David Percival

Education

• B.Sc. (Agr.) University of Guelph
• M.Sc., University of Guelph
• Ph.D., University of Guelph

Current Rank and Status

Full Professor, Whole Plant Physiology (Tenured)

Awards

• 2022: Nominee and Finalist, Research Nova Scotia Public Impact Award
• 2021: Meritorious Service Award to the International Society for Horticultural Science as convenor of the 12^thInternational Vaccinium Symposium
• 2006: Excellence Award for Achievement in Research, Nova Scotia Agricultural College
• 2005: Best paper specializing in fruit sciences in the Canadian Journal for Plant Science.
• 2004: Best overall horticultural paper in the Canadian Journal of Plant Science
• 2004: Best paper specializing in fruit sciences in the Canadian Journal for Plant Science.

Teaching

Undergraduate 

• Plant Physiology (BIOA 2002)
• Fruit Production (HORT 2015)
• Introduction to Viticulture (HORT 2004)

Graduate

• Grad module focusing on the environmental regulation of carbon assimilation and metabolism in Horticultural Plants (offered in the autumn semester)
• Grad module focusing on plant nutrition (offered in the winter semester

Research Interests

• Wild blueberry production and management
• Remote sensing of plant population structure, production system sustainability, and abiotic and biotic stresses
• Environmental regulation of carbon assimilation and metabolism (i.e., source-sink relationships)
• Impact of environmental stresses associated with climate change on phytochemistry, growth and development
• Soil fertility and plant nutrition dynamics and the subsequent impact on symbiotic relationships, plant growth, development, yield and fruit structure and composition
• Plant growth regulation and the use of exogenous plant growth regulators

Major Sources of Research Funding

• Mitacs
• NSERC CRD
• Pan Atlantic AARI
• Net Zero Atlantic
• IRAP-NRC

Memberships

• American Pomological Society
• Canadian Society for Horticultural Science
• International Society for Horticultural Science

Recent Publications

Anku, K. E., Percival, D. C., Rajasekaran, L. R., Heung, B., & Vankoughnett, M. (in preparations). Phenological assessment of the wild blueberry field using an unmanned aerial vehicle. MDPI Remote Sensing

Anku, K. E., Percival, D. C., Rajasekaran, L. R., Heung, B., & Vankoughnett, M. (in preparation). Determination of wild blueberry phenotypes using high-resolution imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Jaakola, L. and Asiedu, S. K. (2024). Efficacy, persistence, and residue levels of fungicides for Botrytis control in wild blueberry. Crop Protection. Accepted for publication.

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Jaakola, L. and Asiedu, S. K. (2023). Modulation of defense genes and phenolic compounds in wild blueberry in response to Botrytis cinerea under field conditions. BMC Plant Biology, 23, 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-023-04090-5

Clare, S., Driskill, M., Millar, T., Chagné, C., Montanari, S., Thompson, S., Espley, R., Muñoz, P., Benevenuto, J., Zhao, D., Sheehan, M., Fentie, M., Rowland, L., Ashrafi, H., Melmaiee, K.,  Babiker, E., Main, D., Olmstead, J., Gilbert, J., Kniskern, J., Sandefur, P., Percival, D., Edger, P., Iorizzo, M., and Bassil. N. (2023). Development of a targeted genotyping platform for reproducible results within tetraploid and hexaploid blueberry. Frontiers in Horticulture, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhort.2023.1339310

Lloyd, A., Percival, D., Langille, M. & Yurgel, S. (2023). Changes to soil microbiome resulting from synergetic effects of fungistatic compounds pyrimethanil and fluopyram in lowbush blueberry agriculture, with nine fungicide products tested. Microorganisms 11(2), 410 https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11020410

Percival, D. C., Anku, K., & Langdon, J. (2023). Phenotypic, phenology, and disease pressure assessments in wild blueberry fields through the use of remote sensing technologies. Acta Horticulturae, 1357, 123–130. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1381.17  

Abbey, J. A., Percival, D., Anku, K., Schilder, A., and Asiedu, S. K. (2022). Managing Botrytis blossom blight of wild blueberry through field sanitation, lime sulfur and Trichoderma application. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, 1-11.

