Life Sciences Commons^™

Assessing Freezing Effect On Kiwifruit Cultivars And Mapping Suitable Areas For Growing The Crop In Eastern Texas, Lais De Oliveira Machado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kiwifruit is a perennial vine originating from China where it has been grown for centuries. In the United States, green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) is primarily produced commercially in California. They are fuzzy, green fleshed and well known in the marketplace. Kiwifruit plants require low to moderate soil pH, adequate winter chilling and adequate precipitation to guarantee plant development and good fructification. Actinidia chinesis or golden kiwifruit are smooth skinned, feature golden flesh and are a more recent introduction into the global market. Kiwifruit crops have attributes that favor production in east Texas, including low pest problems, current long …

Nutrient Uptake And Management Strategies In Recirculating Hydroponic Systems, Lauren Leigh Houston

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient management in recirculating hydroponic systems requires the periodic replenishment of water and nutrients to the nutrient solution reservoir. Common nutrient management strategies, such as replenishing the reservoir with fresh solution and maintaining a constant solution electrical conductivity (EC), can lead to ion accumulation and nutrient imbalances since nutrients are taken up by roots and depleted from solution at different rates. To avoid nutritional disorders, commercial growers typically dump and replace the hydroponic solution periodically, which is wasteful and has an economic cost. A potential alternative is to specially formulate the nutrient replenishment solution to balance the supply of nutrients …

Molecular Markers Within And Beyond Viburnum: A Single Set Of Ssrs For An Immense Genus, Trinity Paige Hamm

Masters Theses

Comprised of more than 160 species, Viburnum is the largest genus in the Viburnaceae (formerly Adoxaceae) alongside Adoxa and Sambucus. The native range of Viburnum species spans much of the Northern Hemisphere and extends into the mountains of South America and Southeastern Asia. Their wide geographic range has made Viburnum particularly interesting to phylogeographers and phylogeneticists. This diverse genus is also horticulturally valuable with varying traits such as fragrance, fruit color, and bud and inflorescence form. There is sufficient morphological diversity in the genus for there to be more than 70 species and intraspecific hybrids in cultivation, and in …

Comparing Organic And Conventional Yield Responses To Climate Variations, Joost Wilken Meyer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis compares the responses of organic yields and conventional yields towards climate variations. To achieve this objective, weather variables such as growing season weather conditions (average temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, relative humidity, drought index), weather anomalies, the occurrence of severe or extreme droughts and excessive rainfalls, are combined with 23 data sets gathered from previous studies that compare organic and conventional yields from the same location and time periods. To narrow the scope, the thesis focuses on soybean, maize, and wheat production in Europe and North America. Study-level fixed-effects models are used to control for any time-invariant factors such …

Field Evaluation Of Struvite As A Phosphorus Source, Niyi Sunday Omidire

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorus (P) is an element that is crucial in many biological processes in all forms of life and is not substitutable. Excess P in wastewaters leading to the degradation of receiving waters or eutrophication once released is a major environmental concern. Removal of excess P from wastewater as the mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) could be a promising solution to reduce P discharge into receiving waters and can potentially provide a valuable fertilizer-P source for agricultural production. The objectives of this project were to evaluate the effects of: 1) chemically precipitated struvite (CPST), compared to triple superphosphate (TSP) and an unamended control …

Palmer Amaranth [Amaranthus Palmeri (S.) Wats.] Resistance To S-Metolachlor In The Mid-Southern Us And S-Metolachlor Dissipation In Soil, Koffi Badou Jeremie Kouame

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Palmer amaranth [Amaranthus palmeri (S.) Wats.] presents both a high genetic diversity and propensity to evolve resistance to herbicides of several sites-of-action which have made it one of the worst weeds in US agriculture. In Arkansas, Palmer amaranth is resistant to herbicides of seven sites-of-action, which are 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) inhibitor, acetolactate synthase inhibitors, microtubule inhibitors, protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors, very long chain fatty acid inhibitors, glutamine synthetase inhibitors, and hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitors. Sustainable management requires a better understanding of its biology and that of herbicide environmental fate. This research had five objectives: 1) characterize the current status of Palmer amaranth …

