Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station Research Articles

Registration of the “Woodies” multi–rust‐resistant barley germplasm

AbstractSelection for resistance to plant diseases is a continuous effort on the part of plant breeders. Sources of genetic resistance are often limited, despite considerable discovery efforts. Stem rust and stripe rust are two diseases of particular importance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) production. The present work aims to develop and deploy genotypes with resistance to these diseases that can be used in future breeding efforts. The Woodies, Woody‐1 (DH160733; Reg. no. GP‐218, PI 704479) and Woody‐2 (DH160754; Reg. no. GP‐219, PI 704480), are two doubled‐haploid genotypes produced via F1 anther culture named in honor of the late Lynn “Woody” Gallagher. These two‐row spring habit barley germplasm accessions were released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2023. These genotypes have demonstrated resistance to both stem and stripe rust at the seedling and adult plant stage in trials conducted between 2018 and 2023. The genetic basis of this resistance appears to be a novel quantitative trait locus conferring resistance to both diseases on chromosome 5H that is different from the known rpg4/Rpg5 complex for stem rust resistance found on the same chromosome. Seed can be requested from the Oregon State University Barley Breeding Program or from the NLGRP Germplasm repository.

Registration of ‘Top Shelf’ barley: The first glycosidic nitrile‐null, winter malting cultivar to be released in North America

Abstract‘Top Shelf’ (Reg. no. CV‐380, PI 704478), experimental designation DH162310, is a two‐row winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) released by Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2023. It is a malting cultivar that is known to be a non‐producer of glycosidic nitrile (GN0). GN0 is the precursor to a regulated compound (ethyl carbamate) in distilled spirits and thus, the GN0 trait is becoming a requisite for malting cultivars geared toward distilling. While GN0 spring cultivars have been available for over 20 years, Top Shelf is the first winter GN0 cultivar to be released in North America, and only the second globally. In addition to its GN0 status it exceeds contemporary agronomic and malt quality expectations. Over 5 years of field trials in Oregon it performed equal to or better than the check entries. It shows high yields, plump grains, and test weights. It also has good resistance to scald (caused by Rhynchosporium commune) and preliminary data suggest resistance to barley stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei). Results were confirmed in field trials in southern Idaho, a major malting barley production region, and a target environment for this cultivar. Under standard malting protocols Top Shelf meets the guidelines for malt and all‐malt and/or grain distilling, and has high extract, enzymatic activity, and free amino nitrogen. When malted under optimized conditions, mimicking commercial distilling malt production, it produced even better results. As one of only a handful of GN0 cultivars available in the United States with potential for mainstream production, Top Shelf provides an important option for the distilling supply chain.

Registration of ‘Lontra’ malting barley: A two‐row, winter‐habit cultivar of interest to the craft malting and brewing industries

Abstract‘Lontra’ (Reg. no. CV‐378, PI 702797), experimental designation DH142010, is a two‐row winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) released by Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2023. It is well adapted to the US Pacific Northwest. Lontra is a doubled haploid produced via anther culture and was advanced through fall‐planted trials from 2016 to 2021. Lontra was developed with the goal of commercial production as a malting cultivar for the craft malting industry; therefore, it was not tested in the American Malting Barley Association Pilot Program due to the limited number of selections that can be accommodated. Lontra has a solid record of agronomic performance, malting quality, beer quality, and beer sensory.

Registration of ‘Successor’ barley: A two‐row, spring‐habit, feed cultivar with tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides and adaptation to dryland production

Abstract‘Successor’ (Reg. no. CV‐377, PI 702593), experimental designation DH190481, is a two‐row spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) released by Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2023. It is notable for tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides and can be planted in a rotation with crops that are treated with these chemicals. Successor is well adapted to dryland production in the Pacific Northwest and is being released as a feed cultivar. This assessment evaluated the cultivar in a multi‐environment cultivar trial in eastern Oregon and Washington and in an on‐farm trial at a commercial partner. It showed strong performance and matched or exceeded expectations set by the only other currently available imidazolinone‐tolerant cultivar adapted to the target growing region, Survivor.

