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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Constructing New Technology: The Crop Circle Gps Cart In Pictures, Gregory Keith Bartley Jr., Brandon J. Horvath Sep 2011

Constructing New Technology: The Crop Circle Gps Cart In Pictures, Gregory Keith Bartley Jr., Brandon J. Horvath

Gregory Keith Bartley Jr.

The crop circle spectrometer represents a breakthrough in unbiased sensor data. Unlike traditional passive sensors, it pulses light at a speed of 20,000 times per second. With this comes the ability of these filters to discern reflectance measurements from that of natural sunlight, allowing it to be used in environments of sun, shade, and even darkness. From these various reflectance values at different wavelengths, we get measurements of plant health known as vegetation indices. And different vegetation indices can tell us different things about the health of a plant. Couple this with the recent advances in GPS technology, we can …


Magnesium: An Overlooked Nutrient?, Robert Mikkelsen Jun 2011

Magnesium: An Overlooked Nutrient?, Robert Mikkelsen

Robert Mikkelsen

Magnesium nutrition of plants is frequently overlooked and shortages can adversely impact plant growth. Many essential functions require adequate Mg supplies... the most visible being its role in chlorophyll and photosynthesis... but less visible reactions are also dependent on an adequate supply of Mg. When needed, a variety of soluble and slowly soluble Mg sources are available to meet crop demands.


Literature Review - Pigments In Plant Health, Gregory Keith Bartley Jr. Apr 2011

Literature Review - Pigments In Plant Health, Gregory Keith Bartley Jr.

Gregory Keith Bartley Jr.

The solar radiation received at the Earth’s surface helps power the photochemical processes in photosynthesis. However, under sunlight, photosynthetic organisms are unavoidably exposed to potentially harmful levels of ultraviolet and visible light radiation. Consequently, plants have developed many mechanisms for the avoidance and dissipation of excess light energy. The growth of crops under increased solar irradiance during sub- and supra-optimal temperature conditions is an obstacle for increasing seasonal crop production in the transition zone. New methods for reducing the photoinhibitory effects of solar irradiation have been observed in the field of turfgrass. Through the application of pigment compounds to the …


Phenotypic, Pathogenic, Molecular And Phylogenetic Comparisons Of Bacteria Causing Aloe Rot From Three Countries, Yogeshwar Kumar, Jatindra Nath Samanta, Kunal Mandal, Narendra A. Gajbhiye Jan 2011

Phenotypic, Pathogenic, Molecular And Phylogenetic Comparisons Of Bacteria Causing Aloe Rot From Three Countries, Yogeshwar Kumar, Jatindra Nath Samanta, Kunal Mandal, Narendra A. Gajbhiye

Kunal Mandal

Bacterial soft rot disease of Aloe caused by heterogeneous genus Erwinia was reported from different parts of the world. In the recent past the genus underwent major taxonomic modifications. In the present study, four Aloe pathogenic bacterial strains isolated from India, The Netherlands and Yugoslavia have been compared. Different cultural, biochemical, physiological and pathological characters and protein/lipid profiles indicated that the strains belonged to two different genera, Pectobacterium and Dickeya. Species specific amplification of pel gene sequences also supported this. Phylogenetic analysis of rRNA gene (rDNA) sequence placed these Dickeya strains close to D. dieffenbachiae and D. zeae. On the …


Geologic Constraints On Rain-Fed Qocha Reservoir Agricultural Infrastructure,Northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru, Nathan Craig, Mark Aldenderfer, Catherine Rigsby, Paul Baker, Luis A. Flores Jan 2011

Geologic Constraints On Rain-Fed Qocha Reservoir Agricultural Infrastructure,Northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru, Nathan Craig, Mark Aldenderfer, Catherine Rigsby, Paul Baker, Luis A. Flores

Luis FLORES

This paper reports new data on qocha ponds from the Rio PucaraeAzángaro interfluvial zone, northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Qocha are a little known form of Andean agriculture that developed around 800e500 B.C. and remain in use today. Prior estimates suggested that in the study area, there were more than 25,000 qocha. While most Andean sunken beds are excavated to reach groundwater, qocha are rainfed ponds. How these rain-fed ponds functioned has been an open question, but one that is answered in part by research presented in this paper. We suggest that a thick impermeable stratum of clay that was …