Life Sciences Commons^™

Polymer Coated Urea Microplastics: Sweet Corn, Benjamin T. Geary, C. J. Seely, B. G. Hopkins

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

• Polymer Coated Urea (PCU) is beneficial for providing the food, fuel, and fiber needed for the nearly 8 billion people on earth.

• Microplastics, from a wide range of waste materials, pollute water bodies.

• One potential source of microplastics are from PCU fertilizers if the coatings are transported overland into water bodies.

• Various agricultural application methods vary in potential for surface runoff.

Objective • Determine the microplastic concentrations from runoff water for strip injection, surface unincorporated, and broadcast incorporated application in sweet corn.

Effectiveness Of The Smallholder Sustainability Assessment Of Food And Agricultural Systems App For Subsistence Farm Systems In Ecuador, Carter D. Allred, H. L. Boman, S. J. Clawson, C. A. Freestone, S. N. Hockett, C. A. Holden, E. R. Phipps, C. N. Quigley, M. M. Rupard, N. C. Hansen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2019

Small-scale agriculture is the primary source of food for the majority of the developing world. It is a vital component of the total global land usage for agricultural production, and sustaining and improving subsistence farms is critical for meeting global food demand as well as maintaining the integrity of agro-ecological systems. Due to the important role that smallholder farmers play in global agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN developed the Smallholder Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agricultural Systems App (SAFA), a 100-question survey tool created for simplicity and wide-reaching applicability. SAFA is flexible in nature in that …

Testing The Potential Of Novel Grain Crop Cultivation In Rural Malawi During The Dry Season Through Irrigation And Soil Modification, Jessica Truman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research project studied the germination and growth rates of oat and quinoa crops in Mtalimanja, Malawi. This project was part of a larger effort by General Mills and Brigham Young University researchers to increase the diversity and nutrient content of crops in impoverished countries worldwide. It was conducted from May to August 2017 during Malawi’s dry season. Tetraploid oats and quinoa, both modified to increase the protein content of harvested grains, were planted under three different soil conditions: unamended soil, soil mixed with composted chicken litter, and soil with surface-applied granular fertilizer. The research plots were watered daily except …

Improving Cotton Agronomics With Diverse Genomic Technologies, Aaron Robert Sharp

Theses and Dissertations

Agronomic outcomes are the product of a plant's genotype and its environment. Genomic technologies allow farmers and researchers new avenues to explore the genetic component of agriculture. These technologies can also enhance understanding of environmental effects. With a growing world population, a wide variety of tools will be necessary to increase the agronomic productivity. Here I use massively parallel, deep sequencing of RNA (RNA-Seq) to measure changes in cotton gene expression levels in response to a change in the plant's surroundings caused by conservation tillage. Conservation tillage is an environmentally friendly, agricultural practice characterized by little or no inversion of …

Drought And Nitrogen Effects On Maize Canopy Temperature And Stress Indices, David A. Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

Increased water scarcity due to changing climate, population growth, and economic development is a major threat to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Western United States and other regions around the world. Management practices, such as controlled deficit irrigation, that seek to maximize the productivity of a limited water supply are critical. When using controlled deficit irrigation, remote sensing of crop canopy temperature is a useful tool for assessing crop water status and for more precise irrigation management. However, there is potential that nutrient deficiencies could compound the interpretation of water status from leaf temperature by altering leaf color …

Mentored Student Research In The Study Of Ancient Maize Agriculture In Mesoamerica, Richard E. Terry

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For the past two years, Richard Terry, his graduate students, Zachary Larsen and Jacob Horlacher have mentored twenty two undergraduate majors in Environmental Science in the collecting, preparation, and analysis of soil samples from the rural surroundings of ancient Maya cities in Guatemala and Mexico. Corn (called maize in Mesoamerica) has been very important to both the ancient and contemporary Maya. The Maya creation story as recorded in the Popol Vuh tells of the creation of man from the ground maize. Many of the Maya view themselves as “people of the maize”. The actions of planting the seeds, harvesting, preparation …