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Established Predators Of Fiorinia Externa Ferris (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) On Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis (L.) Carriere) In Urban And Forest Sites, Christine Ann Lynch

Masters Theses

A project was initiated in September 2004 to determine the indigenous predators of Fiorinia externa Ferris, the elongate hemlock scale (EHS), on eastern hemlock and their impact on the pest populations. Branch samples were taken monthly from four sites (two forest and two urban) in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina to assess predator damage from October 2004 to April 2006. Predators of this exotic pest were collected from beat sheet samples from September 2004 to May 2006. Laboratory tests were conducted from field-collected predators to assess food consumption, feeding behavior, and intraguild competition among predators of EHS. From field …

Probing Precursor Interactions With The Chloroplast Import Apparatus, Sarah Jean Wright

Masters Theses

The majority of plastid proteins are nuclear-encoded and imported post-translationally. A cleavable N-terminal extension, the transit peptide, targets these preproteins to the plastid. Transit peptides show very little primary sequence homology, yet are able to direct the precursor protein to interact with the protein components of the translocation complexes located within the inner and outer membranes of the chloroplast. In this study, a semi-conserved motif of the transit peptide, (F/W)(P/G)h(R/K) has been targeted for deletion in order to probe its importance. Two corresponding regions were deleted in the transit peptide of the precursor to the small subunit of Rubisco (prSSU) …

Horizontal Gene Transfer To Bacteria Of An Arabidopsis Thaliana Abc Transporter That Confers Kanamycin Resistance In Transgenic Plants, Kellie Parks Burris

Masters Theses

The use of antibiotic resistance markers is an important tool in the production and selection of transgenic plants. There have been increased concerns about the potential horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from transgenic plants to bacteria of medical and environmental importance. Until recently all antibiotic resistance genes used in transgenic studies have been bacterial in origin. An Arabidopsis thaliana ABC transporter, Atwbc19, was the first plant gene shown to confer kanamycin resistance when overexpressed in transgenic plants. The Atwbc19 gene was evaluated for its ability to transfer antibiotic resistance to Escherichia coli, which are found in the human gut and environment. …

Sp307-K-Pruning Neglected Fruit Trees, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Home Garden, Lawn, and Landscape

When trees have not been properly pruned and trained, fruit yields and quality may decline. As trees grow taller and more dense, lower limbs and interior limbs lose their ability to produce quality fruit, due to increased shading. Many of these weakened limbs will die. Over time, most fruit will be produced in the outer periphery of the tree, primarily in the top, as this is the only area exposed to adequate sunlight.

These trees often can be pruned back and restored to a point where quality fruit may be obtained once again. It may require several years to restore …

Pb1766 Saving Trees And Making Money In Residential Development, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

It’s a common sight in developments that are 3 – 5 years old. A homeowner had initially purchased a property for its wooded and natural aesthetic appeal and thinks he or she has succeeded in preserving this beauty. When the home is finished and the nearby trees still cast shade, the owner considers the trees to be past the critical stage. It isn’t until after the interior is furnished and the lawn is established that the homeowner soon notices he or she is picking up a few more fallen branches in the yard than is customary. Eventually, the owner looks …

Sp683 Tree Wounds - Response Of Trees And What You Can Do, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

Trees are commonly wounded and the causes are many: broken branches; impacts, abrasions and scrapes; animal damage; insect attack; fire; etc. Wounds usually break the bark and damage the food- (phloem or inner bark) and water- (xylem or wood) conducting tissues. Wounds also expose the inside of the tree to organisms, primarily bacteria and fungi that may infect and cause discoloration and decay of the wood. Decay can result in structurally weakened tree stems and unsightly trees and can shorten the life of a tree. Decay in a tree cannot be cured. However, proper tree care can limit the progress …

Sp682 Watering Trees, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

Water is the most limiting factor for tree survival and growth. Trees use water during photosynthesis and lose water during transpiration. Water shortages affect both young and old trees. Drought conditions can lead to tree decline, making the tree more susceptible to pest problems. Supplemental watering can greatly assist trees during stressful drought periods in the summer and in the dormant season when soil moisture is limited. Desiccating winds and lack of precipitation can increase transpiration in evergreens (conifers) and create soil moisture deficits even during the winter.

