Soil Science Commons^™

Effects Of Recycled Water On Landscape Plants, Casey R. Miranda

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT EFFECTS OF RECYCLED WATER ON LANDSCAPE PLANTS Casey Ray Miranda Recycled water is water that has been previously used, has suffered a loss of quality, and has been properly treated for redistribution (Wu et al. 2001). The use of recycled water as an alternative to fresh water in the landscape can have positive and negative effects. Experimentation on 40 different plant species during a 32 week period (2 phases of 16 weeks), was conducted to analyze the effects of recycled water irrigation on the appearance of landscape plants. Each species of plant was planted into 10 individual number 2 …

Remediation Of Soil Hydrophobicity On A Coastal Usga Sand-Based Golf Green, Troy David Thompson

Master's Theses

Managing soil hydrophobicity caused by localized dry spots (LDS) on sand based golf greens has become one of the greatest challenges for golf course superintendents and managers, especially as water restrictions intensify. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of thirteen soil surfactants in eliminating LDS and in maximizing root zone soil moisture on a sand based USGA golf green located on the California Central Coast. Potential water repellency of air dried cores (measured utilizing the water droplet penetration time (WDPT) method), phytotoxicity, and climate were analyzed during two experimental trials. Phytotoxicity data was collected for Trial …

Phyllosilicate Mineralogy, 40ar/39ar Geochronology, And Genesis Of Petrocalcic Soils In The Southwest U.S.A., Colin R. Robins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Obtaining isotope ages for arid soils and paleosols, including carbonate-cemented (calcic and petrocalcic) horizons, constitutes a significant challenge for soil scientists, geomorphologists, and stratigraphers. Carbonate-cemented soils foster diverse suites of authigenic minerals with exciting potential for geochronology, however, this potential has not been realized. This dissertation describes the timing of pedogenic palygorskite and sepiolite crystallization in extremely old, extant petrocalcic soils of the southwest U.S.A., and assumes that these fibrous, high-magnesium phyllosilicates contain sufficient lattice-bound K to warrant vacuum-encapsulated 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. This three-part study evaluated the (1) selective extraction, (2) 40Ar/39Ar analysis, and (3) pedogenesis of palygorskite and sepiolite.

Effects …

Random Forests Applied As A Soil Spatial Predictive Model In Arid Utah, Alexander Knell Stum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Initial soil surveys are incomplete for large tracts of public land in the western USA. Digital soil mapping offers a quantitative approach as an alternative to traditional soil mapping. I sought to predict soil classes across an arid to semiarid watershed of western Utah by applying random forests (RF) and using environmental covariates derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and digital elevation models (DEM). Random forests are similar to classification and regression trees (CART). However, RF is doubly random. Many (e.g., 500) weak trees are grown (trained) independently because each tree is trained with a new randomly …

Reproducibility Of Soil Moisture Ensembles When Representing Soil Parameter Uncertainty Using A Latin Hypercube–Based Approach With Correlation Control, Alejandro N. Flores, Dara Entekhabi, Rafael L. Bras

Alejandro N. Flores

Representation of model input uncertainty is critical in ensemble-based data assimilation. Monte Carlo sampling of model inputs produces uncertainty in the hydrologic state through the model dynamics. Small Monte Carlo ensemble sizes are desirable because of model complexity and dimensionality but potentially lead to sampling errors and correspondingly poor representation of probabilistic structure of the hydrologic state. We compare two techniques to sample soil hydraulic and thermal properties (SHTPs): (1) Latin Hypercube (LH) based sampling with correlation control and (2) random sampling from SHTP marginal distributions. A hydrology model is used to project SHTP uncertainty onto the soil moisture state …

Distribution Of Dioecious Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) Along An Environmental Gradient In Ogallala, Ne., Taylor Sloey

Environmental Studies Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the sex distribution and energy allocation of dioecious Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) along an environmental resource gradient. The trees surveyed were growing in a canyon located at the University of Nebraska’s Cedar Point Biological Research Station in Ogallala, Nebraska. Due to the geography of this canyon, environmental factors necessary for plant growth should vary depending on the tree’s location within the canyon. These factors include water availability, sun exposure, ground slope, and soil nitrogen content, all of which are necessary for carbon acquisition.

Juniperus virginiana is a dioecious conifer. Dioecious …

The Impact Of Community Consultation To Set Resource Condition Targets For Dryland Salinity, Rebecca Heath, Susan Murphy-White, Jamie Bowyer

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Suspended Sediment Transport Dynamics And Sediment Yields In Relation To Watershed Characteristics, Upper Green River Basin, Kentucky, James Nii Aboh Otoo

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sediment delivery is a major problem in the Green River, Kentucky, home of 71 of the state’s 103 known mussel species and 151 fish species. The river also provides water for many of its surrounding counties. This research focuses on how suspended sediment loads, grain size, and sediment concentration during runoff events are related to watershed characteristics.

