Processing Carrot Research Program
- Research
- 2021-2026 Strategic Research Plan
- Research Laboratories, Groups, and Facilities
- Agricultural Soil and Water Studies Laboratory
- Atlantic Canadian Pasture Research Group
- Atlantic Soil Health Lab
- Genomics Unit
- Aquaculture
- Bio-Environmental Engineering Complex
- Canadian Centre for Fur Animal Research
- Christmas Tree Research Programme of Canada
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- Greenhouse Gas Lab
- Innovative Waste Management
- Maple Research Program
- Marine Bio-products Research Laboratory
- Needle Retention Research
- Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
- Potato Consumer Research Initiative
- Potato Molecular Biology & Genomics Lab
- Precision Agriculture
- Processing Carrot Research Program
- Rhubarb Research Program
- Rural Research Collaboration
- The Farm
- Food Bioactives Research Program
- TREEhouse
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- aquaculture centre
- Biofluids and Biosystems Modelling Lab
- Wild Blueberry Research Centre
- Industry
- Research News
- Our Researchers
- Information for Researchers
- McCain Postdoctoral Fellowships
- Undergraduate Student Research Awards
Our mission
To establish, coordinate, liaise, research, develop, demonstrate, and constantly upgrade processing carrot production techniques and technologies, toward enhancing yield and quality, increasing and sustaining productivity and profitability to the producers and processors. We also aim to use environmentally friendly, resource-thrifty technologies, and to be the world leader in processing carrot research and development.
The "C" team
- Rajasekaran Lada, program director
- Azure Adams, scientific officer
- Phillip Joy, research associate
- Arumugam Thiagarajan, research associate
- Paul McNeil, research assistant
- James Burke, research assistant
- Alan Harrison Wright, graduate research assistant
- Samantha Feltmate, graduate research assistant
- Usha P. Rayirath, graduate research assistant
- Mason McDonald, graduate research assistant
- Kathy R. Pickle, graduate research assistant
- Andrea L. Munroe, summer research assistant
Collaborators
Faculty of Agriculture
Drs. C. Caldwell, A. Madani, R. Gordon, P. Havard, T. Astakie, D. Percival; Profs. C. Miller , G. Sampson
NSDAF (1998–2001)
D. Sangster, P. Swinkels, R. Whitman, L. Crozier
AgraPoint
F. MacRae, P. Burgess, V. Zvalo
AAFC
P. Hicklenton (AAFC, Kentville); K. Sanderson (AAFC, Charlettetown); Dr. G. Bourgeois (Horticultural Research and Development Centre, Saint-Jean, Quebec); J. Owen (AAFC, Bouctouche)
PEI Department of Agriculture
Dr. T. Sturtz
Seed companies
Bejo, Seminis, Harris Moran, Stokes, Vesey’s
Fertilizer companies
Truro Agro Mart, NS; Phosyn, UK
Growers and grower organizations
Bragg Lumber Company, T. Meredith, T. Bowers, D. Congdon, T. Meredith Sr.; PEI Horticultural Association; Hort Nova
Universities (Canada)
- Dr. T.J. Blake, University of Toronto
- Dr. D. Hooper, мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±Ö±²¥
- Dr. F. Shahidi, Memorial University
- Dr. Robert Drobovitch, мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±Ö±²¥
Universities/organizations (international)
- Dr. P. Simon, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Dr. I. Goldman, University of Wisconsin, Madison and University of Iowa, USDA-ARS
- Dr. Usha Palaniswamy, University of Connecticut, USA
- Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre, Taiwan
- Dr. B.P. Naidu, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Advisory Board
- Angus Ells (Bragg Lumber Company) - chair
- Rajasekaran Lada (program director, PCRP)
- Cameron Fullerton ()
- Tom Meredith Jr. (producer - NS)
- Greg Whitney (producer - NS)
- Allen Balderston (producer - PEI)
- Findlay MacRae (operations director, )
- Micheal Johnson ()
- Derek Anderson (head, Department of Plant and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture)
- Azure Stiles (scientific officer, PCRP) - recording secretary
Publications
The Carrot Processing Research Program makes available various publications that provide more information on its research findings.
