23 September 2002 Lincoln – taking horticulture to the cutting edge of science

The changing face of horticulture has led Lincoln University to repackage its horticultural degree programmes giving sharper focus to the scientific contribution its graduates can make to the industry.

"It is our intention to provide an exciting university degree that fulfils the requirements of a vibrant, growing industry," says Lincoln University's Professor of Plant Biotechnology, Brian Jordan, who is also Director of the University's Soil, Plant and Ecological Sciences Division.

"Today's emphasis in horticulture is on greater integration with complementary scientific disciplines such as those dealing with plant physiology and nutrition, disease and pest control, molecular genetics and biotechnology, soil science and land treatment systems, and Lincoln has moved to recognise this."

Professor Jordan says it had been found that in recent years students were not being attracted to conventional university approaches to horticultural education.

"It was becoming clear that we needed to focus on the wider principles of plant science knowledge that will give graduates flexibility in an ever­ changing horticultural environment.

"A species-based focus is not appropriate. Students need to learn the generic skills that they can use to solve a wide range of problems.

"New approaches such as biotechnology are driving progress internationally and New Zealand graduates must have the skills that are in demand in order to take advantage of expanding career opportunities and ensure success for New Zealand's land-based industries."

This is the rationale behind Lincoln University deleting its traditional Bachelor of Horticultural Science and Bachelor of Horticulture degrees and from the New Year degree level horticulture will be offered through a specialist stream of the University's Bachelor of Science qualification.

This stream has been named "Plant and Horticultural Sciences" and it recognises the importance of both these areas to graduates and ultimately to the industry, says Professor Jordan.

"It reflects a greater integration between plant science and horticulture and the new qualification should allow our students to compete more effectively for jobs at the high technology end of the market.

"While modern technology is not everything, it definitely provides the tools for developing the 'Knowledge Economy' based on the solid foundation of New Zealand's horticultural/agricultural industries.

"As is well known, Lincoln University has a wealth of horticultural research experience and has taught in areas related to this research over many years."

The cluster of expertise which has now been assembled around horticultural teaching at Lincoln University will serve students and the industry well, says Professor Jordan, who has had over 20 years’ experience in senior positions in plant biochemistry and molecular biology including 14 years at Horticulture Research International in the United Kingdom.

"We're aiming at research-led teaching and horticulture and the 'real life' projects of our staff members will invigorate and enhance their teaching. An example is the University's work on the 'biocontrol' of plant diseases.

"Diseases and pests are a major concern for the horticulture industry and the research at Lincoln University is extremely strong in these areas. Researchers such as Professor Alison Stewart, Head of the Plant Pathology Group, and Associate Professor Bruce Chapman of the Ecology and Entomology Group both work very closely with the industry.

Professor Stewart's work on biocontrol approaches to economically costly onion diseases is well recognised and Associate Professor Chapman is highly regarded for his work with kiwifruit.

Biocontrol is the use of living organisms to control or reduce pest populations.

By developing biocontrol systems for agricultural and horticultural pests the use of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides can be reduced with a downline reduction in the potentially harmful effects of their use on the environment, a lessening of potential health issues associated with pesticide application and a diminished risk of pesticide residues contaminating food products.

However, while biocontrol is seen as "natural" it doesn't happen without a lot of scientific research and development to make it successful and that's where Lincoln University comes into the picture.

Lincoln University's Plant Pathology Group specialises in the biocontrol of fungal diseases of vegetables, fruit, and ornamental plants and it has become the country's top research group in this field.

The group's strategy involves identifying and making optimum use of beneficial microbes that can attack the fungi that cause diseases in plants.

Successful research by the group has resulted in the commercial development of two biocontrol products that can control Sclerotinia field rots in beans, brassicas and lettuce and onion white rot.

This work won Lincoln University's plant pathology team the Agricom (NZ) Ltd Significant Achievement Award for 2001, a prize shared with commercial research partner Agrimm Technologies Ltd of Christchurch.

Other work by the Plant Pathology Group involves developing a system of assessing potential biocontrol agents for Botrytis rot of strawberries, optimising bacterial formulations to control Aphanomyces root rot of peas and testing novel delivery mechanisms to target biocontrol agents to the pathogen that causes Camellia flower blight.

This is the sort of "cutting edge" science that those doing horticulture at Lincoln University will be exposed to and, at postgraduate level, involved in.

Another example is Dr Mike Mickelbart's work, at the molecular and physiological levels, on the impact of environmental stress on plants.

Dr Mickelbart, who joined the Lincoln staff from the University of California, Riverside, is investigating changes in plant gene expression and metabolism in response to environmental stress such as drought, UV-B radiation and other stressors. In particular he is looking at glycinebetaine, an organic compound synthesised by some plant species in response to environmental stress. The compound is believed to play a role in the protection of cellular membranes to prevent cellular damage.

From his work in California, Dr Mickelbart also has a specialist knowledge of avocados and he is looking at projects next year investigating changes in the capacity for photosynthesis in avocado shoots and the development of avocado shoots in response to different environmental conditions.

Very little research has been done in this area with avocado, so horticulture students at Lincoln will be close to some pioneering work.

The BSc degree involves 24 papers spread over three years of study. And students can start their plant and horticultural specialisation from the first year.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.