Digital Commons Network^™

Corn And Soybean Response To Wastewater-Recycled Phosphorus Fertilizers, Shane Ylagan

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The ability to recycle phosphorus (P) from wastewaters could provide a sustainable, continuous source of P that might also help protect surface water quality from P enrichment. The mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) is an understudied material that can be created from Pcontaining wastewater and has been shown to have agricultural fertilizer value. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of electrochemically precipitated struvite (ECST), chemically precipitated struvite (Crystal Green; CG), diammonium phosphate (DAP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), rock phosphate (RP), and triple super phosphate (TSP) on corn (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) response in a 79-day greenhouse pot …

Assessment Of Grain Safety In Developing Nations, Jose R. Mendoza

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grains are the most widely consumed foods worldwide, with maize (Zea mays) being frequently consumed in developing countries where it feeds approximately 900 million people under the poverty line of 2 USD per day. While grain handling practices are acceptable in most developed nations, many developing nations still face challenges such as inadequate field management, drying, and storage. Faulty grain handling along with unavoidably humid climates result in recurrent fungal growth and spoilage, which compromises both the end-quality and safety of the harvest. This becomes particularly problematic where there is little awareness about health risks associated with poor …

A Guide To Freshwater Aquariums, Noah Savastano

Senior Honors Projects

The objective of this project was to create a complete guide, useful for someone of any aquarium expertise level, describing how to set up and care for an aquarium. This guide explains the science behind processes involved in setting up and maintaining an aquarium. It also educates the reader on how to properly prioritize the safety of the fish. A full text was first created including all relevant information gathered from scholarly texts and online sources. Original photographs were incorporated as a supplement to the text. Fish and aquatic plants were drawn to further illustrate the concepts that were described …

Developing Methods To Survey, Collect, Process, And Screen Endemic Entomopathogenic Fungi Against The Asian Citrus Psyllid In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Jonathan Cisneros

Theses and Dissertations

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), vectors “Candidatus Liberibacter spp.”, the causative agent of Citrus Greening Disease. Managing ACP is imperative given the continuous increase in HLB positive trees. An aspect of integrated pest management (IPM) is the use of entomopathogenic fungi for the biological control of D. citri.

In order to identify endemic entomopathogenic fungi actively infecting D. citri, ACP were collected from local residential areas, surface sterilized, and plated on a semi-selective agar medium. Collection of over 9,300 samples from 278 sites throughout the LRGV led to the positive identification of …

Native Plant Allelopathy: A Potential Approach To Limit Invasive Grass Encroachment In Thorn Forest Restoration, Emily A. Mullins

Theses and Dissertations

Less than 5% of the Tamaulipan thorn forest remains in the United States. For this reason, there have been many attempts at restoration of this ecosystem. Oftentimes these attempts are unsuccessful due to the high prevalence of invasive African grasses that outcompete the seedlings. In an effort to improve the efficacy of these restoration efforts, native plant allelopathy has been examined for its ability to exclude invasive guineagrass. Native species were surveyed and selected species were tested for allelopathy in laboratory bioassays. The species that exhibited allelopathy in the laboratory were then evaluated in pot experiments for their ability to …

Optimization Of In-Vessel Food Waste Composting: Enzyme Activity And Microbial Dynamics, Ayawovi Selom Ametepe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A series of greenhouse-based, rotary-drum bioreactor experiments was designed to study microbial dynamics and enzyme activity during optimization of food waste composting. This work aims to optimize food waste composting by defining the best food waste-to-bulking agent proportion controlling conditions and by evaluating the food waste composting process when inoculated by a bacterial inoculant product compared to uninoculated compost. Three experiments were run in total. The two first experiments were conducted for 48 days with sampling at each step of composting, while the third experiment last 50 days and included one extra sampling date. In the first experiment, 50:50, 65:35 …

Influence Of Burning And Grazing Management Practices On Subirrigated Sandhill Meadow Hay Production, Tara M. Harms

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

Subirrigated meadows are a valuable forage resource to Sandhills ranching operations being used for hay production, grazing, or a combination of both. Practices that sustain meadow productivity should be encouraged to ensure a consistent feed supply for cattle. The potential influence of prescribed burning or pre-freeze and post-freeze grazing on forage production and quality are not well understood on these meadows. In grasslands, including meadows, excess dead plant material can accumulate, causing a potential reduction in forage yield and quality. Results of our three-year field study suggest that burning meadows in the spring is a suitable management option to remove …

