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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Soil Health As Influenced By The Integration Of Cover Crops And Poultry Litter In North-Central Mississippi, Nikitha Reddy Kovvuri
Soil Health As Influenced By The Integration Of Cover Crops And Poultry Litter In North-Central Mississippi, Nikitha Reddy Kovvuri
Theses and Dissertations
Soil health-based agricultural management practices are widely promoted to improve soil structure, infiltration and reduce erosion. This study was conducted at two locations in North-Central Mississippi to evaluate the influence of different cover crop species and poultry litter on soil health that can impact crop production, climate change, and resilience. The results indicated that the cover crops showed a little effect on some soil health indicators compared to control treatment. However, in one location, rye, and a mixture of cover crops decreased bulk density and increased available water content and organic matter. The poultry litter had a positive effect on …
Soil Moisture Dynamics In Cover Cropping Systems: From Local To Global Scales, Manish Gautam
Soil Moisture Dynamics In Cover Cropping Systems: From Local To Global Scales, Manish Gautam
Theses and Dissertations
Cover cropping systems, which have gained recognition for their ability to enhance soil health and promote sustainability are also associated with potential risks related with declining soil moisture and pose a dilemma for farmers considering the adoption of cover crops in water deficit semi-arid settings worldwide. To address this pressing issue, we conducted a participatory cover cropping trial in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) region, encompassing four different farms and supplemented this experiment with a meta-analysis to answer our soil moisture and climate parameters and quantify the impact of cover crops on soil moisture levels. The findings revealed that …
Tamaulipan Thornforest Restoration: Factors Influencing Restoration Outcomes And Impacts Of Cover Crops During Replanting, Jerald Thomas Garrett
Tamaulipan Thornforest Restoration: Factors Influencing Restoration Outcomes And Impacts Of Cover Crops During Replanting, Jerald Thomas Garrett
Theses and Dissertations
Though the rate of deforestation has slowed in recent years, it remains a primary cause of land cover change within forest ecosystems. The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas (LRGV) has lost nearly 95% of its native thornforest since the early 1900’s due to agricultural and urban expansion. The focus of this study is to assess the current vegetative state of restored thornforest sites located in the eastern LRGV and to evaluate the use of cover crops during replanting of native seedlings. Our assessment of restored thornforest sites revealed actively restored sites demonstrated higher overall averages of richness, abundance, and diversity …
Comparative Analysis Of Soil Properties, Microbial Community Composition, And Yield Responses To Cover Crops In Different Ecoregions Of South Texas, Daphne Zapsas
Theses and Dissertations
Comprehensive understanding of soil properties, their interdependencies, and the effects of management practices is crucial for designing sustainable agricultural strategies. By adopting site-specific and need-based practices that enhance soil health, farmers can optimize crop growth, increase yield, and contribute to long-term environmental sustainability. Cover crops have been recognized for enhancing soil fertility, promoting microbial activity, and increasing organic matter content. However, while their effectiveness is well documented in temperate regions with readily available water, their impact in water limited systems in subtropical regions remains mixed. The aim of this study is to assess soil conditions in four different farms across …
Effect Of Cover Crops, Grazing And Tillage Practices On Soil Microbial Community Composition, Function, And Soil Health In East Central Mississippi Soybean Production System., Namita Sinha
Theses and Dissertations
Integrating crop and livestock is being considered to improve soil health by carbon sequestration. A two-year study (2019-2021) at CPBES in Newton, MS was aimed to evaluate soil microbial diversity in the warm, humid regions, specifically southeastern USA. Amplicons targeting bacterial 16S rRNA genes and fungal ITS2 regions were sequenced. Taxonomic assignment and microbial diversity characterization were performed using QIIME2®. Soil fungal diversity showed significant differences (alpha diversity, p = 0.031 in yr. 2020 and beta diversity, p = 0.037 in yr. 2021). Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Mantel test showed significant influence on fungal diversity due to …
Cover Crops And Irrigation Impacts On Corn And Soybean Production In The Mid-Southern Usa, Dillon Aaron Russell
Cover Crops And Irrigation Impacts On Corn And Soybean Production In The Mid-Southern Usa, Dillon Aaron Russell
Theses and Dissertations
Reducing groundwater withdrawals from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer is imperative to sustain future irrigated cropping systems in the mid-southern USA. This research was conducted to determine the impacts of cover crops and irrigation sensor thresholds on corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) production, water productivity, irrigation water use efficiency, and soil physical properties in the Mississippi Delta. The cover crop treatments included cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa R.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-radish (Raphanus sativus L.)-turnip (Brassica rapa L.) mix, and no cover crop. The irrigation thresholds included -40 kPa, -90 kPa, …
Examining The Efficacy Of Cover Crops As An Integrated Pest Management Tool In Organic Farms In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Lili M. Martinez
Examining The Efficacy Of Cover Crops As An Integrated Pest Management Tool In Organic Farms In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Lili M. Martinez
Theses and Dissertations
The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) consists of a mix in subtropical and costal habitats, a combination that provides a favorable environment for the animals and plants that inhabit it. This is a problem for organic farmers as they refrain from using synthetic chemicals and therefore led them to seek other methods of dealing with insect herbivory. Of the many alternative methods available, we looked specifically at integrated pest management methods (IPM) to determine their efficacy in reducing insect herbivory among cash crops. Chapter II discusses an experiment performed in an organic farm in Edinburg, Texas consisting of a two-year …
Nutrient Loading Reduction In A Tile Drained Agricultural Watershed Through Watershed-Scale Cover Cropping: A High Resolution Analysis, Benjamin Gerald Bruening
Nutrient Loading Reduction In A Tile Drained Agricultural Watershed Through Watershed-Scale Cover Cropping: A High Resolution Analysis, Benjamin Gerald Bruening
Theses and Dissertations
Nutrient pollution originating from agricultural regions in the Midwest is a serious issue, leading to pollution of drinking water sources as well as large hypoxic zones in the Gulf of Mexico. The source of much of this contamination has been shown to be runoff from agricultural fields in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. One method that has been shown to reduce this pollution from the Upper Mississippi River Basin is the planting of winter cover crops. Winter cover crops such as rye and tillage radish have been shown to significantly reduce nitrate exported from agricultural fields, even in tile-drained watersheds …