Agriculture Commons^™

The Changing Cost Of Cattle Transportation, Elliott James Dennis

Center for Agricultural Profitability

Diesel is one of the primary inputs in the transportation of goods throughout the United States. Livestock hauling is no exception. Feeder cattle are generally transported long distances in the fall as they move from summer grazing to placement in backgrounding operations or directly into feedlots. Cattle, and other livestock in general, can handle transportation stress fairly well – to a point. Trucking feeder cattle long distances can impact animal health outcomes, and improper animal handling can lead to bruised or injured cattle. These negative impacts can generally be offset by appropriate stocking densities, proper trailer ventilation, correct animal handling …

Intensification Differentially Affects The Delivery Of Multiple Ecosystem Services In Subtropical And Temperate Grasslands, Shishir Paudel, Nuria Gomez-Casanovas, Elizabeth H. Boughton, Samuel D. Chamberlain, Pradeep Wagle, Brekke L. Peterson, Rajen Bajgain, Patrick J. Starks, Jefferey Basara, Carl J. Bernacchi, Evan H. Delucia, Laura E. Goodman, Prasanna H. Gowda, Ryan Reuter, Jed P. Sparks, Hilary M. Swain, Xiangming Xiao, Jean L. Steiner

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Intensification, the process of intensifying land management to enhance agricultural goods, results in “intensive” pastures that are planted with productive grasses and fertilized. These intensive pastures provide essential ecosystem services, including forage production for livestock. Understanding the synergies and tradeoffs of pasture intensification on the delivery of services across climatic regions is crucial to shape policies and incentives for better management of natural resources. Here, we investigated how grassland intensification affects key components of provisioning (forage productivity and quality), supporting (plant diversity) and regulating services (CO2 and CH4 fluxes) by comparing these services between intensive versus extensive pastures in subtropical …

Do Cover Crop Mixtures Improve Soil Physical Health More Than Monocultures?, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Rationale and Purpose — Adding multispecies cover crop (CC) mixtures could diversify the current simplified crop rotations and enhance soil health more than monoculture CCs. Further, CC mixtures with diverse plant species could adapt better to changing climatic and environmental conditions than monoculture CCs. However, our current understanding of the soil benefits of CC mixtures is still limited. This review discussed whether CC mixtures are better than monoculture CCs to improve soil physical health.

Methods — All studies published up to May 25, 2023, comparing soil physical properties between CC mixtures and their constituents grown as monocultures were searched in …

Nebline, June/July 2023

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Introducing Nit Kits: Extension's New Program on Head Lice in Early Childhood Settings by Kait Chapman

Curiosity as a Tool for Health Access by Emily Gratopp

Recipe of the Month: Refreshing Watermelon Salad by Emily Gratopp

Nebraska Celebrates Wildflower Week, June 5–11 by Sarah Browning

Graden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Fescue Toxicosis by Connor Biehler

Graywater Use in Nebraska by Becky Schuerman

Aphids, Scales and Spider Mites, Oh My! by Kait Chapman

Challenging Behaviors: Using Positive Language by Hayley Jackson

Extension News: New 4-H Assistant

4-H’ers Qualify for State Presentations Contest

4-H Clubs Helped at Kiwanis Karnival

Nebraska …

Impact Of Nitrogen Availability On The Accumulation Of Vegetative Lipids In Sorghum, Leticia Felicio Pasqualino

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a versatile and prosperous feedstock crop for renewable energy production. With the increase in bioenergy demand, the production of higher oil content per biomass in a feedstock crop is a highly desirable trait for the biofuel conversion process yield. Especially if this outcome can be achieved using fewer inputs in the field, such as nitrogen. In microalgae species, nitrogen limitation has been associated with changes in the carbon storage metabolic pathway favoring triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation. In this context, this study aimed to assess whether nitrogen starvation would result in a similar outcome in …

They Shrank The Futures Contracts! Mini Futures Contracts: What They Are And How To Use Them, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Mini futures contracts (or e-mini, since they are traded electronically) were first developed in the late 1990s based on futures contracts that already existed. The main characteristic of mini contracts is that they represent a fraction of standard-size contracts. For example, the first mini contract was launched in 1997 and based on the S&P500 futures contract. The size of the standard futures contract is $250 times the value of the S&P500 index, while the size of the mini futures contract is $50 times the value of the S&P500 index. If the index is at 4,200 points, the total value of …