Sp684 Selecting A Tree-Care Company, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

Choosing a tree-care company is similar to choosing most any professional service. The people performing the work must be knowledgeable, properly equipped, safetyconscious and have the experience to perform the service. Outlined below are a few questions that will help the informed consumer select a tree-care company and expect quality work at a reasonable cost.

Sp686 Dieback And Decline Of Trees, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

Tree decline is a general loss of vitality throughout the entire tree caused by a systemic disease or by a sequence of stressing events that causes the tree to deplete its energy reserves. Twig and branch dieback is initiated in the tree as a response to poor growing conditions, physical injury to the tree and/or pest attack. Usually a combination of physical, climatic and pest problems lead to decline and dieback of trees. The factors that contribute to this decline are the subject of this publication, as well as management practices to prevent decline.

Sp685 Landscaping Guidelines To Protect Your Home From Wildfire, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Forestry, Trees, and Timber

As Tennessee’s population continues to grow, more people are building homes in rural forested areas. Each year Tennessee experiences approximately 2,000 wild (forest) fires. With the influx of new homeowners in and around forest land, the chances of wildfires damaging home structures increase. Improper landscaping around homes increases the likelihood of fire damage, while also hindering the activities of firefighters.

Determining Wear Tolerance Of Turfgrass Species For Athletic Fields In The Transition Zone, Jordan Rhea Goddard

Masters Theses

A study to evaluate the performance of four different turfgrass varieties under simulated athletic field traffic in the transition zone was conducted in Tennesseeand Arkansas. ‘Thermal Blue’ hybrid bluegrass (Poa arachnifera Torr. x P. pratensis L.) has been introduced as a bluegrass variety bred for increased heat and drought tolerance. This variety provides a possible alternative to bermudagrass varieties in transition zone athletic fields. ‘Thermal Blue’ was compared to common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L. Pers.) varieties ‘Riviera’ and ‘Quickstand’ and the hybrid bermudagrass (C. dactylon L. Pers. x C. transvaalensis Burt-Davy) variety ‘Tifway’. Each turfgrass species was …

Expression Analysis Of Auxin Regulated Genes In Populus, Sara S. Jawdy

Masters Theses

Due to its many advantageous characteristics, such as a small sequenced genome, ease of vegetative propagation and availability of genomic tools and databases, Populus is widely becoming accepted as the model species among trees. In addition, DOE has chosen hybrid poplar as the model bioenergy feedstock tree. Due to the growing importance of the Populus species, genetic and genomic resources (EST and BLAST databases, genetic maps, etc.) are becoming increasingly available and are leading to a greater understanding of the functionality of the Populus genome. The goal of this study was to use these resources to further characterize the genetic …

Management Of Hybrid Bluegrass (Poa Arachnifera Torr. X Poa Pratensis L.) In The Transition Zone, Travis Charles Teuton

Doctoral Dissertations

Dura Blue™ and Thermal Blue™ hybrid bluegrass (Poa arachnifera Torr. x Poa pratensis L.) have been selected for increased heat and drought tolerance and offer an alternative to traditional Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue in the transition zone. Dura Blue and Thermal Blue were compared to Apollo™ Kentucky bluegrass, Dynasty™ tall fescue, and Kentucky 31 tall fescue. All turfgrass species tested were acceptable for use in the transition zone. Thermal Blue should be seeded from 50 to 150 kg seed/ha. Thermal Blue should be seeded in September for highest quality and most rapid turf cover. However, January and April …

Sp307-D-Fruit Tree Management Timetable, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Home Garden, Lawn, and Landscape

Fruit production is a “year-round” job. For optimum results, each task should be done at a specifi c time of the year. These are shown in the diagram on page 3.

