Agriculture Commons^™

Exploring The Presence Of Nonlinear Deterministic Dynamics In Commodity Prices, Sagar Dahal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Determining whether commodity prices (and volatility) are driven by linear stochastic processes or low-dimensional nonlinear deterministic dynamics (“chaos”) is crucial for policymaking, forecasting, production, storage, investment, risk management, and hedging decisions. Previous studies that used Lyapunov exponents and correlation dimensions to identify chaotic structures in price series may be unreliable in practical applications because these methods rely on asymptotic properties that require large, noiseless data which is often not available. We applied nonlinear time series analysis approaches to empirically detect the underlying market dynamics using the daily futures prices of ten agricultural commodities. We used phase space reconstruction to reconstruct …

Dry-Aged Beef Flavor Development, And The Effect Of High Levels Of Vitamin-E On Beef Color Stability, Nicolas Herrera

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Palatability and consumer purchasing are essential factors of fresh meat. To meet consumer expectations during purchasing and consumption, fresh beef must maintain desirable cherry-red color at retail and achieve desirable cooked flavor. Dry-aged beef popularity has grown, and identifying methods to ensure quality dry-aged meat is necessary to maintain demand. To understand dry-aged palatability, this dissertation addressed effects of moisture loss and aging time, fundamental factors of dry-aged beef, using bone-in and boneless strip loins. Study two investigated flavor development using cookery methods and internal temperatures in boneless and bone-in dry-aged beef. In study one, increased dry-aging time (creation effect) …

Identification And Assessment Of Lameness In Sows Through The Utilization Of NuTrack And Gaitfour Systems, Lexi M. Ostrand

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Lameness is a financial concern for producers and a welfare concern for the animals. Utilizing both the GAITFour and NUtrack systems, gilts’ natural tendencies and gait were analyzed to better understand the onset of lameness and what indicators can be identified in a commercial setting. Beginning at 20 weeks of age, video on replacement gilts was collected for 9 consecutive days and processed using the NUtrack System to identify individual gilts’ distance travelled (m), avg speed (m/s), angle rotated (degrees), and time standing (s), sitting (s), eating (s), and laying (s). NUtrack is a deep learning-based multi-object …

Consequences Of Cow–Calf Production With Limited Perennial Forage Grazing, Hannah Fae Speer

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Conversion of perennial grasslands to cropland and rising land prices prompts a need to evaluate alternative beef cow-calf production systems. A 3-yr study was conducted comparing beef cow-calf performance between two August-calving cow systems: perennial forage and corn residue grazing; or summer drylot, fall grazing of late-summer-planted cover crop, and corn residue grazing. Cow body condition score differed between systems, but condition of cows in both systems never fell below adequate. There were no differences in pregnancy rates between systems. Calf weaning weights differed between systems each year; differences are attributed to feedstuff quantity, quality, and type available to calves …

Assessment Of Integrated Nutrient Management Practices On Soil Health And Nitrogen Efficiency In Cropping Systems, María José Oviedo Ventura

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Groundwater quality in Nebraska is threatened by non-point source contributions of nitrate-nitrogen, primarily by agricultural systems. Intensive crop and livestock production that neglects the value of manure in crop fertility plans can contribute to soil degradation and natural resource impairment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate opportunities to improve agricultural nutrient management throughout Nebraska by quantifying opportunities for manure distribution, evaluating soil health implications of organic and inorganic soil amendments, and assessing nutrient management practices focused on reducing nitrate leaching in agricultural soils.

This study described in Chapter 2 provides a spatial illustration of nitrogen and phosphorus balances …

Ecology And Host Manipulation By An Egg-Larva Parasitoid Of Chrysodeixis Includens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Daniel V.C. Neves, Renata R. Pereira, Julia N.D. Campos, Rodrigo S. Ramos, Paulo A.S. Junior, Daiane G. Carmo, Marcelo C. Picanço

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Parasitoids are among the main natural enemies of crop pests. Copidosoma truncatellum (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a parasitoid of Chrysodeixis includens (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Plusiinae), which is an important pest of soybean, bean, cotton, sunflower, tomato and potato. Copidosoma are parasitoids of lepidopteran egg-larva, especially those of the subfamily Plusiinae. The embryonic development of the Copidosoma parasitoid begins in the lepidopteran egg, and this development extends to the beginning of the host larval stage of the parasitized lepidopteran. However, the rate of parasitism is a complex ecological relationship affected by climatic elements and age of the host. Thus, the present study …