False Codling Moth, Thaumatotibia Leucotreta (Meyrick) A New Threat To Horticulture Industry: Stakeholders’ Perspectives On The Status, Impact And Management In Kenya, Daniel M. Mutyambai, Nyang’Au I. Mbeche, Emmanuel Onamu, Muo J. Kasina, John H. Nderitu, Allan N. Mweke

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

False codling moth (FCM) has emerged as a major constraint to the production of horticultural crops in Kenya and is currently the leading cause of interceptions of Capsicum and cut flowers exported to European Union. Use of pesticides to control this pest is not only unsustainable, uneconomical but also contributes to interceptions of export produce due to higher levels of pesticide residues in the produce. Further, due to cryptic nature of feeding by the pest, pesticides often do not result to efficient control. Growing crops under protected areas though effective is not affordable to smallholder resource poor farmers necessitating search …

Selection And Propagation Of Pinyon Pine, Kylie M. Lawson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Single-leaf pinyon pines are drought tolerant trees native to the Great Basin. This species is a source of wild-collected, edible pine nuts that are in great demand. With no previous research apparent, this thesis aimed to identify wild trees with high cone production as sources for evaluating grafting onto immature and mature trees. Wild sources of scions were identified from four wild stands and six trees per stand. Counting and analyzing the number of scars left by mature cones along the leader branch provided an estimate for each tree‚Äôs productivity and identified trees with greater productivity within a stand. The …

Assessment Of Compost On Dryland Wheat Yield And Quality, Soil Fertility And Water Availability In Utah, Kareem A. Adeleke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 2014-2016 Kareem Adeleke undertook a graduate project under the supervision of Utah State University (USU) Plants, Soils and Climate professors, Drs. Jennifer Reeve, Astrid Jacobson, and Earl Creech. Organic wheat producers face numerous challenges, such as low soil moisture, soil erosion, and low soil fertility. Organic wheat growers generally do not apply fertilizer due to inability to recoup the costs in the short-term. Compost enhances long-term improvement in soil quality, soil fertility and increase yield in low input environments. Understanding of compost carryover effects in dryland wheat systems is necessary for increased yield that will allow adequate supply of …

Soil Health, Phosphorus And Carbon Dynamics In Response To A One-Time Compost Application And Cover Crops In Organic Dryland Winter Wheat, Idowu Ademola Atoloye

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Organic dryland winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) growers in the U.S. are faced with high interannual variability in yields. This is related to the low annual precipitation and low soil fertility on the cultivated soils. Improving soil health is the key to increasing and maintaining crop yields. In this study, we compared the effects of different rates (0, 12.5, 25 and 50 Mg DW ha^-1 compost and 2 Mg ha manure^-1) of large quantities of steer manure compost and the inclusion of cover crops versus fallow on soil health and on carbon and phosphorus dynamics in …

Propagation Of Two Utah Native Plants: Ceanothus Velutinus And Cercocarpus Montanus, Asmita Paudel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Among various water conservative approaches, the use of native plants in landscape, such as Ceanothus velutinus (snowbrush ceanothus) and Cercocarpus montanus (alder-leaf mountain mahogany), is attractive. Efficient propagation methods are required to allow these native species to use in water-efficient landscaping. Sexual (seed) and asexual/vegetative (cuttings and micropropagation) propagation methods were evaluated.

Seeds of both C. velutinus and C. montanus were scarified and/or stratified and treated with gibberellic acid (GA₃) to break dormancy. The results showed hot water scarification and 2-3 months of stratification effectively broke the dormancy of C. velutinus seeds, and stratification for 2-3 months was …

Fine-Scale Patterns Of Genetic Structure In The Host Plant Chamaecrista Fasciculata (Fabaceae) And Its Nodulating Rhizobia Symbionts, Mahboubeh Hosseinalizadeh Nobarinezhad, Lisa A. Wallace

