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Surface-Functionalized Silica Nanocarriers For Mitigating Water Stress In Wheat And Benefiting The Root Microbiome, Anthony Cartwright

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Changes in climate and shifting patterns of drought threaten the growth of important cash crops like wheat. The element silicon serves as a plant nutrient and shows promise for strengthening wheat against drought while remaining safe to both the crop and the positive bacteria that grow on its roots. Silicon can be added to wheat in the form of silicon-dioxide nanoparticles featuring protective coatings made from plant-beneficial nutrients. These nanoparticles can be engineered with high surface area or porous structures allowing them to be loaded with additional nutrients that can be delivered to crops. In a laboratory setting, such nanoparticles …

Cuo Nanoparticles Solubility As Influenced By Soil Pore Water, Native Microorganisms, And Wheat Rhizosphere Chemistry In A Sand Matrix, Dakota Sparks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles less than 100 nm (~4 millionths of an inch) in a direction. NPs, due to their small size, are used in a variety of products, such as silver (Ag) NPs as an antimicrobial in clothes. Copper Oxide (CuO) NPs are used in electronics as semiconductors and other fields as antimicrobials and purposefully or accidentally end up in the environment. Copper (Cu) is a necessary nutrient for plants, but at higher amounts is toxic to plants and beneficial soil microbes.

In order to understand how the CuO NPs interacts with plants, wheat seedlings were grown in sand …

Innovative Water Management Using Advanced Irrigation Systems And Biochar, Jonathan A. Holt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Two approaches to water optimization in agriculture are to increase soil water retention and improve the efficiency of irrigation. A soil amendment that has received attention for its ability to increase soil water retention is biochar, the remaining biomass after high C materials have been pyrolyzed (burned with limited oxygen and heat). Two studies were conducted at a total of 10 site-years in Utah from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate how wood biochar influences the productivity and crop quality of irrigated alfalfa (Medicago Sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.), and wheat (Triticum L.), along with soil water tension. One study …

Compost And Cover Crop Effects In Dryland Organic Wheat, Michael D. Deakin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Producers of dryland organic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the western USA struggle to maintain adequate soil fertility due to the high cost of organic fertilizers and concerns over moisture use of cover crops. Low soil fertility results in decreased wheat yield and quality, and increased year-to-year variability in yield and quality based on weather. This study was conducted to measure the effects of, and interactions between, cover crop mixes and a one-time compost application on soil health and winter wheat yield and quality. The study was located on three adjacent certified organic wheat farms near Snowville, UT, each …

Untangling The Economic And Social Impediments To Producer Adoption Of Organic Wheat, Donya L. Ralph-Quarnstrom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumer demand for organic products has shown double-digit growth in recent years encouraging the development of a wider range of goods (Greene, 2017). Americans with an annual household income under $30,000 actively purchase organic foods at nearly the same rate as households with over $75,000 in annual incomes, 42% versus 49% (Greene et al., 2017). Previous research observed the adoption of organic farming practices on a combination of different grains, fruits and vegetables, meat, and dairy products from across the globe. However, this is the first study to examine the adoption of organic wheat in the Western U.S. By addressing …

Effect Of Silicon On Wheat Growth And Development In Drought And Salinity Stress, Spencer A. Tibbitts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Silicon is a major component of most soils, and is found in significant concentration in plant tissue. Plants vary widely in the amount of silicon they take up, with some plants excluding it, and others using transporters to move the silicon from the soil into their roots. Early plant physiology studies were unable to determine conclusively whether silicon was essential to plant growth, but for some plants, most notably rice, it has proved to be important enough to justify fertilizing silicon deficient fields.

Researchers at the USU Crop Physiology Lab tested the effect of silicon on wheat growth and seed …

Behavior Of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles In Soil Pore Waters As Influenced By Soil Characteristics, Bacteria, And Wheat Roots, Joshua Hortin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of this project was to study the behavior of copper oxide nanoparticles in soil environments. Copper oxide nanoparticles have antimicrobial properties and may also be used in agricultural settings to provide a source of copper for plant health, but accidental or misapplication of these nanoparticles to soil may be damaging to the plant and its associated bacteria.