Beef Color And Tenderness Response To Production Systems Utilizing Additive Combinations Of Growth-Promotant Technologies, Megan J. Webb, Janna J. Block, John R. Jaeger, R. Funston, Michael G. Gonda, Keith R. Underwood, Judson K. Grubbs, Kenneth C. Olson, Amanda D. Blair

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

The objective of this study was to compare the influence of beef production systems using additive combinations of growth-promotant technologies on meat quality. Steer calves (n = 120) were assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: 1) no technology (NT; control), 2) antibiotic treated (ANT; NT plus therapeutic antibiotics, monensin, and tylosin), 3) implant treated (IMP; ANT plus a series of three implants), and 4) beta-agonist treated (BA; IMP plus ractopamine-HCl). Muscle biopsy samples from the longissimus lumborum were extracted from a subset (n = 4 per treatment) of steers to evaluate expression of calpain-1, calpain-2, and calpastatin using …

Increasing Rye Cover Crop Biomass Production After Corn Residue Removal To Balance Economics And Soil Health, Sabrina J. Ruis, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Paul J. Jasa, Glen Slater, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Low or variable cover crop (CC) biomass production could limit CC benefits. Longer CC growing periods via late termination could increase CC benefits, especially under limited crop residue return. We studied whether early (2–3 wk before planting)- or late (at planting)-terminated winter rye (Secale cereale L.) CC maintains soil properties, crop yields, and farm income under 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal in rainfed and irrigated no-till in the U.S. Great Plains after 6 yr. Early-terminated CCs produced < 1 Mg ha^-1 of biomass while late-terminated CCs averaged 1.6 Mg ha^-1 at the rainfed …

Soybean Tolerance To Ultra-Low Doses Of Dicamba: Hormesis Or Not, Luka Milosevic, O. Adewale Osipitan, Jon E. Scott, Stevan Z. Knezevic

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The widespread use of dicamba across the soybean growing regions of the United States resulted in increased off-target movement of this herbicide to susceptible vegetations. There are speculations that a drift of sublethal (ultra-low) doses of dicamba can enhance soybean growth and yield through a phenomenon called hormesis. Field studies were conducted during 2018 and 2019 to determine whether soybean growth and yield can be enhanced with ultra-low doses (0.0112–56 g ae ha^-1) of dicamba, applied at three growth stages (V2, R1 and R2). There was no evidence that the ultra-low doses of dicamba (0.0112–56 g ae ha …

Nebraska Extension: Supporting The Well-Being Of Farmers And Ranchers, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

Nebraska Extension is a proud member of the North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center. A regional center funded by USDA NIFA, it delivers farm and ranch stress and mental health resources and services in 12 states, including Nebraska.

Since 2021, several programs delivered by Nebraska Extension and its partners have been supported with these funds. This article will review the key programs supported in Nebraska.

Unraveling Prevalence And Effects Of Deleterious Mutations In Maize Elite Lines Across Decades Of Modern Breeding, Shichao Sun, Baobao Wang, Changyu Li, Gen Xu, Jinliang Yang, Matthew B. Hufford, Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, Haiyang Wang, Li Wang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Future breeding is likely to involve the detection and removal of deleterious alleles, which are mutations that negatively affect crop fitness. However, little is known about the prevalence of such mutations and their effects on phenotypic traits in the context of modern crop breeding. To address this, we examined the number and frequency of deleterious mutations in 350 elite maize inbred lines developed over the past few decades in China and the United States. Our findings reveal an accumulation of weakly deleterious mutations and a decrease in strongly deleterious mutations, indicating the dominant effects of genetic drift and purifying selection …

Method Developments To Identify Loci And Selection Patterns Associated With Genotype By Environment Interactions In Soybean, Mary M. Happ

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

For many complex traits such as grain yield, genotype by environment (GxE) interactions are a prevalent source of phenotypic variation. Exploring the capacity of different methodologies to help describe and quantify the GxE interaction landscape for grain yield is an important step in informing plant breeders what the most viable strategies for management and exploitation of GxE may be. In this endeavor, we compared the results from multiple genome wide association studies (GWAS) that used either stability estimators as a phenotype to capture GxE variance, or directly mapped GxE in a mixed model for yield. Leading into this study, a …

Crop-Livestock Diversification And Efficiency In Agriculture, Jay Parsons, Maroua Afi

Cornhusker Economics

Diversification is a familiar strategy for managing risk in agriculture. It can take several forms including growing more than one crop or operating a farm with both crop and livestock enterprises. As with other strategies for managing risk, diversification comes with a unique set of costs. Managing a farm with multiple enterprises creates additional overhead as well as additional demands on management, labor, land, capital, and other resources. Diversification adds complexity to an operation and too much complexity can lead to inefficiencies.

