Department of Plant Pathology


Buckhout Laboratory
	Buckhout Laboratory is home to the Plant Pathology departmental, faculty, and graduate student offices, research laboratories, and teaching facilities. The Fusarium Research Center is a resource center for researchers and others working with Fusarium. Maintained here is the world's largest Fusarium collection, comprised of approximately 16,000 isolates of 50 species. The Mushroom Spawn Laboratory contains a culture collection of the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus. The germplasm is the basis for and has resulted from a continuous spawn-research program since 1930. Over 700 isolates of 171 species of other fleshy fungi are also maintained. The College of Agricultural Sciences Pesticide Education Program and the SANRUE offices (Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources in Urban Environments) are located in Buckhout Lab. Buckhout Laboratory is named for Dr. William A. Buckhout, botanist and professor at the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, from 1871-1912, who taught botany and natural sciences. He snapped this self-portrait (photo right).	Buckhout Laboratory Dr. William A. Buckhout
Farm and Greenhouse facilities
	Farm and Greenhouse Facilities are available at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, an 1,800 acre complex located ten miles west of the University Park campus at Rock Springs. The Plant Pathology Farm is one of five independently managed units at Rock Springs, and the adjacent Agronomy, Entomology, Horticulture, and USDA farms afford opportunities for cooperative research. A headquarters area and storage areas for potatoes, cereals, seed, fertilizer, soil, and equipment--plus cold rooms and a 30' x 100' greenhouse--comprise nearly 22,000 square feet of space. The Plant Pathology Farm is completely irrigated and fenced. Faculty and graduate students conduct a variety of research projects with specialized equipment. Four automatic, moveable greenhouses and 24 open-top chambers are used for drought studies and for growing crops in the presence or absence of acid precipitation, with or without ambient levels of gaseous pollutants. Epidemiological monitoring equipment is connected by phone line to data-acquisition and computer facilities.	Russel E. Larson Agricultural Research Center
Mushroom Research Center (MRC)
	The Department of Plant Pathology's Mushroom Research Center provides unique facilities for conducting mushroom research. The MRC is located at the north edge of campus and contains a spawning-casing area, two phase-2 rooms, two spawn-production rooms, eleven production rooms, and an analytical-clinical lab. Staff assist faculty and students with research trials on the commercial button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), as well as shiitake (Lentinula edodes), oyster (Pleurotus), and other specialty mushrooms.
Mushroom Test-Demonstration Facility (MTDF)
	The MTDF is an interdepartmental, production-oriented facility designed to integrate into one system the most desirable developments of engineering, crop management, pest and disease control, and economics research on the commercial mushroom. The MTDF is equipped with the normal equipment found in a commercial growing facility as well as computerized environmental controls. The MTDF supports researchers from Plant Pathology, Ag and Biological Engineering, Entomology, and Food Science, as well as visiting faculty from other universities.	Mushroom Research Center
Penn State Fruit Research & Extension Center at Biglerville
	The Center is located approximately 10 miles north of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the heart of one Pennsylvania's largest apple, pear, and stone fruit production areas. In addition to more than 180 acres of fruit trees, the Center has greenhouse, laboratory, and growth chamber facilities for research in pomology, entomology, plant pathology, and nematology.
Lake Erie Regional Grape Research & Extension Center
	Located in Erie County, this facility includes 43 acres-- 30 in vineyards--for viticulture research involving the departments of Entomology, Horticulture, and Plant Pathology
Joseph Valentine Turfgrass Research Center
	Turfgrass field studies are conducted at this facility, located on the Penn State campus.
Southeastern Field Research Laboratory at Landisville, Pennsylvania
	This facility, located in Lancaster County, includes 106 acres of cropland for field investigations by the departments of Agronomy, Entomology, Horticulture, and Plant Pathology.

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Last modified Friday, February 24, 2006