Murray State University
Plant Breeding, Pest Control, and Remote Sensing to Improve Dark Tobacco Production: Study 1: Evaluation of Dark Fire-cured and Dark Air-Cured Tobacco Varieties
Institution
Murray State University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
David Ferguson; Robert Miller; Robert Hill; Whitney Peake; William Bailey; Iin Handayani
Abstract
The variety trials at Murray State University are part of a larger tobacco breeding program for the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The main emphasis of the breeding program is to incorporate disease resistance into new varieties or hybrids and to restore the leaf quality to these new varieties to a level currently found in the older popular disease susceptible varieties. Two experiments will be analyzed to compare differences between tobacco varieties, hybrids or other tobacco genotypes. The first experiment was to compare the dark varieties or hybrids that were fire-cured. The fifteen dark-fired varieties or hybrids were: KT D4, KT D8, DT 538, ms D 2405, NL Madole, PD 319H, ms D 2404, PD 7309, TR Madole, PD 7312, KY 171, VA 309, KT D6, PD 7302 and PD 7318. The second experiment was to compare the dark varieties, hybrids and new genotypes that were air-cured. The genotypes were tested in the air-cured experiment first to eliminate variation in leaf quality sometimes caused by variances in the fire-curing process. The fifteen dark air-cured varieties, hybrids or genotypes were: KT D8, PD 7309, KT D6, ms D 2601, NL Madole, PD 319H, VA 359, Little Crittenden, KY 171, DT 538, PD 7312, KT D4, PD 7302, PD 7318, ms D 2602. For these experiments, the tobacco was transplanted into their respective plots on June 9th and June 10th, 2009. The dark fired-cured and dark air-cured were harvested on October 5th and October 12th, 2009, respectively.
Plant Breeding, Pest Control, and Remote Sensing to Improve Dark Tobacco Production: Study 1: Evaluation of Dark Fire-cured and Dark Air-Cured Tobacco Varieties
The variety trials at Murray State University are part of a larger tobacco breeding program for the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The main emphasis of the breeding program is to incorporate disease resistance into new varieties or hybrids and to restore the leaf quality to these new varieties to a level currently found in the older popular disease susceptible varieties. Two experiments will be analyzed to compare differences between tobacco varieties, hybrids or other tobacco genotypes. The first experiment was to compare the dark varieties or hybrids that were fire-cured. The fifteen dark-fired varieties or hybrids were: KT D4, KT D8, DT 538, ms D 2405, NL Madole, PD 319H, ms D 2404, PD 7309, TR Madole, PD 7312, KY 171, VA 309, KT D6, PD 7302 and PD 7318. The second experiment was to compare the dark varieties, hybrids and new genotypes that were air-cured. The genotypes were tested in the air-cured experiment first to eliminate variation in leaf quality sometimes caused by variances in the fire-curing process. The fifteen dark air-cured varieties, hybrids or genotypes were: KT D8, PD 7309, KT D6, ms D 2601, NL Madole, PD 319H, VA 359, Little Crittenden, KY 171, DT 538, PD 7312, KT D4, PD 7302, PD 7318, ms D 2602. For these experiments, the tobacco was transplanted into their respective plots on June 9th and June 10th, 2009. The dark fired-cured and dark air-cured were harvested on October 5th and October 12th, 2009, respectively.