2018–2019 Field Seasons Of The Maize Genomes To Fields (G2f) G X E Project, Dayane Dayane Lima, Alejandro Castro Aviles, Ryan Timothy Alpers, Bridget A. Mcfarland, Shawn Kaeppler, David Ertl, Maria Cinta Romay, Joseph L. Gage, James Holland, Timothy Beissinger, Martin Bohn, Edward Buckler, Jode Edwards, Sherry Flint‑Garcia, Candice N. Hirsch, Elizabeth Hood, David C. Hooker, Joseph E. Knoll, Judith M. Kolkman, Sanzhen Liu, John Mckay, Richard Minyo, Danilo E. Moreta, Seth C. Murray, Rebecca Nelson, James C. Schnable, Rajandeep S. Sekhon, Maninder P. Singh, Peter Thomison, Addie Thompson, Mitchell Tuinstra, Jason Wallace, Jacob D. Washburn, Teclemariam Weldekidan, Randall J. Wisser, Wenwei Xu31, Natalia De Leon

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Objectives This report provides information about the public release of the 2018–2019 Maize G X E project of the Genomes to Fields (G2F) Initiative datasets. G2F is an umbrella initiative that evaluates maize hybrids and inbred lines across multiple environments and makes available phenotypic, genotypic, environmental, and metadata information. The initiative understands the necessity to characterize and deploy public sources of genetic diversity to face the challenges for more sustainable agriculture in the context of variable environmental conditions.

Data description Datasets include phenotypic, climatic, and soil measurements, metadata information, and inbred genotypic information for each combination of location and year. …

Nebraska National Agri-Marketing Association (Nama) Is Back On Track, Ashton Humphreys, Rosalee A. Swartz

Cornhusker Economics

UNL’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) student organization is one of more than thirty student chapters across the U.S. and Canada. NAMA’s objective is to make students aware of the many career opportunities in agricultural marketing. Building strong connections between students and professionals in marketing, advertising, communications, promotion, sales, and public relations is the key to this objective. NAMA members also have opportunities to develop leadership and team-building skills through club activities and involvement. Two years of COVID created a leadership and experience gap for UNL NAMA. Officers from 2018-2019 had graduated. Monthly meetings were suspended for some time, followed by …

Creeper Legume, In Conjunction With Biochar, Is A Potential Tool To Minimize Soil Erosion, Sujani De Silva, Priyantha Indralal Yapa, Kushani Mahatantila, Saurav Das, Bijesh Maharjan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Accelerated soil erosion and landslides are destructive consequences of road development and intensive agriculture in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. Properly designed vegetation covers can play a vital role in erosion control. Identifying a plant that can adapt to eroded land with a low-nutrient supply is critical for natural erosion management. A perennial creeper legume, Vigna marina, adaptable for marginal lands and used to control soil erosion in Australia, was introduced to Sri Lanka via the 2004 tsunami. The objective of this study was to assess V. marina under five different soil substrates, including a reference treatment (RT) …

Depreciation Changes Ahead, Tina N. Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed in 2018, a lot of time and focus was placed on all the things that were changing quickly and the things that were 5-6 years out became back burner problems. Amazingly enough, we are now at the stage of the bill where things are starting to phase out. These changes will start to impact tax returns starting in 2023 and will continue increasing taxable income through 2025. The first change is the phase out of the Bonus depreciation. This law has been on the books since 2001 (there was no …

Managing Calf Market Risk With Lrp In 2023, Jay Parsons

Center for Agricultural Profitability

When profit margins are strong, livestock owners have a natural tendency to relax a bit and enjoy the business of producing animals. Expansion may come to mind and effort is often put forth to improve production output. Protecting market price may become a secondary priority. However, a lot can happen between now and marketing time. Price trends can suddenly turn and quite often expectations may not be met. Protecting price should be just as much — maybe more — of a priority when the price outlook is optimistic, as it is in a downward trend. An unprotected, overly optimistic price …

