Life Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Hemp Cropping Systems On Soil Quality In Western Kentucky, Jack Eaker

Scholars Week

Recently, hemp farming systems are increasingly popular in Kentucky replacing tobacco cropping systems. However, the study on the impacts of hemp cropping on soil properties is rarely conducted, resulting in limited data on soil’s behavior/changes under these management practices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine soil characteristics including compaction, acidity level, moisture level, and water retention. The measurements were collected from three different hemp fields, three crop rotation studies ( in 2020 - corn, soybean and tobacco) and a bare field adjacent to these fields. All fields are located at Murray State University West Farm, Calloway County, …

The Nature Of Genes Expressed Differently After Environmental Drug Exposure, Nicci Siffel

Scholars Week

The Nature of Genes Expressed Differently after Environmental Drug Exposure

N. Siffel, S. Anderson, B. Subedi, D.R. Hammond-Weinberger

Drug use, of prescription or illicit varieties, alter bodily functions in different ways, especially in the nervous system. These drugs are found in sources of drinking water because they are not removed by wastewater treatment facilities. To investigate the effects of these drugs as they appear in mixtures, we exposed groups of zebrafish embryos to cocktails of drugs and screened for genes that were differentially expressed between the experimental and control groups and could thus give more insight into their biological functions. …

Evaluating The Impact Of Common Fertilizers On Soil Properties After Planting Tomatoes And Marigolds, Rachel Stuckey, Iin Handayani

Scholars Week

There are many name brand fertilizers that are used today in gardening in the state of Kentucky. Due to the standardization of name brand fertilizer production in factories, this can cause the fertilizers to compromise the nutrients of soil, while all-natural fertilizers are seen as better quality for the consumers, plants and soils. Alaska, Miracle Grow, Monty’s, Pure Gold, Tiger Bloom are the top five fertilizers sold in the state of Kentucky. This study aims to determine the impact of five top commercial fertilizers on soil quality indicators including organic matter, acidity level and moisture content. These fertilizers were applied …

Germination And Early Seedling Growth Of Vegetables Under Various Salinity Stresses, Waqas Ahmad, Muhammad Haider Ali, Iin P. Handayani Dr., Brian Parr Dr.

Scholars Week

Vegetables are an important part of our daily diet. As salinity levels in soil and irrigation water have increased, biomass production of horticultural crops has been reduced during the past few years. The main objective of this study was to check the effect of different salinity levels (0mM, 25mM, 50mM, 100mM, 200mM NaCl) on the germination percentage and the growth rate of young seedlings of vegetables (tomato, turnip, onion, fenugreek and cauliflower) comprehensively. This experiment was designed through Factorial under Completely Randomize Design (CRD) and the results were analyzed through all Pair-wise comparison of means using Tukey test (P ≤ …