Genomes To Fields 2022 Maize Genotype By Environment Prediction Competition, Dayane Cristina Lima, Jacob D. Washburn, José Ignacio Varela, Qiuyue Chen, Joseph L. Gage, Maria Cinta Romay, James Holland, David Ertl, Marco Lopez-Cruz, Fernando M. Aguate, Gustavo De Los Campos, Shawn Kaeppler, Timothy Beissinger, Martin Bohn, Edward Buckler, Jode Edwards, Sherry Flint-Garcia, Michael A. Gore, Candice N. Hirsch, Joseph E. Knoll, John Mckay, Richard Minyo, Seth C. Murray, Osler A. Ortez, James C. Schnable, Rajandeep S. Sekhon, Maninder P. Singh, Erin E. Sparks, Addie Thompson, Mitchell Tuinstra, Jason Wallace, Teclemariam Weldekidan, Wenwei Xu, Natalia De Leon

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Objectives The Genomes to Fields (G2F) 2022 Maize Genotype by Environment (GxE) Prediction Competition aimed to develop models for predicting grain yield for the 2022 Maize GxE project field trials, leveraging the datasets previously generated by this project and other publicly available data.

Data description This resource used data from the Maize GxE project within the G2F Initiative [1]. The dataset included phenotypic and genotypic data of the hybrids evaluated in 45 locations from 2014 to 2022. Also, soil, weather, environmental covariates data and metadata information for all environments (combination of year and location). Competitors also had access to ReadMe …

Agricultural Research Service Weed Science Research: Past, Present, And Future, Stephen L. Young, James V. Anderson, Scott R. Baerson, Joanna Bajsa-Hirschel, Dana M. Blumenthal, Chad S. Boyd, Clyde D. Boyette, Eric B. Brennan, Charles L. Cantrell, Wun S. Chao, Joanne C. Chee-Sanford, Charlie D. Clements, F. Allen Dray, Stephen O. Duke, Kayla M. Eason, Reginald S. Fletcher, Michael R. Fulcher, Brenda J. Grewell, Erik P. Hamerlynck, Robert E. Hoagland, David P. Horvath, Eugene P. Law, Daniel E. Martin, Clint Mattox, Steven B. Mirsky, Patrick J. Moran, Rebecca C. Mueller, Vijay K. Nandula, Beth A. Newingham, Zhiqiang Pan, Lauren M. Porensky, Paul D. Pratt, Andrew J. Price, Brian G. Rector, Krishna N. Reddy, Roger L. Sheley, Lincoln Smith, Melissa C. Smith, Keirith A. Snyder, Matthew A. Tancos

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well …

Role Of Biotechnology In Creating Sustainable Agriculture, Saurav Das, Manjit Kumar Ray, Dinesh Panday, Piyush Kumar Mishra

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This narrative review paper discusses the role of biotechnology in the development of sustainable agriculture. The paper begins by defning sustanability and highlights the importance of biotechnology in establishing sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is an approach that prioritizes meeting current food and fiber production needs while conserving and enhancing natural resources for future generations. To achieve agricultural sustainability, it is necessary to strike a balance between economic viability, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility. This can be difficult, especially in the face of biotic and abiotic stresses such as pests, diseases, climate change, soil degradation, and water depletion. The prevalence of …

Tas Orders, Innovations And Challenges In Futures Markets, Fabio Mattos

Cornhusker Economics

Futures contracts and futures exchanges were developed a long time ago in the process of evolution of commodity trading. They were created with the purpose of facilitating the buying and selling of commodities. Despite challenges along the way, they helped make commodity trading faster, easier, and more efficient for many buyers and sellers. Still today, futures exchanges are constantly looking for new ways to adjust to new developments in commodity markets and further facilitate trading. After all, as we have previously discussed in this space, futures exchanges provide a service to buyers and sellers, i.e., the marketplace to trade futures …

Could The Epa Cause The Next Farm Financial Crisis?, Jeffrey Stokes, Jim Jansen

Cornhusker Economics

The inflation that crept into the economy in 2022 surprised many since it had not been seen for about 40 years. What has also not been seen for about 40 years is the type of farm-level financial stress causing some quarter of a million farms lost, the devastation of whole rural communities, and a compromised community banking sector and Farm Credit System (FCS). In 1981, as the Federal Reserve’s tighter monetary policy began to take effect, U.S. farmland value nominally peaked at about $785b. By 1985, it had fallen by about 31% from the peak resulting in a sector debt-to-asset …

