Beth K. Gugino, Ph.D.

Areas of Interest:

Diseases of vegetables; Development of integrated vegetable crop management educational programming

Program Interests

The goal of my extension education and adaptive research program is to develop integrated management strategies for important and emerging diseases of the major vegetable crops grown in Pennsylvania and provide statewide leadership in the area of vegetable pathology. Specifically these responsibilities include working with research faculty, extension specialists and county-based educators to develop integrated pest and crop management strategies to address important and emerging diseases of the major vegetable crops grown in Pennsylvania as well as use existing and new technologies to provide growers and other ag service providers with research-based information on pathogen biology, epidemiology and vegetable disease management.

Current research/extension projects include the elucidation and management of onion bacterial diseases, use of cover and green manure crops for the management of soil-borne pathogens, and delivery of computer-based tomato/potato early and late blight disease forecasting information via the Pennsylvania PIPE (http://pa-pipe.zedxinc.com/). I also conduct fungicide efficacy trials for commonly occuring diseases on tomatoes, onions and cucurbits in PA. With increasing concern about fungicide resistance and cost of inputs, selection of the most effective fungicides/biopesticides is an important component of an IPM program.

As part of larger regional and national projects, I also participate in pest monitoring and prediction efforts for cucurbit and basil downy mildews (http://cdm.ipmpipe.org/index.php) and tomato/potato late blight (http://usablight.org) that help disseminate timely information about confirmed outbreaks that growers can  use to make in-season disease management decisions.

Following the successful completion of a NE-SARE Professional Development funded project to train ag service personnel and interested growers in the “Diagnosis, Visual Assessment and Management of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes of Vegetables and Small Fruit in the Northeast" work is currently underway to develop another day-long workshop focuses on the management of soilborne pathogens in vegetable production systems in the Northeast....stay tuned. 

Publications:

Ojambo, P.S. et al. 2011. Cucurbit downy mildew ipmPIPE: A next generation web-based interactive tool for disease management and extension outreach. Online. Plant Health Progress doi:10.1094/PHP-2011-0411-01-RV.

Wyenandt, C.A., S.L. Rideout, B.K. Gugino, M.T. McGrath. K.L. Everts and R.P. Mulrooney. 2010. Fungicide resistance management guidelines for the control of tomato diseases in the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions of the U.S. Online. Plant Health Progress doi:10.1094/PHP-2010-0827-01-MG.

Kikkert, J.R., S. Reiners, and B.K. Gugino. 2010. Row width, population density and harvest date effects on marketable yield of table beets. HortTechnology 20:560-567.

Wyenandt, C.A., M.T. McGrath, S.L. Rideout, B.K Gugino, K.L. Everts and R.P. Mulrooney. 2009. Fungicide resistance management guidelines for cucurbit downy and powdery mildew control in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States. Crop Management doi:10.1094/CM-2009-0629-010BR.

Idowu, O.J., H.M. vanes, G.S. Abawi, D.W. Wolfe, R.R. Schindelbeck, B.N. Moebius-Clune and B.K. Gugino. 2009. Use of an integrative soil health test for evaluation of soil management impacts. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 24:214-224.

Schindelbeck, R.R., H.M. van Es, G.S. Abawi, D.W. Wolfe, T.L. Whitlow, B.K. Gugino, O.J. Idowu, and B.N. Moebius. 2008. Integrated assessment of soil quality for landscape and urban management. Landscape and Urban Planning 88:73-80.

Idowu, O.J., H.M. van Es, G.S. Abawi, D.W. Wolfe, J.I. Ball, B.K. Gugino, B.N. Moebius, R.R. Schindelbeck, and A.V. Biligi. 2008. Farmer-oriented assessment of soil quality using field, laboratory, and VNIR spectroscopy methods. Plant and Soil 307:243-253.

Moebius-Clune, B.N, H.M. van Es, O.J. Idowu, R.R. Schindelbeck, D.J. Moebius-Clune, D.W. Wolfe, G.S. Abawi, J.E. Thies, B.K. Gugino and R. Lucey. 2008. Long-term effects of harvesting maize stover and tillage on soil quality. Soil Science Society of America Journal 72(4):960-969.

Gugino, B.K., J.W. Ludwig, and G.S. Abawi. 2008. An on-farm bioassay for assessing Meloidogyne hapla infestations as a decision management tool. Crop Protection 27:785-791.

Gugino, B.K., G.S. Abawi, P.J. Chen, J.E. Carroll, and T.L. Widmer. 2007. An IPM program for managing fungal leaf blight diseases of carrot in New York. Plant Disease 91:59-65.

Gugino, B.K., G.S. Abawi, P. Chen, J.E. Carroll, and T.L. Widmer.  2007. Field evaluation of carrot cultivars for susceptibility to fungal leaf blight diseases in New York.  Crop Protection 26:709-714.

Gugino, B.K., G.S. Abawi, and J.W. Ludwig. 2006. Damage and management of root-knot nematode on carrot in New York.  Journal of Nematology 38(4):483-490.

Selected Extension Publications:

Gugino, B.K. and S. May. 2010. Tomato-potato late blight in the home garden. Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, and The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 4 pp. (http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/PDFS/ul215.pdf).

Gugino, B.K., O.J. Idowu, R.R. Schindelbeck, H.M. van Es, D.W. Wolfe, J.E. Thies, and G.S. Abawi. 2007. Cornell Soil Health Assessment Training Manual 2nd Edition, Cornell University , Geneva , NY. 60 pp. (http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu ).

Gugino, B.K., J. Carroll, J. Chen, J. Ludwig and G.S. Abawi. 2004. Carrot leaf blight disease and their management in New York. Cornell Cooperative Extension IPM Factsheet. (http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/vegetables/misc/clb.pdf).