Effectiveness Of Tadreb-B1 And 1-Feh W3 Kasp Markers In Spring And Winter Wheat Populations For Marker-Assisted Selection To Improve Drought Tolerance, Shamseldeen Eltaher, Mostafa Hashem, Asmaa A. M. Ahmed, P. Stephen Baenziger, Andreas Börner, Ahmed Sallam

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Due to the advances in DNA markers, kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers could accelerate breeding programs and genetically improve drought tolerance. Two previously reported KASP markers, TaDreb-B1 and 1-FEH w3, were investigated in this study for the markerassisted selection (MAS) of drought tolerance. Two highly diverse spring and winter wheat populations were genotyped using these two KASP markers. The same populations were evaluated for drought tolerance at seedling (drought stress) and reproductive (normal and drought stress) growth stages. The single-marker analysis revealed a high significant association between the target allele of 1-FEH w3 and drought susceptibility in the spring …

Higher Cattle Prices Are Good But Wide Profit Margins Are Better, Elliott James Dennis

Center for Agricultural Profitability

Feeder and fed cattle prices have continued to rise throughout the first part of the year. Reduced cattle supplies and relatively stable beef demand have helped support higher prices. Fed and feeder cattle prices have reached all-time heights, at least nominally. In low inflationary environments comparing nominal prices across time would be less problematic. Contrary to previous sentiments, inflation has not been transitory. Inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy (Chain-Type Price Index), has increased significantly in the last 3 years (see Figure 1) and thus comparison across years should be done using real prices …

Long-Term Conservation And Conventional Tillage Systems Impact Physical And Biochemical Soil Health Indicators In A Corn–Soybean Rotation, Anuoluwa O. Sangotayo, Jemila Chellappa, Udayakumar Sekaran, Sangeeta Bansal, Padma Angmo, Paul J. Jasa, Sandeep Kumar, Javed Iqbal

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Agricultural management practices tend to influence soil structure stabilization, mediating many physical, chemical, and biological processes in soils. Therefore, understanding the long-term effects of management practices on various soil health indicators is crucial to develop sustainable agricultural practices. This study aimed to assess the long-term conventional and conservation tillage effects on soil physical (aggregates) and biochemical (soil organic carbon [SOC], enzymes, and microbial biomass) parameters under a range of tillage practices in a corn–soybean rotation in Nebraska. The experiment was conducted at two locations as follows: (1) Concord site (36 years) with the three treatments: no-till (NT), disk, and moldboard …

North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center Helps Producers Manage Risks, Christine Lockert, Sheila Aikanathan Johnson, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

The Extension Risk Management Education (ERME) program, funded by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, provides training to help producers learn new strategies to manage complex and growing agricultural risks. ERME strives to achieve this goal by encouraging and funding innovative programs across the country and helping programs focus on tangible results. Four regional grant-making ERME Centers are located across the country at the University of Delaware (Northeast), the University of Arkansas (South), Washington State University (West) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (North Central) along with a Digital Center at the University of Minnesota to help administer online application, …

Hybrid Allele‑Specific Chip‑Seq Analysis Identifies Variation In Brassinosteroid‑Responsive Transcription Factor Binding Linked To Traits In Maize, Thomas Hartwig, Michael Banf, Gisele Passaia Prietsch, Jia‑Ying Zhu, Isabel Mora‑Ramírez, Jos H. M. Schippers, Samantha J. Snodgrass, Arun S. Seetharam, Bruno Huettel, Judith M. Kolkman, Jiashi Yang, Julia Engelhorn, Zhi‑Yong Wang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Genetic variation in regulatory sequences that alter transcription factor (TF) binding is a major cause of phenotypic diversity. Brassinosteroid is a growth hormone that has major effects on plant phenotypes. Genetic variation in brassinosteroidresponsive cis-elements likely contributes to trait variation. Pinpointing such regulatory variations and quantitative genomic analysis of the variation in TF-target binding, however, remains challenging. How variation in transcriptional targets of signaling pathways such as the brassinosteroid pathway contributes to phenotypic variation is an important question to be investigated with innovative approaches.

