Life Sciences Commons^™

Brassica Carinata Growth And Yield Response To Nitrogen And Sulfur Fertilizers And Impacts On Selected Soil Parameters And Ghg Fluxes, Dwarika Bhattarai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carinata (Brassica carinata A. Braun), a non-food oilseed crop and an alternative bio-jet fuel feedstock, has received attention for its potential as a low-input option for production in the semi-arid regions of the Northern Great Plains of USA. The crop has a lower N fertilizer requirement as compared to the other oilseeds, suggesting less negative impact on soils and GHGs emissions. Carinata is a new crop to South Dakota (SD), thus, the best management practices have yet to be developed. In addition, no sufficient research to address the impact of growing carinata on soils and GHG emissions has been …

Bovine Cellular And Innate Immune Response To Hemostatic Polysaccharides, Brian Kobylkevich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic wounds are longstanding dermal wounds that do not heal in a normal amount of time and can commonly last for over a year. These wounds plague humans and farm animals alike. Wounds are characterized by chronic inflammation and are often painful, difficult to heal, have a high recurrence rate, and are potentially debilitating. Long term wounds that do not fully heal are distressing for both humans and animals, but understandably more resources have been directed towards humans. Some treatment options for humans may be suitable for adaptation into the field of animal care. Chronic lesions such as bovine digital …

Development Of Enhanced Weed Detection System With Adaptive Thresholding, K-Means And Support Vector Machine, Dheeman Saha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper proposes a sophisticated classification process to segment the leaves of carrots from weeds (mostly Chamomile). In the early stages, of the plants’ development, both weeds and carrot leaves are intermixed with each other and have similar color texture. This makes it difficult to identify without the help of the domain experts. Therefore, it is essential to remove the weed regions so that the carrot plants can grow without any interruptions. The process of identifying the weeds become more challenging when both plant and weed regions overlap (inter-leaves). The proposed system addresses this problem by creating a sophisticated means …

Mean Nutrition And Physical Activity Knowledge Score Of Children Ages 3-5 Years In The Igrow Readers Intervention, Mollie Loes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of childhood obesity remains high within the United States, which can lead to long-term harmful effects. During the first five years of children’s lives, healthy eating habits and physical activity patterns are formed, so the preschool years are a critical time to begin obesity prevention (4). Because the preschool years are crucial for providing healthy eating habits and physical activity patterns, there is the need for childhood obesity interventions. iGrow Readers is a cluster-randomized control study concentrated on children 3-5 years of age recruited from childcare centers from South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Fourteen child care centers with …

Interactions Of Arbuscular Mychorrhizal Fungi And Bacterial Endophytes On Disease Resistance Of Common Root Pathogens In Wheat, Janice L. Eibensteiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arbuscular mycorrhiza, a symbiosis between plants and fungi, help plants to capture nutrients such as phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and other micronutrients from the aggre in exchange for up to 20% of the fixed carbon (C) from the plant. In addition, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can improve the resistance against abiotic (drought, salinity), and also biotic (pathogen) stresses. Bacterial endophytes promote plant growth and yield by fixing N2 from the atmosphere, assimilating N and transfer it to the plant. Bacterial endophytes can also solubilize phosphate and stimulate plant defense responses, suppressing pathogens. The host plant provides sucrose and a favorable …

Integration Of Molecular Techniques For The Investigation Of Bovine Respiratory Disease, Amy Abrams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the cattle industry. The complexity of host, pathogen, and environmental factors contributing to the incidence of BRD necessitate a multifaceted approach to investigate BRD. A greater understanding of pathogenic and genetics factors associated with BRD would improve prevention and treatment of BRD. Due to the complexity of BRD, genetic technologies have been limited in their ability to identify a genetic basis for BRD. Pooling of DNA samples prior to extraction can increase the ability to conduct genotyping studies of complex traits. Once generated, new information and management …

