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The Use Of Biological Soil Health Indicators To Quantify The Benefits Of Cover Crops, Alexander Wu Apr 2023

The Use Of Biological Soil Health Indicators To Quantify The Benefits Of Cover Crops, Alexander Wu

Masters Theses

Soils provide many essential functions that support the world. With a decline in soil health, these functions also decrease in efficiency, and can threaten the health of billions of people around the world. Typically, soil health tests do not use biological indicators, however microbes drive and perform vital functions to increase soil health. One way to increase soil health is through the use of cover crops to reduce soil erosion during fallow periods, increasing soil organic matter, as well as collecting nutrients from soil into their biomass. These cover crops are then terminated through various methods such as herbicides, disk …


The Influence Of Cover Crop Termination Strategies And Supplemental Nitrogen On Sweet Corn Yield And Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Sachina Sunuwar May 2022

The Influence Of Cover Crop Termination Strategies And Supplemental Nitrogen On Sweet Corn Yield And Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Sachina Sunuwar

Masters Theses

Cover crops are instrumental in nutrient management and soil health. A field experiment was conducted from fall 2020 to summer 2021 to evaluate the efficiency of different cover crop termination techniques and supplemental nitrogen on sweet corn yield, ear quality and nitrogen use efficiency. The four termination types are herbicide and disk tillage (HDT), herbicide no-till (HNT), cultivation disk till (CDT), and roller crimped no-till (RCNT). These termination types were each divided into four different nitrogen treatment: 0%, 33%, 67% and 100% of the recommended doses (145 kg haˉ¹). Sweet corn yield was highest and % unfilled tip was lowest …


Screening For Binding Partners And Protein-Protein Interactions Of A Fungal Transcription Factor- Xdr1, Nishadi Punsara Gallala Gamage Mar 2022

Screening For Binding Partners And Protein-Protein Interactions Of A Fungal Transcription Factor- Xdr1, Nishadi Punsara Gallala Gamage

Masters Theses

Clarireedia spp. (formerly Sclerotinia homoeocarpaF.T. Bennett) is the causal agent dollar spot, the most economically important turfgrass disease impacting golf courses in North America. The most effective strategy for dollar spot control is repeated application of multiple classes of fungicides. However, reliance on chemical application has led to resistance to four classes of fungicides as well as multidrug resistance (MDR). Fungi are known to detoxify xenobiotics, like fungicides, through transcriptional regulation of three detoxification phases: modification, conjugation and secretion. Little is known, however, of the protein-protein interactions that facilitate these pathways. Following next-generation RNA sequencing of Clarireedia spp., a …


Habitat Associations Of Priority Bird Species And Conservation Value On Small, Diversified Farms In New England, Isabel Brofsky Dec 2020

Habitat Associations Of Priority Bird Species And Conservation Value On Small, Diversified Farms In New England, Isabel Brofsky

Masters Theses

In recent decades, New England agriculture has become increasingly characterized by small, diversified farming operations with values deeply rooted in community and conservation. In sharp contrast to large-scale, high-intensity agriculture currently typified by the majority of North American farms, New England farmers commonly prioritize ecologically beneficial production practices such as reduced chemical inputs, integrated pest management (IPM), low tillage, cover cropping and crop rotation, and retention of natural habitats like woody hedgerows and herbaceous strips. Public support and demand for local, sustainable food, evidenced by the success of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the region, has helped to bolster this …


The Effect Of Gap Spacing Between Solar Panel Clusters On Crop Biomass Yields, Nutrients, And The Microenvironment In A Dual-Use Agrivoltaic System, Kristen Oleskewicz Apr 2020

The Effect Of Gap Spacing Between Solar Panel Clusters On Crop Biomass Yields, Nutrients, And The Microenvironment In A Dual-Use Agrivoltaic System, Kristen Oleskewicz

