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Quantifying Spatial Heterogeneity Of Wild Blueberries And Crop Water Stress Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Technologies, Kallol Barai Aug 2022

Quantifying Spatial Heterogeneity Of Wild Blueberries And Crop Water Stress Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Technologies, Kallol Barai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The wild blueberry is one of the major crops of Maine, with significant economic value and potential health benefits. Due to global climate change, drought impacts have been increasing significantly in recent years in the northeast region of the USA, causing significant economic losses in the agricultural sectors. It has been predicted to increase further in the future. Changing patterns of the elevated atmospheric temperatures, increased rainfall variabilities, and more frequent drought events have made the wild blueberry industry of Maine vulnerable, suggesting the adoption of novel approaches to mitigate the negative impacts of global climate changes. Also, wild blueberry …


Weaving An Interdisciplinary Microbiome Career Using Threads From Different Ecosystems, Sarah Hosler Aug 2022

Weaving An Interdisciplinary Microbiome Career Using Threads From Different Ecosystems, Sarah Hosler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Animals have trillions of microorganisms living in or on many body sites, these communities of microorganisms are called microbiomes. Microbiomes are typically host-specific, and a lot of information about the host can be determined from investigating them. Microbiome research has many real-world applications, and this thesis utilizes the One Health perspective, which acknowledges the connection of humans, animals, and environments, and emphasizes the need for collaborative, interdisciplinary research. The first interdisciplinary project is an investigation into the bacteria in wild and cultured Atlantic deep-sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus larvae. Adults in hatcheries can be induced to spawn, but the last two …


Assessment Of Historical Climate Variability In Maine With Implications For Future Agricultural Productivity And Adaptation, Carly Frank Aug 2022

Assessment Of Historical Climate Variability In Maine With Implications For Future Agricultural Productivity And Adaptation, Carly Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a wicked problem with global impacts, one of which being the sustainability of the existing global food system. As temperatures and variability in precipitation are projected to increase, the challenges to agriculture are expected to intensify. This thesis examines the Maine historical climate record over the growing season, in combination with future projections, to assess how conditions have changed and will change with agricultural implications. In this analysis, relevant climatic variables are analyzed, and agriculture-significant measures are derived for Maine’s three climate divisions using four decades of daily and monthly gridded datasets. In addition, this thesis explores …


Effect Of Mycorrhizae Inoculation On The Growth And Success Of Three Taxodium Distichum Hybrids In Saline - Impacted Coastal Soils, Elif Ilhan May 2022

Effect Of Mycorrhizae Inoculation On The Growth And Success Of Three Taxodium Distichum Hybrids In Saline - Impacted Coastal Soils, Elif Ilhan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2008, Galveston Island was severely impacted by Hurricane Ike, resulting in high salt deposition in the soil and groundwater. This caused a loss of many native plant species. A study was initiated to determine effective ways to promote the growth conditions of three bald cypress genotypes (Taxodium distichum var distichum and Taxodium distichum var mexicanum crosses) in salt-affected soils. The treatments applied were mycorrhizae inoculation, fertilizer application, and a combination of mycorrhizae inoculation and fertilizer application. A total of sixty (60) trees planted in plots of three rows and divided into five randomized replication blocks of four treatments …


Survey Of Native Predatory Hemipterans And Assessment Of Nabis Americoferus Carayon (Hemiptera: Nabidae) As A Biological Control Agent Of Lepidopteran Tomato Pests, Andrew Laflair Feb 2022

Survey Of Native Predatory Hemipterans And Assessment Of Nabis Americoferus Carayon (Hemiptera: Nabidae) As A Biological Control Agent Of Lepidopteran Tomato Pests, Andrew Laflair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Invasive species have become a grave threat to the economic viability of our global vegetable producers. Tomato pinworm Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) has expanded from its range originating from Peru to being established in nearly hundreds of countries, causing tomato production losses of up to 100% on occasion; however, it has not yet been found in Canada or the USA. Southwestern Ontario is a significant tomato producer making it a high risk from this invasive species. Efficient integrated control methods such as native biological control agents (BCAs) that avoid creating insecticide resistance are ideal. Surveys of Southwestern Ontario conservation …


Soil Resilience And Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: How Fungi Can Inform Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Maya Milpa Management, Courtney Mathers Jan 2022

Soil Resilience And Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: How Fungi Can Inform Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Maya Milpa Management, Courtney Mathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mexico’s state of Yucatán, climate change impacts like prolonged and less predictable dry season length are manifesting as threats to agricultural production and food security. Nearly two thirds of Yucatán’s population is indigenous, many of whom live in rural communities that rely on rainfed subsistence agriculture (INEGI 2015). Ensuring sufficient food production in the face of climate change relies on the quality of agricultural soils. With both mismanagement of agricultural soils and climate change posing as threats to food production in Mexico, soil management practices that increase a soil quality should be identified and promoted. The primary objective of …


Economic Analysis Of Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus) Spacing In East Texas, Carly Wright Jan 2022

