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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Winter Bird Use Of Conservation Reserve Program Fields Harvested For Biomass, Les D. Murray, Louis B. Best
Winter Bird Use Of Conservation Reserve Program Fields Harvested For Biomass, Les D. Murray, Louis B. Best
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS
As Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expire, many fields may be returned to agricultural production. Growing switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a biomass fuel is an alternative to returning fields to rowcrops. CRP fields provide winter cover for birds, but the harvest of biomass would remove most of the cover and affect bird use of the fields. We estimated winter bird abundances in nonharvested, total-harvested, and partially (strip) harvested switchgrass fields in southern Iowa. Song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) were observed only in strip-harvested fields and ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) were observed only in nonharvested fields and uncut areas of strip-harvested fields. …
Biomass Yield Stability In Alfalfa, Joseph G. Robins, Heathcliffe Riday, Sara J. Helland, E. Charles Brummer
Biomass Yield Stability In Alfalfa, Joseph G. Robins, Heathcliffe Riday, Sara J. Helland, E. Charles Brummer
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS
In addition to biomass production, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivars also need to express yield stability across diverse environments. The objective of this experiment was to analyze the nature of biomass yield stability in ten commercial alfalfa cultivars by evaluating performance of individual genotypes. Biomass yield was measured in each of five environments across two years, and the yield stability computed for the overall cultivar mean performance and the mean performance of each of the genotypes comprising the cultivars using the genotype x environment variance statistic of Shukla and the superiority statistic of Lin and Binns'. The GxE variance of the …
Fungi And Diseases Associated With Cultivated Switchgrass In Iowa, C. E. Gravert, G. P. Munkvold
Fungi And Diseases Associated With Cultivated Switchgrass In Iowa, C. E. Gravert, G. P. Munkvold
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a native perennial prairie grass that is now cultivated as a forage crop and a biomass crop for renewable energy. Biomass yields of switchgrass in southern Iowa have recently dropped significantly in some fields and the reduction has been attributed to disease. A disease survey was conducted in 1999 to assess the prevalence of major diseases in Chariton Valley switchgrass production. There were disease symptoms present on switchgrass plants in each field and thirteen fungal species were identified from leaf, stem, and root samples. Two pathogenic fungi, Tilletia maclaganii and Colletotrichum graminicola, were present in …