Risk Assessment Of Genetically Modified Crops By Direct Tracking Pollen Movement And Testing Crop Genetic Load Using Directly Transformed Brassica Rapa With Bt Cry1ac And Gfp Genes, Hong Seok Moon

Masters Theses

One concern with crop biotechnology is that there might be crop to weed transgene flow, which could result in more invasive and competitive weed populations. Transgene expression, introgression of crop genes, and other ecological factors may alter the fitness or productivity of weed populations. The Brassica napus (crop) to Brassica rapa (weed) model to assess transgene flow and consequences has been widely used. In this study, weedy accessions of Brassica rapa were transformed with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cry1Ac- and green fluorescence protein (GFP)- coding transgenes using Agrobacterium to develop plants to be subsequently used in risk assessment research. Regenerated transgenic …

Potassium And Cultivar Effects On Carbohydrate Partitioning In Upland Cotton, Jenny Dale Clement

Masters Theses

The indeterminate growth habit of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) reduces the efficiency of yield formation when grown as an annual for its lint. Altering the determinacy may provide greater carbohydrate partitioning to reproductive structures, allowing higher yields. Another factor that may influence partitioning is potassium (K) nutrition. Potassium is essential for physiological and biochemical processes including translocation. It is necessary for ATP production, which is crucial for phloem loading and unloading. A three-year experiment was conducted at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center to evaluate carbohydrate partitioning in Paymaster 1218BG/RR (PM1218), a relatively determinate cultivar, and Deltapine …

Mowing And Light-Weight Rolling Of Creeping Bentgrass (Agrostis Stolonifera L.) Putting Greens During Summer Heat Stress Periods In The Transition Zone, William Daniel Strunk

Masters Theses

A major challenge for golf course superintendents in the transition zone is to manage Agrostis stolonifera L. (creeping bentgrass) putting greens during heat stress periods of June, July, and August. In 2004 and 2005, a study was conducted to compare the effects of alternating rolling and mowing with traditional methods of everyday mowing on the green speed, turf quality, and disease occurrence creeping bentgrass putting greens in the transition zone. Treatments consisted of mowing six days week^-1 without rolling, mowing six days week^-1 with rolling three days week^-1, and mowing three days week^-1 alternating with …

Pb1589-Commercial Insect And Mite Control For Trees, Shrubs And Flowers, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Commercial Horticulture

No abstract provided.

Pb595-You Can Control Garden Insects, The University Of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service

Home Garden, Lawn, and Landscape

Insect infestations reduce yields and lower the quality of harvested garden vegetables. Three to seven generations of many insect pests attack garden vegetables during the growing season. All plant parts may be injured by insects. Some insects bore into roots, seeds or stems. Many suck large quantities of plant sap. Others destroy crops by chewing on the succulent foliage, stems or fruits. Plant diseases are carried by certain insects.

Safe, effective and economical control measures can minimize the loss from insects. Control can be maintained all season by a combination of cultural practices, mechanical control, biological control and chemical applications. …

Recent Developments In Primer Design For Dna Polymorphism And Mrna Profiling In Higher Plants, Xiaohan Yang, Brian E. Scheffler, Leslie A. Weston

Plant Sciences Publications and Other Works

Primer design is a critical step in the application of PCR-based technologies in gene expression and genetic diversity analysis. As more plant genomes have been sequenced in recent years, the emphasis of primer design strategy has shifted to genome-wide and high-throughput direction. This paper summarizes recent advances in primer design for profiling of DNA polymorphism and mRNA in higher plants, as well as new primer systems developed for animals that can be adapted for plants.

Ethylene Stimulates Nutations That Are Dependent On The Etr1 Receptor, Brad M. Binder, Ronan C. O'Malley, Wuyi Wang, Tobias C. Zutz, Anthony B. Bleeker

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Ethylene influences a number of processes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) through the action of five receptors. In this study, we used high-resolution, time-lapse imaging to examine the long-term effects of ethylene on growing, etiolated Arabidopsis seedlings. These measurements revealed that ethylene stimulates nutations of the hypocotyls with an average delay in onset of over 6 h. The nutation response was constitutive in ctr1-2 mutants maintained in air, whereas ein2-1 mutants failed to nutate when treated with ethylene. Ethylene-stimulated nutations were also eliminated in etr1-7 loss-of-function mutants. Transformation of the etr1-7 mutant with a wild-type genomic ETR1 transgene rescued the nutation …

Volume 4, Number 1 (2006), Ut Institute Of Agriculture

Tennessee Land, Life and Science Magazine

Issue Highlights:

• A focus on agriculture and natural resources programs at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture

Volume 4, Number 2 (2006), Ut Institute Of Agriculture

Tennessee Land, Life and Science Magazine

Issue Highlights:

• From Grow to Go for a New Bioeconomy