Winter Cover Crop Mixes: Effects On Strip-Tilled Plasticulture And No-Till Watermelon Production In Arkansas, Alden Neil Hotz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai, producers in Arkansas grow watermelons in either plasticulture or bare-ground systems. Both systems can benefit from the use of winter cover crops for weed control and to supply nitrogen (N) to the watermelon crop. Currently, the use of cover crops in watermelon production in AR is mostly limited to either cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) or winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L). The objective of this research is to evaluate the potential benefits of growing a mix of a legume and grass cover crops before watermelon production in both a strip-till plasticulture and a …

Impact Of Planting Arrangement And Drill Row Spacing For Direct-Seeded, Delayed Flood Rice, Mary Jane Lytle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Direct-seeding is the most frequently utilized planting practice in Arkansas and Mid-South rice (Oryza sativa L.) production. Enhanced plant density and more rapid rice canopy formation may result from the implementation of innovative plant arrangements and spacings. Studies were initiated in 2019 and continued into 2020 to examine different cultural management practice experiments, including evaluating the impacts of planting arrangement, row spacing, and seeding rates on rice stand density, canopy coverage, grain yield, and milling yield. These small-plot trials were conducted at two locations, a silt loam site and a clay site, representative of soils produced to rice in eastern …

Utility Of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation For Weed And Disease Management In Solanaceous Vegetable Crops, Gursewak Singh

All Theses

Managing weeds is one of the most challenging aspects of growing specialty crops. Weed control options are limited for specialty crops due to absence of effective herbicide options. The limited current herbicide options risk carryover and damage to subsequent crops. Bacterial wilt is another problem causing significant yield losses in southeast vegetable production. After the termination of methyl bromide due to health and environmental concerns, several other chemical fumigants gained interest, including 1,3-dichloropropene, chloropicrin and metam sodium/potassium. While less toxic to the environment than methyl bromide, these fumigants pose carcinogenic and mutagenic threats. Alternative weed control and diseases management tactics …

Genetic Control Of Sweetness, Acidity, And Seediness In Blackberry, Carly Elizabeth Godwin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global blackberry (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson) industry has experienced rapid growth during the past 15 years. Even so, many industry stakeholders report complaints from consumers and grocers stating blackberries are often too tart, too seedy, or not sweet enough for their liking. The development of molecular markers for high sweetness, low acidity, and reduced seediness would allow breeding programs to expeditiously make selection and crossing decisions in the early stages of the breeding pipeline. The objective of this study was to use a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) to identify marker-trait associations, locate quantitative trait loci (QTL), and find …

Hemp Microgreen Mineral Content, Cannabinoids, Total Phenolics, And Antioxidants, Cheston T. Schayot

LSU Master's Theses

Hemp (Cannabis sativa) L. microgreens were grown to 7 and 12 days with and without supplemental lighting and/or fertilizer. The principal macronutrient found in hemp microgreens was nitrogen (N), followed by potassium (K), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and sulfur (S). The principal micronutrient found in hemp microgreens was iron (Fe), followed by manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), boron (B), and copper (Cu). Hemp microgreens were similar to other commonly grown microgreen species in minerals except for P and Mg, where they could potentially be an excellent source, and Zn, where they fell below previously reported amounts. The …

Evaluating Substrate Stratification Practices For Enhanced Water Resource Management In Nursery Production, Kristopher S. Criscione

LSU Master's Theses

The nursery and greenhouse industries have continued to increase in production and sales over the past two decades. This increase in horticultural production necessitates a greater demand for finite natural resources, specifically water. Sustainable water resource management will be critical to the success and continual growth of the nursery industry. Strategic irrigation scheduling and innovative substrate management practices can improve nursery resource efficiency. Soilless substrates were originally utilized by the industry to increase substrate air-filled porosity, to ensure adequately drained container systems. Thus, the implementation of these soilless substrates can lead to an inefficient use of water and fertilizer. Substrate …

Analysis Of The 16s Rrna For The Identification Of Microbial Communities In The Rhizosphere Of Cultivated Date Palms Trees Under Salt Stress Condition In The Uae Ecosystem, Azra Shamim

