Agricultural Science Commons^™

Spectral Analysis Of Coastal Vegetation And Land Cover Using Aisa+ Hyperspectral Data, R. Jensen, P. Mausel, N. Dias, R. Gonser, C. Yang, J. Everitt, R. Fletcher

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

This paper describes a spectral analysis of several coastal land cover types in
South Padre Island, Texas using AISA₊ hyperspectral remote sensing data.
AISA₊ hyperspectral data (1.5 metre) were acquired throughout the area on 9
March 2005. Data over mangrove areas were converted to percent reflectance
using four 8 ×8 metre reflectance tarps (4%, 16%, 32% and 48%) and empirical
line calibration. These data were then compared to percent reflectance values of
other terrestrial features to determine the ability of AISA₊ data to distinguish
features in coastal environments. Results suggest that these data may be
appropriate to …

Morphological And Histochemical Characterization Of The Seminiferous Epithelial And Leydig Cells Of The Turkey, M. R. Bakst, V. Akuffo, P. Trefil, J. P. Brillard

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

Unlike mammals, there is little fundamental information about spermatogenesis in birds. This study was undertaken to clarify the morphology, histochemistry, and lectin affinity of the seminiferous epithelial cells and Leydig cells in pre-pubertal (8- to 15-week old) and adult (40- to 44-week old) domestic turkeys. In adult turkeys, three types of spermatogonia were defined based on their chromatin distribution and nuclear morphology: the dark type A(A_d); the pale type A(A_p); and the type B. The A_d is the least numerous and least conspicuous and consequently difficult to locate. Based on its spatial distribution and overall …

Effect Of Age And Mating Status On Adult European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Dispersal From Small-Grain Aggregation Plots, Brendon J. Reardon, Thomas W. Sappington

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

The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is often controlled with genetically modified corn, Zea mays L., hybrids (Bacillus thuringiensis [Bt] corn) in the United States. If Bt-resistant insects are detected in the field, mitigation-remediation tactics must be implemented to sustain the efficacy of insecticidal, transgenic corn. Mass releasing laboratory reared, susceptible adults near aggregation sites to mate with locally emerging resistant adults is a possible remediation tactic, but it is imperative that the former remain in or near the release site long enough to mate. Understanding adult dispersal behavior relative to the timing of mating is …

2007 Census Of Agriculture

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

Introduction .......... VII

State Map .......... 1

Figures .......... 2-6

Tables

Chapter 1. State Data .......... 7-236

Chapter 2. County Data .......... 249-617

Appendices

Census of Agriculture Methodology .......... A-1

General Explanation and Census of Agriculture Report Form .......... B-1

Index .......... Index 1

Publication Program .......... Inside Back Cover

Occurrence Of The Waxy Alleles Wxa And Wxb In Waxy Sorghum Plant Introductions And Their Effect On Starch Thermal Properties, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, Robert A. Graybosch, D. L. Funnell

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

The existence of two waxy alleles, wx^a associated with no detectable granule bound starch synthase (GBSS) and wx^b associated with apparently inactive GBSS, was recently reported in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. In this paper, the occurrence of the wx^a and wx^b alleles in the USDA-ARS photoperiod-insensitive sorghum collection was determined, and the effects of the wx^a and wx^balleles on thermal properties of sorghum starch (gelatinization temperatures and energy requirements) measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Of the 51 purported waxy accessions examined, 14 tested positive for presence of amylose by iodine staining and …

Laboratory Comparison Of Aedes Aegypti Attraction To Human Odors And To Synthetic Human Odor Compounds And Blends, Ulrich R. Bernier, Daniel L. Kline, Sandra A. Allan, Donald R. Barnard

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

Chemical lures can enhance the ability of traps to collect mosquitoes, selectively target species for capture, and provide a realistic assessment of the species and host-equivalent numbers of mosquitoes present in the local area. One approach to the development of chemical lures is to manufacture blends that comprise odors released in human emanations. These blends need to be safe for use in the environment, desirable from an economic standpoint, and transportable to the field for use in traps. In this report, we compared the attraction of mosquitoes to various chemicals, blends, and odors from humans. Noncompetitive (single-treatment) bioassays established that …