Factsheets
The Carrot Processing Research Program also has a variety of fact sheets on its research projects. .
Newsletters
A variety of newsletters, dating from 2000 to 2005, are available to download as PDFs. .
Equipment
- commercial carrot seeders
- small-scale push seeder
- harvester
- bicycle sprayer
- TDR soil moisture meter
- chlorophyll meter
- manual grader
Research themes
- Varietal introduction and evaluation
- Resource optimization and modeling
- Crop competition and yield and quality monitoring
- Stand establishment and seed physiology
- Physiology disorders
- Stress physiology and acclimation
- Bulking physiology
- Eco-physiology
- Pest and disease forecasting – CIPRA calibration
- Ecologically, environmentally, economically sustainable (EEES) Carrot-based cropping systems
- Good agricultural practices (GAP)
- Maturity, yield, and quality modeling
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Current research projects
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Bulking physiology (an NSERC project)
Project Title
Bulking Physiology: Carrot Bulking, Quality and Harvest Synchronization through Uncovering Genotype, Agronomic and Agroclimatological Interactions
Goals and Objectives
The goal of this project was to develop crop production systematics (CPS) and harvest decision models (HDM) for the processing carrot industry.
The objectives are to: 1) understand carrot bulking physiology and dynamics, yield and quality as influenced by genetic, agronomic, and agro-climatological factors; 2) investigate the influence of these factors on the interrelationship between root bulking, canopy growth, canopy photosynthesis and sink activity; 3) to develop integrated CPS and HDMs.
Team
Project director: Dr. Rajasekaran Lada
Project collaborator: Dr. C. Forney, AAFC
Scientific office: Azure Adams
Sponsors
1. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Coucil (NSERC)
2. Oxford Frozen Foods, Nova Scotia
Agro-informatics
Project title
Agro-informatics: Developing "in silico" solutions for knowledge discovery, knowledge management and providing decision-making tools and systems for carrot industry.
Goal
The goal of this project was to develop agro-informatics through the development of new, innovative digital information and decision systems, technologies and solutions for the carrot industry, researchers, and decision makers, by integrating agronomy, crop physiology, computer science, software engineering and information technology. The project will build on Oxford's fresh product database and use agronomic and meteorological data sets to develop a comprehensive database that can be used as a management and decision making tool for field planning, auditing, budgeting, on-farm food safety, and production, process and market planning providing virtual solutions to on-farm food safety and environmental stewardship
Team
Project leader: Dr. Rajasekaran Lada
Agro-informatics specialist: to be hired
Research biologist: to be hired
Sponsors
1. Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Program
2. Oxford Frozen Food Limited
Eco-physiology
Project title
Eco-physiology, Dynamics and Bulking Modeling of Cut and Peel Carrots
Goals and objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to develop harvest decision models (HDMs) for carrots.
The short-term objectives are to
i) understand the root bulking dynamics as influenced by seeding rates, seeding dates and harvesting dates;
ii) identify the link between root bulking and weather parameters;
iii) elucidate the eco-physiological changes;
iv) model root bulking.
Team
Project director: Dr. Rajasekaran Lada
Project collaborator: Mr. A. Ells, Bragg Lumber Company
Sponsors
1. Technology Development 2000 Program, Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture
2. Oxford Frozen Foods, Nova Scotia
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Carrot-related links
Contact us
Physical address
Processing Carrot Research Program
Department of Plant and Animal Sciences
Faculty of Agriculture, мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±Ö±²¥
Room 151 Cox Institute
50 Pictou Road, Truro, NS
B2N 5E3
Mailing address
Processing Carrot Research Program
Department of Plant and Animal Sciences
Faculty of Agriculture, мÓÆÂÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±Ö±²¥
PO Box 550
Truro, NS
B2N 5E3
Dr. R. Lada - raj.lada@dal.ca
Tel.: (902) 893-2309
Fax: (902) 897-9762