Economic Analysis Of Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus) Spacing In East Texas, Carly Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two experiments were conducted on spacing of Helianthus annuus in East Texas to determine the spacing treatment that produces the greatest revenue per m2. The experiments had four spacing treatments of 8 × 15 cm, 15 × 15 cm, 23 × 23 cm, and 30 × 30 cm. Three different cultivars were used in each experiment to determine if there was an interaction between spacing and cultivars. In both experiments, the stem height, stem diameter, flower diameter, and disk diameter increased as spacing increased. Also, as spacing increased, the days-to-harvest decreased. The 8 × 15 cm spacing produced …


Curriculum Development Of Agricultural Educators In South Dakota, Mercedes Lemke Jan 2022

Curriculum Development Of Agricultural Educators In South Dakota, Mercedes Lemke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Curriculum development is an essential component of teaching. Understanding how agriculture education teachers utilize, develop, and adapt content to curriculum can benefit teachers to spend less time on curriculum development. Recognizing the way agriculture education teachers use content in curriculum implementation will allow curriculum developers to create materials that can effectively be used by teachers. This study also looked at the affects of how COVID19 pandemic affected the way teachers locate and develop curriculum. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the way agriculture education instructor’s usage of content for curriculum development, implementation decisions and the affects of the …


Phomopsis Stem Canker Of Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.): Etiology And Epidemiological Conditions Affecting Endophytic Population Of Diaporthe Spp., And Fungicide Efficacy, Nabin Kumar Dangal Jan 2022

Phomopsis Stem Canker Of Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.): Etiology And Epidemiological Conditions Affecting Endophytic Population Of Diaporthe Spp., And Fungicide Efficacy, Nabin Kumar Dangal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phomopsis stem canker (PSC), caused by species of Diaporthe, is a major disease of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in the U.S., which can cause yield loss over 40%. The disease prevalence increased since 2010 in the major sunflower producing U.S. states of Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Previous studies on the use of foliar fungicides in managing Phomopsis stem canker indicated mixed results on their efficacy in disease reduction and yield gain. Additionally, we do not have sufficient information on asymptomatic colonization by endophytic Diaporthe on sunflower tissue and how foliar fungicide and weather parameters affect the prevalence …


Phosphorus Use And Management Based On Fertilizer Placement, Rate Of Application, And Soil Biota In No-Till Situations, Brennan Alexander Bingham Lewis Jan 2022

Phosphorus Use And Management Based On Fertilizer Placement, Rate Of Application, And Soil Biota In No-Till Situations, Brennan Alexander Bingham Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorus (P) pollution has become a concern among multiple scientific organizations as it leads to eutrophication, an algal bloom that depletes lacustrine and marine ecosystems of native species. Multiple strategies can be implemented to reduce phosphorus loss from agriculture fields, which is often implicated as a cause of eutrophication. Soil phosphorus chemistry results in phosphate fertilizers absorbing to clay minerals over time. Soil phosphorus is lost from agricultural fields primarily through wind and water erosion. No-till practices prevent soil erosion, which reduces the phosphorus from loading into waterways. Fertilizer placement affects phosphorus loss. Surface application of phosphorus fertilizers increases the …


Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain Jan 2022

Effects Of Conservation Management Practices On Soil Health And Crop Yields In Eastern South Dakota, Alex Mclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conservation management practice adoption on agricultural land has increased in recent years due to increasing public and private investment. The anticipated impact of increasing conservation management practice adoption are reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved soil, water, and air quality. Understanding how these conservation management practices affect agricultural producers economically is vital to properly incentivize these practices. The existing literature on how conservation management practices affect soil health and crop yields is mixed and generally has been conducted on experimental research stations. These studies may not fully account for the on-farm effects of conservation management practices. The objectives of this …


Using Deep Neural Networks To Analyze Precision Agriculture Data, Stephanie Liebl Jan 2022

Using Deep Neural Networks To Analyze Precision Agriculture Data, Stephanie Liebl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the population of the Earth increases, there is a growing need for food to feed the inhabitants. Precision agriculture offers techniques and tools that can be used to help accommodate the growing population. One specific precision agriculture tool is remote sensing data, which can be used to image fields as an effort to better predict or understand the crops. In this thesis, deep neural networks are used to evaluate various spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions of three different satellite images to determine which best predicts corn yield. The main metrics we used to evaluate the models were R-squared (R2), …


Design Of Affordable Polyaniline - Based Wearable Sensor For Real Time Plant Growth Monitoring, Temitope Borode Jan 2022

Design Of Affordable Polyaniline - Based Wearable Sensor For Real Time Plant Growth Monitoring, Temitope Borode

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The need for precision agriculture in today and future farming cannot be overstressed. Recent agriculture is characterized by numerous challenges such as environmental stressors and resource constraints resulting in low crop yield and unsustainable agriculture practices. Understanding plant growth mechanism and growth rate under the external influence is a bedrock towards precision agriculture practices ensuring optimum yield and sustainable utilization of resources. The current study addresses this need by developing and applying an affordable and stable sensor for monitoring plant growth. The sensor was fabricated by in-situ chemical polymerization of aniline on an elastic band substrate by dip coating. The …


Study Of Root System Architectural Traits Of Oat And Response To Endophyte Inoculation And Drought Stress, Krishna Ghimire Jan 2022

