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Triangle tests were used to determine if panellists could distinguish (by tasting) cooked wedges of potatoes grown organically, either with (+) or without (−) compost, and conventionally. Mineral and glycoalkaloid analyses of tuber skin and flesh were also completed. When the skin remained on the potatoes, panellists detected differences between conventional potatoes and organic potatoes, regardless of soil treatment. However, they did not distinguish between organic treatments (± compost) when samples contained skin, or between any treatments if wedges were peeled prior to preparation and presentation. Glycoalkaloid levels tended to be higher in organic potatoes. In tuber skin and flesh, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur and copper concentrations were also significantly higher in the organic treatments, while iron and manganese concentrations were higher in the skin of conventionally grown potatoes.

The effects of temperature and soil moisture on infection and disease development by Rhizoctonia solani on soybean were studied individually. In addition, the anastomosis group of R. solani isolates recovered from soybean from 35 fields in 15 counties was determined. All of the 44 isolates recovered in this study were AG-2-2 IIIB. Five isolates of R. solani were able to infect and colonize soybean roots and hypocotyls at 20, 24, 28, and 32°C in growth chamber studies. The temperatures evaluated in this study were not limiting to the isolates tested. In greenhouse studies, nine R. solani isolates and a noninoculated control were evaluated at 25, 50, 75, and 100% soil moisture holding capacity (MHC). Root weights were greater and percent stand averages higher at 50 and 75% than at 25 or 100% MHC; however, as percentage of control, the main effect on percent moisture for percent stand, plant height, or root weight was not significant. There were significant differences among the isolates for the percent stand, root rot rating, and root fresh weight of soybean in each study. In both temperature and moisture studies, the R. solani isolates could be separated as predominantly causing (i) seed rot, as detected by greatly reduced plant stand; (ii) root rot generally having no effect on plant stand but a high root rot rating and low root weight; or (iii) hypocotyl lesions, having no effect on plant stand, a low root rot score, and a high number of red lesions on the hypocotyl. In the greenhouse seed treatment evaluations of five fungicides, there was no fungicide by isolate interaction using these pathogenic types of R. solani. None of the seed treatments evaluated in this study provided 100% control of the four isolates tested. Due to the wide range of environmental factors that permit R. solani infection and disease on soybeans, other control measures that last all season, such as host resistance, should be emphasized.

Leaf samples collected from field plots of nine lettuce cultivars established in the early (ES) and late (LS) summer of 2002 and 2003 in Celeryville, Ohio, were subjected to spectrophotometric measurement of anthocyanin concentrations or color analysis based on colorimeter and spectroradiometer readings and human panelist ratings. Interactions among year (Y), transplanting date (TD), and cultivar (C) main effects for anthocyanin concentration were significant as a result of shifts in response magnitude but not direction. Anthocyanin levels were higher after LS than ES transplanting regardless of Y and C. The effects of TD were pronounced in 2002, when differences in average daily temperature between ES and LS transplantings tended to be larger. Also, regardless of Y and TD, anthocyanin levels followed the pattern ‘Impuls’ > ‘OOC 1441’ > ‘Valeria’ > ‘OOC1426’ > ‘Lotto’ > ‘SVR 9634’ > ‘OOC 1434’ = ‘OOC 1310’ > ‘Cireo’. Treatment-based color differences were also evident in colorimeter and spectroradiometer readings. Also, panelists differentiated samples grown in 2003 based on red color intensity. Correlations between analytic and instrumented and human panelist-based measures suggest instrumented assessments of red coloration may serve as proxies for direct measures of anthocyanin levels or human panelist ratings, particularly if the aim is to establish color differences between major experimental groups and assign quantitative, repeatable values to red color intensity.

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