Registration of ‘Lightning’ barley

Abstract‘Lightning’ (Reg. no. CV‐374, PI 698654), experimental designation DH130910, is a two‐row facultative barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) released by Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2020. It was bred for fall planting and is well adapted to the U.S. Pacific Northwest and New York State. Because it does not require vernalization for a timely vegetative to reproductive transition, Lightning can be planted in the spring and will flower and mature in a similar time frame as spring growth habit cultivars. Lightning is a doubled haploid produced via anther culture and was advanced through fall‐planted trials from 2013 to 2019. Facultative growth habit was validated in unreplicated trials in multiple years; replicated yield trial data are available for 2020. Lightning was developed with the goal of commercial production as a malting cultivar. It was tested in the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) Pilot Program, but it is not on the AMBA recommended list, due to unsatisfactory quality when malted using standard protocols. Because Lightning will produce excellent malt with adjustments to malting protocol, it was released as a cultivar based on its potential for malting and based on its yield and test weight advantage over check cultivars ‘Endeavor’ and ‘Wintmalt’. Furthermore, it has broad‐spectrum disease resistance (moderate to high resistance to scald, stripe rust, powdery mildew, net blotch, and Fusarium head blight).

Registration of ‘Buck’ Naked Barley

‘Buck’ (Reg. No. CV‐363, PI 682744) is a naked (hull‐less), six‐row barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar with winter growth habit. The cultivar was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2015. The name Buck was chosen because the cultivar is naked. Prior to being named, Buck was tested under the experimental designation 09OR‐86. In high‐rainfall environments, it had a yield advantage over the naked check and had an excellent test weight. When grain yield was adjusted for the weight of hulls, Buck was competitive with all checks. Buck is resistant to barley stripe rust and moderately resistant to leaf rust. Buck was developed as a whole‐grain human food barley. However, multi‐use (e.g., food, malting, and feed) is an option. Feeding data are not available. Malting quality data indicate that Buck has higher malt extract than current covered (hulled) malting cultivars. Buck is the first naked winter cultivar to be released with adaptation to the US Pacific Northwest.

Registration of #STRKR Barley Germplasm

#STRKR (Reg. No. GP-208, PI 674325) is a hulless, six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) germplasm composed of the bulk of three full-sib lines, two of which have winter growth habit and one of which has facultative growth habit. The germplasm was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in 2014. The three sister lines from the Oregon State University Barley Breeding Program that were bulked to form #STRKR were derived from the cross of F1(‘Maja’/‘Legacy’)/Maja/3/‘Doyce’. #STRKR was tested under the experimental designation Streaker. The #STRKR germplasm is uniform for spike type, rachilla hair length, resistance to stripe rust (incited by by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei), and grain quality parameters. It is relatively uniform in terms of height and heading date. #STRKR is phenotypically heterogeneous for awn texture, grain color, and tolerance to scald (incited by Rhynchosporium commune). As a blend, #STRKR has shown winter survival comparable to Maja in environments where there was differential winter injury. #STRKR germplasm provides a resource for reselection and a parental source for disease resistance and quality parameters.

‘Sweet Sunrise’ Strawberry

‘Sweet Sunrise’ is a new June-bearing (short-day) strawberry (Fragaria ·ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) cultivar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, OR, released in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station and the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center. ‘Sweet Sunrise’ is a high-yielding cultivar that produces medium to large, firm, attractive, easily capped fruit with excellent quality that ripen in the early season. A U.S. plant patent application (S.N. 13/694,950) has been submitted.

‘Eta’ and ‘Theta’ Hazelnut Pollenizers

‘Eta’ and ‘Theta’ are two new hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) pollenizer cultivars. They were released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Jan. 2009 as pollenizers for the late-flowering ‘Jefferson’. They have a very high level of resistance to eastern filbert blight caused by Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller conferred by a dominant allele from ‘Gasaway’. Pollen of ‘Epsilon’ and ‘Zeta’, released in 2002 (Mehlenbacher and Smith, 2004), is shed late but expresses S1 and so is incompatible on females of ‘Jefferson’ (S1 S3). ‘Eta’ and ‘Theta’, which shed pollen very late during the flowering season and are compatible with most cultivars, provide growers with additional pollenizer options.