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In natural plant populations, a fine-scale spatial genetic structure (SGS) can result from limited gene flow, selection pressures or spatial autocorrelation. However, limited gene flow is considered the predominant determinant in the establishment of SGS. With limited dispersal ability of bacterial cells in soil and host influence on their variety and abundance, spatial autocorrelation of bacterial communities associated with plants is expected. For this study, we collected genetic data from legume host plants, Chamaecrista fasciculata, their Bradyrhizobium symbionts and rhizosphere free-living bacteria at a small spatial scale to evaluate the extent to which symbiotic partners will have similar SGS …

Improving Breeding Program Efficiency And Genetic Gain Through The Implementation Of Genomic Selection In Diverse Wheat Germplasm, Dylan Larkin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Genomic selection (GS) is an important tool for increasing genetic gain for economically important traits in breeding programs. Genomic selection uses molecular markers across the entire genome in order to predict the performance of breeding lines for a trait of interest prior to phenotyping. A training population (TP) of elite germplasm, representative of the University of Arkansas wheat breeding program, was developed in order to predict important agronomic and Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance traits within the University of Arkansas wheat breeding program through cross-validation and forward prediction.

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed on the TP to identify …

Association Mapping For Soybean (Glycine Max L. Merr.) Protein And Oil Content, Joseph Najjar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merrill] is an important economic crop because of its high content of seed protein and oil. Seed oil and protein content are quantitative inherited traits. The genetics of seed protein and oil levels have been extensively studied, with 367 QTL reported for protein and 475 QTL reported for oil to date. Validation of such QTLs, and identification of easily-automatable molecular markers around these QTL will aid the progression of breeding for such traits. The focus of this research was to discover novel and verify previously reported QTL related to protein and/or oil content via Genome-Wide Association …

Discerning Competitive Vs. Facilitative Relationships Of Weeds On Forest Restoration Efforts At La Sal Del Rey, Tx, Mylen A. Arias

Theses and Dissertations

Dryland ecosystems need effective restoration strategies to address severe degradation. It is often assumed that voluntary forb weeds either compete with or have no effect on native seedlings. In contrast, theory and empirical work suggest a potential facilitative role for such forb weeds. We conducted a manipulative weed exclusion experiment at a semi-arid site in South Texas targeted for large scale forest restoration and subsequently dominated by early successional forb weeds to discern the net effect of these weeds on the growth and survival of target thornscrub tree and shrub seedlings. Overall, weed presence did not significantly affect seedling mortality …

Comprehensive Survey Of The Litter Bacterial Communities In Commercial Turkey Farms, Bishnu Adhikari, Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, Tieshan Jiang, Brian Wooming, Young Min Kwon

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The importance of microbiota in the health and diseases of farm animals has been well-documented for diverse animal species. However, studies on microbiotas in turkey and turkey farms are relatively limited as compared to other farm animal species. In this study, we performed a comprehensive survey of the litter microbiotas in 5 commercial turkey farms in the Northwest Arkansas (H, M, V, K, and R farms) including one farm with positive incidence of cellulitis (R farm). Altogether 246 boot swabs were used for 16S rRNA gene profiling of bacterial communities. At phylum level, 11 major bacterial phyla (≥0.01%) were recovered. …

Can Soil Phosphorus Sorption Saturation Estimate Future Potential Legacy Phosphorus Sources?, A. N. Sharpley, K. R. Brye, J. M. Burke, L G. Berry, M. B. Daniels, P. Webb

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Various soil extraction methods are used to indicate plant available P in soil but do not account for soil specific sorption of subsequent applications of P. Thus, estimates of soil phosphorus sorption saturation (PSS; estimated from Mehlich-3 extractable P, Al, and Fe) have been used in conjunction with Mehlich-3 extractable soil phosphorus (M3P) to overcome these limitations. As less is known about the effect of land management on PSS than M3P under field conditions, the effect of field management on PSS was investigated for three pastures over 5 yr (2014-2018). Swine slurry was applied to two fields (Field 1 received …

Indigenous Yak And Yak‐Cattle Crossbreed Management In High Altitude Areas Of Northern Nepal: A Case Study From Rasuwa District, Shikui Dong, Eklabya Sharma, Zhaoli Yan, K. K. Shrestha, D. Pariya

