Search

Hard cider is growing in popularity throughout the United States (US). Though many scholars have investigated quality and trends in the expanding US cider industry, still little is known about cider producers’ opinions of the products that they make. How do American cider producers value and emplace value onto cider as the industry grows and competes with the broader alcoholic beverage market? This study explored producer perceptions of American hard cider by employing 21 semi-structured interviews with cider-makers throughout Virginia, Vermont, and New York – three leading cider producing states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US. Interview sessions were subject to reflexive thematic analysis for themes related to preference, consumption, and cider-making. Results suggest that cider producers broadly prefer complex flavors and cider made with cider-specific apples. Yet, cider producers ascribe to a diverse spectrum of values related to the cider-making process, agriculture, and business goals, which influence their preferences and the experiences that they create for other consumers. This research also identifies a chasm in how American “cider” is being constructed and valued, offering broad implications for the domestic cider and apple agriculture industries as well as a template for bridging the divide between producer- and consumer-based food studies.

Plant secondary metabolites are key mechanistic drivers of species interactions. These metabolites have primarily been studied for their role in defense, but they can also have important consequences for mutualisms, including seed dispersal. Although the primary function of fleshy fruits is to attract seed-dispersing animals, fruits often contain complex mixtures of toxic or deterrent secondary metabolites that can reduce the quantity or quality of seed dispersal mutualisms. Furthermore, because seeds are often dispersed across multiple stages by several dispersers, the net consequences of fruit secondary metabolites for the effectiveness of seed dispersal and ultimately plant fitness are poorly understood. Here, we tested the effects of amides, nitrogen-based defensive compounds common in fruits of the neotropical plant genus Piper (Piperaceae), on seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) by ants, which are common secondary seed dispersers. We experimentally added amide extracts to Piper fruits both in the field and lab, finding that amides reduced the quantity of secondary seed dispersal by reducing ant recruitment (87%) and fruit removal rates (58% and 66% in the field and lab, respectively). Moreover, amides not only reduced dispersal quantity but also altered seed dispersal quality by shifting the community composition of recruiting ants (notably by reducing the recruitment of the most effective disperser by 90% but having no detectable effect on the recruitment of a cheater species that removes fruit pulp without dispersing seeds). Although amides did not affect the distance ants initially carried seeds, they altered the quality of seed dispersal by reducing the likelihood of ants cleaning seeds (67%) and increasing their likelihood of ants redispersing seeds outside of the nest (200%). Overall, these results demonstrate that secondary metabolites can alter the effectiveness of plant mutualisms, by both reducing mutualism quantity and altering mutualism quality thro

Alcoholic or “hard” cider is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, particularly throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Yet, many stakeholders struggle to understand how consumers define and distinguish hard cider from the sea of options in the saturated alcoholic beverage market. This study aimed to explore consumer preferences for hard cider using a phenomenological, qualitative approach. The research comprised 14 focus groups with regular cider consumers (99 participants) throughout three leading cider-producing states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States: Virginia, Vermont, and New York. All focus group sessions were subject to reflexive thematic analysis for themes broadly related to cider product preference and the cider-drinking experience. Results of the study suggest that cider preference is motivated largely by sensory quality in addition to various other factors including perceived health effects, regionality and proximity, the drinking occasion, and product information. Results also emphasize the importance of nostalgia in cider sensory experiences, as well as the role of social norms in consumer valuation of cider products. Overall, this research highlights diverse consumer preferences for cider and serves as a framework for using qualitative research methods to explore consumer preferences in the food and beverage industries.

Rapid methods of text analysis are increasingly important tools for efficiently extracting and understanding communication within the food and beverage space. This study aimed to use frequency-based text mining and biterm topic modeling (BTM) as tools for analyzing how cider products are communicated and marketed on cider-producer websites for products made in Virginia, Vermont, and New York. BTM has been previously used to explore topics in small corpora of text data, and frequency-based text mining is efficient for exploring patterns of text across different documents or filters. The present dataset comprised 1115 cider products and their website descriptions extracted from 124 total cider-producer websites during 2020 and 2021. Results of the text mining analyses suggest that cider website descriptions emphasize food-pairing, production, and sensory quality information. Altogether, this research presents the text mining approaches for exploring food and beverage communication. Practical applicationsThis research will be valuable to stakeholders in the United States' cider industry by providing relevant insight as to how cider marketing and sensory communication varies based on extrinsic product factors, such as geography and packaging. This research also demonstrates the efficiency and potential of text mining tools for exploring language and communication related to foods, beverages, and sensory quality. Further, this research provides a framework for extracting sensory-specific language from a large corpus of data, which may be adopted by other researchers wishing to apply rapid descriptive methods in the sensory, quality, and consumer research fields.