‘Tonda Pacifica’ Hazelnut

‘Tonda Pacifica’ is a new hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cultivar for the kernel market. It was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in April 2010. Compared with ‘Barcelona’, Oregon’s leading cultivar, ‘Tonda Pacifica’ has smaller trees, higher nut yield efficiency, smaller nuts and kernels, higher kernel percentage, fewer nut and kernel defects, better suitability for the blanched kernel market, and earlier nut maturity. Kernels have a crisp texture, highly rated flavor and nutty aroma. The kernel quality is similar to that of its Italian parent ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’. The small kernel size is well suited to use in chocolate products and baked goods. ‘Tonda Pacifica’ is susceptible to eastern filbert blight caused by Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller.

‘Valley Red’ Strawberry

'Valley Red' is a new June-bearing (short day) strawberry cultivar from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service breeding programme in Corvallis, Oregon, released in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, The Washington State University Agricultural Research Centre, and Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada. 'Valley Red' was selected in 1996 from the cross 'Anaheim' × 'Puget Reliance' and was tested as ORUS 1790-1. 'Valley Red' is a high-yielding cultivar that produces medium-sized fruit that are very uniform in size and shape. The fruit is primarily suited to processing with its dark red internal and external colour. 'Valley Red' is named for its outstanding performance in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, the Skagit Valley in Washington, and the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia.

A Field Taking Shape: Papers from the 5th International Coastal and Marine Tourism Congress

*School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA †Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand ‡Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA §School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand ¶New Zealand Tourism Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

Is Print Dead? Characterizing the Influence of Print and Online Audiences From a Readership Survey

Oregon's Agricultural Progress magazine, published by the Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station, has been distributed to Oregonians as a print publication for over 50 years. Recently, a Web version of the magazine, Oregon's Agricultural Progress Online, was introduced. The publication's editors conducted a readership survey intended to profile both print and online readers, learn more about their opinions of the two media, and characterize their involvement in communities across the state. While response to the online survey was negligible, the print survey received a 76% response rate from general subscribers. It characterized an engaged, responsive readership who share the print magazine with others and who function as self-identified stakeholders for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Oregon's Agricultural Experiment Station. Institutions with print periodicals may want to use a similar survey approach to explore the influence of their readers and how print-based communications may be shared through communities where loyal readers live and work.

The effect of zinc status on DNA damage response in prostate epithelial cells

Zinc is an essential mineral that has known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties. The prostate also contains the highest level of zinc compared to other tissues in the body. However, as the prostate becomes cancerous it loses its ability to accumulate zinc. The goal of our studies was to investigate the effect of zinc deficiency on DNA damage/stress response mechanisms and susceptibility to external DNA damaging agents (gamma irradiation) in prostate epithelial cells. Previous studies have shown zinc deficiency increases DNA strand breaks. In these studies, zinc deficiency resulted in decreased expression of Nrf2, by transcription factor array analysis, and decreased tumor suppressor p53, and mismatch repair proteins, PSM2 and MLH1, by Western blot analysis. This suggests that zinc deficiency may impair DNA damage and stress responses, and impair cell cycle regulation. When zinc deficient, zinc adequate and zinc supplemented cells were subjected to various levels of gamma irradiation (0–15Gy), zinc deficiency appeared to increase the effect of gamma irradiation as observed by cell cycle arrest and decreased cell viability. We also examined whether zinc supplementation (0–100 uM) would have a protective effect against gamma irradiation. Zinc supplementation offered slight protection against effects of gamma irradiation. In summary, zinc status may significantly modulate the cell’s ability to respond to DNA damage induced by deficiency alone or in the presence of an external DNA damaging agent. This work supported by USDA-CREES 2005-35200-15439 and Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

Registration of ‘Chukar’ Wheat

'Chukar' winter club wheat (Triticum aestivum) was developed by the USDA-ARS with assistance from the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station and the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. The pedigree of Chukar is WA7665/'Rulo'. Chukar was released in September 2001 because of its yield potential and disease resistance combined with the quality characteristics desired for the club wheat market class. It is resistant to strawbreaker foot rot (Tapesia yallundae, syn. Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) and stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. tritici). Chukar is best suited to the intermediate to high rainfall zones of Washington State and northern Idaho.

