NDSU horticulture master’s student Kyla Splichal won first place for her poster presentation in the Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plant Working Group's first graduate student poster competition at the annual meeting of the American Society for Horticulture Science held in Hawaii Sept. 19-22.

Splichal co-wrote the poster, “Hop Selections for North Dakota,” with NDSU Department of Plant Sciences professor and high value crops project leader Harlene Hatterman-Valenti, NDSU Williston Research Extension Center director Jerald Bergman and WREC irrigation research agronomist Tyler Tjelde.

The research goals were to assess yield and quality of hop cultivars, and to recommend the best variety adaptations for the upper Midwestern climate. Twelve commercially available cultivars were grown on a standard trellis in the semi-arid region of Western North Dakota. Variety adaptation for yield and quality was assessed for two growing seasons. The top yielding variety was “Challenger,” while the variety “Spalt Select” was the least adapted to the western growing region in terms of both production and quality. The researchers note that more applied research is needed on hops in North Dakota.

Splichal’s graduate program adviser is Esther McGinnis, assistant professor and Extension horticulturist. Splichal also works as a research specialist at the WREC.

The poster competition was sponsored by Spectrum Technologies, a plant measurement technology manufacturing company, which gave Visa gift cards to the first, second and third place winners.

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