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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Agriculture
Soil Invertebrates In Agriculture: Assessing Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity Impacts, And Farmer Perceptions, Eva Kinnebrew
Soil Invertebrates In Agriculture: Assessing Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity Impacts, And Farmer Perceptions, Eva Kinnebrew
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Harmonizing biological diversity and crop production is a major goal towards building more sustainable food systems. Soil invertebrates are diverse and abundant organisms in agriculture, but relatively little is known about their benefits or how agricultural management impacts them. In this dissertation, I dig into the complex interactions between agricultural land use and soil invertebrate biodiversity to better inform farmer decision-making. I find that soil invertebrate communities have major potential contributions to agroecosystems (Chapter 2) and are shaped heavily by agricultural land use (Chapters 3, 4), but remain too uncertain to contribute to farmers’ management choices (Chapter 5). First, I …
Ghgs From Bmps: Examining The Factors That Mediate Soilborne Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Agricultural Best Management Practices, Sarah Brickman
Ghgs From Bmps: Examining The Factors That Mediate Soilborne Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Agricultural Best Management Practices, Sarah Brickman
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) promote soil health and achieve multiple positive environmental outcomes. However, practices that are intended to solve one environmental challenge may have unintended climate impacts, therefore presenting a potential tradeoff. For example, manure injection is a BMP that can reduce runoff and nitrogen loss as ammonia gas (NH3) but can increase N2O and CO2 emissions compared to manure broadcast application. This thesis explores how CO2 and N2O emissions from manure injection compare to other soil fertility practices as well as the conditions that may enhance or reduce these greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. First, during a two-year …
Organic Amendments Alter Soil Hydrology And Belowground Microbiome Of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum), Taylor Readyhough
Organic Amendments Alter Soil Hydrology And Belowground Microbiome Of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum), Taylor Readyhough
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Manure-derived organic amendments are a cost-effective tool that provide many potential benefits to plant and soil health. For example, amendment applications may increase soil fertility, improve soil structure, stimulate microbial activity, and suppress plant pathogens. Yet, responses to these applications may have unintended consequences. Inherent variability in the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of these materials can result in inconsistent outcomes observed after their application. These differences are manifested in plant growth, soil physiochemical properties, and soil microbial community composition. Popular manure-derived organic amendments include dairy manure compost and poultry manure pellets. Dairy manure is an abundant resource on many …
Residual Soil Phosphorus In Tropical Oxisols: An Opportunity To Enhance Fertilizer Use Efficiency?, Lauren Bomeisl
Residual Soil Phosphorus In Tropical Oxisols: An Opportunity To Enhance Fertilizer Use Efficiency?, Lauren Bomeisl
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Phosphorus (P) is essential to life on Earth and often the limiting nutrient in agricultural systems. P fertilizer is thus an essential resource to maintain food security. In the last half century, agricultural intensification has led to an increase in P fertilizer consumption from 4.6 to 17.5 Tg of P/year to meet rising global food demand. Mineral P (i.e., phosphate rock) is a non-renewable resource in the context of the Anthropocene, and its price is vulnerable to global market fluctuations. Increased efficiency of P use on farms is considered the most effective strategy to conserve P. The soybean industry demands …
Ecological Dynamics In Compost-Amended Soils And The Resulting Effects On Escherichia Coli Survival, Anya Cutler
Ecological Dynamics In Compost-Amended Soils And The Resulting Effects On Escherichia Coli Survival, Anya Cutler
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Escherichia coli (E. coli) are common and typically innocuous copiotrophic bacteria found in the mammalian gut microbiome. However, over the past 30 years, pathogenic E. coli have been responsible for several outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to contaminated produce. The introduction of Escherichia coli to an agricultural soil, via contaminated water, compost, or raw manure, exposes the bacterium to a medley of ecological forces not found in a mammalian gut environment. This study assesses a variety of abiotic and biotic soil factors that influence the ability of an "invasive" copiotrophic coliform bacterium to survive in compost-amended agricultural soil. The study …
Edge-Of-Field Water And Phosphorus Losses In Surface And Subsurface Agricultural Runoff, Laura B. Klaiber
Edge-Of-Field Water And Phosphorus Losses In Surface And Subsurface Agricultural Runoff, Laura B. Klaiber
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Quantifying effectiveness of soil management practices on surface and subsurface water quality at the field scale is becoming increasingly important in the Lake Champlain Basin and other agricultural watersheds. During 2012 and 2013, field plots (22.9 x 45.7 m) were established at the Lake Alice Wildlife Area in Chazy, NY to begin a long-term water quality monitoring study. Plots were established in a cool season grass field (1 ha) leased and managed by the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY. The soil type transitions from an excessively drained outwash soil on the upslope to a very poorly …
An Evaluation Of Vermicompost As A Fast-Acting Nitrogen Amendment To Mitigate Nitrogen Deficiencies In Organic Vegetable Production, Peter Dalton Austin
An Evaluation Of Vermicompost As A Fast-Acting Nitrogen Amendment To Mitigate Nitrogen Deficiencies In Organic Vegetable Production, Peter Dalton Austin
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
For sustained production, organic agriculture depends on plant needs being synchronized with the release of nutrients from organic amendments during decomposition within the soil. Because decomposition is strongly dependent on soil moisture and temperature, nutrient needs may not always be met as planned or synchronous with plant need. Unlike conventional agriculture, fast acting amendments are not readily available. Much of the evidence that vermicompost benefits crop production comes from studies on seed germination and production of starts in greenhouses. Yet, there is a dearth of information derived from field studies. Soil, soil and water nitrogen, plant development, and marketable yield …
Biological Indicators Of Compost-Mediated Disease Suppression Against The Soilborne Plant Pathogen Rhizoctonia Solani, Lynn Fang
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
Compost can suppress soilborne plant pathogens that cause significant damage on globally important food crops. However, reports of plant pathogen suppression are inconsistent likely because there are no established standards for feedstock material, application rate, and maturity age upon application. Excellent results can be achieved in greenhouse trials, but field applications are much less reliable. Disease suppression occurs through the activity of biocontrol organisms (direct antagonism), and general microbial competition. Biocontrol species are hypothesized to colonize the pile during the curing phase, but single species may not be as important as microbial consortia. Substrate composition during maturation may give rise …