Hazelnut Pollenizers `Gamma', `Delta', `Epsilon', and `Zeta'

‘Gamma’ has incompatibility alleles S 2 and S 10 , but only S 10 is expressed in the pollen because of dominance (Mehlenbacher, 1997a). The trees set many catkins, and pollen is shed in midseason, at about the same time as ‘Daviana’. The pollen-shedding period is short, and thus ‘Gamma’ should not be the sole pollenizer in an orchard. It is a suitable pollenizer for ‘Lewis’ (S 3 S 8 ) and ‘Barcelona’ (S 1 S 2 ), but sheds pollen too early for ‘Clark’ (S 3 S 8 ) and ‘Ennis’ (S 1 S 11 ). It is incompatible on its parent ‘Casina’ (S 10 S 21 ). Nuts and kernels resemble those of ‘Casina’ but are slightly larger (Table 1). Nut maturity is a few days before ‘Barcelona’, and about 80% of the nuts fall free of the husk at maturity. The frequency of moldy kernels is very low. The original seedling tree was vigorous and moderately productive. Bud mite ratings are intermediate. ‘Delta’ has incompatibility alleles S 1 and S 15 ; both are expressed in the pollen. The trees set many catkins, and shed copious amounts of pollen in late midseason with ‘Hall’s Giant’. It is a suitable pollenizer for ‘Lewis’ and for early-emerging females of ‘Clark’, but is incompatible on ‘Barcelona’, ‘Ennis’ (S 1 S 11 ), and ‘Willamette’ (S 1 S 3 ). The nuts are slightly larger than those of ‘Casina’ (Table 1) and mature a few days later than ‘Barcelona’. About 85% of the nuts fall free of the husk at maturity, while a few remain attached to the husk at the edge of the basal scar. The original seedling tree was ‘Gamma’, ‘Delta’, ‘Epsilon’ and ‘Zeta’ are four new hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) pollenizer cultivars. They were released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in February 2002. They shed pollen at different times during the fl owering season, spanning the time that female infl orescences of most cultivars are receptive. They have complete resistance to eastern fi lbert blight caused by Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller. ‘Gamma’ and ‘Delta’ carry resistance from ‘Gasaway’, while ‘Epsilon’ and ‘Zeta’ carry resistance from ‘Zimmerman’. The traditional pollenizers ‘Daviana’ and ‘Butler’, and four selections (VR4-31, VR11-27, VR20-11, and VR23-18) previously released as pollenizers for ‘Barcelona’, express incompatibility allele S 3 in their pollen (Mehlenbacher and Thompson, 1991). Although compatible on ‘Barcelona’ females (S 1 S 2 ), their pollen is incompatible on females of recently released ‘Lewis’ and ‘Clark’ (both S 3 S 8 ) (Mehlenbacher et al., 2000, 2001). ‘Gamma’, ‘Delta’, ‘Epsilon’, and ‘Zeta’ provide growers with additional pollenizer options for recently released and standard cultivars.

`Tillamook' and `Pinnacle' Strawberries

‘Tillamook’ and ‘Pinnacle’ (Fig.1) are new June-bearing (short-day) strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) cultivars from the U.S. Department of AgricultureAgricultural Research Service (USDA–ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, Ore., released in cooperation with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center and the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station. ‘Tillamook’ is a high-yielding, large-fruited, midseason cultivar with very high fruit quality that is suited to the fresh and processed markets. ‘Tillamook’ is named after the Native American tribe who lived along the Pacifi c Coast on Tillamook Bay and current site of the city of Tillamook, Ore. ‘Pinnacle’ is a high-yielding, large-fruited, early midseason cultivar with very high fruit quality that is most suited to the fresh market but produces a satisfactory processed product.