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Volume 2, Edition 6, July 2023, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

Contents

K-12 Curriculum & Resources & Upcoming Events

Career Exploration pathways for students who like Technology

Teacher & Student Opportunities

Upcoming Events 2023 & 2024

East Campus Discovery Days and Farmers Market

Entrepreneurial Designers Careers Spotlight

PGA Management Program

Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program

UNL-CASNR-BSE Department Ag Systems Technology $2,500 Scholarship Opportunity

Federal Agency Perspectives And Funding Opportunities For Weed And Invasive Plant Research, Stephen L. Young, James J. Kells, Vijay K. Nandula

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Weeds and invasive plants know no borders and have collectively impacted many ecosystems worldwide, including croplands, forests, grasslands, rangelands, wetlands, and riparian areas. Losses continue to mount, affecting yield and productivity, species diversity, and ecosystem services, with both short- and long-term repercussions on the sustainability of plant and animal communities and the livelihoods of many. New and emerging invasive plants, along with many of the most intractable weeds, have undermined even the best control efforts, serving as a reminder of the constant need for improvements in science, application, and technology. One of the main reasons for the success of weeds …

Effect Of Supplementation Prior To Artificial Insemination And During Gestation In Beef Females, Landon Folsom Tadich

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Objectives of Experiment 1 was to evaluate the impact of increased energy prior to AI on BW, ADG, and reproductive efficiency in heifers developed on range or in a dry lot. During the winter development period (131 ± 3.5 d/yr) heifers (n = 100/yr) were assigned to either upland range (RANGE) or fed a dry lot diet in two pens that either remained constant (DLLO) or increased in energy prior to AI (DLHI). Heifers developed on RANGE grazed upland winter range until 38 d prior to AI where they then received the DLLO diet. Pre-breeding BW was greater ( …

Mid-Gestation Maternofetal Inflammation Impacts Growth, Skeletal Muscle Glucose Metabolism, And Inflammatory Tone In The Ovine Fetus During Late Gestation, Zena Mariah Hicks

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Our 1^st and 2^nd studies assessed the impact of mid-gestation maternofetal inflammation on growth, skeletal muscle glucose metabolism, and inflammatory tone in the late gestation ovine fetus. The objective was to determine if inducing maternofetal inflammation during peak placental growth would lead to more profound IUGR characteristics in the fetus. MI-IUGR fetuses exhibited reduced body and skeletal muscle weights and hallmark asymmetric growth at late gestations. Fetuses had higher baseline glucose:insulin ratios and reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Moreover, hindlimb glucose oxidation was impaired independent of glucose uptake. Skeletal muscle specific glucose uptake and oxidation was reduced in MI-IUGR …

Impact Of Distillers' Removal And Impact Of Lowering Inclusions Of Distillers’ Grains Plus Solubles And Different Roughage Quality On Finishing Cattle Performance, Sofia Suarez Lorences

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A feedlot trial (Exp. 1) was conducted to evaluate the impact of removing modified distillers grains plus solubles (MDGS) on performance and carcass characteristics. Cattle with MDGS removed on either d 79 or d 43 had reduced final BW, DMI, and ADG. Cattle with MDGS removed on d 43 were 5% less efficient than cattle fed 20% MDGS throughout the entire 124-d feeding period. Cattle fed 20% MDGS throughout the whole feeding had the greatest HCW and LM area. There were no differences in backfat and marbling scores among treatments, and no differences in percent of abscessed livers. In conclusion, …

Evaluating Drill Interseeded Cover Crop Establishment And Nitrogen Impact In Irrigated Corn, Victor De Sousa Ferreira

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

The adoption of cover crops as a strategy to improve soil health and cropping systems sustainability is on the rise in the United States. PRE herbicides with soil residual activity are widely applied in corn production systems to prevent early season weed development, crop-weed competition, and yield loss. When preemergence herbicides are applied in the field, the active ingredients remain in the soil rhizosphere for a period of time, killing weed seedlings as they emerge. However, PRE herbicides can also impact the establishment of interseeded cover crops. Greenhouse bioassay was conducted to evaluate the preemergence herbicide carry-over potential to interseeded …

Conversion Of Native Grassland To Coniferous Forests Decreased Stocks Of Soil Organic Carbon And Microbial Biomass, Lidong Li, Elnaz Hosseiniaghdam, Rhae A. Drijber, Elizabeth Jeske, Tala Awada, J. Hiller, Michael Kaiser

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Aims Encroachment of woody species into grasslands is a global phenomenon that affects ecosystem services, including soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and microbial community structure. We determined stocks of SOC and soil microbial biomass as affected by conversion of grasslands to coniferous forests.

