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Advacnes On Biological And Farming Technology For The Prevention And Treatment Of Cadmium In Rice, Shen Junjun, Lin Qinlu, Luo Feijun

Food and Machinery

In this paper, on account of the current situation that some rice have high cadmium content or even exceeds the national standard, the severity and regional distribution currently at home and abroad are analyzed. The necessity of controlling cadmium pollution of rice was revealed, and the methods of biotechnology and farming at home and abroad were systematically integrated,such as screening low cadmium enriched rice varieties using biological technology, hybrid technology and genetic engineering technology that includes transgene technology, gene knockout and gene silencing to improve rice traits. The microbial adsorption method and fermentation technology to reduce the cadmium content in …

Soil Health Effects And Stakeholder Perceptions Of Manure And Woody Biomass Application To Cropland In Nebraska, Linda R. Schott

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Organic products that have historically been viewed as waste products may improve soil health by adding carbon (C) and nutrients to soil. Two such products are woodchips, generated from forest or rangeland management activities, and livestock manure. In Nebraska, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) is a native but invasive tree species inhibiting rangeland productivity. Livestock manure that is underutilized while inorganic fertilizers are imported for crop production presents a water quality risk by contributing to local- and regional-scale nutrient imbalances. Increasing the responsible use of livestock manure in crop fertility programs to improve sustainability of both livestock and crop farms …

Arabidopsis Thaliana Transformed With Streptanthus Farnsworthianus Metal Tolerance Protein 1 (Sfmtp1) Or The Native A. Thaliana Metal Tolerance Protein 1 ( Atmtp1) Cdna And The Effects On Sod Enzyme Activity Upon Nickel Treatment, Selina Urbina Fernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Superoxide Dismutase enzyme activity was analyzed in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana, a non-accumulator weed plant species of the Brassicaceae family, that was transformed with Streptanthus farnsworthianus Metal Tolerance Protein1 (SfMTP1) or A. thaliana Metal Tolerance Protein 1 (AtMTP1 ). The transgenic A. thaliana was exposed to a 12 day treatment of 100 ?M Nickel Acetate in 1/10 X Hoaglands solution in hydroponics. Analysis of Super Oxide Dismutase activity determined that transgenic A. thaliana transformed with the AtMTP1 cDNA and treated with 100 µM Nickel showed a significant increase in Super Oxide Dismutase activity compared to A. thaliana …

Timber Talk, Vol. 56, No. 4, December 2018

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue:

Lumber Market Reports

Hardwood Lumber Prices

NOTE FROM EDITOR: Transitioning to Electronic Delivery Only

NDA Expands EAB Quarantine

Forest Products Grants Available

Wildfires and Communities in Nebraska

Forest Industry Spotlight: “Good Neighbor Authority” in Nebraska

Trading Post

Timber Sales

Interactions Between Biochar And Compost In Organic Winter Wheat Production And Soil Quality Under Dryland Conditions, Phearen Kit Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Organic wheat grown under dryland conditions encounters challenges such as limited nutrients and water. Maintaining organic wheat production requires solutions to these problems in order to retain economic sustainability for the farmers.

Research on biochar and compost have been conducted globally. Despite well known benefits of compost on soil and crop production, few organic farmers apply compost to their fields. Research on biochar is still new. Biochar is charcoal created from pyrolyzing agricultural material under conditions of low oxygen and high heat. Many studies claim that biochar is a valuable soil amendment for improving organic production and reducing environmental pollution …

Multi-Element Fingerprinting Of Waters To Evaluate Connectivity Among Depressional Wetlands, Yuxiang Yuan, Xiaoyan Zhu, David M. Mushet, Marinus L. Otte

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Establishing the connectivity among depressional wetlands is important for their proper management, conservation and restoration. In this study, the concentrations of 38 elements in surface water and porewater of depressional wetlands were investigated to determine chemical and hydrological connectivity of three hydrological types: recharge, flow-through, and discharge, in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. Most element concentrations of porewater varied significantly by wetland hydrologic type (p < 0.05), and increased along a recharge to discharge hydrologic gradient. Significant spatial variation of element concentrations in surface water was observed in discharge wetlands. Generally, higher element concentrations occurred in natural wetlands compared to wetlands with known disturbances (previous drainage and grazing). Electrical conductivity explained 42.3% and 30.5% of the variation of all element concentrations in porewater and surface water. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the similarity decreased from recharge to flowthrough to discharge wetland in each sampling site. Cluster analysis confirmed that element compositions in porewater of interconnected wetlands were more similar to each other than to those of wetlands located farther away. Porewater and surface water in a restored wetland showed similar multi-element characteristics to natural wetlands. In contrast, depressional wetlands connected by seeps along a deactivated drain-tile path and a grazed wetland showed distinctly different multi-element characteristics compared to other wetlands sampled. Our findings confirm that the multi-element fingerprinting method can be useful for assessing hydro-chemical connectivity across the landscape, and indicate that element concentrations are not only affected by land use, but also by hydrological characteristics.

Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-Triazine (Rdx) Reduction By Granular Zero-Valent Iron In Continuous Flow Reactor, Amalia Terracciano, Jie Ge, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Xiaoguang Meng, Benjamin Smolinski, Per Arienti

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Wastewater streams containing hexahydro-1, 3, 5-trinitro-1, 3, 5-triazine (RDX) are subject to regulatory discharge regulations that require processing through industrial waste treatment. Thus, the development of easy-to-apply technologies for the treatment of RDX-laden wastewater streams is imperative. In the present study, the reduction of RDX by granular zero valent iron (GZVI) in batch and column experiments was investigated. Preliminary batch tests conducted under both oxic and anoxic conditions showed that after 3.0 hours of reaction with GZVI, RDX was mainly converted to formaldehyde (CH₂O), nitrate (NO₃ ^- ), and ammonium (NH₄ ⁺ ). Column filtration tests …

Weak Effects Of Biochar And Nitrogen Fertilization On Switchgrass Photosynthesis, Biomass, And Soil Respiration, Dafeng Hui, Chih-Li Yu, Qi Deng, Priya Saini, Kenya Collins, Jason De Koff

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer plus biochar may increase crop yield, but how biochar will interact with N fertilization to affect bioenergy crop switchgrass physiology, biomass, and soil CO₂ emission (i.e., soil respiration) from switchgrass fields remains unclear. Here, we assessed this issue by conducting a field experiment near Nashville TN with two levels of biochar treatment (a control without biochar addition and biochar addition of 9 Mg ha⁻¹), and four N fertilization levels (0 kg N ha⁻¹, 17 kg N ha⁻¹, 34 kg N ha⁻¹, and 67 kg N ha …

Timber Talk, Vol. 56, No. 3, September 2018

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue:

Lumber Market Reports

Hardwood Lumber Prices

American Logger Council Seeking Great Plains Chapter

Woody Biomass Heating Assistance Available

Bureau of Indian Affairs Preparing for Walnut Timber Sale

2018 Nebraska Forestry Festival (October 27)

Forest Industry Spotlight: Much Ado about Residue

Trading Post

Timber Sales

Plant Stimuli-Responsive Biodegradable Polymers For The Use In Timed Release Fertilizer Coatings, Spencer Heuchan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers continues to accelerate with human population growth and increases in global food requirements. Enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFs) have been developed to improve the synchronization between nutrient supply and crop nutrient demand. However, many of the current controlled release fertilizers are coated with non-degradable polymers that contribute to accumulation of microplastics within ecosystems. This thesis describes research towards the development of a new class of fertilizer coatings using a self-immolative polymer known as poly (ethyl glyoxylate) (PEtG). PEtG itself does not have suitable properties to produce a viable coating but once blended with another degradable polyester …

The Effects Of Biochar And Nitrogen Stabilizers Application On Forage Crop Growth, Greenhouse Gas Emission And Soil Quality, Joseph Elias Rodrigues Mikhael

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Forage systems are important for animal production. Nitrogen fertilization and herbicides use has led to a significant increase in forage production. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of biochar and N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide + dicyandiamide (NBPT+DCD) application on manure and urea fertilized soil by focusing on nitrogen fertilizer efficiency use, greenhouse gases emissions, microbial community, soil aggregate stability, and organic carbon functional groups. In addition, herbicides effect on greenhouse gases emission was assessed. Biochar and NBPT+DCD increased nitrogen use efficiency of both fertilizers managements and reduced the N₂O emissions following manure fertilization. However, NBPT+DCD was …

Application Of Agricultural Waste Biochar For Canteen Wastewater Treatment In Chulalongkorn University, Norakamon Ariyakanon, Chalisa Vikrompanitkul

The International Student Science Fair 2018

The potential use of biochar in canteen wastewater remediation. Biochars were prepared from rice straw, bagasse or coir, produced by slow temperature pyrolysis at 300^oC for 1 h. This study characterized the physical and chemical properties of biochar products related to wastewater treatment. The physical and chemical parameters of wastewater were analyzed before and after treatment with the three different types of biochar. Measured parameters included, pH, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), oil and grease, total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TKN). The biochar derived from rice straw contained the highest …