'Rosita' Ornamental Hazelnut

Received for publication 26 Dec. 2001. Accepted for publication 18 Mar. 2002. Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Paper no. 11849. E-mail: mehlenbs@bcc.orst.edu ‘Rosita’ is a new red-leafed hazelnut (Corylus L. hybrid) cultivar for the ornamental market. It was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Apr. 1999. Compared to other red-leafed ornamental hazelnut cultivars, ‘Rosita’ has a more desirable upright but compact growth habit and darker leaf color, and the leaf edges have a ruffled appearance. ‘Rosita’ produces few catkins and nuts. It has moderate resistance to eastern filbert blight (EFB) caused by Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller and big bud mites (primarily Phytoptus avellanae Nal.). ‘Rosita’ is the first ornamental cultivar to be released by the Oregon State Univ. (OSU) hazelnut breeding program.

HSP12 is essential for biofilm formation by a Sardinian wine strain of S. cerevisiaeTechnical Paper No. 11 804 of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

HSP12 is essential for biofilm formation by a Sardinian wine strain of S. cerevisiaeTechnical Paper No. 11 804 of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.

Objective Measures of Ph.D. Program Quality in Agricultural Economics

Graduate student education is an important component of the educational and research mission for agricultural economics departments across the country. A high-quality graduate program brings prestige to a department and attracts high-quality faculty and students that are invaluable in helping a department carry out its land grant mission. On the other hand, a troubled graduate program can hurt a department's reputation, demoralize faculty, and monopolize the time of departmental administrators. Assessing the quality of graduate programs is difficult because graduate education has many facets. Such factors as mentoring by faculty, classroom instruction, faculty competence, educational objectives, research opportunities, physical facilities, and student quality are all important in determining the quality of education a graduate student receives. Even the relative importance of these factors will differ across students. For example, some students will experience a great deal of educational growth when given the opportunity to conduct journal quality research, while others may find such research experiences to be of little value. A number of researchers have attempted to assess graduate and departmental programs using a few key measures. Publishing output by doctoral students graduating between 1971 and 1982 was used by Tauer and Tauer to rank doctoral programs. Although this type of measure has great appeal, it is of limited value in ranking current graduate programs. Faculty changes or a different administrative philosophy can cause a marked change in graduate program quality over a rela ively short time period. Research output is more often used as a measure of departmental quality. The two approaches utilized are publication counts (Holland and Redman; Opaluch and Just) and citation counts (Gregory and Adams; Beilock, Polopolus, and Correal). Publication counts are useful in assessing the professional activity and competence of departmental faculty. Citation counts help in assessing the long-term impact of this professional activity. To use these measures in assessing graduate program quality, one must assume that these highly-productive faculty have the ability to teach their publishing skills and field expertise to other students in both classroom a d mentoring situations. Typically, these publication counts are limited to a few journals, mainly those aimed at academic economists and agricultural economists. Thus, these counts miss much of a department's output. In the case of citation counts, a few highly-cited pieces of research done 20 years ago may lead one to believe that a particular faculty member is currently competent to teach and mentor graduate students. A third approach is to survey agricultural economists and obtain a subjective assessment of graduate program quality (Boddy; Perry). The advantage of this approach is that it measures perceptions of quality, which are important in influencing where students decide to pursue graduate studies. The disadvantage of this approach is that little timely information exists on the current status of graduate education in particular departments. Therefore, faculty largely rely on anecdotal evidence and historical performance to assess current program quality. The objective of this article is to provide agricultural economists with a more comprehen-sive set of information about U.S. Ph.D. graduate Gregory M. Perry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, O egon State University. Technical Paper #10792 of the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. The author wishes to express appreciation to those who provided information for this study and the comments expressed during faculty seminars at Texas A&M and Oregon State. Comments by reviewers were also responsib e for improving and clarifying the interpretation of results.