College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences All

College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu Development of NM Green Chile Cultivars for Mechanization Dr. Stephanie Walker Extension Vegetable Specialist Dept. of Extension Plant Sciences About the College: The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences is an engine for economic and community development in New Mexico, improving the lives of New Mexicans through academic, research, and extension programs.

Green Chile is currently 100% hand-harvested All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu Photo courtesy of Paul Funk

Introduction • NM-type green chile is historically a labor-intensive crop • Depending on the current situation, adequate labor is not always available when needed • Labor represents greater than 50% of total production costs in hand-harvested system • Developed countries - with relatively high wages - are at a disadvantage in producing labor intensive crops compared to countries with low wages • Mechanization is one of the key methods to level the playing field & help to ensure a timely harvest All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu Cooperative Extension Service

Green Chile - Challenges to Mechanical Harvest • Fruit are not uniform & don’t ‘roll’ making them difficult to orient • Destemming is important, but mechanically difficult • Fruit are easily damaged when mechanically harvested • Currently available varieties were not developed for a mechanized system All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Chile Mechanization Research • Collaboration between agricultural engineers, crop physiologists and chile breeders is critical for advancing green chile mechanization • Past efforts identified an Etgar (Bet-Lehem-Haglillet, Israel) mechanical chile harvester for efficient pick of NM green chile with less fruit damage All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Breeding Goals for NM-type Green Chile for Mechanized System • • • Determinate fruit set Upright habit; fruit off ground Fruit resistance to breakage Strong, single stem Fruit borne on outside of the canopy Well anchored root system For Mechanical Destemming: • Uniform, straight fruit & easy destemming All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu ‘Nu. Mex Joe E. Parker’

Green Chile Cultivar Development for Mechanical Harvest • Goal: Open-pollinated, high yielding cultivars that are highly efficient for mechanical harvest and destemming • Originated from cross between easy destemming line and ‘Nu. Mex Joe E. Parker’ • 2010 - 2015: Field selections made for -yield -fruit size -fruit straightness -easy destemming -flavor & heat All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Green Chile Mechanical Harvest –Breeding Line Evaluation - 2016 • Conducted at NMSU’s Ag. Science Center in Los Lunas • Five green chile breeding lines (101 W 16, 102 W 16, 103 W 16, 104 W 16, 105 W 16) and ‘Nu. Mex Joe Parker’ (control) / Also five observational lines (107 W 16 -111 W 16) • Five replications, randomized complete block design • Furrow-irrigated; direct seeded 04/14/16; harvested 08/31/16 • Harvested using an Etgar Series MOSES 1010 (Bet-Lehem-Haglillet, Israel) All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Results All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Green Chile Mechanical Harvest – Breeding Line Evaluation - Results • With the exception of ‘ 103 W 16’, all breeding lines provided more marketable green yield than ‘JEP’, although the differences were not statistically significant • ‘Joe E. Parker’ left significantly more fruit in the field compared to all breeding lines evaluated • The breeding lines show great promise for use in a mechanized system; trials will be repeated in Los Lunas and Las Cruces in 2017 for potential release All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Additional NMSU / USDA-ARS Green Chile Mechanical Harvest Research Activities in 2016 Poster Presentations: Comparison of Six New Mexican Type Green Chile (Capsicum annuum L) cultivars on Harvest Efficiency with an Etgar® Picker -I. Calsoyas, S. Walker, P. Funk, and R. Steiner Chile Stand Management for Mechanical Green Chile Harvest -C. Havlik, S. Walker, M. Marsalis, B. Schutte, P. Funk and J. Degnan All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

Thank You! Questions? • Research conducted in collaboration with: -Dr. Paul Funk & USDA-ARS Cotton Ginning Lab. crew -NMSU, Los Lunas Ag. Science Center crew -Israel Calsoyas and Charles Havlik, graduate students • Funding provided by NM Chile Commission NM Chile Association NMSU, Ag. Experiment Sta. All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu

• • Contact Information: ++++++++++++ Dr. Stephanie J. Walker Extension Vegetable Specialist New Mexico State University Office: (575) 646 -4398 swalker@nmsu. edu All About Discovery! ™ New Mexico State University aces. nmsu. edu Cooperative Extension Service