Text Transcript with Description of Visuals
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| Hi, my name is Tim Waters, Washington State University. I'm going to talk to you about evaluation of post-harvest treatments of onions. This is along with Lindsey du Toit, Washington State University, and with the assistance of Ethan Janke and Cole Scott with IVI in Pasco. This is part of a component of a larger USDA SCRI project entitled "Stop the Rot: Combating onion bacterial diseases with pathogenomic tools and enhanced management strategies." So I'm going to go through a series of slides here that describe how we apply these treatments. And then at the end, there will be a video I'll play that will also describe more specifically how the treatments were applied. | A slide reads, Evaluation of Post Harvest Treatments of Onions. Lindsey du Toit and Tim Waters, W S U. Ethan Janke and Cole Scott, I V I Pasco, W A. As a component of the U S D A, S C R I Project, stop the rot, combating onion bacterial diseases with pathogenomic tools and enhanced management strategies. Washington State University. A Ninja logo. |
| Here's a picture of the commercial treatment trailer that IVI uses. And like I said, they were very nice to come in and help us apply these treatments. They made a treatment facility for us, a container, and then they used their commercial apparatus. So without the help of them, we couldn't have gotten these treatments done. | A new slide. A white trailer stands on gravelly ground. A white container is strapped to the front of the trailer. |
| Here's on the -- on the picture on the left is an outside picture of the 20-foot CONEX box that we modified. Basically, you can see a hole in the door of the CONEX with a hose that leads in there with the treated product. And also on the bottom right of that picture, you can see a plug on the ground. The treatments are applied over a one-hour period. Then the hose is pulled out, the plugs put in, and the air is left to circulate for an eight-hour period. At the end of the eight-hour period, the doors are open. They're allowed to air out and prepare for the next round of treatments. The picture on the right is a picture of inside the CONEX box. You can see a small wood box with a fan that Cole built with a switch. When the product is being applied, that fan is pulling the product in through the fan and pushing it through the gray pipes there to run up through the storage container -- the treatment bins. | A new slide features two photos, described by the speaker. |
| This is an inside picture of the treatment bins. You can see that the bins have been perforated to allow that air to push up through the bottom and through the pile of onions to simulate how a commercial storage would be treated. | A new slide shows a photo of bags of onions lying on a perforated base. The base is marked with a mouldy residue. |
| And again, here's a picture of the bins that we use for treatment. You can see that cellophane is wrapped around the bins. That's so that the air doesn't liberate out the sides of the bins, but rather pushes up through those perforations through the onions, similar to the way a commercial onion storage would be treated. | A new slide is described by the speaker. |
| Again, a picture of the bins, but a top view that you can see the bags that are placed in there, and then the watchdog unit in there that records the temperature and humidity throughout the treatment process and the eight-hour period that the onions sat in there. I should note that the onions came from various plots in the field. Some of those plots were -- the onions were treated with bacteria to try to inoculate the onions with bacterial pathogens, and the other set of bags were from untreated areas where we did not inoculate with bacteria. | A new slide. A photo of a storage bin filled with bags of onions. Two men stand either side of it. An inset photo shows a close up of an onion bag, with a small rectangular watch dog unit resting on top. |
| Here's a picture of inside the trailer and Cole making adjustments to the apparatus to apply to this container. So when he makes those adjustments, we're basically dosing out the product. The product needs to be dosed out over one hour period of time, and then the propane needs to be adjusted so that the temperature of the application is between 750 and 850 degrees Fahrenheit. | A new slide. Inside a trailer, a man wearing a cap adjusts a dial on one of two machines on a white counter. |
| And I'm going to play the video for you here and describe specifically how these treatments are applied. Again, just to remind you, these are evaluating treatments that are done commercially, which are -- typically consist of various concentrations of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide. One of the other treatments we included was ozone. The ozone application was made a little bit differently. We actually placed an ozone machine inside of the container and let it run for the eight-hour period, whereas differently the peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide treatments were applied for an hour and allowed to sit in the treatment container for an eight-hour period. And again, with what we're doing here is we're evaluating these various commercial treatments to determine if they mitigate losses in storage due to bacterial rots in onions. | The image returns to the picture of the trailer exterior. |
| So here's Cole coming out of the trailer. You can see the modified CONEX box with the hose that's leading into the CONEX box. So again, that'll be pulled out after the application is made and then the plug placed in there to keep the air in there for the eight-hour period. Going inside the trailer, on the table, you'll see that liquid container there. That holds the product. The product is pulled up with a pump and then dosed out over the one-hour period of time. So you can see the pump there that pulls the product up, and then it is going to come around and then go back into the hot plate. You see that follow that around. And there's the blower, and you can see the blower has been adjusted way back since it's a very small container. This is normally used for commercial storages. The product comes around in that hose, and you'll see it drip ever so slowly here. Like I said, that's been dosed so that this product delivers over a one-hour period or 60-minute period of time. And then that product drips down onto a plate that's being heated with propane. | Tim plays the video and describes the on-screen activities. |
| When the liquid hits the heated plate that's been heated by the propane, which is right there, it turns the liquid into a vapor, and the vapor is blown through this hose out into the CONEX box of the modified storage container. So again, thanks to the folks at IVI for helping us put this together. And this is our attempt to simulate how a commercial storage is treated, but then evaluate small lots so we can determine how effective these storage treatments are. | Pipes enter and connect two metal cylinders. |
| [ No audio] | On a black background, white text reads, Presentation created by Tim Waters. Regional Vegetable Specialist. Washington State University. Pasco, W A. |