Dr. Penny Perkins-Veazie works with a variety of crops as a postharvest physiologist. Her research involves evaluating breeding materials, storage strategies and packaging to develop more efficient postharvest methods and materials. She also evaluates food safety, quality and consumer appeal characteristics such as flavor, color, antioxidants and texture to make sure growers will have better quality fruits and vegetables for high value markets.
Publications | Lab Staff | ProjectsProjects
Tomato: Determining the carotenoids in tomato breeding lines for the N.C. State tomato breeding program. The goal of this breeding effort is to double the current amount of lycopene found in tomatoes. Lycopene, a pigment found in only a few fruits, is a powerful inactivator of free radicals that can result from aging and chronic disease. She is also studying the other pigments found in yellow and orange tomatoes. At least one of these, prolycopene, is thought to be more bioaccessible in humans than lycopene.
Strawberry: Evaluating and extending the shelf life for strawberries grown in field or tunnels when picked closer to full ripeness than typical harvest stage. In addition, Perkins-Veazie’s lab is working to develop methods for rapid screening of sugars, acids, flavor and antioxidants so breeders can use this data to better tailor breeding objectives to fit consumer desires.
Blackberry: Evaluating N.C. selections and the effects of production methods (tunnels and organic systems, for example) on shelf life and quality. She is also working to determine which varieties contain consistently high amounts of targeted antioxidant compounds and to subsequently develop delivery methods for their use in clinical trials.
Watermelon: Working on two collaborative projects that directly utilize watermelon to address human health concerns. One is a project to demonstrate how DNA is protected from ultraviolet light by lycopene in the red pigment in watermelon. The second, in conjunction with Florida State University, is looking at a watermelon powder containing the amino acid citrulline that is utilized as a drink to lower arterial blood pressure. In addition, Perkins-Veazie is working with N.C. State and U.S. watermelon breeders to evaluate grafted watermelons for improved shelf life, fresh cut life, and lycopene and amino acid content.
Green vegetables: Lutein, a carotenoid found in green vegetables, is known to be effective in maintaining eye health. The traditional method for verifying lutein involves expensive and time-consuming high performance liquid chromatography. However, work in Perkins-Veazie’s lab indicates that free lutein can be accurately estimated by measuring chlorophyll content. She is testing correlations within and across various crops, both to document amounts of lutein among varieties and crops, and to devise rapid methods for estimating lutein for incorporation into breeding programs.
Publications
Clark, J. R. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2011. 'APF-45' Primocane-fruiting blackberry. HortScience. 46(4): 670-673
Figueroa, A., Sanchez-Gonzalez, M.A., Perkins-Veazie, P.M. and Arjmandi, B.H. 2011. Effects of watermelon supplementation on aortic blood pressure and wave reflection in individuals with prehypertension: A pilot study. American Journal of Hypertension. 24(1): 40-44
Edgar L. Vinson III, Floyd M. Woods, Joseph M. Kemble, Penelope Perkins-Veazie, Angela Davis and J. Raymond Kessler. 2010. Use of external indicators to predict maturity of mini-watermelon fruit. HortScience. 45(7): 1034-1037
Davis, A., Collins, J.K., Perkins-Veazie, P. and Levi, Amnon. 2008. LSW-177 and LSW-194; Red-fleshed watermelon lines with low total soluble solids. Hortscience. (In press)