Development Of Computational Techniques For Identification Of Regulatory Dna Motif, Cankun Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifying precise transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) or regulatory DNA motif (motif) plays a fundamental role in researching transcriptional regulatory mechanism in cells and helping construct regulatory networks for biological investigation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with sequencing (ChIP-seq) and lambda exonuclease digestion followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-exo) enables researchers to identify TFBS on a genome-scale with improved resolution. Several algorithms have been developed to perform motif identification, employing widely different methods and often giving divergent results. In addition, these existing methods still suffer from prediction accuracy. Thesis focuses on the development of improved regulatory DNA motif identification techniques. We designed an …

A Review Of The Genus Acrisis Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) With A New Species From American Licorice And A Survey Of Aphid Parasitoids Of Soybean Fields In Eastern South Dakota, Abigail P. Martens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diversity of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in South Dakota is largely unexamined despite these wasps providing innumerable important ecological and biological services and being an essential part of natural and agricultural ecosystems. A new species of Acrisis Foerster was reared and is described from the native prairie legume Glycyrrhiza lepidota (Nuttall) Pursh, a plant studied for its potential for conservation and remediation. A large insect guild of seed predators and their associated parasitoids and hyperparasitoids reported from G. lepidota provides a list of potential hosts associated with the new parasitoid species. The agriculturally significant legume soybean, Glycine max (L.) …

Using Isoconversional Methods To Study The Effect Of Antioxidants On The Oxidation Kinetics Of Milk Fat, Khalid Ahmed Alsaleem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Milk fat is a versatile ingredient because of its nutritional value, functionality, and flavor. During processing and storage, milk fat may undergo oxidation resulting in many undesirable changes such as unpleasant flavor and aroma, and formation of toxic compounds. A common practice to prevent the oxidation of milk fat is by the addition of antioxidants. It is worth to mention that little is known on the effect of antioxidants on the oxidation kinetics. In this work, the effect of selected antioxidants on the oxidation kinetics of anhydrous milk fat (AMF) under non-isothermal conditions was investigated. AMF with an addition of …

Increasing Accumulation Of Glyceollins In Soybeans Via Optimization Of The Fungal Incubation Process, Stephanie Wootton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Continual use of antibiotics in the feed of food animals was viewed a solution to the problem of disease outbreaks in livestock produced in confinement operations. This practice also improved animal performance, likely due to the reduction in sub-clinical infections. Unfortunately, this practice led to a new problem, the development of antibiotic resistant microbes. This increase in antibiotic resistance reduced the direct benefits of antibiotics in animal production. Moreover, as antibiotic resistance spread from animal to human pathogens, this practice created a major public health concern. This led the FDA to enact the Veterinary Feed Directive in 2017 that greatly …

Comparative Optic Nerve Head Physiology: Glaucoma Induced Retinal Ganglion Cell Apoptosis By Disruption Of The Translaminar Pressure Gradient And Reduced Neurotrophic Signaling, Cassidy Christopherson

Biology and Microbiology Graduate Students Plan B Research Projects

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, and the second leading vision loss neurodegenerative disease affecting millions worldwide. Glaucoma is characterized as a group of eye disorders which are initially asymptomatic but may progress to significant optic nerve head damage and vision loss with time. Early stages of glaucoma often go undetected, leading to irreversible damage to the optic nerve head prior to patients seeking medical care. Glaucoma leads to vision loss via death of retinal ganglion cells. Retinal ganglion cell apoptosis is thought to begin due to interference with the normal transmission of neurotrophic signals that arrive by …

Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation (Ibs-C) Treatment Efficacy And The Emerging Importance Of Serotonin, Meghan Schenk

Biology and Microbiology Graduate Students Plan B Research Projects

Irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) affects a large proportion of the population. It decreases quality of life for the patient both physically and mentally. Patients report higher levels of mental health issues and other gastrointestinal maladies compared to the normal population, in addition to an IBS diagnosis. Patients have increased healthcare visits and costs, raising insurance rates for all, and also results in more missed time from work. There are limited treatments available for IBS-C, and medicinal and non-medicinal modalities are differentially prescribed to patients throughout the country. Recently, serotonin has emerged as a key mediator of normal gut …

