Agricultural Science Commons^™

Soil And Crop Response To Stover Removal From Rainfed And Irrigated Corn, Ian Kenney, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Deann R. Presley, Charles W. Rice, Keith Janssen, Brian Olson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Excessive corn (Zea mays L.) stover removal for biofuel and other uses may adversely impact soil and crop production. We assessed the effects of stover removal at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% from continuous corn on water erosion, corn yield, and related soil properties during a 3-year study under irrigated and no-tillage management practice on a Ulysses silt loam at Colby, irrigated and strip till management practice on a Hugoton loam at Hugoton, and rainfed and no-tillage management practice on a Woodson silt loam at Ottawa in Kansas, USA. The slope of each soil was <1%. One year after removal, complete (100%) stover removal resulted in increased losses of sediment by 0.36–0.47 Mg ha-1 at the irrigated sites, but, at the rainfed site, removal at rates as low as 50% resulted in increased sediment loss by 0.30 Mg ha-1 and sediment-associated carbon (C) by 0.29 kg ha-1. Complete stover removal reduced wet aggregate stability of the soil at the irrigated sites in the first year after removal, but, at the rainfed site, wet aggregate stability was reduced in all years. Stover removal at rates ≥ 50%resulted in reduced soil water content, increased soil temperature in summer by 3.5–6.8 °C, and reduced tem-perature in winter by about 0.5 °C. Soil C pool tended to decrease and crop yields tended to increase with an increase in stover removal, but 3 years after removal, differences were not significant. Overall, stover removal at rates ≥50% may enhance grain yield but may increase risks of water erosion and negatively affect soil water and temperature regimes in this region.

High Tunnel Design, Site Development, And Construction, Stacy A. Adams, Kim Todd

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

High tunnels are low technology plant growing structures that provide opportunity for season extension, severe weather protection, and modified environments to increase productivity and visual quality of harvested plant products. This publication describes high tunnel components, site selection, development, covering materials, installation, and operation.

Experienced specialty plant growers can increase the quality of their products and the duration of their marketing of high- value crops through the use of high tunnels. High tunnels give growers the opportunity to plant earlier and include more sequential planting dates. This can result in early- season, high- dollar returns and the ability to offer …

Conservation Agriculture In Kentucky: Investigating Nitrogen Loss And Dynamics In Corn Systems Following Wheat And Hairy Vetch Cover Crops, Rebecca Erin Shelton

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Unintentional nitrogen (N) loss from agroecosystems produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, adoption of conservation agricultural management practices, such as no-till and cover cropping, has increased. This study assessed N loss via leaching, NH₃ volatilization, N₂O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems across a year. Three systems were evaluated: 1) an unfertilized organic system with cover crops Vicia villosa, Triticum aestivum, or a mix of the two; 2) an organic system with a Vicia cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (0 N, organic N, …

Susceptibility Of Northern Corn Rootworm Diabrotica Barberi (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) To Mcry3a And Ecry3.1ab Bacillus Thuringiensis Proteins, Isaac O. Oyediran, Phillip Matthews, Narendra Palekar, Wade French, Jared Conville, Tony Burd

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

The susceptibility of the northern corn rootworm Diabrotica barberi (Smith & Lawrence) to mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was determined using a diet bioassay. Northern corn rootworm neonates were exposed to different concentrations of mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab, incorporated into artificial diet. Larval mortality was evaluated after 7 d. The mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab proteins were found to be toxic to the northern corn rootworm larvae. The LC₅₀ and LC₉₉ values for mCry3A were 5.13 and 2482.31 μg/mL, respectively. For eCry3.1Ab, the LC₅₀ and LC₉₉ values were 0.49 and 213.01 μg/mL. Based on the …

Bacterial Expression Of Plant Pyruvate Kinase, Kristina Fuller

STAR Program Research Presentations

Pyruvate kinases serve an important role in regulating glycolysis pathways. Different pyruvate kinase isozymes can dictate which of several different products will be formed during the final step of glycolysis. Being able to reliably copy active pyruvate kinases (PK) would allow study of the different isozymes, with the goal of eventually creating plants that are more nutritionally beneficial for humans. This study focused on improving the protocol for replicating each of two isolated PK isozymes from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Previous attempts had resulted in the PK denaturing and consequently precipitating out of solution and so we manipulated the …

Focus Paddocks Trial Report - Benchmarked Result Summary 2010 - 14, Martin Harries, Geoff Anderson

Grain and other field crops published reports

This report was co-funded by GRDC through project no. DAW00213 - Putting the Focus on Profitable Crop and Pasture Sequences in WA.

Crop and pasture sequences in south-western Australia have changed in the past decade. These survey results from the Focus Paddock project provide data to help growers employ profitable and sustainable crop and pasture sequences. The project compiled information on the nature, suitability and productivity of crop and pasture sequences from 184 paddocks over five years. The results of the analyses of chemical and physical attributes of the soil, weed counts and disease management are presented here.

The survey …

Evaluating A Satellite-Based Seasonal Evapotranspiration Product And Identifying Its Relationship With Other Satellite-Derived Products And Crop Yield: A Case Study For Ethiopia, Tsegaye Tadesse, Gabriel B. Senay, Getachew Berhan, Teshome Regassa, Shimelis Beyene

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Satellite-derived evapotranspiration anomalies and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are currently used for African agricultural drought monitoring and food security status assessment. In this study, a process to evaluate satellite-derived evapotranspiration (ETa) products with a geospatial statistical exploratory technique that uses NDVI, satellite-derived rainfall estimate (RFE), and crop yield data has been developed. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the ETa using the NDVI and RFE, and identify a relationship between the ETa and Ethiopia’s cereal crop (i.e., teff, sorghum, corn/maize, barley, and wheat) yields during the main rainy …

Control Of Vegetable Pests In Benin - Farmers' Preferences For Eco-Friendly Nets As An Alternative To Insecticides, Faustin Vidogbéna, Anselme Adégbidi, Rigobert Tossou, Françoise Assogba-Komlan, Mathieu Ngouajio, Thibaut Martin, Serge Simon, Laurent Parrot, Kerstin K. Zander

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

We investigated if eco-friendly nets (EFNs) are a viable and acceptable alternative to extremely high levels of insecticide use in vegetable production. Using a choice experiment, we found that vegetable producing farmers in Benin preferred all of the characteristics of EFNs except the higher labor requirements. The nets had been distributed in a trial phase for free but in the long run farmers would need to purchase the EFNs. The break-even point for investing in nets was found to vary with the lifespan of EFNs, their purchase price and potential health benefits from avoiding large quantities of insecticides. To break …

Do Nerica Rice Cultivars Express Resistance To Striga Hermonthica (Del.) Benth. And Striga Asiatica (L.) Kuntze Under Field Conditions?, Jonne Rodenburg, Mamadou Cissoko, Juma Kayeke, Ibnou Dieng, Zeyaur R. Khan, Charles A.O. Midega, Enos A. Onyuka, Julie D. Scholes

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The parasitic weeds Striga asiatica and Striga hermonthica cause high yield losses in rain-fed upland rice in Africa. Two resistance classes (pre- and post-attachment) and several resistant genotypes have been identified among NERICA (New Rice for Africa) cultivars under laboratory conditions (in vitro) previously. However, little is known about expression of this resistance under field conditions. Here we investigated (1) whether resistance exhibited under controlled conditions would express under representative Striga-infested field conditions, and (2) whether NERICA cultivars would achieve relatively good grain yields under Striga-infested conditions. Twenty-five rice cultivars, including all 18 upland NERICA cultivars, were screened in S. …