Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Comparative Characteristics During Wilting For Forage Harvested By Maceration Vs. A Conventional Roller-Conditioner, Suwarno, K M. Wittenberg, W P. Mccaughey

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Two studies were conducted to monitor forage nutrient and microbial changes during wilting of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) forage in response to varying degrees of maceration at harvest. Early bloom alfalfa forage was harvested with either a roller conditioner (Control) or a macerator, with four degrees of maceration (Light, Light plus, Moderate and Severe) imposed. Macerated forage reached an 80% dry matter 10-27 hours sooner than roller-conditioned forage, the most rapid drying rates being associated with the more severely macerated treatments. Total bacteria and lactic acid bacteria populations tended (P < 0.07 and P < 0.08, respectively) to increase with maceration. Macerated forage, when exposed to precipitation, had lower (P < 0.05) crude protein and higher (P < 0.05) fiber concentration than roller-conditioned forage. Macerated forage, exposed to 2 cm precipitation during wilting without precipitation reached 80% DM sooner than conventionally cut alfalfa exposed to no precipitation.

The Addition And Cessation Of Inorganic Fertiliser Amendments In Long-Term Managed Grasslands: Impacts On Above And Below-Ground Communities, C. D. Clegg, P. J. Murray, R. Cook, T. Tallec

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In recent times, land use in the United Kingdom has undergone considerable changes because of social and economic pressures, leading to a fine balance between the demands of highly productive intensive systems and practices which are perceived to be more environmentally acceptable. Plant productivity is governed by the supply of nutrients from the soil, which in turn is dependent on the dynamics of organic matter decomposition driven by soil micro-, meso- and macro fauna. Considerable information is available concerning the impact of inorganic fertiliser additions on communities of macro-fauna and flora, but the effects on specific microbial communities in soils …

Effect Of Prompt-Delayed Packaging And Ensiling Time On Fermentation And Aerobic Stability Of Soybean Curd Residue, Ajmal Wali, Takeshi Tsuruta, Naoki Nishino

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Wet soybean curd residue (SCR) obtained from two tofu factories (F1 and F2) was anaerobically stored with or without added beet pulp (BP). Sealing was performed on the day of tofu production (prompt sealing [PS]) or 2 days after SCR was piled and unprocessed (delayed sealing [DS]). Predominant lactic acid fermentation was observed regardless of the sealing time and BP addition. Acinetobacter spp. were the most abundant (> 67%) bacteria in pre-ensiled SCR, regardless of the factory and sealing time. In PS silage, the abundances of typical lactic acid-producing bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Streptococcus spp. reached …

Soil Biodiversity, Root Herbivory And Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling In Grassland Soils, R. Cook, L. A. Dawson, A. C. Gange, S. J. Grayston, P. J. Murray, A. M. Treonis

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

This paper describes research on the relationships between grassland management practices and the diversity of biological communities in soil. Observations are being made in field trials with applications of nitrogen and lime and of insecticide to an original diverse sward and to a single species grass re-seed. The treatments are designed to produce different degrees of diversity in communities of soil animals and microbes. Assessments are being made over three years of the effects on the populations, activity and diversity of root-feeding animals, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, soil bacteria, fungi and micro fauna, including nonplant feeding nematodes. Associated laboratory experiments assess …

The Effect Of Different Types Of Inoculants On The Characteristics Of Alfalfa, Ryegrass And Red Clover-Ryegrass-Timothy Silage, Vilma Vrotniakiene, Jonas Jatkauskas

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Silage inoculants based on lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have demonstrated improvements in energy and nutrient recovery from grass and legume silages by lowering the pH and shifting the fermentation towards lactic acid production, by reducing storage losses due to spoilage and by increasing the aerobic stability during feed-out. There are different mixtures of strains currently on the market.