Dissolved soil organic matter that is present in soil pore waters dissolved nanoparticles, but did not dissolve the expected amounts from a geochemical model because the geochemical model did not take into account surface chemistry or coating of the nanoparticles by …

Rhizosphere Interactions Between Copper Oxide Nanoparticles And Wheat Root Exudates In A Sand Matrix; Influences On Bioavailability And Uptake, Paul Mcmanus

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are extremely small particles (less than 1 nm in one or more dimension, or one billionth (10^-9) of a meter) used in a diverse range of industries. They have been shown to travel through water systems, and like pharmaceuticals, can end up in wastewater treatment plants and then be land applied as biosolids, where crops are grown for animal consumption, potentially leading to food chain accumulation.

Cu is an essential micronutrient for plants, but is phytotoxic at higher concentrations. CuO NPs present an increasingly real environmental threat to agriculture in soils treated with …

Wheat-Gold Currency How To Make Large-Scale Grain Storage Possible, David L. Garrett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The United States has a National Oil Reserve but no food reserve. Just as the oil reserve is designed to buffer unforeseen disruptions in the critical supply, the nation should also have a food reserve for at least the same purpose.

Physiological And Biochemical Aspects Of Agrobacterium-Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Interactions, David L. Parrott Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agrobacterium tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes are the causal agents of gall or hairy root disease, but normally the bacteria do not cause disease in wheat. However, both bacteria grew without inhibition when exposed to intact or wounded wheat roots or embryos, and they colonized wheat root surfaces to levels similar to dicotyledonous plants. A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes induced 23% cell death after a 1-h exposure to wheat embryo cells grown in 7.4 mM O₂, while the extent of cell death at 2.1 mM O₂ was 8%. Contact with A. tumefaciens or A. rhizogenes caused cultured wheat …

Use Of Ground-Based Canopy Reflectance To Determine Radiation Capture, Nitrogen And Water Status, And Final Yield In Wheat, Glen L. Ritchie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ground-based spectral imaging devices offer an important supplement to satellite imagery. Hand-held, ground-based sensors allow rapid, inexpensive measurements that are not affected by the earth’s atmosphere. They also provide a basis for high altitude spectral indices.

We quantified the spectral reflectance characteristics of hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Westbred 936) in research plots subjected to either nitrogen or water stress in a two year study. Both types of stress reduced ground cover, which was evaluated by digital photography and compared with ten spectral reflectance indices. On plots with a similar soil background, simple indices such as the …

Superoptimal Co2 Reduces Seed Yield In Wheat, Timothy P. Grotenhuis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although projected terrestrial CO₂ levels will not reach 1000 μmol moI^-1 (0.1%) for many decades, CO₂ levels in growth chambers and greenhouses routinely exceed that concentration. CO₂ levels in life support systems in space can exceed 10,000 μmol moI^-1 (1%) CO₂. Numerous studies have examined CO₂ effects up to 1000 μmol mol^-1, but theoretical and some experimental evidence indicates that the beneficial effects of CO₂ continue past 1000 μmol mol^-1 and are near-optimal for wheat at about 1200 μmol mol^-1.

We studied the effects of near-optimal …

Effects Of Elevated Co2 On Crop Growth Rates, Radiation Absorption, Canopy Quantum Yield, Canopy Carbon Use Efficiency, And Root Respiration Of Wheat, Oscar A. Monje

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat canopies were grown at either 330 or 1200 μmol mol^-1 CO₂ in sealed controlled environments, where carbon fluxes and radiation interception were continuously and nondestructively measured during their life cycles. The effects of elevated CO₂ on daily growth rates, canopy quantum yield, canopy and root carbon use efficiencies, and final dry mass were calculated from carbon flux measurements in an open gas exchange system. Dry biomass at harvest was predicted from the gas exchange data to within ± 8%. The greatest effect of elevated CO₂ occurred in the first 15d after emergence; however, several physiological …

Sensory And Functional Properties Of Wheat Stored Under Home Conditions, Marilyn M. Shumway

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Samples of wheat that had been stored in homes up to 48 years were collected with information about age and storage conditions. Germination, weight per bushel, protein, moisture, grade, and aroma were investigated. Volumes of gluten balls and bread made from ground whole wheat samples were measured. Sensory attributes of bread were evaluated by Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) for eight flavor and seven texture characteristics. Because of the tremendous variation in samples, generalizations on cause and effect are difficult to make. No one criterion was a perfect indicator of quality. A high percentage of germination was one of the better …

Photosynthetic Capacity, Leaf Size And Plant Height In Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.), Deborah L. Bishop

