Physiology and Management
Stefano Musacchi is WSU’s Endowed Chair for Tree Fruit Physiology and Management. Based in Wenatchee, he researches tree training, pruning, and management techniques for top fruit quality and high-performing orchards.
The Tree Fruit Endowment has enabled important work by Musacchi and his team, including:
- Improving pruning techniques to minimize blind wood in WA 38 trees.
- Determining the relationship between dry matter accumulation in WA 38 fruit and consumer acceptance. This study showcased the high level of consumer satisfaction for WA 38 fruit, while emphasizing that consumer acceptance can be reduced when dry matter increases over 18 percent or if the apples are too small, ultimately helping define quality parameters for this important new apple.
- Leading national NC140 apple rootstock trials to evaluate innovative genotypes from around the world. Two trials have been established with the new Geneva® rootstocks to test them under Washington conditions.
- Studying new potential apple pollinizer genotypes with improved resistance to quarantine-related diseases, such as bull’s eye rot, speck rot, Sphaeropsis rot, and fire blight.
- Studying controlled pollination through bee exclusion with a single row drape net for Washington organic production. This practice can be combined with the well-known effects of single row drape net for sunburn mitigation and codling moth exclusion, with the possibility to thin fruit with reduced or eliminated chemicals.
Postharvest Systems
Carolina Torres leads research that enhances the profitability and sustainability of Northwest pome and stone fruit growers and packers. She works out of the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee.
Tree Fruit Endowment funds have helped Torres advance the following projects:
- Completed the Postharvest Systems laboratory setup and equipped the Center’s Fruit Handling building with cold storage rooms and a state-of-the art sorting line for apples and pears.
- Incorporated two postdoctoral researchers studying the metabolome— the complex web of chemicals that interact within living things—in apples and pears, and began hyper-spectral imaging to sort and study fruit after harvest. Both research areas help optimize the tree fruit industry’s cold chain.
- Started a cherry postharvest research program by conducting preliminary studies on stemless cherries, as well as a post-harvest assessment of cherry seedlings from the WSU breeding program.
- Carried out preliminary research to extend green color in Bartlett pears, post-harvest.
- Supported WA 38 production by:
- Performing and reporting packing cull analyses to provide technical information for improvement of the 2020 crop.
- Developing recommendations for harvest criteria in commercial storage for the 2020 and 2021 crops.
- Creating a WA 38 defect guide to help growers and packers identify common defects and disorders found in this new cultivar.