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Life Sciences

Iowa State University

Soil

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Tackling Soil Diversity With The Assembly Of Large, Complex Metagenomes, Adina Howe, Janet K. Jansson, Stephanie Malfatti, Susannah Tringe, James Tiedje, C. Titus Brown Jan 2014

Tackling Soil Diversity With The Assembly Of Large, Complex Metagenomes, Adina Howe, Janet K. Jansson, Stephanie Malfatti, Susannah Tringe, James Tiedje, C. Titus Brown

Adina Howe

Investigations of complex environments rely on large volumes of sequence data to adequately sample the genetic diversity of a microbial community. The assembly of short-read data into longer, more interpretable sequence currently is not possible for much of the research community because it requires specialized computational facilities. We present approaches that make de novo assembly of complex metagenomes more accessible. These approaches scale data size with community richness and subdivide the data into tractable subsets representing individual species. We applied these methods toward the assembly of two large soil metagenomes to identify important metagenomic references and show that considerably more …


Long-Term Tillage Frequency Effects On Dryland Soil Physical And Hydraulic Properties, Andrew W. Lenssen, J. D. Jabro, U. M. Sainju, W. B. Stevens, R. G. Evans Jan 2008

Long-Term Tillage Frequency Effects On Dryland Soil Physical And Hydraulic Properties, Andrew W. Lenssen, J. D. Jabro, U. M. Sainju, W. B. Stevens, R. G. Evans

Andrew W. Lenssen

Soil tillage is considered one of most important practices in agricultural production due to its influence on physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil environment. The effect of a long-term tillage [no-till (NT), spring till (ST), and fall and spring till (FST)] was investigated on soil penetration resistance (PR), bulk density (BD), gravimetric water content (GWC) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) under dryland conditions. Tillage effects on these physical properties were tested after 22 years on a Dooley sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed Typic Argiborolls) derived from glacial till parent material. The statistical design used was a randomized complete block …


Sheep Grazing Wheat Summer Fallow And The Impact On Soil Nitrogen, Moisture, And Crop Yield, Andrew W. Lenssen, E. E. Snyder, H. B. Goosey, P. G. Hatfield Jan 2007

Sheep Grazing Wheat Summer Fallow And The Impact On Soil Nitrogen, Moisture, And Crop Yield, Andrew W. Lenssen, E. E. Snyder, H. B. Goosey, P. G. Hatfield

Andrew W. Lenssen

In typical dryland farming areas of Montana, annual precipitation is not sufficient for annual harvest of small grains. Summer fallow in alternate years, is a common method of conserving soil moisture to produce a crop in the following season. Current methods of fallow management are primarily mechanical tillage and spraying with herbicides. Although these methods are effective, they are expensive, making fallow management the highest variable cost associated with dryland grain production. The objectives of this study were to compare the impact of grazing small grains stubble with sheep, as a fallow management tactic, against traditional management practices of chemical …