Microbial communities associated with fruit can contribute to quality and pathogen resistance, but little is known about their assembly and dynamics during fruit development and storage. Three apple cultivars growing under the same environmental conditions were utilized to examine the apple carposphere microbiome composition and structure at different developmental stages and storage. There was a significant effect (Adonis, p <= 0.001) of fruit genotype and its developmental stages and storage times on the fruit surface microbial assemblage and a strong temporal microbial community succession was detected (Mantel test: R <= 0.5, p = 0.001) in both bacterial and fungal communities. A set of 15 bacterial and 35 fungal core successional taxa and members exhibiting differential abundances at different fruit stages were identified. For the first time, we show the existence of underlying universal dynamics in the assembly of fruit-associated microbiomes. We also provide evidence of strong microbial cross-domain associations and uncover potential microbe-microbe correlations in the apple carposphere. Together our findings shed light on how the fruit carposphere assemble and change over time, and provide new insights into fruit microbial ecology.

Habitat fragmentation impacts ecosystems worldwide through habitat loss, reduced connectivity, and edge effects. Yet, these landscape factors are often confounded, leaving much to be investigated about their relative effects, especially on species interactions. In a landscape experiment, we investigated the consequences of connectivity and edge effects for seed dispersal by ants. We found that ants dispersed seeds farther in habitat patches connected by corridors, but only in patch centers. We did not see an effect on the total number of seeds moved or the rate ants detected seeds. Furthermore, we did not see any differences in ant community composition across patch types, suggesting that shifts in ant behavior or other factors increased ant seed dispersal in patches connected by corridors. Long-distance seed dispersal by ants that requires an accumulation of short-distance dispersal events over generations may be an underappreciated mechanism through which corridors increase plant diversity.

Interactions between plants and leaf herbivores have long been implicated as the major driver of plant secondary metabolite diversity. However, other plant-animal interactions, such as those between fruits and frugivores, may also be involved in phytochemical diversification. Using 12 species of Piper, we conducted untargeted metabolomics and molecular networking with extracts of fruits and leaves. We evaluated organ-specific secondary metabolite composition and compared multiple dimensions of phytochemical diversity across organs, including richness, structural complexity, and variability across samples at multiple scales within and across species. Plant organ identity, species identity, and the interaction between the two all significantly influenced secondary metabolite composition. Leaves and fruit shared a majority of compounds, but fruits contained more unique compounds and had higher total estimated chemical richness. While the relative levels of chemical richness and structural complexity across organs varied substantially across species, fruit diversity exceeded leaf diversity in more species than the reverse. Furthermore, the variance in chemical composition across samples was higher for fruits than leaves. By documenting a broad pattern of high phytochemical diversity in fruits relative to leaves, this study lays groundwork for incorporating fruit into a comprehensive and integrative understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping secondary metabolite composition at the whole-plant level.

Plants produce an enormous diversity of secondary metabolites, but the evolutionary mechanisms that maintain this diversity are still unclear. The interaction diversity hypothesis suggests that complex chemical phenotypes are maintained because different metabolites benefit plants in different pairwise interactions with a diversity of other organisms. In this synthesis, we extend the interaction diversity hypothesis to consider that fruits, as potential hotspots of interactions with both antagonists and mutualists, are likely important incubators of phytochemical diversity. We provide a case study focused on the Neotropical shrub Piper reticulatum that demonstrates: 1) secondary metabolites in fruits have complex and cascading effects for shaping the outcome of both mutualistic and antagonistic fruit-frugivore interactions, and; 2) fruits can harbor substantially higher levels of phytochemical diversity than leaves, even though leaves have been the primary focus of plant chemical ecology research for decades. We then suggest a number of research priorities for integrating chemical ecology with fruit-frugivore interaction research and make specific, testable predictions for patterns that should emerge if fruit interaction diversity has helped shape phytochemical diversity. Testing these predictions in a range of systems will provide new insight into the mechanisms driving frugivory and seed dispersal and shape an improved, whole-plant perspective on plant chemical trait evolution.

There is growing recognition of the role that the microbiome plays in the health and physiology of many plant species. However, considerably less research has been conducted on the postharvest microbiome of produce and the impact that postharvest processing may have on its composition. Here, amplicon sequencing was used to study the effect of washing, waxing, and low-temperature storage at 2 degrees C for six months on the bacterial and fungal communities of apple calyx-end, stem-end, and peel tissues. The results of the present work reveal that tissue-type is the main factor defining fungal and bacterial diversity and community composition on apple fruit. Both postharvest treatments and low temperature storage had a strong impact on the fungal and bacterial diversity and community composition of these tissue types. Distinct spatial and temporal changes in the composition and diversity of the microbiota were observed in response to various postharvest management practices. The greatest impact was attributed to sanitation practices with major differences among unwashed, washed and washed-waxed apples. The magnitude of the differences, however, was tissue-specific, with the greatest impact occurring on peel tissues. Temporally, the largest shift occurred during the first two months of low-temperature storage, although fungi were more affected by storage time than bacteria. In general, fungi and bacteria were impacted equally by sanitation practices, especially the epiphytic microflora of peel tissues. This research provides a foundation for understanding the impact of postharvest management practices on the microbiome of apple and its potential subsequent effects on postharvest disease management and food safety.