Study Of Root System Architectural Traits Of Oat And Response To Endophyte Inoculation And Drought Stress, Krishna Ghimire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oat is an important cereal crop grown worldwide. Oats have the potential to contribute to human health due to their unique nutritional attributes. Developing oat cultivars with efficient root systems able to extract heterogeneously distributed soil resources can help maintain yield under drought conditions and in nutrient poor soil. Various root traits determine the soil volume that is explored by the root system for resource acquisition. Knowledge about the genetic control of oat root traits and response to biotic and abiotic environmental factors is lacking. Identifying quantitative trait loci associated with root traits and understanding the response of roots to …


Manufacture Of Ingredients For Use In Clean Label Process Cheese Products, Ahmed Hammam Jan 2022

Manufacture Of Ingredients For Use In Clean Label Process Cheese Products, Ahmed Hammam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Micellar casein concentrate (MCC) is a high protein ingredient that can be used in several applications, such as manufacture of acid curd and process cheese products (PCP). Acid curd is one of the casein (CN) products, which can be obtained by precipitating the CN at a pH of 4.6 (isoelectric point) using starter cultures or direct acids. Acid curd has low mineral and calcium content due to the solubility of colloidal calcium phosphate at the isoelectric point in the whey. Acid curd and MCC can be utilized in manufacture of clean label PCP formulations. PCP is a dairy food prepared …


Effect Of Essential Oils In The Control Of Fungal Diseases In Small Grains, Esneider Mahecha Bojaca Jan 2022

Effect Of Essential Oils In The Control Of Fungal Diseases In Small Grains, Esneider Mahecha Bojaca

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and oats (Avena sativa L.) are important crops due to their high consumption in our daily diet worldwide. They are the main food of consumption per capita due to the high amino-acid content as well of vitamins. However, grain production is limited due to the negative impact of the diseases that cause significant yield loss. Diseases in oats, such as crown rust caused by Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae (Pca), and in wheat such as Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum. Foliar diseases such as tan spot incited by the fungi …


Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels Jan 2022

Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional agricultural practices can have unintended consequences on the environment and wildlife. Insects and birds are declining at rapid rates around the world, and the current conventional agricultural paradigm is a major driver through habitat loss and the intensification of production. Invertebrates in agroecosystems provide services to both farmers and the rest of society. Regenerative systems may promote the functioning of an agroecosystem by influencing invertebrate abundance, diversity, and ecosystem services and mitigate bird and insect declines through conservation practices that increase soil health, reduce disturbances, and increase biological diversity. Here I address knowledge gaps of the effects of regenerative …


Soil Hydro-Physical Properties, Computed Tomography Measured Pore Parameters, And Soil Health Indicators As Influenced By Tillage And Crop Rotation Systems, Goutham Thotakuri Jan 2022

Soil Hydro-Physical Properties, Computed Tomography Measured Pore Parameters, And Soil Health Indicators As Influenced By Tillage And Crop Rotation Systems, Goutham Thotakuri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Long-term tillage and crop rotation systems are important agricultural management practices as these can have direct impact on the soil’s key properties. The objectives of this study were to (ⅰ) quantify the soil pore characteristics under long-term tillage and crop rotation using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) and to assess the relationships between XCT-measured pore parameters and soil hydro-physical properties; and (ⅱ) evaluate the impacts of long-term tillage and crop rotation on select soil health indicators. The objective (ⅰ) was carried out at Haskell Agricultural Laboratory (HAL), Concord, NE; and objective (ⅰi) was carried out at South Central Agricultural Laboratory (SCAL), …


Managing Water Quantity And Quality With Subsurface Drainage In Eastern South Dakota, Morghan Hurst Jan 2022

Managing Water Quantity And Quality With Subsurface Drainage In Eastern South Dakota, Morghan Hurst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Moisture extremes (excess and deficit) impact crop loss and water quality. Due to excessively wet springs and dry summers, crop damage can occur within the same county or field within the same year. To determine the magnitude of this problem in eastern South Dakota, indemnified crop insurance data for drought and excessive moisture claims were assessed for the years 1991-2020 for the occurrence of both excess moisture and drought in four counties in eastern South Dakota. Results show that there is greater than a 70% chance of the moisture extremes happening in the same year, making subsurface drainage, controlled drainage, …


Rural Feminism And Perspectives Of Women Farmers In The Agriculture Industry: "I Don't Think I'D Want To Be A Man In This Industry", Cassie M. Duncan Jan 2022

Rural Feminism And Perspectives Of Women Farmers In The Agriculture Industry: "I Don't Think I'D Want To Be A Man In This Industry", Cassie M. Duncan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women currently make up 36% of the workforce in the agriculture industry and are actively growing in number (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2017). Historically, women’s roles in the agriculture industry were silent or ignored, which has had consequences for women, such as poorer quality of life (Meares, 1997). Today, women are becoming more and more involved in the agriculture industry, but still face inequality in the workplace due to their gender. This research aims to understand the day-to-day experiences and impact of gender for women who work in the production agriculture industry; and by doing so, expand Feminist Theory to …