Davis, A.R., Perkins-Veazie, P., Hassell, R., Levi, A., King, S.R. and Zhang, X.-P. 2008. Grafting effects on vegetable quality. Hortscience. (In press)
Davis, A.R., Perkins-Veazie, P., Sakata, Y., López-Galarza, S., Maroto, J.V., Lee, S.-G. , Huh, Y.-C., Sun, Z., Miguel, A., King, S.R., Cohen, R., Lee, J.-M. 2008. Cucurbit grafting. Critical Reviews in Plant Science. (In press)
Perkins-Veazie, P. and Collins, J.K. 2008. UV treatment prevents blueberry decay. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 47: 280-285
Moore, P., Perkins-Veazie, P., Weber, C.A. and Howard, L. 2008. Environmental effect on antioxidant content of ten raspberry cultivars. Acta Hortic. 777: 499-503
Weber, C.A., Perkins-Veazie, P., Moore, P. and Howard, L. 2008. Variability of antioxidant content in raspberry germplasm. Acta Hortic. 777: 493-498
Taber, H., Perkins-Veazie, P., White, W., Li, S., Rodermel, S. and Xu, Y. 2008. Enhancement of Tomato fruit lycopene by potassium is cultivar dependent. HortScience. 43: 159-165
Perkins-Veazie, P. and Lester, G. 2008. Postharvest challenges for organically grown orchard fruit. HortScience. 43: 35-37
Wu, G., Collins, J.K., Perkins-Veazie, P.M., Siddiq, M., Dolan, K.D., Kelly, K.A., Heaps, C.L. and Meininger, C.J. 2007. Dietary supplementation with watermelon pomace ameliorates the metabolic syndrome in zucker diabetic fatty rats. Nutrition. 137: 2680-2685
Perkins-Veazie, P., Collins, J.K., Clevidence, B. and Wu, G. 2007. Watermelons and health. Acta Hortic. 731: 121-127
Collins, J.K., Wu, G., Perkins-Veazie, P., Spears, K., Claypool, P.L., Baker, R.A. and Clevidence, B.A. 2007. Watermelon consumption increases plasma arginine concentrations in adults. Nutrition. 23: 261-266
Perkins-Veazie, P., Roberts, W. and Collins, J.K. 2007. Lycopene content among organically produced tomatoes. J. Vegetable Sci. 12: 93-106
Davis, A.R., Webber III, C. L. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2007. Impact of cultivar and production practices on yield and phytonutrient content of organically grown watermelon. J. Vegetable Sci. 12: 83-91
Davis, A. R., Collins, J., Fish, W. W., Tadmor, Y., Webber III, C. L. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2007. Rapid method for total carotenoid detection in canary yellow-fleshed watermelon. J. Food Sci. 72: S319-S323
Perkins-Veazie, P. 2007. Carotenoids in watermelon and mango. Acta Hortic. 746: 259-264
Perkins-Veazie, P., Collins, J.K., Davis, A.R. and Roberts, B.W. 2006. Carotenoid content of 50 watermelon cultivars. J. Agric. Food Chem. 54: 2593-2597
Takeda, F., Perkins-Veazie, P., Swartz, H.J., and Hokanson, S. 2006. Strawberry transplant production and performance in annual plasticulture system. Acta Hort. 708: 213-216
Collins, J.K., Davis, A.R., Adams, A., Maness, N. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2006. Consumer acceptability of low sugar watermelon sweetened with non-calorie sweetener by a Native American community. Intl. J. Food Sci. Nutrition. 57: 363-368
Collins, J.K. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2006. Lycopene: From plants to humans. HortScience. 41: 1135-1144
Perkins-Veazie, P. and Collins, J.K. 2006. Carotenoid changes of intact watermelons after storage. J. Agric. Food Chem. 54: 5868-5874
Black, B.L., I. M. Fordham, P. Perkins-Veazie. 2005. Autumnberry (Elaeagnus umbellate): a potential cash crop. J. Amer. Pomological Soc. 59: 125-134
Rimando, A.M. and P. Perkins-Veazie. 2005. Determination of citrulline in watermelon rind. J. Chrom. A. 1078: 196-200
Clark, J.R., Moore, J.N., Lopez-Medina, J., Finn, C. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2005. ‘Prime-Jan’ (‘APF-8') and ‘Prime-Jim’ (‘APF-12') Primocane-Fruiting Blackberries. HortScience. 40: 852-855
Clark, J.R., Moore, J.N. and Perkins-Veazie, P. 2005. ‘White Rock’ and ‘White County’ Peaches. HortScience. 40: 856-858