Results: Here, we use a hybrid allele-specific chromatin binding sequencing (HASChseq) approach and …

The Unintended Consequences Of China’S One-Child Policy, Wesley Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

In 1968, Paul Ehrlich published a book entitled The Population Bomb in which he argued that rapid population growth would overwhelm the world’s capacity to feed, house, and otherwise care for the coming millions of people. At that time, the world population was about 3.5 billion growing at an average annual rate of 2.06 percent (World Bank 2023). At that rate of growth, the world’s population would have been expected to double to 7.0 billion by 2001. In fact, population growth rates fell after the 1960s and world population reached only 6.2 billion in that year. Fears of a population …

Macro And Micro-Nutrient Accumulation And Partitioning In Soybean Affected By Water And Nitrogen Supply, Ingrid Silva Setubal, Aderson Soares De Andrade Júnior, Silvestre Paulino Da Silva, Artenisa Cerqueira Rodrigues, Aurenívia Bonifácio, Evandro Henrique Figueiredo Moura Da Silva, Paulo Fernando De Melo Jorge Vieira, Rafael De Souza Miranda, Nicolas Cafaro La Menza, Henrique Antunes De Souza

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

This study aimed to investigate the influence of water availability and nitrogen fertilization on plant growth, nutrient dynamics, and variables related to soybean crop yield. Trials were performed in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, using randomized blocks in a split-split plot arrangement. The plots corresponded to water regimes (full and deficient), the split plots to N fertilization (0 and 1000 kg ha^-1 N-urea), and the split-split plots to harvest times of soybean plants (16, 23, 30, 37, 44, 58, 65, 79 and 86 days after emergence), with three replicates. In general, the accumulation and partitioning of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium …

Winter Hardy Small Cereals For Grazing Or Silage In Eastern Nebraska, Abigail Sartin

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

Two, 3-year studies were conducted to evaluate the value of cereal rye, winter wheat, and winter triticale as forage sources for either for silage or early spring grazing. For silage, the objective was to evaluate species and maturity effects on dry matter yield, nutritive value, and fermentation of small cereal silage. There are no major differences between wheat, rye, or triticale in terms of the relative timing of each species reached each maturity stage. There are no differences among species in dry matter (DM) yield, except for wheat which tends to decline at soft dough due to senescence of the …

Economic Analysis Of Western Corn Rootworm Injury To Continuous Corn In Northeast Nebraska., Isadora Vercesi Bethlem

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The most economically significant corn pest in the US Corn Belt is the Western Corn Rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte. This study compares a field experiment outcome of 4 different treatments against WCR, which consist of a rootworm Bt corn pyramid (SmartStax®) and non-rootworm Bt trait hybrid (VT2P), with or without the addition of the rootworm soil insecticide (Aztec®) to identify the risk-reward trade-off for each one of them. Observed prices were used for the years in the study (2020, 2021, and 2022), and low and high price scenarios were simulated for the period, to incorporate different dynamic relations …

Evaluating Planting Green And Herbicides For Integrated Weed Management And Their Effect On Soil Properties In Corn And Soybean In Nebraska, Trey Stephens

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Producers across the Midwest are finding new ways to implement cover crops into cropping systems and the practice of “Planting Green” is one of the newest uses of cover crops. When planting green, producers plant their row crops into actively growing cover crops and terminate the cover crop at time of planting or shortly after planting. This practice would allow for higher biomass accumulation of the cover crop and could aid in weed management of herbicide-resistant weeds. The objective of the first two studies was to evaluate planting green and its effect on soil-applied residual herbicides, weed management, dicamba/glyphosate-resistant soybean …

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …

Methods To Reduce Nitrogen And Carbon Losses From Finishing Beef Cattle, Hanna Cronk

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

A finishing experiment evaluated the effect of incremental supplemental rumen-protected lysine on beef cattle performance. All cattle were fed the same diet of high moisture corn, dried rolled corn, modified distillers grains plus solubles, corn silage, and supplement with inclusion levels of lysine ranging from 0 to 7 grams/day, in 1 g increments. Dry matter intake (P 0.04) and ADG (P ≤ 0.04) decreased linearly as supplemental lysine increased in the diet with no effect on final carcass adjusted feed efficiency (P ≥ 0.34). In the initial 64 days of the experiment, increasing lysine in the diet …

The Evaluation Of Encapsulated Megasphaera Elsdenii In An Accelerated Beef Step-Up Program And An Acidosis Challenge Model And The Evaluation Of Ramp Versus A Traditional Forage Grain Adaptation Strategy On Methane And Respired Carbon Dioxide, Cindy D. Mansfield

