Varities and Production Practices to Maximize Nicotine to be Uilized in Emerging Tobacco Products

Emerging tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes create potential new opportunities for Kentucky tobacco growers. This project will move forward with two promising tobacco lines that were selected as a result of previous research funded by the Council for Burley Tobacco. These lines have the desired agronomic traits and higher levels of nicotine that could potentially make producing tobacco for pure nicotine practical for Kentucy tobacco farmers. This study will utilize these selected lines to determine optimal fetilization and topping practices needed to maximize nicotine levels in the plant. In addition, methods for mechanical topping and harvesting will be explored in an efffort to develop the most economical production system.