Project Number: 6606-21220-009-03
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 10, 2005
End Date: Aug 10, 2010

Objective:
The general objective of this cooperative research project is to solve production and protection associated problems that are most limiting or threatening to the viability or profitability of pecan (Carya illinoinensis) husbandry in the desert environment of the southwestern United States.

Approach:
Improved production and protection tools and strategies will be developed based on field and laboratory based studies. Commercial orchards will be used to assess arthropod (focusing on aphids, casebearer, shuckworm, and weevil), water (focusing on use efficiency, timing, and ground water quality), and nutritional (focusing on N, K, Zn) factors affecting nut yields and profitability. Data will be integrated with existing knowledge and art to devise new or improved horticultural or pest management tools that solve production and protection problems of importance to southwestern U.S. farmers. Efforts will include biological and insecticidal control of arthropods, development of water management models, cycling of nitrogen and its loss into groundwater, establishment of foliar based standards for mineral nutrients, and improving soil management strategies to solve water and mineral nutrition associated problems.