Vegetable Research

The Western Agricultural Research Center has performed a number of vegetable variety trials, both outdoor trials and high tunnel (hoop house) research. The primary goal is to identify traits and varieties that are well suited to the local climate and assist producers in making choices for market. In addition to variety trials, product testing and planting date experiments have also been conducted.

   

WARC 2015 Vegetable variety trials

In collaboration with Dr. Mac Burgess at MSU-Bozeman and several vegetable growers across the state, we evaluated five types of vegetables (cucumbers, snap beans, carrots, and lettuce).  All vegetables were grown using organic practices.  Trials at WARC were replicated with three beds/plantings per variety.  Location of plantings were randomly assigned for each variety within blocks that contained all varieties.  Varieties were compared using statistical analyses (analysis of variance) that accounts for differences among blocks and tests if differences are more than we’d expect by chance give the variation in performance within varieties across the plots.  Differences are described here if the probability of observing these differences by chance is less than 5%. 

Take care in interpreting the results.  They reflect the specific conditions at WARC in 2015.  They likely reflect varietal performance under warmer than usual conditions as we had record heat in June of that year.  In the late season, it was very smoky from wildfires in the area.

2015 Results

Please click on the following blue links for results and summaries.