Life Sciences Commons^™

'Lacefield Maxqll' Novel Tall Fescue, Timothy D. Phillips

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The goal of deploying novel endophyte strains in tall fescue varieties has been to achieve forage yields, stress tolerance, and persistence similar to toxic endophyte tall fescue varieties (mainly ‘Kentucky 31’ endophyte infected with the common toxic endophyte strain), but with the superior animal performance results seen with endophyte-free tall fescue varieties or other non-toxic forage species (orchardgrass, alfalfa, etc.). In addition to better stand persistence, less weed encroachment has been reported in novel endophyte (and toxic endophyte) tall fescue varieties compared to their endophyte-free versions (Rudgers et al., 2010; Bouton et al., 2002). The improved competitive ability of endophyte-containing …

Soy Hulls: More Than Just A Feed Supplement, Glen E. Aiken, Michael Flythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

There is approximately 35 million acres of tall fescue in the USA, with most of this acreage being utilized in hay meadows and grazed pastures in a region between the temperate northeast and subtropical southeast and commonly referred to as the Fescue Belt. Popularity of the grass is due to its productivity, persistence, and low cost of management. Unfortunately, a fungal endophyte that infects most plants of tall fescue produces ergot alkaloid toxins that cause a toxicosis in cattle and other grazing livestock. Fescue toxicosis may reduce reproductive performance of cow herds and weaning weights, and reduce post-weaning weight gain …

The Secret Ingredients Of Clover: Biochanin A And Isoflavonoids, Michael Flythe, Glen Aiken, Isabelle Kagan

Kentucky Grazing Conference

It is well known that the value of clover is in nitrogen. Clovers fix their own nitrogen so that an input of nitrate fertilizer is not required. Furthermore, they are rich in protein-nitrogen, and can be used to meet the protein requirements of ruminants. Clovers also contain a class of chemicals called isoflavones, and we have recently discovered evidence that the isoflavones positively influence the way that ruminants digest protein.

Foreword And Conference Information [2016], S. Ray Smith, Krista Lea

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Water Use Of Kentucky Bluegrass Varieties, Shawn Foster

Research on Capitol Hill

• With drought so prevalent in the West, water use on urban landscapes is being closely scrutinized with up to 60% of urban water use directed to landscape irrigation-primarily our lawns.
• Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is widely used because of its soft texture, attractive color, and ability to recover from intensive use.
• More water-efficient varieties of Kentucky bluegrass may result in less irrigation yet maintain quality and function of the turf.

Experimental Evidence For Drought Induced Alternative Stable States Of Soil Moisture, David A. Robinson, Scott B. Jones, Inma Lebron, Sabine Reinsch, Maria T. Dominguez, Andrew R. Smith, Davey L. Jones, Miles R. Marshall, Bridget A. Emmett

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Ecosystems may exhibit alternative stable states (ASS) in response to environmental change. Modelling and observational data broadly support the theory of ASS, however evidence from manipulation experiments supporting this theory is limited. Here, we provide long-term manipulation and observation data supporting the existence of drought induced alternative stable soil moisture states (irreversible soil wetting) in upland Atlantic heath, dominated by Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Manipulated repeated moderate summer drought, and intense natural summer drought both lowered resilience resulting in shifts in soil moisture dynamics. The repeated moderate summer drought decreased winter soil moisture retention by ∼10%. However, intense summer drought, …

Spatial Analysis Of Forest Crimes In Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, Karun Pandit, Eddie Bevilacqua, Giorgos Mountrakis, Robert W. Malmsheimer

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Forest crime mitigation has been identified as a challenging issue in forest management in the United States. Knowledge of the spatial pattern of forest crimes would help in wisely allocating limited enforcement resources to curb forest crimes. This study explores the spatial pattern of three different types of forest crimes: fire crime, illegal timber logging crime, and occupancy use crime in the Salem-Patosi Ranger District of Mark Twain National Forest. Univariate and bivariate Ripley’s K-functions were applied to explore the spatial patterns in crime events, like clustering and attraction among forest crime types. Results reveal significant clustering for each forest …

Comparison Of Terrain Indices And Landform Classification Procedures In Low-Relief Agricultural Fields, Derek A. Evans, Karl W. J. Williard, Jon E. Schoonover

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Landforms control the spatial distribution of numerous factors associated with agronomy and water quality. Although curvature and slope are the fundamental surface derivatives used in landform classification procedures, methodologies for landform classifications have been performed with other terrain indices including the topographic position index (TPI) and the convergence index (CI). The objectives of this study are to compare plan curvature, the convergence index, profile curvature, and the topographic position index at various scales to determine which better identifies the spatial variability of soil phosphorus (P) within three low relief agricultural fields in central Illinois and to compare how two methods …

Discordant Data And Interpretation Of Results From Wildlife Habitat Models, Anita T. Morzillo, Michael G. Wing, Justin Long

