University of Hawai'i-Manoa horticulturalist Bernard A. Kratky has won a top national agricultural award for his study on a new method of growing lettuce hydroponically. The American Society for Plasticulture (ASP) honored him with its Best Paper Award at the opening of the 34th National Agricultural Plastics Congress, in Tampa, Fla., last month.

Kratky is with UH-Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the Beaumont Agricultural Research Center in Hilo. In addition to the research reported in his award-winning paper, Kratky's current projects include development of a noncirculating sub-irrigation hydroponic method for growing vegetables, which does not encourage mosquitoes; ralstonia control in ginger; and hydroponic production of watercress. He holds five U.S. patents, including two for noncirculating hydroponic plant-growing systems. This paper for which he was honored marked his18th presentation at the National Agricultural Plastics Congress. Co-authors were UH agricultural technicians Gaillane Maehira and Eric Magno and professors M.D. Orzolek and W.J. Lamont, of Pennsylvania State University.

Proceedings from the National Agricultural Plastics Congress, including the award-winning paper, may be ordered through ASP's Web site: www.plasticulture.org