Application Of Agricultural Waste Biochar For Canteen Wastewater Treatment In Chulalongkorn University, Norakamon Ariyakanon, Chalisa Vikrompanitkul

The International Student Science Fair 2018

The potential use of biochar in canteen wastewater remediation. Biochars were prepared from rice straw, bagasse or coir, produced by slow temperature pyrolysis at 300^oC for 1 h. This study characterized the physical and chemical properties of biochar products related to wastewater treatment. The physical and chemical parameters of wastewater were analyzed before and after treatment with the three different types of biochar. Measured parameters included, pH, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), oil and grease, total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TKN). The biochar derived from rice straw contained the highest …

Biochar From Waste Banana Peels As Growth Promoter For Holy Basil (Ocimum Tenuiflorum) And Chili Pepper (Capsicum Annuum), Regina C. So, N Tan

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Biochars are porous materials prepared by combustion of biomass under the presence of low oxygen levels. Its application as soil fertilizer has been shown to have positive effects on the plants by increasing the fertility and raising the soil pH, increasing nutrient cycling and moisture holding capacity, improving cation exchange capacity, and reducing the amount of pesticides and nutrients leaching to the surface and ground water (Laird 2008, Speratti 2017). In this study, waste banana peels of the Lakatan variety (Musa x paradisiaca) were pyrolized at temperatures 300, 400, 500 and 700 °C, the resulting basic char were obtained at …

Sustainable Agriculture: Integration Of Aquaponics At Punta Leona Hotel And Club In Costa Rica, Cailin Sierra Dyer, Paris Riley Smith

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Sustainable agriculture is becoming an increasingly important method of food production. As human populations continue to grow, attendant food demand has been increasingly met via agribusiness, including monoculture crop production and factory farming. As is well documented, the rise of agribusiness has led to resource degradation and declining stocks on which “sustainable agriculture” relies. This paper describes a local attempt to re-establish “sustainable agriculture” through the development of an aquaculture system that mimics a naturally occurring cycle that integrates fish and plants. The system was constructed over a three-week period in Punta Leona, Costa Rica. First, the ground was cleared …

The Role Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi In Urban Brownfield Soils, Jennifer Rosalia Balacco

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

AMF are symbionts to a majority of terrestrial plants and can improve plant nutrient uptake, water relations, and stress tolerance. This study evaluated the effects of AMF in heavy metal contaminated soils via a growth chamber experiment to determine the interactions between soil and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) affecting plant growth. Rye grass was grown in two contaminated soils from Liberty State Park, an urban brownfield, and one non-contaminated commercial soil, to which half of the treatments received AMF inoculum. Dried plant biomass, root:shoot ratio, and soil phosphatase activity were measured at the completion of the experiment. Soil contamination was …

Novel Treatments For Native Forb Restoration In The Great Basin, Adam J. Fund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Public land management agencies, conservation organizations, and landowners are interested in expanding the diversity of plant species used in rangeland restoration seedings. While the restoration of native grasses and shrubs in the Great Basin has become increasingly successful, restoration of native forbs continues to be problematic. In the Great Basin, soil water availability and soil fungal pathogens are thought to limit to restoration success. During the course of two years, we conducted two field experiments at three sites in the Great Basin that spanned a latitudinal gradient encompassing different precipitation and temperature patterns.

In the first experiment, we evaluated two …

Effect Of Wood Chips As A Component Of Soilless Media On Growth And Nutrition Of Food And Ornamental Crops, Kristen Bullough

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Peat is the central component of the soil-less media mix in all greenhouse crop production but it is expensive because it is harvested in Canada and shipped to greenhouses across North America. Wood chips provide a local, low-cost alternative to peat, but observations by growers indicate potential growth reductions from the addition of wood to peat-based media. Here I report the effects of the addition of wood chips to peat-based media. The study included four treatments: two controls (peat/vermiculite: 50/50 and 75/25) and two treatments with wood chips ' (peat/wood chips: 50/50 and 75/25) with three species (sunflowers, soybeans, and …

Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Development Strategies In Indochina: Collaborative Effort To Establish Regional Policies, Victor J. Bruckman, Maliwan Haruthaithanasan, Raymond O. Miller, Toru Terada, Anna-Katharina Brenner, Florian Kraxner, David J. Flaspohler

