Digital Commons Network^™

Optimizing Systems For Cold-Climate Strawberry Production, Tiffany L. Maughan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Producing fruits and vegetables in the Intermountain West can be challenging due a short growing season, extreme temperatures, and limited availability of irrigation water. This is particularly true of strawberries, where commercial production is limited due to late fall and early spring frosts that shorten the growing season. With the increasing demand for local produce as urban populations grow and as consumer buying habits change, growers are looking for ways to overcome these climatic challenges. High tunnels are one option growers can use. High tunnels are similar to greenhouses, but less expensive to construct and to maintain. Another way to …

Management Of Microbial Nitrate Production In Agricultural Soils, Wei Shi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nitrate (NO₃^-) is of central importance in the internal soil nitrogen (N) cycle. While animal wastes and nitrification inhibitors have been used in modern agriculture for decades, their effects on soil NO₃^- concentrations in relation to microbial NO₃^- production have not been well characterized. The objective of this research was to determine microbial NO₃^- production in relation to ammonium (NH₄⁺) availability and nitrifier population activity in agricultural soils receiving animal wastes or nitrification inhibitors.

Several laboratory and field studies assessed the impacts of variously treated dairy wastes and …

Greenhouse Production And Marketing Of Petunia, W. Theron Hansen Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was performed during a three year period, 1969-1971. The first year the writer evaluated containers, soil mixtures, planting dates, fertilizers, and temperatures for optimum petunia production. The data collected aided in selecting the best greenhouse procedures for future studies. The second year three bedding plant varieties were used for further evaluate containers and soil mixtures using direct seeding and transplanting and watering continuously or watering as needed.

As a result of the first two year's studies, a liquid fertilizer (10-5-5), an average temperature of 75 F, Jiffy-7 peat pellets, plants not receiving continuous water program was used for …

The Effect Of Limited Moisture Supply At Various Stages Of Growth On The Development And Production Of Hybrid Corn, Ralph E. Campbell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Corn occupies from 25 to 30 percent of the crop land harvested in the United States. In recent years the acreage devoted to corn in this country has been decidedly greater than that devoted to any other cultivated crop. In 1944 its dollar value exceeded the combined values of wheat, barley, rye, grain sorghums, and cotton.

Although South Dakota lies on the northwestern fringe of the corn belt, the corn crop is one of the most important in that state. Corn production in that area is somewhat unstable because of drought. Corn often fails to reach full maturity before the …

Seed And Forage Production In Four Clonal Lines Of Alfalfa As Influenced By Lygus Infestation, John Keith Noyes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

No other forage crop cultivated in the United States can be used in as many ways as alfalfa. The variety of its uses make it a most useful forage crop.

The distribution of alfalfa is world wide and it plays a leading role in the production of livestock and their products. For general feeding of farm animals, alfalfa is unsurpassed. Used for pasture, it has a high capacity, which leads to large gains in grasing animals. If properly rotated and cared for, it adds nitrogen to the soil in a form that is available to plants and thereby increases crop …

A Study Of The Seasonal History Of Alfalfa Flowers As Related To Seed Production, John W. Carlson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A few researches have been concerned with the structure and pollination of alfalfa flowers. Others have considered the biological problems concerned in the pollination and fecundation of the flowers. In none of these studies, however, has an attempt been made to follow carefully the alfalfa flowers through various stages of development. Nor has any effort been made to determine what effect the condition and duration of these stages may have upon the resulting seed crop.

The work that follows is a study of the changes through which the alfalfa flowers pass during the season while functioning as organs of seed …