A Review: The Association Of Asthma And The Microbiome, Kathleen Olson

Biology and Microbiology Graduate Students Plan B Research Projects

The microbiome gut-lung axis has been associated with asthma. Asthma is a respiratory disease that presents itself in many different ways. The microbiome is the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses found in a particular environment. The association of the microbiome gutlung axis in an asthmatic individual compared to a healthy individual has shown that different types and/or concentrations of bacterial genera are present in an asthmatic individual compared to a healthy individual. A causal relationship between the microbiome and asthma has not yet been identified. The aim of this review is to present the association of asthma and the microbiome …

Pathogenesis Of Cte: A Review Of Ptau, Lewy Bodies, And Cytokine Involvement In Cte, Karter Keefer

Biology and Microbiology Graduate Students Plan B Research Projects

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neuropathological disease that develops years after experiencing repetitive traumatic brain injuries. In recent years, this disease has been gaining recognition from professional, college, and high school teams that participate in contact sports. The purpose of this paper is to review available information about this neurodegenerative disease. Only limited published experiments are available on this disease. Research on CTE has been limited by the fact that patients can only be diagnosed with the disease by a post mortem autopsy. Many experiments were analyzed regarding different CTE pathologies, symptoms, and treatments. Articles used in this paper …

Mob Grazing Results In High Forage Utilization And Reduced Western Snowberry Size, Heidi Reed, Sharon Clay, Alexander Smart, David Clay, Michelle Ohrtman

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Mob-grazing strives to maximize forage utilization and minimize selective grazing by using high stocking densities in small paddocks for short durations (12–24 hr). Rotational-grazing uses low stocking densities for a longer time period, retaining about half of the original available forage; although selective grazing can occur. Three cattle (Bos taurus × Bos indicus) grazing intensities: mob- (stocking densities from 32,000 to 67,000 kg ha−1; duration—24 hr); rotation (stocking density—2500 kg ha−1; duration—35 d); and non-grazed systems were compared based on forage utilization and changes to western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) (WS) patch volume in a 2-year South Dakota study. …

Looking To The Future: Key Points For Sustainable Management Of Northern Great Plains Grasslands, Lora B. Perkins, Marissa Ahlering, Diane L. Larson

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

The grasslands of the northern Great Plains (NGP) region of North America are considered endangered ecosystems and priority conservation areas yet have great ecological and economic importance. Grasslands in the NGP are no longer self-regulating adaptive systems. The challenges to these grasslands are widespread and serious (e.g. climate change, invasive species, fragmentation, altered disturbance regimes, and anthropogenic chemical loads). Because the challenges facing the region are dynamic, complex, and persistent, a paradigm shift in how we approach restoration and management of the grasslands in the NGP is imperative. The goal of this article is to highlight four key points for …

Serological Survey And Pathogen Exposure Of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer In The Western Dakotas, Katherine L. Moratz, Bailey S. Gullikson, Eric S. Michel, Daniel M. Grove, Jonathan A. Jenks, William F. Jensen

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Establishing baseline values for pathogen exposure and nutritional indices is necessary to monitor population health. However, little is known about white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) pathogen exposure and nutritional condition in the Northern Great Plains. Our objective was to assess pathogen exposure and establish nutritional indices for female white-tailed deer in Dunn and Grant counties, North Dakota and Perkins County, South Dakota. During 2014, we collected blood serum from 150 adult female white-tailed deer. Pathogens with the highest antibody prevalence included West Nile Virus (WNV; 85%), epizootic hemorrhagic disease (48%), and malignant catarrhal fever (32%). Serum values for creatine kinase, globulin, …

Optimization Of Reproductive Success In Beef Cattle By Implementation Of Estrus Resynchronization, Nutritional Management, And Evaluation Of Disease Prevalance, Kaitlin M. Epperson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The beef industry is a unique community of operations that employ different management techniques to accomplish a similar goal. Like other facets of animal agriculture, profitability of the beef industry is heavily reliant upon the implemented management practices. Reproductive efficiency is an area of management that has great potential to positively influence the success of beef production. Through the use of reproductive technologies such as estrus synchronization and AI, a greater percentage of females can become bred to superior sires, breeding and calving seasons can be shortened, calf uniformity increased, and economic return maximized (Odde, 1990; Rodgers et al., 2012; …