The present study was conducted according to the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft Guidelines for the testing of silage additives in order to assess which mixtures of lactic acid bacteria would have a greater potential to improve fermentation profile of alfalfa, perennial ryegrass and red …

Dual-Functional-Tag-Facilitated Protein Labeling And Immobilization, Xinyi Zhang, Wei Lu, Kevin Kwan, Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Yinan Wei

Chemistry Faculty Publications

An important strategy in the construction of biomimetic membranes and devices is to use natural proteins as the functional components for incorporation in a polymeric or nanocomposite matrix. Toward this goal, an important step is to immobilize proteins with high efficiency and precision without disrupting the protein function. Here, we developed a dual-functional tag containing histidine and the non-natural amino acid azidohomoalanine (AHA). AHA is metabolically incorporated into the protein, taking advantage of the Met-tRNA and Met-tRNA synthetase. Histidine in the tag can facilitate metal-affinity purification, whereas AHA can react with an alkyne-functionalized probe or surface via well-established click chemistry. …

Bis(N-Amidinohydrazones) And N-(Amidino)-N'-Aryl-Bishydrazones: New Classes Of Antibacterial/Antifungal Agents, Sanjib K. Shrestha, Liliia M. Kril, Keith D. Green, Stefan Kwiatkowski, Vitaliy M. Sviripa, Justin Robert Nickell, Linda Phyliss Dwoskin, David S. Watt, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial and fungal strains poses a threat to human health that requires the design and synthesis of new classes of antimicr obial agents. We evaluated bis(N-amidinohydrazones) and N-(amidino)-N'-aryl-bishydrazones for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against panels of Gram-positive/Gram-negative bacteria as well as fungi. We investigated their potential to develop resistance against both bacteria and fungi by a multi-step, resistance-selection method, explored their potential to induce the production of reactive oxygen species, and assessed their toxicity. In summary, we found that these compounds exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal activities against most of …

Plant Diseases [2016], Kimberly Leonberger, Kelly Jackson, Robbie Smith, Nicole Ward Gauthier

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Anyone who has ever planted a garden knows not only the rewards of beautiful flowers, fruit, and/ or vegetables, but also the disappointment when plants become diseased or damaged. Many factors cause plants to exhibit poor vigor, changes in appearance, or even death. Both abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors can negatively impact plant heath. Disorders that result from non-living factors (such as nutrient deficiencies, over/under watering, temperature stress, and chemical damage) are discussed in subsequent chapters. This chapter focuses on those living organisms that cause disease: fungi, water molds, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, phytoplasmas, and parasitic plants.

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 …

Systems And Methods For Diagnosis And Monitoring Of Bacteria-Related Conditions, Sylvia Daunert, Sapna K. Deo, Patrizia Pacini, Anjali Kumari Struss, Harohalli Shashidhar, Deborah R. Auer Flomenhoft, Nilesh Raut

Chemistry Faculty Patents

The presently-disclosed subject matter provides systems, methods, and kits for diagnosing and/or monitoring a bacteria-related condition of interest in a subject by providing a cell sensing system, each system containing a reporter molecule capable of detecting binding of a quorum sensing molecule and capable of generating a detectable signal.

Plant Diseases, Jay W. Pscheidt, John R. Hartman

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Every gardener has put in plants with hopes for wonderful flowers, fruits, or vegetables, only to have those hopes dashed as the plants get sick and die. Plants that die are considered diseased. Many things can cause plants to become diseased, including living agents, other factors (nonliving), or a combination of the two. This chapter focuses only on living agents—fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and parasitic plants. Nonliving factors, such as nutrient deficiencies, lack of water, temperature stress, and these problems in combination as they relate to specific types of plants, are discussed elsewhere.