Theses

Increasing soil salinity is an emerging global issue, generating land degradation, affecting agricultural production and further affecting quality of ground water. In arid environment with water scarcity, saline ground water has been regularly used for irrigation purpose in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) plantation, without knowing its impact on their root-associated bacterial communities. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of saline water irrigation on date palm root-associated bacterial community compositional structure and their diversity. Plant root samples were collected from date palm farms located in Abu Dhabi Emirate, irrigated with either saline, or non-saline water. Overall, we …

Response Of Five Chenopodium Quinoa Varieties To Different Salinity Levels, Elevated Co₂ And Uvb, Saif Ali Matar Al Blooshi

Theses

Ecosystems have been affected by climate changes. Both agriculture and environmental changes are correlated with various features since climate change is the main cause of abiotic and biotic stress which affects crop plants. The climate changes and their severe impact on plant productivity showed great intensities due to the effects of abiotic stress. In the present investigation, five quinoa varieties viz KAUST- 05395/CHFN-68 (V1), KAUST-05398/PI-614889 (V2), KAUST-05397/PI-614885 (V3), KAUST-05403/ICBA-Q3 (V4), and KAUST-05399/PI-614888 (V5) were screened for their salinity stress response by measuring the morphological parameters such as total plant height, fresh and dry weight of shoot and roots. V4 and …

Abiotic Stress Effect On Growth And Photosynthetic Characteristics In Emirati Date Palm Varieties, Nasser Abdullah Ghdayer Al Kaabi

Theses

Plants are naturally exposed to various environmental stresses that affect their growth and development. As a desert plant, date palm has developed strategies to protect itself from most abiotic stresses. However, projected climate changes and the interaction between the various abiotic stressors will have profound effects on date palm adaptation and production. In the present study, five date palm cultivars, namely Chichi, Kalas, Nabt Saif, Sultana and Zamli, were initially evaluated for salinity tolerance by measuring the growth parameters such as plant height, fresh weight and dry weight of shoots and roots. Based on the obtained results, Sultana and Zamli …

Comparison Of Three Different Woody Plant Species For Their Ability To Utilize Nutritional Elements Supplied In The Form Of Biosolids And Mineral Fertilizers, Fatima El-Telib Hassan

Theses

Crop production systems of the future will need to focus on recycling rather than flow- through of mineral nutrients. Much of the nutrients that leave agricultural systems with crop products eventually end up in household waste and sewage. Returning nutrientrich products from wastewater treatment to agricultural soils must be done in an environmentally sound and culturally acceptable manner. More than 300,000 hectares of forest have been planted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), consisting mainly of native species, such as Prosopis cineraria (Ghāf) and Vachellia tortilis (Samr). It has been proposed that sewage sludge, the dry residue from wastewater treatment, …

The Effect Of Natural Elicitors And Cold Storage Period On Quality Improvement Of Uae Date Palm Fruits (Phoenix Dactylifera, Cv. Barhi), Fatima Yaaqoub Yousef Al Shaibani

Theses

Date palm is an agricultural crop of economic importance in most Arab countries. Among the different varieties of date palms grown in the United Arab Emirates, the Barhi variety is extremely popular and is often consumed at the bisr stage (first edible stage). However, the major challenge for this fruit at bisr stage is to maintain its quality over a long period after harvest and during marketing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the synergistic effect of preharvest spraying with a natural elicitor, namely chitosan (Ch) 1%, alone and in combination with salicylic acid (SA) 2 mM and …

Can Volunteers Learn To Prune Trees?, Ryan W. Fawcett

Masters Theses

Volunteer pruning programs are becoming an important tool in helping municipal arborists manage the urban forest. To find if volunteers can learn to prune trees well, the ability of volunteers to prune small trees after receiving training was assessed in three different ways, a written exam, a pruning prescription assessment, and a pruning cut assessment. Volunteers were assigned to either an indoor, lecture-based training or an outdoor, hands-on training session. After the training volunteers were asked to complete a written exam to gauge their understanding of the curriculum. Volunteers were then asked to perform a pruning prescription on small street …