Nodule Zone-Specific Gene Expression In Soybean, Sadikshya Aryal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen is one of the most limiting nutrients for plant growth and yield. Leguminous plants such as soybean (Glycine max) have developed the ability to form a symbiotic association with nitrogen fixing rhizobia. This symbiotic association results in the formation of unique structures called nodules that originate from root cortex via de novo cell differentiation. During soybean nodule development, two major nodule zones, the Nodule primordium (Npr) in the center and the nodule parenchyma (Npa) in the periphery, are clearly distinguishable. Npr gives rise to infection zone (IZ), and the Npa holds vascular bundles. However, it is not clear what …

Improvement Of Dried Distillers’ Grains With Solubles Utilizing Pretreatments And Fungal Fermentation, Burgandy Zschetzsche

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Limited inclusion of distillers’ grains in animal feed is primarily due to low protein and high fiber content. Other elements, such as phytate phosphorus levels in DDGS are still an issue for monogastric animals such as swine, poultry, and fish. Furthermore, unabsorbed phytic acid in manure poses a high risk for environmental pollution, because bacteria can hydrolyze phytic acid into free phosphorus that can result in algal blooms and eutrophication of surface or ground water. The objective of this thesis was to improve the nutritional value of corn dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS). This was done utilizing submerged fungal …

Applying Machine Learning Algorithms For The Analysis Of Biological Sequences And Medical Records, Shaopeng Gu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The modern sequencing technology revolutionizes the genomic research and triggers explosive growth of DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. How to infer the structure and function from biological sequences is a fundamentally important task in genomics and proteomics fields. With the development of statistical and machine learning methods, an integrated and user-friendly tool containing the state-of-the-art data mining methods are needed. Here, we propose SeqFea-Learn, a comprehensive Python pipeline that integrating multiple steps: feature extraction, dimensionality reduction, feature selection, predicting model constructions based on machine learning and deep learning approaches to analyze sequences. We used enhancers, RNA N6- methyladenosine sites and …

Effects Of A Low Allergenic Soybean Variety On Gut Permeability, Digestibility And Growth Performance In Pigs, Katelyn M. Zeamer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soybeans are the ‘gold standard’ protein source in pig diets, with lower inclusion levels in weaned pig diets due to transient inflammatory and hypersensitivity responses. This study evaluated a low allergenic (LA) soybean seed containing low Trypsin inhibitors, lectins, and P34 protein. The objective was to determine the impact of weaned pig diets containing LA soybean in both meal (LASBM) and full fat ground (LAGR) forms on the intestinal permeability and gut microbial composition, digestibility of protein and amino acids, and growth performance, in comparison to conventional (CON) soybeans and animal proteins (ANIM). In study 1, 60 weaned barrows (20.9 …

A Seed Dormancy Gene-Mediated Biotechnology To Mitigate Transgene Flow Into Weedy Rice, Luai Nahar Muhammad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgene flows into wild/weedy relatives may cause ecological and economic problems. Seed dormancy is an adaptive trait that distributes germination over time and promotes persistence of weeds in agroecosystems. Silencing natural genes controlling seed dormancy (SD) could promote germination and reduce weed adaptability. The goal of this project was to develop a transgenic mitigation (TM) technology by linking to a primary transgene with an SD gene-silencing structure, as a tandem construct for transformation, to reduce the risk of gene flow into weed populations. In this research, the Bar (Bialaphos) gene for resistance to the glufosinate herbicide was used as a …

Identifying Critical Genes For Cholesterol Metabolism In Macrophages Using Crispr-Cas9 Whole-Genome Screens, Kevin Wanniarachchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Macrophage foam cells contribute to atherosclerotic plaque formation, a pathology that underlies heart disease, peripheral arterial disease and stroke. Foam cells form when macrophages take up excessive amounts of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) leading to elevated cellular levels of neutral lipids, which are packaged into lipid droplet organelles. Despite the high public health priority motivating research of cardiovascular disease processes, current understanding of macrophage cholesterol metabolism including mechanisms of LDL uptake, cholesterol trafficking, lipid droplet biogenesis, lipid droplet degradation and cholesterol efflux is limited. Here, we implemented a CRISPR-Cas9 whole genome screening strategy to identify critical genes regulating macrophage cholesterol metabolism. …