Analysis Of Extracted And Volatile Components In Blackstrap Molasses Feed As Candidate House Fly Attractants, Brian Quinn, Ulrich R. Bernier, Christopher J. Geden, Jerome A. Hogsette, David A. Carlson

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

House flies are a ubiquitous insect that have the potential to spread many diseases to humans and livestock. Managing house fly populations is accomplished by having desirable baits, traps, and killing agents. Most house fly baits are designed for outdoor use or limited indoor use, and have a foul odor that is not conducive to food preparatory and dining areas. Blackstrap molasses has long been used as a house fly bait, but it is sticky and viscous, making it difficult to handle. This study sought to identify compounds present in blackstrap molasses that might be attractive to house flies, and …

Mosquito And Fly Control Research By The Usda-Ars Center For Medical, Agriculture And Veterinary Entomology (Cmave) In The Deployed War-Fighter Protection (Dwfp) Program, Kenneth J. Linthicum, Sandra A. Allan, Donald Barnard, James Becnel, Ulrich R. Bernier, Seth Britch, Gary Clark, Miriam Cooperband, Chris Geden, Jerome Hogsette, Daniel Kline, Roberto Pereira, Julia Pridgeon, Brian Quinn, Craig Welch, Liming Zhao

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

Despite existing measures to prevent and control arthropod-borne diseases in military units, these diseases continue to be serious threats to deployed troops. Due to a shrinking list of safe, cost-effective pesticides for control of disease vectors, new and improved toxicants and methods for delivery are needed by the armed forces. Since 2004, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has participated in the Department of Defense (DOD) - sponsored Deployed War-Fighter Protection (DWFP) program to identify and develop new tools for combating pest and vector species that impact deployed war-fighters. Ongoing research at the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary …

Isolation Of Salmonella Enterica And Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia Coli O157 From Feces Of Animals In Public Contact Areas Of United States Zoological Parks, James E. Keen, Lisa M. Durso, Thomas P. Meehan

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

The fecal prevalence of subclinical Salmonella enterica and Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O157 among animals in human-animal contact exhibits at institutions in the United States accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums was estimated to assess public health risk. The prevalence was less than 0.6% for both zoonotic pathogens among 997 animals sampled at 36 exhibits.

A Cellulose Fiber-Based Diet For Screwworm (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Larvae, M. F. Chaudhury, Steven R. Skoda

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

A highly absorbent cellulose fiber from recycled paper was tested and compared with a polyacrylate gelling agent, Aquatain, normally used for bulking and solidifying larval rearing medium of screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The absorbent fiber, when mixed with water and dietary ingredients, produced a diet medium of homogeneous texture that supported larval growth and development comparable with the standard gelled diet. Larval and pupal weights from two concentrations of cellulose fiber-based diet were significantly higher than those obtained using gelled diet. The number of pupae per tray, percentage of adult emergence, oviposition, percentage of egg hatch, and adult …

Lixus Cardui, A Biological Control Agent For Scotch Thistle (Onopordum Acanthium): Safe For Australia, But Not The Usa?, Joe Balciunas

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

Invasive exotic plants are often weeds in more than one country. After a biological control agent for a weed has been developed for use in one country, it is reasonable to consider using the same agent against the same weed in another country. ‘Transfer Projects’ can save considerable time and money, and they have been popular around the world. Lixus cardui Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a weevil from Europe, was first used by Australian researchers to control Scotch thistle, Onopordum acanthium L. (Asteraceae). There are few close relatives of Scotch thistle in Australia, but that is not the case in North …

Physiological Host Range Of Ceratapion Basicorne, A Prospective Biological Control Agent Of Centaurea Solstitialis (Asteraceae), Lincoln Smith

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

Ceratapion basicorne (Coleoptera: Apionidae) is a weevil native to Europe and western Asia that is being evaluated as a prospective classical biological control agent of Centaurea solstitialis (yellow starthistle) in the United States. Host plant specificity of the insect was evaluated in no-choice oviposition experiments. Feeding on leaf tissue by adult females was highly correlated to oviposition rate, both of which occurred primarily on plants in the tribe Cardueae, and especially those in the monophyletic subtribe Centaureinae. The highest rates of larval development occurred on Ce. solstitialis and Centaurea cyanus (bachelor’s button, garden cornflower), and there was significant development on …

