The Muck Crops Research Station is an agriculture research facility near Kettleby and Ansnorveldt, in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is operated by the Office of Research at the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

. The station's research is focussed on several key areas: *

Crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

protection of muck vegetables *Evaluation of vegetable

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s *Post-harvest storage and treatment *

Soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

and crop management The station features greenhouses with a system-controlled environment, a

plant pathology Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

laboratory, and long-term cold storage. Seven hectares of land are split into plots devoted to researching organic and mineral soils. Local growers also participate in commercial field trials on occasion.

Crop protection

Various long-term research projects analyze and assess the impact of indigenous and invasive pests and parasites. Since 1998, the site has studied the over-wintering ability of the pea leafminer in southern Ontario, as well as associated parasitoid complexes collected from leafminer pupae. Protection from fungi and molds during storage is also studied at this station. For example, the mold

Sclerotinia ''Sclerotinia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Sclerotiniaceae. The widely distributed genus contains 14 species. Taxonomy A number of species previously assigned to ''Sclerotinia'' are now considered to be members of the closely related gen ...

releases

oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and chemical formula , also written as or or . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name i ...

, a compound that allows the mold to infect carrots. Researchers are studying the use of "calcium formulations to deter Sclerotinia growth". Another focus is to establish

sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

methods of dealing with agricultural pests, such as the carrot weevil and the carrot rust fly.

Vegetable cultivars

One of the site's important functions is to determine the viability and suitability of specific crop cultivars in the

Holland Marsh The Holland Marsh is a wetland and agricultural area in Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. It lies entirely within the valley of the Holland River, stretching from the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Schomberg to the river mo ...

. The area is a major producer of onions, carrots, lettuce, celery and Asian vegetables.

Storage and treatment

The aim of research into storage of crops is to identify crops that may be grown in the Holland Marsh and stored for eventual winter distribution, so that residents of Ontario may have access to Ontario-grown vegetables year-round.

Soil and crop management

To improve yield and reduce the negative impact of agricultural practices on farmland, studies at this research station have attempted to identify conditions under which it is most appropriate to apply specific

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

s. For example, nitrogen fertilizers are typically applied to carrot crops to improve yields and reduce leaf blight. Research at this station suggests that by matching the use of nitrogen fertilizers to the type of soil in which carrots are grown, high yields may be achieved. Moreover, this can be done with less nitrogen fertilizer and minimizing the use of fungicides to control leaf blight, decreasing costs and mitigating some environmental concerns.

References

External links

Kettleby Research Station
* {{coord, 44, 2, 36.7, N, 79, 35, 34.25, W, region:CA-ON, display=title University of Guelph Agricultural organizations based in Canada Buildings and structures in King, Ontario Educational institutions in Canada with year of establishment missing Wetland conservation Agricultural research stations