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Wildlife habitat management is an important part of natural resource management. As a result, there are a large number of models and tools for wildlife habitat assessment. A consequence of the many assessment tools is inconsistency when comparing results between tools, which may lead to potential confusion management decisions. Our objective was to compare results from two wildlife habitat models – one being relatively coarse (HUC5) scale and not spatially dynamic and the other being finer scale spatial data based on a 30 m spatial resolution –for habitat assessment of three species across the West Cascades of Oregon: Northern spotted …

The Effect Of Root Exudate 7,4'-Dihydroxyflavone And Naringenin On Soil Bacterial Community Structure, Márton Szoboszlay, Alison White-Monsant, Luke A. Moe

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Our goal was to investigate how root exudate flavonoids influence the soil bacterial community structure and to identify members of the community that change their relative abundance in response to flavonoid exudation. Using a model system that approximates flavonoid exudation of Medicago sativa roots, we treated a soil with 7,4′-dihydroxyflavone and naringenin in two separate experiments using three different rates: medium (equivalent to the exudation rate of 7,4′-dihydroxyflavone from M. sativa seedlings), high (10× the medium rate), and low (0.1× the medium rate). Controls received no flavonoid. Soil samples were subjected to ATP assays and 16S rRNA gene amplicon …

Experimental Genome-Wide Determination Of Rna Polyadenylation In Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Stephen A. Bell, Chi Shen, Alishea Brown, Arthur G. Hunt

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

The polyadenylation of RNA is a near-universal feature of RNA metabolism in eukaryotes. This process has been studied in the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using low-throughput (gene-by-gene) and high-throughput (transcriptome sequencing) approaches that recovered poly(A)-containing sequence tags which revealed interesting features of this critical process in Chlamydomonas. In this study, RNA polyadenylation has been studied using the so-called Poly(A) Tag Sequencing (PAT-Seq) approach. Specifically, PAT-Seq was used to study poly(A) site choice in cultures grown in four different media types—Tris-Phosphate (TP), Tris-Phosphate-Acetate (TAP), High-Salt (HS), and High-Salt-Acetate (HAS). The results indicate that: 1. As reported before, the motif UGUAA is …

Composting Swine Manure From High Rise Finishing Facilities, Edwin L. Ritchey, Kim Cook

Plant and Soil Sciences Research Report

Swine production has restructured considerably in recent years with increased production on fewer farms (Key et al., 2011). Most swine production facilities manage manure in liquid form either in deep pits underneath production facilities or in lagoons adjacent to the production facilities (Key et al., 2011). This management uses water to rinse manure from the facilities, which dilutes the nutrient concentration and value of the manure. The liquid forms are applied to land through irrigation systems or by liquid manure spreaders. Liquid manure management can have some operational constraints that composting eliminates (Bernal et al., 2009). The most common issue …

Effects Of Chemical Amendments To Swine Manure On Runoff Quality, Elizabeth L. Bullock, Dwayne R. Edwards, Phillip A. Moore Jr., Richard S. Gates

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land-applied swine manure can be an environmental concern when runoff losses of manure constituents occur. The use of chemical amendments to mitigate these losses has been investigated for poultry litter, but materials such as swine manure have received less attention in this context, particularly at the plot scale or larger. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the impacts of aluminum sulfate (alum; Al₂(SO₄)₃), aluminum chloride (AlCl₃), and ferric chloride (FeCl₃) addition on runoff of selected constituents of land-applied swine manure. Manure was collected from feeder pigs fed a …

Use Of Soil Maps And Surveys To Interpret Soil-Landform Assemblages And Soil-Landscape Evolution, Bradley A. Miller, Randall J. Schaetzl

Bradley A Miller

Soils form in unconsolidated parent materials, which make them a key link to the geologic system that originally deposited the parent material. In young soils, i.e., those that post-date the last glaciation, parent materials can often be easily identified as to type and depositional system. In a GIS, soil map units can then be geospatially tied to parent materials, enabling the user to create maps of surficial geology. We suggest that maps of this kind have a wide variety of applications in the Earth Sciences, and to that end, provide five examples from temperate climate soil-landscapes.