Michigan Tech Publications

We conducted a feasibility study in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) with the aim of promoting biomass and bioenergy markets, technology transfer, rural development, and income generation. Policy development is guided by the International Union of Forest Research Institutions (IUFRO) Task Force “Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Network”. In this paper, we highlight the achievements up to now and present results of a multi-stakeholder questionnaire in combination with a quantitative analysis of the National Bioenergy Development Plans (NBDPs). We found a gap between official documents and working group assessments. NBDPs are focused on the market development, technology transfer, and funding …

Construction Of A Pen-Scale Methane Collection System And Dietary Strategies For Methane Mitigation From Growing And Finishing Cattle, Thomas Winders

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Methane production from ruminants has been researched for many years because it has a global warming potential 25x that of carbon dioxide, meaning that mitigating smaller amounts of methane can have a large environmental impact. Research has focused on individual animal methane measurements, but the literature lack in industry-scale measurements. For that reason, the methane barn was built to evaluate dietary strategies on pens of cattle rather than on individual animals. In order to test the methane barn capabilities, an experiment designed to produce differences in methane production was conducted. Cattle received the same growing diet, at either ad-libitum access …

The Effects Of Soil Suffused With Cool-Fire Ash On The Germination And Early Growth Of Radish Seedlings, Ryan Dalforno, Braden Ritchey, Jay Ogle

Featured Research

In this study, the effects of cool fire ash in soil with varying amounts of water were observed in terms of the germination and early growth of garden radish (Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus) seedlings. Measurements regarding plant growth, field capacity, and seedling leaf quantum yield were taken and compared between four (4) trios of pots separately containing radish seedlings planted in ashy and frequently-watered soil (A_w), ashy and infrequently-watered soil (A_d), normal unmodified garden soil that was watered frequently (N_w) and normal soil that was watered infrequently (N_d). While the …

Effect Of Increasing Levels Of Monosilicic Acid On Arsenic And Phosphorus Sorption In Soil, Flávia Bastos Agostinho

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Arsenic (As) accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa) grains has increased human’s daily intake. Studies have shown that arsenite is taken up through known silicon (Si) transporters in rice. Moreover, the availability of As in soil is affected by chemically similar ligands that have high affinity to oxides surfaces, such as Si and phosphorus (P). Studies were conducted to: (I) investigate the role of elevated levels of Si on the concentration of different As fractions in soil and on As uptake by rice; (II) evaluate the effect of increasing monosilicic acidconcentrations on As sorption and kinetics in soil; and …

Differential Effects Of Warming And Nitrogen Fertilization On Soil Respiration And Microbial Dynamics In Switchgrass Croplands, Jianwei Li, Siyang Jian, Jason P. De Koff, Chad S. Lane, Gangsheng Wang, Melanie A. Mayes, Dafeng Hui

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

The mechanistic understanding of warming and nitrogen (N) fertilization, alone or in combination, on microbially mediated decomposition is limited. In this study, soil samples were collected from previously harvested switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) plots that had been treated with high N fertilizer (HN: 67 kg N ha−1) and those that had received no N fertilizer (NN) over a 3-year period. The samples were incubated for 180 days at 15 °C and 20 °C, during which heterotrophic respiration, δ13C of CO2, microbial biomass (MB), specific soil respiration rate (Rs: respiration per unit of microbial biomass), and exoenzyme activities were …

Effects Of Enhanced Efficiency Nitrogen Fertilizers On Agronomic Parameters And Loss Pathways In The Subtropical Mississippi Delta Region, Scott Michael Pensky

LSU Master's Theses

Minimizing nitrogen (N) loss is critical for improving N use efficiency (NUE) in crop production and reducing its effects on the environment. Management practices such as seasonal application timing of N fertilizers and the addition of enhanced efficiency N fertilizers (EENFs) were investigated for the high N requirement of the two most common cereal crops globally, corn (Zea mays L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), in the subtropical climate of Louisiana. Field research was established during the 2016 and 2017 seasons at the LSU Agricultural Center’s Dean Lee and Central research stations to examine the effect of different EENFs and …

Effects Of Foliar Applied Titanium ( Ti ) On Quality And Nutrient Uptake Of Creeping Bentgrass ( Agrostis Stolonifera ) On Professional Golf Course Greens, Caleb Wepprecht

Theses and Dissertations

Golf course putting greens typically consist of creeping bentgrass on sandy soils. Creeping bentgrass is mowed at extremely short heights, limiting root growth and making it vulnerable to different pests. Sandy profiles make it difficult for creeping bentgrass to take up nutrients and water. Tytanit combines sulfur, magnesium, and titanium-ascorbate as a biostimulant to increase chlorophyll content within the plant, increase yields, and assist in fighting biotic and abiotic diseases such as diseases and drought. Previous studies have shown benefits in plant growth, but results have been inconsistent. No previously reported studies have been performed on turfgrass using Tytanit. Therefore, …

Timber Talk, Vol. 56, No. 1, March 2018

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Dear Timber Talk Subscribers,

Attached is the March 2018 issue of “Timber Talk – Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter.” You must have Adobe software to open the file.