The Effects Of Gibberellic Acid, Smoke Water, And Cold Stratification On The Germination Of Native Perennial Seed, Zyreasha Tippins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I evaluated the germination rates of twenty native plant species and their response to cold stratification as well as four chemical solution treatments—water (control), gibberellic acid, smoke water, and gibberellic acid with smoke water. Seeds were evaluated and counted twice a week. Of the twenty evaluated species, sixteen had germination rates over 3% or 1 seed out of 30. Stratification increased germination by 54% when compared to the control. For chemical treatments, gibberellic acid and gibberellic acid with smoke water were significantly different from the control and increased germination by an average of 47% and 48%, respectively. …

Identification And Functional Characterization Of Plant Small Secreted Proteins During Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, Xiaoli Hu

Doctoral Dissertations

Plant small secreted proteins (SSPs) are sequences of 50 – 250 amino acids in size which are transported out of cells to fulfill multiple functions related to plant growth and development and response to various stresses. With the development of more accurate and affordable genome sequencing technology, an increasing number of SSPs have been predicted using diverse computational tools based on machine learning. Although experimentally validated plant SSPs are still limited, some studies have reported that plant SSPs can be induced and involved in mutualistic relationships between plants and microbes. In Chapter I, known SSPs and their functions in various …

Marker-Assisted Selection To Determine The Introgression Of Rpv-3 Mediated Downy Mildew Resistance In 'Chambourcin' X 'Caberenet Sauvignon' Grapevine Population, Kavya Sri Tummala

MSU Graduate Theses

Downy mildew caused by the fungus, Plasmopara viticola in the grapes is one of the major diseases affecting crop yield throughout the world. Breeding grapes via conventional methods for the downy mildew resistance will take approximately 25-30 years to fully evaluate and release new cultivars. Because of the long breeding cycle in woody plant species like grape, developing DNA markers linked to genes or quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for horticultural traits can greatly accelerate the breeding process and allow a much more accurate selection of progeny. This study aims to determine the presence of resistance in the 267 F1 genotypes …

Genetic Resistance To The Downy Mildew Pathogen And Breeding Towards Durable Disease Management In Spinach, Bazgha Zia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a self-pollinated, dioecious winter crop. Prevalent challenges to the production of spinach include disease pressure imposed by downy mildew, which is caused by Peronospora effusa (=P. farinosa f. sp. spinaciae [Pfs]). A total of 19 new races of P. effusa have emerged, imposing serious challenges to the disease management in spinach production. Accordingly, this study was designed to explore the genetic components for establishing the basis of durable disease resistance development against the downy mildew pathogen (P. effusa 13) in spinach, through the use of various genome engineering approaches.

Our results have led (Chapter 2) to …

Effect Of Harvest Time On The Incidence Of Red Drupelet Reversion And Development Of Tetraploid Linkage Maps In Blackberry, Mitchell E. Armour

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The cultivated eastern U.S. blackberry (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson) has gone through tremendous strides in both trait improvement and market outreach at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (UA System). What began as primarily a pick-your-own local fruit found mostly in the wild, has become a commercialized year-round product in most major U.S. grocery retailers. This could not have been achieved without decades of diligent breeding efforts. Although the genetic improvement of fresh-market blackberries has advanced, there are still issues that need to be addressed. One issue is the prevalence of red drupelet reversion (RDR), a physiological …

Nocturnal Pollination In Fruit Agriculture, Stephen Robertson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Insect pollination in agriculture provides as much as 35% of the global food supply and contributes hundreds of billions of dollars to the global economy each year. In the past 30 years, reports of declining populations of managed and wild bees, notably the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) and a wide array of bumble bees (Bombus spp.), have raised concerns about the stability and outlook of agriculture. At the same time, agricultural dependence on insect pollinators is increasing as greater percentages of land being converted to pollinator-dependent crops, such as soy and oil palm, than pollinator-independent crops, such as grains …

Evaluation Of Masculinization Treatments To Produce Feminized Hemp Seed (Cannabis Sativa L.), Ted Fitzgerald, J. Wyatt Brown

