HRI Grants $220,000 to Research

The Horticultural Research Institute’s (HRI) executive committee recently granted $220,000 to 18 high-priority projects and four scholarships. During the committee’s annual grants funding retreat, the committee considered 105 applications for funding and determined these projects best meet the needs of the industry and have quality scientific merit that will result in new knowledge and techniques to deal with major industry issues. Supported projects for 2005 include topics such as Phytophthora diagnostic methods, evaluation of bioplastic nursery containers, invasive species, and pest and resource management practices.

HRI is actively partnering with other associations to increase industry research. Most notably, HRI has partnered with the USDA Agricultural Research Service to obtain and guide federal research dollars to critical industry research through the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative (FNRI). FNRI research funding now totals $6 million. These partnerships represent an extraordinary advancement of HRI’s mission to be a clearinghouse for nursery and landscape research.

The following information highlights the $220,000 in research grants distributed by the HRI. The institution, principal investigator, project and amount of the grant are listed in topical order.

Crop Production
Environmental Stress Reduction and Genetic and Induced Resistance

• Landscape Plant Development Center (Harold Pellett)
  Development of New Landscape Plants for all Regions of North America-$15,000
• U.S. National Arboretum, USDA-ARS (Sandra M. Reed)
  Developing Improved Woody Ornamentals through Interspecific Hybridization-$8,000
• Landscape Plant Development Center (Harold Pellett)
  Developing the Landscape Potential of Native Plant Species-$3,000

Pest Management
Altered Cultural Practices

• University of California (Mike D Coffey)
  Development of a Reliable and Rapid Diagnostic Detection Method for Phytophthora in Nurseries-$12,000

Biological Control and Integrated Pest Management

• North Carolina State University (Colleen Y. Warfield)
  Development of a PCR-based Detection Assay for Foliar Nematodes in Ornamental Host Plant Tissues-$11,000
• Ohio State University (Parwinder S. Grewal and Daniel Herms)
  Cost-effective Long-term Control of White Grubs in Nurseries Through the Establishment of Entomopathogenic Nematode Populations-$19,000

Weed Control and Integrated Pest Management

• University of Connecticut (Mark H. Brand)
  DNA Fingerprinting of Berberis thunbergii and Euonymus alatus to Determine the Origin of Invasive Populations-$20,000
• University of Minnesota and Oregon State University (Stan Hokanson and James Altland)
  Determining Relative Invasiveness of Buddleja davidii Cultivars and Developing Management Strategies to Prevent their Spread-$14,000
• North Carolina State University (Joseph C. Neal and David Monks)
  Improving Access To Herbicide Safety and Efficacy Data-$2,000
• Oregon State University and Auburn University (James Altland and Charles Gilliam)
  Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) Control in Propagation and Container Systems-$12,000

Production /Efficiency
Labor

• The Ohio State University (Hannah M. Mathers)
  Multi-state Survey of Nursery Laborer Level Employees: Ohio, Mich., Del., Tenn., Fla., Ind. and Az.- $21,000

Post Production Practices
Physiological Acclimation and Post-production Stress Reduction

• Iowa State University and University of Florida (William R. Graves, Jay-lin Jane, Heidi Kratsch, Perminus Mungara and Jyotsna Sharma)
  Evaluation of Bioplastic Nursery Containers in Three Climates-$14,000

Water
Water Management and Water Use for Ornamental Plants

• Colorado State University (Yaling Qian, Steve Newman and James Klett)
  Impacts of Recycled Wastewater Irrigation on Landscape Plants-$15,000
• University of Florida (Dorota Z. Haman)
  Real-time Irrigation Scheduling for Ornamental Plant Production Using Echo Moisture Sensors-$10,000
• Kansas State University (Jason J. Griffin)
  Selecting a Drought Tolerant Sugar Maple Rootstock-$4,000
• North Carolina State University (Ted Bilderback and Stuart Warren)
  Reducing Water and Nutrient Inputs to Clay Amended Substrates: How Low Can We Go?-$12,000
• The Ohio State University (Daniel K. Struve)
  Mineral Nutrition and Nutrient Use Efficiency of Container-Grown Trees-$11,000

Water Additives and Water Management

• Texas A&M University (Michael A. Arnold)
  Ozone (O3) Efficacy in the Treatment of Recycled Nursery Irrigation Water-$11,000

Scholarships

• Carville M. Akehurst Memorial Scholarship-$1,000
• Spring Meadow Nursery Scholarship-$1,500
• Timothy Bigelow and Palmer W. Bigelow, Jr. Scholarship-$2,500
• The Usrey Family Scholarship-$1,000

HRI is the research division of the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA). ANLA, a Washington, DC-based trade assocation, represents more than 2,300 firms that grow, sell and use landscape plants. ANLA’s advocates the industry’s interest before government, and provides its members with unique business knowledge essential to long-term growth and profitability.