The direct link to previous issues of Timber Talk on the Nebraska Forest Service website is: http://nfs.unl.edu/timber-talk

In This Edition of Timber Talk

1. Lumber Market Reports

2. Hardwood Lumber Prices (green lumber, kiln-dried lumber, green pallet lumber, and green crossties)

3. Evaluating Timber Harvest Potential in Western Nebraska

4. Lincoln Schools, NFS to Demonstrate Urban Lumber Use

5. Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight: Cutting Edge Mill (Elkhorn, NE)

6. Nebraska Forest Service to …

Stabilization Of Lead (Pb) And Zinc (Zn) In Contaminated Rice Paddy Soil Using Starfish: A Preliminary Study, Deok Hyun Moon, Inseong Hwang, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Kyung Hoon Cheong, Yong Sik Ok, Won Hyun Ji, Jeong Hun Park

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) contaminated rice paddy soil was stabilized using natural (NSF) and calcined starfish (CSF). Contaminated soil was treated with NSF in the range of 0-10 wt.% and CSF in the range of 0-5 wt.% and cured for 28 days. Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) test was used to evaluate effectiveness of starfish treatment. Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) analyses were conducted to investigate the mechanism responsible for effective immobilization of Pb and Zn. Experimental results suggest that NSF and CSF treatments effectively immobilize Pb and Zn in treated rice paddy soil. TCLP levels for …

Strategies For Reducing Moisture Content In Forest Residues At The Harvest Site, Anil Raj Kizha, H-S Han, J. Paulson, A. Koirala

Forest Resources Faculty Scholarship

The moisture content (MC) of biomass derived from forest residues can pose a challenge to biomass utilization. It plays a significant role in determining the cost of transportation and subsequent market price. Additionally, emerging biomass conversion technologies, such as gasification, torrefaction, and briquetting, have very narrow specifications for the MC (e.g., <15%) in their feedstocks. The goal of this study was to develop strategies for reducing moisture content by evaluating different arrangement patterns of forest residues and its effect on MC reduction at the harvest site. The study compared four different arrangement patterns including criss-cross, teepees, traditional piling (processor piled), and scattered residues in three different timber harvest units in northern California. Two of the arrangement patterns (criss-cross and processor piled) were also covered with a plastic cover. Samples were collected from each treatment using a transect method and were recorded for 12 months. There was an overall drop of MC from 52% (freshly cut) to 12% between all arrangements over the study period. The cost of construction per pile, averaged $37, $41, and $48 for teepees, criss-cross, and processor piles, respectively. Even though, there was no significant difference in MC reduction between piles (except scattered), each pile arrangement of forest residues directly affected biomass feedstock operations, logistics, and costs.

Organic Versus Conventional Cropping Sustainability: A Comparative System Analysis, Tiffany L. Fess, Vagner Benedito

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We are at a pivotal time in human history, as the agricultural sector undergoes consolidation coupled with increasing energy costs in the context of declining resource availability. Although organic systems are often thought of as more sustainable than conventional operations, the lack of concise and widely accepted means to measure sustainability makes coming to an agreement on this issue quite challenging. However, an accurate assessment of sustainability can be reached by dissecting the scientific underpinnings of opposing production practices and crop output between cropping systems. The purpose of this review is to provide an in-depth and comprehensive evaluation of modern …

Characteristics Of Activated Carbons Produced From Herbaceous Biomass Feedstock, Oluwatosin Jerry Oginni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Energy security and environmental protection are at the forefront of research due to the forecasted depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the growing concern of its adverse environmental impacts. The use of renewable sources for energy applications has centered on the use of biomass feedstocks and this include from herbaceous, woody, agricultural waste, forest residues and municipal wastes. The thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis) of these biomass feedstocks has potential to produce liquid fuel, a solid residue (biochar) and non-condensable gas. The biochar is primarily composed of renewable porous carbon and other inorganic compounds. The biochar is used for soil amendment, adsorption …