The Cercospora Nicotianae Gene Encoding Dual O-Methyltransferase And Fad-Dependent Monooxygenase Domains Mediates Cercosporin Toxin Biosynthesis, Katherine L. Dekkers, Bang-Jau You, Vivek S. Gowda, Hui-Ling Liao, Miin-Huey Lee, Huey-Jiunn Bau, Peter P. Ueng, Kuang-Ren Chung

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

Cercosporin, a photo-activated, non-host-selective phytotoxin produced by many species of the plant pathogenic fungus Cercospora, causes peroxidation of plant cell membranes by generating reactive oxygen species and is an important virulence determinant. Here we report a new gene, CTB3 that is involved in cercosporin biosynthesis in Cercospora nicotianae. CTB3 is adjacent to a previously identified CTB1 encoding a polyketide synthase which is also required for cercosporin production. CTB3 contains a putative O-methyltransferase domain in the N-terminus and a putative flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent monooxygenase domain in the C-terminus. The N-terminal amino acid sequence also is similar to …

Genetic Diversity In Laboratory Colonies Of Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Including A Nondiapause Colony, Kyung Seok Kim, B. Wade French, Douglas V. Sumerford, Thomas W. Sappington

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

Laboratory-reared western corn rootworms, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, from colonies maintained at the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory (NCARL) in Brookings, SD, are used extensively by many researchers in studies of the biology, ecology, behavior, and genetics of this major insect pest. A nondiapause colony developed through artificial selection in the early 1970s is particularly attractive for many studies because its generation time is much shorter than that of typical diapause colonies. However, the nondiapause colony has been in culture for ≈190 generations without out-crossing. We compared variation at six microsatellite loci among individuals from the NCARL nondiapause colony (≈190 …

The Influence Of Oscillating Dietary Protein Concentrations On Finishing Cattle. Ii. Nutrient Retention And Ammonia Emissions, S. L. Archibeque, H. C. Freetly, N. A. Cole, Calvin Ferrell

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

We hypothesized that oscillation of the dietary CP concentrations would improve efficiency of N use and reduce N loss to the environment. Charolais-cross steers (n = 8; 315 ± 21 kg of BW) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design. The steers were allowed ad libitum access to the following diets: 1) 9.1% CP (low), 2) 11.8% CP (medium), 3) 13.9% CP (high), or 4) low and high oscillated on a 48-h interval on each diet (oscillating). Dry matter intake did not differ among treatments (P = 0.46), but N intake differed (P < 0.01) from 94 (low) to 131 (medium), 142 (high), and 133 g/d (oscillating), as designed. Dry matter digestibility increased (P < 0.01) from 71.8% (low) to 75.8% (medium), 77.7% (high), and 77.5% (oscillating). Nitrogen digestibility increased (P < 0.01) from 62.2% (low) to 67.2% (medium) to 70.1% (high) and 70.9% (oscillating). Nitrogen retention was greater (P < 0.01) in steers fed oscillating (55.0 g/d) than in the steers fed low (34.8 g/ d) or high (40.2 g/d), but N retention of steers fed medium (49.8 g/d) differed (P = 0.02) only from that of steers fed low. Urinary urea N did not differ between steers fed medium (19.5 g/d) or oscillating (21.3 g/d) but was lowest (P < 0.01) for those fed low (8.2 g/d) and greatest for those fed high (39.2 g/d). Daily heat production (kcal/BW^0.75) tended …

Early Investments In Soil Conservation Research Continues To Provide Dividends, J. E. Gilley, D. C. Flanagan

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

Current soil conservation programs are built upon an established research legacy. Hugh H. Bennett, chief of the USDA Soil Conservation Service from 1935 to 1951, was instrumental in the establishment of a network of 35 soil conservation experiment stations (SCES). Research projects were initiated at the SCES in the 1930s to investigate the principal factors causing erosion and to identify the most effective and practical methods of controlling soil loss from agricultural areas. Information obtained from the SCES, and selected other locations, was assembled at the National Runoff and Soil Loss Data Center (NRSLDC) established on the campus of Purdue …