Methods We examined SOC and soil δ¹³C signatures under three vegetation covers: native grasslands, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), at six soil depths (0 − 10, 10 − 30, 30 − 100, 100 − 170, 170 − 240, 240 − 300 cm). Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) …

Classim: A Relational Database Driven Crop Model Interface, Dennis Timlin, David Fleisher, Maura Maura, Kirsten Paff, Wenguang Sun, Sahila Beegum, Sanai Li, Zhuangji Wang, Vangimalla Reddy

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop models are valuable tools for examining the interactions of cultivar characteristics, environment, and management practices, and how they affect crop growth and development. The difficulty in finding all the data needed to set up a simulation can often deter potential users from utilizing a crop model. Model interfaces are necessary to make these complex tools accessible to end-users who may lack the expertise needed to work with the models directly, but who would benefit from the information generated by the models. As crop models vary in terms of input and output structures, there is no one universally compatible interface, …

Tillage, Green Manuring And Crop Residue Management Impacts On Crop Productivity, Potassium Use Efficiency And Potassium Fractions Under Rice-Wheat System, Sandeep Sharma, Pritpal Singh, Hayssam M. Ali, Manzer Hussain Siddiqui, Javed Iqbal

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The conventional crop production practices including intensive tillage and open field crop residue burning in world’ largest rice-wheat system (RWS) are adversely affecting crop productivity besides deteriorating natural resources and ecosystems’ sustainability. In order to improve system productivity, potassium (K) use efficiency and apparent K balance, adoption of conservation tillage in a RWS with residue management is considered highly effective. We therefore, studied the effect of wheat straw retention and green manure (GM) in rice (main plot treatment), and tillage and rice residue management in subsequent wheat (sub-plot treatments) on crop productivity, K use efficiency and its transformation amongst different …

First Things First: Widespread Nutrient Deficiencies Limit Yields In Smallholder Oil Palm Fields, Hendra Sugianto, Juan Pablo Monzon, Iput Pradiko, Fatima A. Tenorio, Ya Li Lim, Christopher R. Donough, Sunawan, Suroso Rahutomo, Fahmuddin Agus, James Cock, Joni Amsar, Rana Farrasati, Ridho Iskandar, Juan I. Rattalino Edreira, Shofia Saleh, Heri Santoso, Antonius P. Tito, Nadib Ulfaria, Maja A. Slingerland, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

CONTEXT: Indonesia is the most important oil palm producing country. Nearly 40% of planted area is managed by smallholders, with yields well below the potential. Efforts to increase productivity have focused on the source of planting material, with little attention paid to plant nutrition.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the degree to which current productivity in smallholder oil palm fields is limited by nutrients in scenarios with distinct sources of planting material.

METHODS: We collected detailed data on leaf nutrient concentration from 30 fields to derive minimum sampling size needed to diagnose nutrient status. Subsequently, we collected data on …

Utilizing Nebraska Case Farms To Analyze Farm-Level Income And Policy Changes, Tatum R. Brunkow, Bradley D. Lubben, Glennis Mcmclure

Cornhusker Economics

Agricultural producers, professionals, and policymakers often look to long-run projections for the agricultural industry as they make business and policy decisions. They can look to three different baseline projections that are produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, the Food & Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). These baselines provide a 10-year outlook for the agricultural industry from prices and inventories for crops and livestock to international markets and income and expenditures. While this information provides insight into what direction agriculture may move, it can be hard to see the impact at the state …

Peer Review Of Teaching: Et Theory, Deficit Irrigation And Consumptive Use, Derek M. Heeren, Saleh Taghvaeian

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

A BSE Peer Review of Teaching was carried out for a graduate level course on Advanced Irrigation Management. This course has been offered for several years; each time improvements are made, but there is always a need for additional improvement. In particular, ET theory, deficit irrigation, and consumptive use are topics that the students struggle to grasp. These topics involve a relatively high level of math for an MS-level (800-level) Agricultural Systems Technology course, and the available materials on these topics either were not well developed or were not a good fit for this class. The primary objective was to …