Water and salt management are critical to agricultural sustainability in the Lower Colorado River Basin. Crop production in the area utilizes various irrigation application methods over the cropping system. The Quantitative Assessments of Water and Salt Balance for Cropping Systems in Lower Colorado River Irrigation Districts project, coordinated by The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA), aims to answer questions that arose after the release of a 2015 report addressing agriculture and water use in the Yuma area.

YCEDA is a donor-funded and donor-focused public-private partnership created to be uniquely responsive to the needs of the Ag industry. We connect the crop production industry and top scientists, and together we develop solutions to the pressing problems of desert agriculture. Donor funds enable us to initiate research projects and are leveraged by obtaining grant funding to maximize the impact of our work. This video shares the ongoing projects that were funded in Fall 2020.

Fusarium wilt of lettuce is a disease caused by a soil-borne fungus. This fungal pathogen is causing the destruction of valuable lettuce crops every year. That is why we have identified mitigating Fusarium wilt of lettuce as a high-priority issue for the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture. This Insider’s Scoop will update you on the goals of our Fusarium wilt of lettuce field trials, which are underway, and our efforts to help growers manage this disease.

In this final instructional video, Amy Pierce, University of Arizona Biosystems Engineering student, shows another detection method called Loop-Mediated Amplification PCR. This method can be initiated in the field with sample collection and DNA processing with further purification and analysis in the lab.

Amy Pierce, University of Arizona Biosystems Engineering student, shows how to further purify the crude sample that was created in the first video. The sample can then be used for other types of analysis in the lab.

In this instructional video, Amy Pierce, University of Arizona Biosystems Engineering student, shows us how to extract the crude DNA from suspected diseased lettuce plants and how to use the Agdia amplified RPA system that can be used directly in the field to diagnose Fusarium wilt of lettuce.

We collaborated with Dr. Barry Pryor, a professor of plant pathology and microbiology from the University of Arizona, to explore new techniques to improve greenhouse research and develop DNA-based methods for rapid detection of Fusarium wilt of lettuce in the lab, in the greenhouse, and even in the field. In this video we give a brief overview of the project. There are also 3 instructional videos detailing the methods for extracting DNA and processing it for rapid diagnostics.

In this Insider's Scoop we announce an exciting new project dedicated to helping the Ag industry protect its workforce by detecting Covid-19 infection 7 days before symptoms occur. We would like to thank Jesus Tovar, Yuma County, and Dr. Shane Burgess and his team at the University of Arizona for their part in making this project a reality.