Master's Theses

Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) develops plants with either male or female flowers, and growers of hemp greatly prefer female flowers which bear the glandular trichomes that contain cannabinoids. Feminized (all female) seeds are highly desired, which are produced by crossing a female plant with a masculinized female plant. Masculinization is achieved through the inhibition of ethylene and/or addition of gibberellins before flower initiation in female plants. The hemp industry uses silver thiosulfate (STS) to masculinize hemp, but spraying silver poses environmental concerns. This study compared STS to three other ethylene-inhibiting agents: aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), cobalt nitrate (CBN), and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). Treatments …

Can Home Garden Be A Safe Haven In Times Of Crisis? To Measure Householders Attitudes, Preferences And Willingness To Have Home Garden At Time Of Pandemics, Noura Mubarak Al Mansouri

Theses

The new coronavirus that has rapidly become a worldwide outbreak leads people to Self-quarantine, where work, school, and shopping have become through remote applications. Keeping fit and being healthy is important at any time, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Having a garden or outdoor space provides the opportunity to have a place that can be used to maintain a healthy life and well-being of an individual. The coronavirus lockdown has provided the time ad opportunity to create a garden that has been always wanted by householders. A Garden is a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables, and etc. …

Conserving Water Through Modular Planting Design: Water-Wise Templates For Ogden's Residential Front Yard Landscapes, Jessica Clements

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Due to the arid climate of the Wasatch front and the projected population growth in the next thirty years, water conservation is essential. Consequently, because the landscape consumes 60% of Utah residences’ purified drinking water, water-wise landscaping needs to be a priority. This thesis creates water-wise landscape templates that can be applied to the front yards of Ogden rental properties using a modular planting method. This study determines best practices by researching topics such as water-wise plants for Northern Utah, templates utilized in other areas, modular planting, and existing organizations with similar goals. This results in a user-friendly guide that …

Not All Pollinator Gardens Are Created Equally: Determining Factors Pertinent To Improving Pollinator Garden Effectiveness, Travis Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing evidence documenting the decline of insect populations, resulting from increasing human disturbances has resulted in efforts to establish pollinator gardens to provide additional resources for insect populations. However, our understanding of biotic and abiotic garden characteristics important for attracting and sustaining pollinator diversity is limited. Here, we evaluated 17 pollinator gardens to evaluate the effect of five biotic and three abiotic garden characteristics on pollinator species richness, abundance, and proportional representation of four pollinator functional groups. Plant species richness positively influenced pollinator richness and negatively influenced flower visitation. Bombus proportional abundance responded to several variables (distance to vegetation, plant …

Evaluation Of Irrigation And Nutrient Management Strategies In Rice Using Alternative Irrigation Methods, Justin Lee Chlapecka

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As water resources gain value across the Mid-South, alternative irrigation strategies of rice (Oryza sativa L.) have garnered increasing attention. In 2015, an estimated 1.7% of Arkansas rice hectarage used alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation and 0.9% used furrow irrigation. As of 2020, 2.5% used AWD and 16.9% used furrow irrigation, the latter accounting for near 99,000 ha in Arkansas. Little information exists in the scientific literature in relation to management of rice grown in the Mid-South without a conventional flood. This fact coupled with the rapid adoption rate, especially for furrow-irrigated rice (FIR), during the last five years …

Evaluating Silicon Foliar Sprays As A Strategy To Improve Postproduction Performance Of Potted Basil (Ocimum Basilicum L.), Joshua Tebow

Horticulture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of the study was to evaluate foliar silicon (Si) applications for effects on the growth and performance of container-grown basil during production and resistance to postproduction wilt in retail. Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Genovese’ L.) seedling plugs were transplanted into 10-cm diameter plastic containers with peat-based substrate and grown for 42 d in a polycarbonate greenhouse. Plants were irrigated with fertilizer solution consisting of a 17.0 nitrogen (N)-1.3 phosphorus-14.1 potassium water-soluble fertilizer dissolved in tap water at 150 mg∙L-1 N. Foliar sprays containing sodium silicate at 0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg∙L-1 Si mixed with deionized water were …