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Rotational Grazing On Rangelands: An Assessment Of The Experimental Evidence, Justin D. Derner, David D. Briske, J. R. Brown, S. D. Fuhlendorf, Kris M. Havstad, R. L. Gillen, A. J. Ash, Walter D. Willms

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Prime Lamb Production On Acid Soils In High Rainfall Region In Southern Australia, Gong Chen, G. D. Li

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Performance Of Crossbred Nelore Steers On Non‐Irrigated And Irrigated Brachiaria Brizantha Cv Mg5 In Rotational Grazing System, Rita De Cássia Ribeiro Carvalho, José C. Pinto, Wellington W. Rocha, Ayeska Hübner Braga Nunes, Emar Gustavo De Faria, Carla Luiza Da Silva Ávila

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Forage‐Based Indicators Of Environmental Sustainability Of Dairy Farms In Eastern Canada, V. Bélanger, A. Vanasse, Gilles Bélanger, D. Angers, Guy Allard

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Soil Water Dynamics Within Variable Rate Irrigation Zones Of Winter Wheat, Elisa Anne Woolley

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of soil water and crop water stress within a field is critical for effective Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) management. Proper VRI can result in improved protection of the crop from early onset of crop water stress while minimizing runoff and drainage losses. The objectives of this study are (1) to examine zone delineation for informing irrigation recommendations from volumetric water content (VWC) and field capacity (FC) to grow similar or greater wheat yields with less water, (2) evaluate the ability to model soil and crop water dynamics within a season and within a field …

Improving Rangeland Seedling Recruitment Using Fungicide Seed Coatings And Golden Eagle Reproductive Success In Relation To Explosive Military Tests And Trainings, Benjamin William Hoose

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the first chapter of this thesis was to determine whether fungicide seed coatings constitute an effective strategy for increasing seedling recruitment in restoration scenarios in the Intermountain West. We tested a mixture of four fungicides that address potential fungal pathogens to bluebunch wheatgrass, a dominant bunchgrass that is commonly used in restoration. Across two sites and three years, we found that the fungicide seed coating increased emergence in five of the six sites and years, with an average increase of 59.1% over the control. There was a strong interaction (P < 0.001) between the effects of fungicide treatment, the year and the site on emergence. This interaction was likely related to the effects of the hydrothermal microsite environment on disease severity. Further research is necessary to fully understand the conditions under which fungicide seed coatings are most likely to be effective. The objectives the second chapter of this thesis were to 1) estimate the effects of golden eagle nest proximity to explosive disturbances on reproductive success given other relevant habitat variables (e.g. indices of topography and vegetation), and 2) determine the relative importance of nest proximity to explosive disturbances as a predictor of golden eagle reproductive success compared to other relevant habitat variables. Reproductive success data were collected from nesting territories within and surrounding land controlled and managed by the US Department of Defense. We fit the reproductive survey data using generalized linear mixed-effects models comprised of unique, hypothesis-based sets of habitat variables. We compared the models using AICc-based model selection processes. Given the best approximating model, we found no evidence that the likelihood of reproductive success was affected by nest proximity to explosive disturbances (P = 0.460). We further found nest proximity to explosive disturbances consistently ranked in the bottom 50% of relative variable importance. These results may indicate golden eagle tolerance or habituation to explosive military tests and trainings. Although the two chapters of this thesis are disjointed, they are loosely unified by the ecological importance of disturbance, invasive species, and restoration within the Great Basin ecoregion.

Nguni--A New Old Cattle Breed For Rangelands In Communal Areas Of South Africa, Wolfgang Bayer, Brigid Letty, Rauri Alcock

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Legumes Versus Nitrogen Fertilizer To Increase Production From Warm‐Season Grass Pastures, Bruce Anderson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Grazing Behaviour Between Goat And Sheep In A Steppe Rangeland Of Iran, Abbasali Sanadgol, Leili Abolhassani, Hosein Bagheri

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Supplementary Feed To Improve The Production Of Dairy Cattle Under Zero Grazing Condition In Bangladesh, M. A. S. Khan, M. A. Islam

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Lamb Growth On Leaf Turnips, White Clover And Pasture In Summer, C. L. Lindsay, Peter D. Kemp, Paul R. Kenyon, Stephen T. Morris, A. J. Wall

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.