Transient Expression Of The Ectodomain Of Matrix Protein 2 (M2e) Of Avian Influenza A Virus In Plants, Lev G. Nemchinov, Angela Natilla

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

We have previously reported an expression system based on the capsid protein gene (CP) of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) placed under transcriptional control of a potato virus X (PVX)-based vector. PVX-expressed CMV CP formed virus-like particles, which served as carriers for heterologous antigens of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV).
In this work, we applied our expression tool toward the development of plant-derived vaccine candidate against avian influenza A virus. Twenty-three amino acid-long extracellular domain of the viral M2 protein (M2e) was engineered into the internal motif 5 of CMV CP and the recombinant gene then was transiently expressed in plants …

Environmental Abundance Of Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) Larval Habitats On Land Cover Change Sites In Karima Village, Mwea Rice Scheme, Kenya, Benjamin G. Jacob, Ephantus Muturi, Patrick Halbig, Joseph Mwangangi, R. K. Wanjogu, Enock Mpanga, Jose Funes, Josephat Shililu, John Githure, James L. Regens, Robert J. Novak

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

A study was carried out at Karima Village in the Mwea Rice Irrigation Scheme in Kenya to assess the impact of rice husbandry and associated land cover change for mosquito larval abundance. A multi-temporal, land use land cover (LULC) classification dataset incorporating distributions of Anopheles arabiensis aquatic larval habitats was produced in ERDAS Imagine version 8.7 using combined images from IKONOS at 4m spatial resolution from 2005 and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)™ classification data at 30-meters spatial resolution from 1988 for Karima. Of 207 larval habitats sampled, most were either canals (53.4%) or paddies (45.9%), and only one habitat was …

Antibacterial Activity Of Apis Mellifera L. Propolis Collected In Three Regions Of Kenya, Elliud M. Muli, J. M. Maingi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The present study aimed at investigating the susceptibility of the microorganisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis to ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEP) from three regions of Kenya (Taita, Tana and Samburu). Propolis was extracted using four different concentrations of ethanol: pure, 70%, 50%, and 30%. Ethanol (70%) and Streptomycin were used as controls. The agar diffusion method using filter paper disks was employed. Antibacterial activity was determined as an equivalent of the inhibition zones diameters (in millimeters) after incubation at 37°C for 24h. Significant differences in the antibacterial activities of propolis were observed among …

Larval Habitat Dynamics And Diversity Of Culex Mosquitoes In Rice Agro-Ecosystem In Mwea, Kenya, Ephantus J. Muturi, Josephat I. Shililu, Weidong Gu, Benjamin G. Jacob, John I. Githure, Robert J. Novak

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Introduction of irrigation projects in developing nations has often been blamed for aggravating the problem of mosquito-borne diseases by creating ideal larval habitats for vector mosquitoes. However, whereas several studies have demonstrated the relationship between malaria vectors and irrigation, little work has been done on culicine mosquitoes despite their potential in transmission of filariasis and arboviruses and their significant biting nuisance in these areas. This study examined the diversity of Culex mosquito fauna and their larval habitats at two sites (Murinduko and Kiamachiri) in Mwea, Kenya over a 12-month period. The habitat types present at each site within a 200-meter …

Distribution And Relative Importance Of Lepidopteran Cereal Stemborers And Their Parasitoids In Uganda, T. Matama-Kauma, F. Schulthess, J. A. Ogwang, J. M. Mueke, C. O. Omwega

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Infestation levels and parasitism of lepidopteran stemborers on maize were assessed in four agroecological zones (AEZ) in Uganda. The indigenous noctuid Busseola fusca Fuller (Noctuidae) and the invasive Chilo partellus Swinhoe (Crambidae) were the most important stemborers recorded. C. partellus represented 77% of the stemborers in the Eastern AEZ while B. fusca was dominant in the other AEZs, accounting for 60-79%. The proportion of infested plants was between 16% and 45% and borer density between 0.2 and 1.0 borers per plant. There was no clear relationship between damage and stem tunneling, which is often used to estimate yield loss. Telenomus …