Abbey, J., Jose, S., Percival, D., Jaakola, L. & Asiedu, S.  (2021). Molecular Responses of Wild Blueberry Phenotypes to Botrytis cinerea Infection. Acta Horticulturae. 1357, 177-184. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1357.26

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Jaakola, L. and Asiedu, S. K. (2021). Potential use of biofungicides and conventional fungicide for the management of Botrytis blossom blight in lowbush blueberries. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/07060661.2021.1880485

Anku, K. E., Percival, D. C., Rajasekaran, L. R., Heung, B., & Vankoughnett, M. (2021). Phenological assessment of the wild blueberry field using an unmanned aerial vehicle. Acta Horticulturae, 1357, 35–42. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1357.6

Jose, S., Abbey, J., Jaakola, L., and Percival, D. (2021). Elucidation of the molecular responses during the primary infection of wild blueberry phenotypes with Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi under field conditions. BMC Plant Biology, 21(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-021-03281-2

Lloyd, A., Percival, D. & Yurgel, S. (2021). Effect of fungicide application on lowbush blueberries soil microbiome. Microorganisms. 9(7):1366. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9071366

Jose, S., Abbey, J., Jaakola, L. and Percival, D. (2020). Selection and validation of reliable reference genes for gene expression studies from Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi infected wild blueberry phenotypes. Scientific Reports 10, 11688 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68597-9

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Asiedu, S. K. Prithriviraj, B. and Schilder, A. (2020) Management of Botrytis blossom blight in wild blueberries by biological control agents under field conditions. Crop Protection 131.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2020.105078

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Asiedu, S. K. and Schilder, A. (2018). Susceptibility to Botrytis blight at different floral stages of wild blueberry phenotypes. North American Blueberry Researchers and Extension Workers (NABREW) Conference .19. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/nabrew2018/proceedingpapers/proceedingpapers/19/  

Abbey, J., Percival, D., Asiedu, S. K., Prithriviraj, B. and Schilder, A., (2019). Preliminary sensitivity assessment of Botrytis cinerea isolates four fungicides from wild blueberry fields. In Joint meeting of the Canadian Phytopathological Society and the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants, 2018. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, https://doi.org/10.1080/07060661.2019.1519163 (Abstract) 

Jose, S., Abbey, J. and Percival, D. (2019). Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium myrtillodes pathogenesis-related protein 4 (PR4) and 3 (PR3) mRNA, partial cds. Direct Submission, GenBank Accession no. MK292723-MK292726.

Jose, S., Abbey, J. and Percival, D. (2019). Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium myrtillodes flavonoid biosynthesis genes (dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR), chalcone synthase (CHS), anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), flavonol synthase (FLS)) mRNA, partial cds. Direct Submission, GenBank Accession no. MK333524-MK333531.

Yurgel, S.N., Douglas, G.M., Dussault, A., Percival, D., & Langille, M. 2018. Dissecting community structure in wild blueberry root and soil microbiome. Frontiers in Microbiology. 9: 1187. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01187

Supervision of Postdoctoral Fellow and their Research Portfolio

• Oladimeji Popoola: Remote sensing of wild blueberries and associated precision agriculture technologies (Supervisor: registered in March 2024; in progress)

• Sherin Jose: Molecular approaches to assess response of wild blueberries to fungal diseases (Supervisor: registered in 2017, finished in 2019)

Supervision of Graduate Students (M.Sc. level - last 5 years)

• Naomi Jakel (In Progress) , Dalhousie University 

    Thesis/Project Title: Molecular responses of wild blueberries to the main and interactive effects of exposure to Bacillus subtilis QST 713 strain and Botrytis cinerea Pers/:Fr.

• Alex Cornel (Completed) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Leaf spot diseases of wild blueberries and the persistence and mobility of associated disease control products

• Austin Lloyd (Completed) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Understanding the impact of fungicides on lowbush blueberry soil ecology through metagenomic methods

• Ashley Dussault (Completed) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Variation in bacterial and eukaryotic communities associated with wild blueberry habitats

• Ling Guo (Completed) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Sensitivity pressures of Monilinia vacinnii-corymbosi within the wild blueberry industry

Supervision of Graduate Students (Ph.D. level – last 5 years)

• Kenneth Anku (In Progress) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Use of remote sensing technologies to assess floral blight diseases of wild blueberries

• Joel Abbey (Completed) , Dalhousie University

Thesis/Project Title: Molecular mechanisms conferring resistance to Monilinia blight in wild blueberry production