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Plant breeders often examine leaf size, plant height and photosynthetic capacity in an effort to increase wheat yield. This study was concerned with the relationship between these parameters in dwarf and semidwarf wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) with a wide range in flag leaf size. Photosynthetic capacity was measured at anthesis using photosynthesis versus intercellular CO2 response curves to determine maximum photosynthetic rate and ribulose-1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase efficiency. Leaf area, chlorophyll concentration, stomatal density, interveinal distance and dry mass partitioning were also examined. Smaller flag leaves had greater carboxylation efficiency and closer vein spacing. Dwarf wheat had higher chlorophyll …

Carbon Dioxide Toxicity In Wheat, Robert Spanarkel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research was conducted to quantify short- and long-term effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide on wheat. Growth, development, and yield of the spring wheat cultivar Veery-10 were measured in response to CO₂ concentrations of 340 (ambient), 1200, and 2500 μmol moI^-1 of CO₂ air. These 3 CO₂ levels were chosen to provide a control group, a predicted optimal CO₂ environment, and a potentially toxic CO₂environment, respectively. A recirculating hydroponic system provided a near-optimal root-zone environment that was identical for all CO₂ treatment levels. Environmental factors, other than CO₂, were …

The Relationship Between Leaf Area Index And Photosynthetic Temperature Response In Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Canopies, David B. Meek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increasing leaf area index on the photosynthetic temperature response of a wheat canopy. Hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Veery-10) was grown hydroponically in a growth chamber, which also served as the gas-exchange chamber. Gas-exchange parameters were measured on single leaves and on wheat canopies at various leaf area indices. The temperature response curves of the canopy shifted from being steeper with a high temperature optimum to being flatter with a lower temperature optimum as leaf area index increased from 0 to 20.0 m²m …

Morphological Responses Of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) To Changes In Phytochrome Photoequilibria, Blue Light And Photoperiod, Charles Barnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat (Triticum aestivum, L.) plants were exposed to three different levels of phytochrome photoequilibria (φ), two different photoperiods, end-of-day far-red radiation, two different levels of blue (400-500 nm) light, three levels of photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), and two types of high intensity discharge lamp types. Tillering was reduced by lowered φ, by reduced amounts on blue light and by end-of-day far-red. Main culm development was increased by lowered φ, by increased PPF, and was reduced by shortened photoperiod and by reduced blue light. Leaf length was increased by increased PPF, lowered φ, and reduced blue light but was …

Import Demand For Wheat: Japanese And Selected Eec Markets, Enayatollah Fakhrai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The growing importance of trade internationally as well as for the United States (U.S.) spawned a body of literature concerning import demand, export supply, and trade balance. Most of the empirical work to date has employed estimates of commodity import demand functions derived from traditional linear and log-linear functional forms. These specifications of import demand impose separability restrictions on the consumer's choice between domestic and foreign goods, in addition to confining import demand elasticities to constant values. The policy recommendations made on the basis of the import demand elasticities derived from these traditional models may be misleading. In this study, …

Modeling Spring Wheat Production As Influenced By Climate And Irrigation, V. Philip Rasmussen Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A model has been developed that predicts spring wheat grain and dry matter yield. Preliminary tests show very favorable results when predicting grain yield in two different climatic regimes, one being a dryland and another being an irrigated area. The strengths of the model lie in its simplicity, relatively available input data, and low computer processing time cost. Weakness of the model stem from the assumptions that allow its simplicity. The basic assumption in the model is that grain and dry matter yield can be related to the ratio of actual to potential transpiration, computed for each of five phenological …

Ammonia And Nitrate Nitrogen In The Soil Profile And Its Relation To Various Nitrogen Treatments On Dry-Land Winter Wheat, Abraham E. Van Luik

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In a dry-land winter wheat field, patterns of mineral nitrogen distributions were investigated before and after fertilizer additions.

Large differences in the added mineral nitrogen recoverable three weeks after treatment were found to be specific to nitrogen source and treatment within source.

Initial losses averaged 50 percent for urea treatments, 40 percent for calcium nitrate treatments, and varied from a loss of 18 percent to a gain of 22 percent for ammonium nitrate treatments. Ammonium sulfate proved the most variable with a 36 percent average loss for the before-planting treatment and a 61 percent gain for the after-planting treatment.

