fruit

PULLMAN, Wash. – Fruit sales at Washington State University’s Tukey Horticulture Orchard will continue this weekend with the addition of apricots.

By Rebecca Phillips, University Communications science writer

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University scientists have shown that berries, grapes and other fruits convert excess white fat into calorie-burning beige fat, providing new strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity.

WENATCHEE, Wash. – My friend Kate Evans said the answer really depends on whether you want the perspective of a person, a plant or even a cat. Evans is a plant scientist at Washington State University in Wenatchee, where she investigates fruit in the Apple Capital of the World.

By Cathy McKenzie, WSU Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Biodegradable mulches provide eco-friendly benefits to the agriculture industry, but the effects on fruit quality of these weed-controlling, moisture-preserving products are largely unknown.

By Sylvia Kantor, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences

PULLMAN, Wash. – Scientists at Washington State University have been awarded $2.53 million to improve fruit quality and disease resistance of crops in the rosaceae family (apple, blackberry, peach, pear, rose, strawberry, sweet cherry and tart cherry).

By Cathy McKenzie, WSU Extension

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Entomologist Lynell Tanigoshi and his colleagues at Washington State University have devised an effective system to help soft-fruit growers control their “Public Enemy No. 1” – spotted wing drosophila, a type of fruit fly.

EVERETT, Wash. – Adding fruit trees to a home or commercial orchard can be an expensive proposition – unless you know how to graft.

By Linda Weiford, WSU News

PULLMAN, Wash. – An alien pest that smells like dirty socks and devours crops might become Washington state agriculture’s Public Enemy No. 1 in less than five years, government and university researchers are warning.

A microphoto of a phytochemical, courtesy of WSU

Extension.

PULLMAN – Research on the benefits of phytochemicals in apples and raspberries will expand to include other major Washington crops, continuing a project that a WSU scientist began last year.

Bernd M. Lange, assistant professor in WSU’s Institute of Biological Chemistry, spearheaded the research project, beginning in the fall of 2007, with the goal of developing a high-throughput analytical method of measuring levels of health-related phytochemicals in crops.

“Phytochemicals, in general, are active chemicals in plants that can be of nutritional value,” Lange said. … » More …

Improved apples, peaches, pears and cherries at market sooner. This is one benefit of research by WSU bioinformaticist Dorrie Main.Piece by piece, Main, an associate professor of horticulture and a scientist in the WSU Agricultural Research Center, is mapping the DNA mosaic of the rosaceous family. The family includes Washington’s largest crop–apples–and other tree fruit as well as cherries, peaches, berries and nuts. One result of her work is a shortening of the time between breeding-improved tree fruit varieties and actually planting them for production.Main focuses on genes connected primarily to fruit quality– sugar and acid levels, color, firmness and fruit size as well as … » More …