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

A metabolism experiment (Exp 1) was conducted to evaluate daily feeding of encapsulated Megasphaera elsdenii (M. elsdenii) NCIMB 41125 along with a one-time drench of 1×10¹¹ CFU of M. elsdenii on dry matter intake (DMI), in-vitro lactate utilization, volatile fatty acid (VFA), and lactate concentration. Treatments consisted of steers which were fed no M. elsdenii (CONTROL), steers drenched with the commercial dose 1×10¹¹ CFU of M. elsdenii (LactiproNXT) on d 1 of the experiment and received no other M. elsdenii (DRENCH), and steers drenched with a commercial dose of LactiproNXT on d 1 of the experiment …

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Volume 2, Edition 5, May 2023, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Contents

K-12 Curriculum & Resources

Career Exploration pathways for students who like animals and insects

Teacher & Student Opportunities

East Campus Discovery Days and Farmers Market

ALEC Department

PGA Management Program

Environmental Studies Program

CandidCareer.com: Career Exploration

Community Leaders Careers Spotlight

Haskell Ag Lab

NCE Conference 2023

A New Method For Reducing Salmonella In Poultry Meat, Regis Yizerwe

Honors Theses

An important approach to decreasing the transmission of Salmonella into the food chain is to treat raw chicken after processing. This can be, and has been done, by using antibiotics and chemical disinfectants. Using antibiotics is not a viable option due to the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Although some chemical disinfectants have been used effectively, they are restricted due to the amounts that can be used safely, the acceptance of their use and resistance to implementation in various parts of the world. This study has revealed that using a naturally occurring saponin–Quillaja Saponaria– in small concentrations under certain conditions of …

Nebline, May 2023

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

The 4-H Thriving Model Provides a Guide for Helping Youth Grow to Their Full Potential by Tracy Anderson

Beef: A Healthy and Delicious Choice for Your Next Meal by Kayla Colgrove

Recipe of the Month: Skillet Lasagna by Kayla Colgrove

Managing Chlorosis in Trees by Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

May is the Perfect Time to Learn More About Your Drinking Water! by Becky Schuerman

Cash Rent Survey

Challenging Behavior Corner: Providing Choices by Hayley Jackson

Pollinator Spotlight: The Yucca Moth by Kait Chapman

At Ag Literacy Festival, 4th Graders Learn How Agriculture Impacts Their Daily …

Genomic Selection For Yield And Seed Composition Stability In An Applied Soybean Breeding Program, Benjamin Harms

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stability traits are of primary importance in plant breeding to ensure consistency in phenotype across a range of environments. However, selection efficiency and accuracy for stability traits can be hindered due to the requirement of obtaining phenotype data across multiple years and environments for proper stability analysis. Genomic selection is a method that allows prediction of a phenotype prior to observation in the field using genome-wide marker data and phenotype data from a training population. To assess prediction of stability traits, two elite-yielding soybean populations developed three years apart in the same breeding program were used. The individuals in each …

Plasticity Of Sorghum Biomass And Inflorescence Traits In Response To Nitrogen Application, Kyle M. Linders

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient required for growth and development in plants. Insufficient nitrogen availability can reduce vegetative growth and grain yield. However, nitrogen is a costly input for farmers, is energy intensive to manufacture, and runoff of excess nitrogen fertilizer impacts water quality. Compared to its close relative, maize, sorghum has much greater resilience to nitrogen and water deficit, and heat stress, allowing sorghum to be grown with fewer inputs and on marginal land. Variation in total biomass accumulation and grain yield between sorghum accessions, as well as between nitrogen conditions, can be largely explained by differences in vegetative …

Us Public School Demand For Locally Produced Meat And Poultry, Shara Akat

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of the USDA Farm-to-School program is to promote the understanding and use of local food in school education and meals. The hope is that by reconnecting students with how food is raised and purchasing the product from local producers it will increase nutrition and reduce food insecurity and obesity among students while simultaneously increasing economic activity for local producers. Most studies evaluating the federal program have focused on how the economic outcomes for local producers or student related health outcomes and primarily using fresh fruits and vegetables. Fundamental to either of these outcomes is understanding the schools’ demand …