Masters Theses

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems are dual-use land systems that consist of elevated solar panels with crops grown underneath. They offer a solution to the increasing demand for food production and clean renewable energy. The main concern regarding AV systems is the reduced availability of light to crops below the panels. Research to date shows that AV systems are quite productive with total energy and crop production exceeding the outputs of either solar farms or crop production alone. Research also shows that solar panels affect the microenvironment below the panels. The research on AV systems so far considers altering panel density to …


Apple Disease Forecasting Models: When Climate Changes The Rules, Elizabeth W. Garofalo Mar 2019

Apple Disease Forecasting Models: When Climate Changes The Rules, Elizabeth W. Garofalo

Masters Theses

With a changing global climate, plant pathologists must understand the impact aberrant weather events may have on the development of plant diseases. Fungal plant infections are largely dependent on temperature and precipitation, climate parameters that are predicted to change more in this century. Venturia inaequalis causes apple scab, one of the most destructive apple diseases of temperate growing regions. Temperature and precipitation drive apple scab infections and forecast models, which guide growers in efficient, effective fungicide applications. In some recent years in the Northeast, these models have failed to accurately predict when ascospores of this fungus are available to cause …


Screening Of Commercially Available Chlorine Based Sanitizers And Their Efficacy In Reducing Microbial Load Levels Of E. Coli O157:H7 At High And Low Organic Load Environments, Paola Martinez-Ramos Oct 2018

Screening Of Commercially Available Chlorine Based Sanitizers And Their Efficacy In Reducing Microbial Load Levels Of E. Coli O157:H7 At High And Low Organic Load Environments, Paola Martinez-Ramos

Masters Theses

The presence of postharvest sanitizers has shown to be an effective approach to reducing microbial cross contamination in agricultural washing operations. However, choosing an appropriate sanitizer can be challenging due to produce commodity, processing conditions and interference with organic load. Current research shows a wide variety of methods to mimic the organic load of vegetable processing conditions, with paddle mixing and blender as the most commonly used. Controlling and understanding the physiochemical properties of wash water is key in maintaining sanitizer efficacy. The effects of simulated wash water preparation method on the physiochemical properties were tested at 0 and 50 …


Impact Of Oyster Mushroom Mycelium On The Growth Of Kale And Forage Radish, Levi Lilly Jul 2018

Impact Of Oyster Mushroom Mycelium On The Growth Of Kale And Forage Radish, Levi Lilly

Masters Theses

Saprophytic fungi can be paired with companion crops in interplant systems to increase production efficiency. However, fungal species/strain, substrate, and inoculation rate can affect the growth of companion crops. This project investigated the viability of open-field mushroom production by interplanting three strains of Pleurotus ostreatus (Elm A, Elm B, and 8801) with kale (B. oleracea var. acephala) and forage radish (Raphanus raphanistrub sub. sativus), and measured the effect of interplanting on plant yield over two field seasons. In the field, Elm A showed an increase in plant yield at a low inoculation rate and decrease in …


Integrating Cover Crop Mixtures And No-Till For Sustainable Sweet Corn Production In The Northeast, Julie S. Fine Jul 2018

Integrating Cover Crop Mixtures And No-Till For Sustainable Sweet Corn Production In The Northeast, Julie S. Fine

Masters Theses

Fall-planted forage radish (Raphanus sativus L. longipinnatus) cover crops have shown successful weed suppression and recycling of fall-captured nutrients. This research evaluated the nutrient cycling and weed suppressive benefits of forage radish cover crop mixtures to develop an integrated system for no-till sweet corn (Zea mays L. var rugosa) production that improves crop yield and soil health. Treatments included forage radish (FR), oats (Avena sativa L.) and forage radish (OFR), a mixture of peas (Pisum sativum subsp arvense L.), oats and forage radish (POFR), and no cover crop control (NCC). Subplots were assigned to …


Transposable Elements In Fusarium Oxysporum & Growth Inhibition Of Fusarium Oxysporum Using Pepper Extracts, Taylor Aguiar Jul 2018

Transposable Elements In Fusarium Oxysporum & Growth Inhibition Of Fusarium Oxysporum Using Pepper Extracts, Taylor Aguiar