Apple trees cv. ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘York’ were sprayed from bloom to fruit maturity with different products to evaluate the effect of pre-harvest treatments on fruit quality, including insect/disease damage and physicochemical fruit traits. Apple trees were assigned to five treatments: unsprayed (control), holistic solution (foliar nutrients and probiotics), insecticides, antimicrobials (fungicides and antibiotics), and a combination of antimicrobials + insecticides. The treatments started soon after bloom and were carried out every two weeks until fruit were ready to harvest. Diseases such as sooty blotch (complex of several fungi) and flyspeck (Zygophiala jamaicensis Mason) were the major source of damage on fruits. ‘Golden Delicious’ trees had a higher percentage of undamaged fruit than ‘York’, but all trees had some percentage of damaged fruit. Damage was most severe in the control (unsprayed) and insecticide treatments, intermediate in the holistic treatment, and much lower in the antimicrobial and antimicrobial + insecticide treatments (p < 0.003 for all comparisons). There was also a significant interactive effect (p < .0001) of cultivars and pre-harvest spray treatment on apple fruit mass. For both cultivars there was a strong effect of spray treatment on size, with larger apples produced in the antimicrobial and antimicrobial + insecticide treatments, but these effects were more pronounced in 'York' than in 'Golden Delicious' apples. ‘Golden Delicious’ trees produced 1.4-fold heavier and bigger fruits compared to ‘York’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ fruit were more mature than ‘York’ at harvest. Pre-harvest treatments also affected other quality parameters of apple fruit, such as soluble solids content (SSC) and starch-iodine index. Using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), ‘Golden Delicious’ fruit could be well classified according to the holistic, antimicrobial, and antimicrobial + insecticide treatments. Control and insecticide samples clu

Morphological and chemical attributes of diaspores in myrmecochorous plants have been shown to affect seed dispersal by ants, but the relative importance of these attributes in determining seed attractiveness and dispersal success is poorly understood. We explored whether differences in diaspore morphology, elaiosome fatty acids, or elaiosome phytochemical profiles explain the differential attractiveness of five species in the genus Trillium to eastern North American forest ants. Species were ranked from least to most attractive based on empirically-derived seed dispersal probabilities in our study system, and we compared diaspore traits to test our hypotheses that more attractive species will have larger diaspores, greater concentrations of elaiosome fatty acids, and distinct elaiosome phytochemistry compared to the less attractive species. Diaspore length, width, mass, and elaiosome length were significantly greater in the more attractive species. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, we found significantly higher concentrations of oleic, linoleic, hexadecenoic, stearic, palmitoleic, and total fatty acids in elaiosomes of the more attractive species. Multivariate assessments revealed that elaiosome phytochemical profiles, identified through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, were more homogeneous for the more attractive species. Random forest classification models (RFCM) identified several elaiosome phytochemicals that differed significantly among species. Random forest regression models revealed that some of the compounds identified by RFCM, including methylhistidine (alpha-amino acid) and d-glucarate (carbohydrate), were positively related to seed dispersal probabilities, while others, including salicylate (salicylic acid) and citrulline (L-alpha-amino acid), were negatively related. These results supported our hypotheses that the more attractive species of Trillium-which are geographically widespread compared to their less attractive, endemic congen

Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) is best known for causing exasperating allergenic delayed-contact dermatitis symptoms that last for weeks on persons who have contacted the plant. Urushiols are alkylcatechols produced by poison ivy responsible for causing this dermatitis. While urushiol chemical structures are well known, the metabolic intermediates and genes responsible for their biosynthesis have not been experimentally validated. A molecular genetic characterization of urushiol biosynthesis in poison ivy will require stable genetic transformation and subsequent regeneration of organs that retain the capacity synthesize urushiol. To this end, Agrobacterium rhizogenes was used to generate hormone-independent poison ivy hairy root cultures. Optimal conditions for hairy root formation were skotomorphic poison ivy hypocotyls prick-inoculated with A. rhizogenes, and preferential propagation of cultures with an atypical clumpy hairy root growth habit. The origin of the poison ivy accession used for A. rhizogenes prick-inoculation did not affect the initial formation of calli/ hairy root primordia, but rather significantly influenced the establishment of longterm hormone-independent hairy root growth. A. rhizogenes harboring a recombinant T-DNA binary plasmid with an intron-containing Firefly Luciferase gene produced stable transgenic hairy root lines expressing luciferase activity at high frequency. Poison ivy hairy root lines produced significantly lower steady-state urushiol levels relative to wild-type roots, but higher urushiol levels than a poison ivy undifferentiated callus line with undetectable urushiol levels, suggesting that urushiol biosynthesis requires intact poison ivy organs. The lower urushiol levels in poison ivy hairy root lines facilitated the first identification of anacardic acid metabolites initially in hairy roots, and subsequently in wild-type roots as well. This study establishes a transformation hairy root regeneration protocol for poison iv