This …

Evaluation Of Yield, Yield Components And Other Agronomic Characteristics In Mixtures Of Wheat And Barley, Hugo Villarroel-Arispe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Inia 66 and Siete Cerros wheat varieties, and Steveland and Woodvale barley varieties were grown in mixtures and in pure stands for two years in irrigated nurseries at Logan. These four varieties were also grown the first year in a dryland nursery at Blue Creek. Another set of four varieties was used the second year in the dryland nursery. These four varieties as well as the first set, were tested in seven combinations, with the following percentages of one barley and one wheat variety: 100:0, 90:10, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, 10:90, and 0:100.

Grain yield of mixtures was higher than that …

A Diallelic Study Of Six Chaff Variations In Wheat, Royal Jay Swenson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The colors of the glumes on wheat have been described as being white, yellow, brown, or black. The white actually ranges from cream or pale straw-yellow to dark yellow. Some varieties have white or yellow glumes with brown or black nerves.

Fertilizer Trials On Dryland Winter Wheat, I. G. Sampson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat is one of the major crops of Utah and for more than 50 years farmers have been raising wheat on the dry lands of the state. The system they use is known as the alternate cropping or crop-follow system and consists of one year of crop alternating with one year of clean cultivation known as fallow.

Wheat removes a considerable amount of the natural plant food elements from the soil each year. This is especially true of nitrogen. According to Bracken and Greaves (9) the original low supply of nitrogen in most Utah soils together with the depleting effects …

Inheritance Of Resistance To Races Of Covered Smut, Awns, And Chaff Color In A Wheat Cross, Nazar Singh Dhesi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat is the most important cereal crop in the world. It is the principal staple food in Russia, United States, China, Canada, India and a number of other countries.

Covered smut is one of the most serious disease of wheat all over the world. According to Woolman and Humphrey (82) it was known from very early times and is referred to by Theoprastus and other early Greek Roman writers.

Inheritance Of Resistance To Six Races Of Bunt, To Awns And Kernel Color In A Wheat Cross, Marr D. Simons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat is the most important cereal crop of the world, and one of the most serious diseases affecting it over much of its range is covered smut or bunt (57). The word "bunt", according to Heald (48), is a contraction of an old English term, "burnt ear", which fittingly describes the ravages of covered smut.

Man's first knowledge of this disease is lost in antiquity, but it was first recorded by early Greek writers (97). Gaines (39), writing in 1928, stated that since 1924 stinking smut had been the most destructive parasite of wheat in America, causing losses of as …

Inheritance Studies In Stem Rust Of Wheat, Sayed Bad Shah

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wheat is an important food crop of the world, especially in Soviet Russia, U.S.A., China, India and Pakistan. Over one billion bushels of wheat are produced annually in U.S.A. The total area under wheat production in Pakistan during 1947-48 was 10 million acres with an average yield of 12 bushels per acre.

The stem rust disease has been known for along time to be destructive to grain crops, even centuries before the Christian era. Rust is of major importance in both the U.S. and Pakistan. Jethro Tull recorded rust in England in 1725. In 1916, rust was serious over the …

Inheritance Of Resistance To Loose Smut (U. Tritici) In Certain Wheat Crosses, Bion Tolman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During recent years the principles of Mendelism have been used extensively in the production of the new types of plants possessing resistance to various diseases. Results of this mode of attacking the disease problem have been very favorable. Old varieties are gradually giving way to newer types equal to or exceeding in quality and productivity as well as possessing resistance to one or more diseases.

Loose smut (U. tritici) in wheat, while not as serious a problem in Utah as the covered smut (T. tritici), according to Tapke (14) has caused an average annual loss of between 50,000 and 100,000 …

Inheritance Of Glume And Kernel Color, Of Awnedness, And Of Spike Density In A Cross Between Ridit And Sevier Wheat, Leslie W. Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper is devoted principally to the presentation and discussion of the results obtained when certain contrasting characters were brought together in a wheat cross between Ridit and Sevier 59. this is one of the crosses made in an attempt to develop a wheat adapted to this region with the following desirable qualities: Bunt resistance, strong straw, hard kernels, and heavy yield. How near this ideal is approached in succeeding generations can be told only by extensive tests. The genetic study herein presented was made to hasten the time when some of the progeny of this cross may become of …

Correlated Inheritance In A Cross Of F 22 X Dicklow Wheat, R. Kenneth Bischoff

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper reports a study of the inheritance and of the correlated inheritance in certain observed and measured plant characters in a cross between a hybrid from Dicklow x sevier, (F22) and a pure line from Dicklow, (D#3), one of the original parents of F 22.