Masters Theses

The following contains two projects focused on the fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. The first project was purely computational in the examination of transposable elements (TEs), which are mobile sequences with the ability to multiply and move in their host genome. In F. oxysporum, TEs such as miniature impala elements are associated with the secreted in xylem gene that are related to its virulence over its host. The F. oxysporum species complex can be utilized as a model system for the examination of TE content and TE expression during the infection cycle. To find whether TEs play a role …


Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Of Wild Tomato Species During Fruit Development, Altynay Zhanayeva Mar 2017

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Of Wild Tomato Species During Fruit Development, Altynay Zhanayeva

Masters Theses

Fleshy fruits in different species can display large variation in color. A link between fruit color and seed dispersal success is suggested by previous studies showing that high intensity of fruit color increases the visitation rate in seed-dispersing birds. Wild tomato species (Solanum spp.) are excellent model organisms for research on genetic basis of differential fruit color development during the ripening process. Despite polymorphism in fruit color, all tomato species have yellow flowers due to accumulation of carotenoid pigments, which suggests that the carotenoid pathway is intact. Thus, regulatory changes controlling enzymes activity during fruit maturation are likely …


Rnai Mediated Silencing Of Cell Wall Invertase Inhibitors To Increase Sucrose Allocation To Sink Tissues In Transgenic Camelina Sativa Engineered With A Carbon Concentrating Mechanism, Joshua Zuber Jul 2015

Rnai Mediated Silencing Of Cell Wall Invertase Inhibitors To Increase Sucrose Allocation To Sink Tissues In Transgenic Camelina Sativa Engineered With A Carbon Concentrating Mechanism, Joshua Zuber

Masters Theses

Plant invertases are a class of proteins that have enzymatic function in cleaving sucrose to fructose and glucose. Cell wall invertase, located on the exterior of the cell wall of plant cells, plays a key role in the unloading of sucrose from the apoplast to the sink tissues. Cell wall invertase interacts with an inhibitor, cell wall invertase inhibitor, post-transcriptionally to regulate its activity. The inhibitor is constitutively expressed in pollen development, early developing seeds, and senescing leaves: indicative of sucrose allocation being a limiting factor at these stages of development. We introduced algal bicarbonate transporters LCIA/CCP1 to Camelina sativa …


Effects Of Early Spring And Preventative Snow Mold Fungicide Applications On Dmi Sensitive And Insensitive Populations Of Sclerotinia Homoeocarpa, Marvin D. Seaman Mar 2015

Effects Of Early Spring And Preventative Snow Mold Fungicide Applications On Dmi Sensitive And Insensitive Populations Of Sclerotinia Homoeocarpa, Marvin D. Seaman

Masters Theses

Dollar spot, caused by the pathogen S. homoeocarpa (F.T. Bennett), is a common disease that infects a wide variety of turfgrasses all over the world. Yet it is significant problem on golf course putting greens and fairways consisting of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) and annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.). It is active in a wide variety of environmental conditions ranging from 16-30˚C but favors warm, humid days, followed by cool nights. Sclerotinia homoeocarpa overwinters as dormant mycelium in dead plant tissue. In the spring, germinating mycelia begin to infect leaf blades causing foliar lesions, which then spread …


Efficient Irrigation For Recreational Turfgrass In New England: Evapotranspiration And Crop Coefficients, James W. Poro Mar 2015

Efficient Irrigation For Recreational Turfgrass In New England: Evapotranspiration And Crop Coefficients, James W. Poro

Masters Theses

As water demand increases it will become more imperative for golf course superintendents, landscape managers, and other industry professionals to improve water use efficiency in the management of recreational turfgrass. Scheduling irrigation according to actual turfgrass evapotranspiration rates (ETT) is an integral component of efficient irrigation practices. Impracticality of field derived ETT for industry use, however, directs the need of weather station derived reference (predicted) evapotranspiration (ET0). To accurately predict (estimate) ETT of turf and other crops, scientifically derived landscape (crop) coefficients (Kc values) are used in conjunction with mathematical models that incorporate …