Late Season Supplemental Nitrogen On Double-Cropped Soybeans, Curt Judy, Lloyd W. Murdock

Soil Science News and Views

Soybeans produce their own nitrogen for crop growth with the aid of nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil that infect the soybean root and form nodules which contain the bacteria. This is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both the plant and the bacteria. The bacteria are able to take atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into a form of nitrogen that the plant can use. Much of the nitrogen requirement for soybean production begins at seed development. Soybean physiology studies suggest that the amount of nitrogen supplied for the soybean plant from fixation in the nodules is less than the potential …

Solute And Bacterial Transport Through Partially-Saturated Intact Soil Blocks, Edmund Perfect, Mark S. Coyne, Michael C. Sukop, Gerald R. Haszler, Virgil L. Quisenberry, Ligia Bejat

KWRRI Research Reports

Steady-state transport of water, chloride and bacteria was measured through intact blocks of Maury and Cecil soils, under partially saturated conditions. Major objectives were to determine if transport occurs uniformly or via preferential flow paths, and if soil physical properties could be used to predict breakthrough. The blocks were instrumented with TDR probes and mounted on a vacuum chamber containing 100 cells that collected eflluent. After each experiment the blocks were sampled for soil physical properties. The fluxes showed no spatial autocorrelation and the eflluent variance was not statistically different between soils. Less than 3% of the influent bacteria appeared …

How Do Bacteria Move Through Soil?, Mark S. Coyne, J. M. Howell, R. E. Phillips

Soil Science News and Views

The contamination of water supplies by fecal bacteria is an important water quality issue in Kentucky. Contamination may come from point sources, such as straight pipes depositing raw sewage into streams, or nonpoint sources, such as manure runoff from cropland. A direct cost of contaminating water supplies is the expense that homesteads or water companies incur to chlorinate, filter, and otherwise treat water to make it potable. Indirect costs are the time lost to illness from drinking inadequately treated water, slower weight gain in livestock drinking contaminated water, and the degradation of aquatic habitats.

Metal-Resistance Genetically Engineered Bacteria, Sylvia Daunert, Donna Scott, Sridhar Ramanathan

KWRRI Research Reports

Bacterial-based electrochemical and optical sensing systems that respond in a highly selective and sensitive manner to antimonite and arsenite have been developed. This was accomplished by using genetically engineered bacteria bearing one of two plasmids constructed for our studies. The first plasmid, pBGD23, contains the operator/promoter region (O/P) and the gene of the ArsR protein from the ars operon upstream from the β-galactosidase gene. In the absence of antimonite/arsenite, ArsR binds to the 0/P site and prevents the transcription of the genes for ArsR and β-galactosidase, thus blocking expression of these proteins. When antimonite or arsenite is present in the …

Investigation Of Pollution In A Karst Aquifer Utilizing Optical Brightener, John Thrailkill, Ralph F. Wiseman, Bridget R. Scanlon

KWRRI Research Reports

Optical brightener is an additive to laundry detergents and is found contaminating groundwater. Its concentration may rapidly and inexpensively be determined by fluorescence techniques, and because its source is human wastewater, its presence in groundwater serves as a direct indication of pollution from septic tanks, sewer leaks, and landfills.

A total of 105 wells and springs in an area within the Inner Bluegrass Karst Region near Lexington, Kentucky, were described and sampled. Analyses were made for optical brightener (430 samples), total coliform (91), fecal coliform (93), and fecal streptococci (90). As many as 20 optical brightener and 4 bacterial samples …

Movement Of Bacteria Through Macropores To Ground Water, M. Scott Smith, Grant W. Thomas, Robert E. White

KWRRI Research Reports

Effects of soil type, flow rate, antecedent soil moisture and other factors on transport of E. coli through soils was measured on disturbed and intact columns 20 cm in diameter by 25 to 30 cm in depth. Added E. coli were distinguished from indigenous microbes using an antibiotic resistance marker. Transport of Cl^- and ³H₂O was also measured. Up to 96 percent of the bacteria irrigated onto the surface of intact columns were recovered in the effluent. Soil structure appeared to be related to the extent of transport. Columns prepared from mixed, repacked soil were much …

Quality Of Legume Inoculants In Kentucky, M. Scott Smith

Soil Science News and Views

Successful and profitable production of legumes requires nodulation by Rhizobium bacteria which supply the crop with fixed N. The appropriate strains of bacteria are often absent from soils, since they do not persist without a suitable host plant. Under these conditions, that is when the specific legume crop has not been planted in the field for more than 3 or 4 years, it is necessary to inoculate the seed (or sometimes the soil) with Rhizobium.