Health & Nutritional Sciences Free Communication Day: Spring 2019 Plan B Abstracts, Viola Davies, Jonathan Shaeffer, Amy Hommes, Zachary Fehringer, Andrew Cheney, Alli Delay, Alyssa Finke, Kaitlin Reece, Jacob Elfmann, Maggan Froseth, Kala Nurnberg, Keith Thompson, David Andersen, Samantha Kratovil, Makenna Meier, Lezlie Pommer, Amanda Nack

Health and Nutritional Sciences Graduate Students Plan B Capstone Projects

This document contains Plan B abstracts presented by graduate students at the Health and Nutritional Sciences Free Communication Day, held on April 30th 2019.

Abstract titles include:

• Effect of supervised aquatic therapy and supervised land-based therapy on chronic low back pain.
• The College Football Recruiting Process and Ways to Improve It
• The Effects of Probiotics on Depression and Anxiety
• Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Physical Therapy: Best Intervention to Improve Outcomes in Patients with Meniscal Tears?
• Does the inclusion of mental health education programs have an effect on the help seeking behavior of collegiate student-athletes?
• Establishing a Sustainable Nutrition Education Program …

Animal Science Department News, Department Of Animal Science

Animal Science Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Soil Quality And Region Influence Performance And Ranking Of Switchgrass Genotypes, M. D. Casler, S. Sosa, A. R. Boe, S. A. Bonos

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Development of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock requires intensive and extensive breeding programs that include careful and thoughtful consideration of appropriate target populations of environments (TPEs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate region (climate), soil quality, and N fertilization level as potential factors influencing the choice of TPE. A total of 45 switchgrass genotypes were evaluated in uniform field studies at six field sites defined as prime or marginal soils in New Jersey, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Region and soil quality had strong interactions with genotype, but N fertilization had little impact on …

Growing South Dakota (Winter 2019), College Of Agriculture, Food And Environmental Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

This is issue contains the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station 2018 Annual Report, and the SDSU Extension 2018 Annual Report.

[Page] 2 Setting Into role as Dean
[Page] 4 Raven Precision Ag Center Groundbreaking Ceremony
[Page] 10 Collaborating for Research-Based Solutions
[Page] 12 From the SDSU Extension Director
[Page] 14 Empowering South Dakotans Through Training and Certifications
[Page] 18 Mental Health and Opioid Education
[Page] 21 Science of Agriculture
[Page] 23 Community Gardens Bring Hope to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
[Page] 26 Energize! Conference
[Page} 28 Disaster Preparedness Training
[Page] 30 Bush Foundation Change Network
[Page] 32 SDSU to Participate …

Three Sister Crops: Understanding American Indian Agricultural Practices Of Corn, Beans And Squash, Sara Colombe, Madhav P. Nepal, Larry B. Browning, Matthew L. Miller, P. Troy White

iLEARN Teaching Resources

American Indians have practiced an inter-planting system to produce corn, beans, and squash, for generations. These crops are known as the “Three Sisters”. In this lesson developed for secondary agriscience curriculum, students will understand the past, current and future production practices of the three important crops. Students will also apply their knowledge to understand the crop selection process and relate to the changing environment.

Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Association Between Glycemic Status And Body Composition In Men: A Population-Based Study, Khaleal Almusaylim, Maggie Minett, Teresa L. Binkley, Tianna M. Beare, Bonny Specker

Ethel Austin Martin Program Publications

This study sought to evaluate the associations between changes in glycemic status and changes in total body (TB), trunk, and appendicular fat (FM) and lean mass (LM) in men. A population-based study of men aged 20–66 years at baseline were included in cross-sectional (n = 430) and three-year longitudinal (n = 411) analyses. Prediabetes was defined as fasting glucose 100–125 mg/dL. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) was determined by: self-reported diabetes, current anti-diabetic drug use (insulin/oral hypoglycemic agents), fasting glucose (≥126 mg/dL), or non-fasting glucose (≥200 mg/dL). Body composition was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Longitudinal analyses showed that changes in …