Effects Of Epichloë Coenophiala−Tall Fescue Symbiosis On Plant-Microbe-Soil Interactions In A Temperate Pasture, Lindsey C. Slaughter

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Plants interact in myriad ways with microorganisms to influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, which can regulate ecosystem response to global change. One important plant-microbe symbiosis occurs between cool-season grasses and asexual fungal Epichloë endophytes, such as tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and Epichloë coenophiala. Because the common toxic strain of the endophyte (CTE) harms grazing livestock, non-livestock toxic endophyte (NTE) strains have been developed and are increasingly deployed in pastures. Little is known about how these symbioses impact other plant-microbe interactions and microbe-mediated soil processes in grassland ecosystems. I conducted three studies to determine how E. …

Soil Organic Matter Distribution In A Douglas-Fir-Tanoak Forest, Humboldt County, California, Hollie A. Ernest

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Soil carbon (C) affects the active gases in the atmosphere, nutrient cycling, and diversity of flora and fauna. Soil organic matter (SOM) is partially comprised of C, and a widely-accepted ratio of 0.58 organic carbon (OC) to organic matter (OM) is used to measure soil C on a landscape scale. However, this ratio varies according to vegetation, depth, hydrology, and may lead to miscalculations of soil C and SOM estimates. Soil C and SOM are inherently complex and it is not completely understood which environmental factors have the most influence in their formation, which occurs on a time scale of …

Soil Properties Affect Establishment Of Invasive Species, Celastrus Orbiculatus, In A Lower Hudson River Riparian Ecosystem, Shabana Hoosein Hoosein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The Hudson River Estuary has been colonized by numerous terrestrial invasive plant species, due in part to its history of anthropogenic and natural disturbance riparian dynamics. This study investigates the spatial patterns of a widespread invasion by Oriental (or Asiatic) bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.) in Schodack Island State Park, Rensselaer and Columbia Counties. The Park is home to rare species and communities, several of which are threatened by the encroachment of bittersweet. Bittersweet populations were mapped and surveyed on a fixed grid throughout the island, to determine distribution patterns. Stem densities were approximately 50% higher in sites with dredged material …

Ecological Dynamics In Compost-Amended Soils And The Resulting Effects On Escherichia Coli Survival, Anya Cutler

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are common and typically innocuous copiotrophic bacteria found in the mammalian gut microbiome. However, over the past 30 years, pathogenic E. coli have been responsible for several outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to contaminated produce. The introduction of Escherichia coli to an agricultural soil, via contaminated water, compost, or raw manure, exposes the bacterium to a medley of ecological forces not found in a mammalian gut environment. This study assesses a variety of abiotic and biotic soil factors that influence the ability of an "invasive" copiotrophic coliform bacterium to survive in compost-amended agricultural soil. The study …

Spanish River Carbonatite: Its Benefits And Potential Use As A Soil Supplement In Agriculture, James J

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A critical problem facing agriculture today is being able to consistently and sustainably provide plants with adequate nutrients for growth. With this problem being exacerbated by the ever-increasing human population, new perspectives and techniques are required to ensure global food security. In order to fully realize potential solutions, however, plant growth and nutrition cannot be exclusively focused upon. The soil-microorganism-plant system is comprised of many interconnected and interdependent processes that together support plant growth: it is upon these processes that the focus must be placed. In this work, the agromineral Spanish River Carbonatite (SRC) is characterized using the framework of …

Effects Of Wildfire And Post-Fire Salvage Logging On Rill Networks And Sediment Delivery In California Forests, Will Olsen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wildfires can increase soil erosion by orders of magnitude over rates in unburned forests and negatively impact aquatic resources. Rill erosion is a dominant erosion and sediment transport mechanism in burned forests, and hydrologically connected rills can form networks on burned hillslopes. At the swale scale (< 10,000 m²), little is known about how rill networks develop under different burn severities over time, their relationship with sediment yields, and the effect of post-fire salvage logging on rill networks and sediment yields.

The first study assessed rill networks and sediment yields in three burn severities in the inland Coast Range of …

Edge-Of-Field Water And Phosphorus Losses In Surface And Subsurface Agricultural Runoff, Laura B. Klaiber

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Quantifying effectiveness of soil management practices on surface and subsurface water quality at the field scale is becoming increasingly important in the Lake Champlain Basin and other agricultural watersheds. During 2012 and 2013, field plots (22.9 x 45.7 m) were established at the Lake Alice Wildlife Area in Chazy, NY to begin a long-term water quality monitoring study. Plots were established in a cool season grass field (1 ha) leased and managed by the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY. The soil type transitions from an excessively drained outwash soil on the upslope to a very poorly …

Earthworms In Vermont Forest Soils: A Study Of Nutrient, Carbon, Nitrogen And Native Plant Responses, Ryan Melnichuk

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Anthropogenic activities surrounding horticulture, agriculture and recreation have increased dispersal of invasive earthworms. The introduction of earthworms initiates many physical and chemical alterations in forest soils previously unoccupied by earthworms. Three trials were performed to assess the effects of earthworms on soil-water dynamics, C and N and defensive/storage compound production by a native plant.

The first trial was a greenhouse experiment, performed to assess the impact of two ecologically contrasting invasive earthworm species on percolate and evaporative soil water loss. Mesocosms were constructed to simulate a typical forest Entisol commonly penetrated by the species of interest, Lumbricus terrestris and Amynthas …