The research characterized suspended sediment loads, grain size, and sediment concentration during runoff events and how they were related to watershed characteristics such as hydro-climatic regime, watershed size, geology and soils, topography and landuse conditions and land cover conditions. The study focused on …

Contribution Of Soil Moisture Feedback To Hydroclimatic Variability, Nir Krakauer, B. I. Cook, M. J. Puma

Publications and Research

While a variety of model experiments and analyses of observations have explored the impact of soil moisture variation on climate, it is not yet clear how large or detectable soil moisture feedback is across spatial and temporal scales. Here, we study the impact of dynamic versus climatological soil moisture in the GISS GCM ModelE (with prescribed sea-surface temperatures) on the variance and on the spatial and temporal correlation scale of hydrologically relevant climate variables (evaporation, precipitation, temperature, cloud cover) over the land surface. We also confirm that synoptic variations in soil moisture have a substantial impact on the mean climate …

Estimating Total Nitrogen Deposition In Agroecosys-Tems In Northern China During The Wheat Cropping Season, Chune He, Xuejun Liu, Christie Peter, Fangmeier Andreas

Journal of Arid Land

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has been poorly documented in northern China, an intensive agricultural and industrial region with large emissions of NHx and NOy. To quantify N deposition, total airborne N deposition was determined at three agricultural sites using a manual integrated total nitrogen input (ITNI) system during growth of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) from September 2005 to May 2006. Total estimated N deposition averaged 54.9 and 43.2 kg N/hm2 across the three sites when wheat was grown to flowering and maturing, respectively. The average value was 50.2 kg N/hm2 when ryegrass was …

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2009, Nathan A. Slaton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts also be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies described within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university’s research efforts.

Photo Highlights Of The 30th Kentucky Alfalfa Conference, Kentucky Alfalfa Conference

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

How We Produce & Market Alfalfa Hay, Clayton Geralds

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

No abstract provided.

Growing Alfalfa For Wildlife, Don Ball

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Alfalfa has long been recognized as a superb forage crop, which is why it is widely grown for dairy cattle, horses, sheep, and many other types of domesticated forage-consuming animals. Reasons for its popularity include wide adaptation, excellent nutritive value, good yield potential, perennial growth habit, a long growing season, and the fact that (in association with Rhizobium bacteria) it is a nitrogen-fixing legume that does not require periodic applications of nitrogen fertilizer.

Alfalfa Varieties For The Future, Joe Bouton

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

When breeding tomorrow’s alfalfa varieties, most groups employ a model of combining traditional plant breeding with biotechnology tools in order to incorporate useful traits. In this model, the conventional variety development process will be the method of choice for most traits where breeders have traditionally made progress such as adaptation, heading date, disease and insect resistance, general persistence conditions such as grazing and traffic tolerance, and even yield. It has been very successful in adding economic value to the forage and livestock operations of many producers (Bouton 2007). These traditionally developed varieties will also be used as the germplasm platform …

Do's And Don'ts In Grazing Alfalfa, Ken Johnson

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

I want to discuss some of the issues in a talk I presented nearly twenty years ago. At that point we had been grazing Alfalfa about eight years and made some general remarks about the concerns I had at the time. I will look at these as presented then and how the thoughts may have changed.

Is There A Benefit To Alfalfa Balage?, Gary Bates

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

Making hay in the mid-South has always been a difficult process. High humidity and rainfall often make drying a long, tedious, if not impossible proposition. Over the last few years there has been an increased interest in making round bale silage, or balage, from forage crops. Fermenting alfalfa for storage has several advantages and disadvantages over regular haymaking systems.

Alfalfa Hay For Horses, Robert Coleman

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

When horse owners consider hay for their animals, a number of criteria are generally considered. Of major importance is the hay must be free of mold and dust. It needs to contain nutrients needed by the horse and it must be palatable. If these criteria are met, the type of hay should not matter. However, that is not the case with many horse owners. When discussing the selection of hay, many owners first consider the type of hay. Can it be alfalfa or should it be a grass or how about a mix of grass and a legume. If a …

Value Of Alfalfa In Rotation, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

There are about 23 million acres of alfalfa in the US. Alfalfa plus other hay is the most valuable crop in the US, behind only corn and soybeans. In Kentucky alfalfa is planted on over 300,000 acres and is an economically important crop for beef and dairy farmers, cash hay producers, and provides tremendous benefits for subsequent crops. There are also many non-agricultural benefits to alfalfa.

Advances In Alfalfa Seed Coatings, Bill Talley

Kentucky Alfalfa and Stored Forage Conference

The volume of alfalfa being sold as coated seed has been in the growth mode for several years. This growth is being fueled by greater acceptance from the producer, as well as the many value added components that are now labeled and being offered as seed treatments. Originally seed coatings were looked at as a better way to deliver rhizobia to insure plant nodulation. This is still one goal, but many more value added components are now labeled that offer better plant protection, increased water absorption, enhanced germination, and micro-nutrient availability, as well as insect and parasite control. Another area …