRIALS AND DEFINE HARVESTER SETTINGS. THE OUTCOMES OF THIS WORK INCLUDE IMPROVED GERMPLASM AND HARVESTER SETTINGS FOR MECHANICAL HARVESTING AND DNA MARKERS FOR ASSOCIATED TRAITS SUCH AS DESTEMMING, DETERMINACY AND FRUIT QUALITY TO MAKE PEPPER BREEDING MORE EFFICIENT. THE RESULTS WILL LIKELY EXTEND TO OTHER PEPPER GERMPLASM AND MAY EXTEND TO OTHER VEGETABLES. WE ARE WORKING CLOSELY WITH AN ESTABLISHED HARVESTER COMPANY, GROWERS, SEED COMPANIES AND PROCESSORS. STAKEHOLDERS, STATE COMMODITY BOARDS THAT REPRESENT GROWERS, PROCESSORS AND SEED COMPANIES, IDENTIFIED THIS PROJECT AS A CRITICAL NEED. A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL BE TRAINED THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN THIS PROJECT.

University Of California, Davis

Investigators