Dr. Lee Kalcsits and his team are interested in understanding apple sunburn, how the risk of sunburn might change as temperatures increase, and whether netting might be a useful alternative to evaporative cooling for reducing sunburn risk. If netting proves to be an effective approach, and if the economics support it, this could be a means to conserve water and maintain fruit quality in the future. Further detail can be found at https://www.agclimate.net/2019/07/17/how-suitable-is-apple-orchard-netting-as-a-sunburn-control-measure/
Dr. Jessica Waite, working with Dr. Lee Kalcsits is working to better understand the process of apple acclimation to heat and light stress. Her current approach is to subject early-stage developing apples to different kinds of temperature treatments in the early season. The hope is to better understand how early temperature exposure helps apples build up a resistance to heat stress later in the season. For more information visit https://www.agclimate.net/2019/08/12/what-you-need-to-know-about-fruit-acclimation-to-heat-stress/
