Libyan Graduate Students in the San Luis Valley
The Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture has seen an influx in graduate students from Libya in recent years. This summer, we have four PhD students from Libya doing their research at the San Luis Valley Research Center.
Salah Abdelsalam’s Ph.D. advisor is Dr. Samuel Essah, Associate Professor of Potato Production located at the San Luis Valley Research Center. Salah’s research project involves the effect of potassium (K) fertilizer source and time of application on the performance of Russet potato. He is investigating the effect of pre-plant K fertilizer application, in-season K fertilizer application, and a combination of pre-plant and in-season K fertilizer application on plant nutrient uptake, tuber nutrient concentrations, tuber bulking, tuber yield, tuber quality, and plant dry matter yield.
Mansor Ahmed’s Ph.D. advisor is Dr. Sastry Jayanty, Associate Professor of Post-harvest Biology located at the San Luis Valley Research Center. Mansor is working on nutritional characteristics of peppers including pungency and improving packaging practices. His work is in collaboration with Dr. Mike Bartolo, Research Scientist at the Arkansas Valley Research Center. Mansor’s work will directly benefit Colorado pepper growers in terms of marketability and extending shelf life.
Abdulssamad Barka (Ph.D. advisor Dr. Samuel Essah) is investigating the effect of reduced irrigation water and nitrogen application rate on the performance of four Colorado potato cultivars. Some parameters that Barka is measuring include: plant nutrient uptake, plant nutrient concentration, green leaf area duration, tuber bulking, tuber yield, tuber quality, and plant dry matter yield.
Esam Emragi (Ph.D. advisor Dr. Sastry Jayanty) is working on potato storage methods to improve tuber quality and reduce shrinkage. He is testing a number of coating formulations on tubers applied immediately after harvest to reduce shrinkage. Esam is also working on reducing mass loss in storage by manipulating fan speed to reduce evapotranspiration.
We are happy to have these students as part of our research team in the San Luis Valley!
