Agricultural Science Commons^™

Negative Impacts Of The Beef Industry: Lab-Grown Meat, Stephanie Grass

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

The beef industry is harmful to the environment and human health and alternative solutions must be implemented in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Water and grain are used in agriculture in abundance despite the negative environmental effects it causes. Cattle are the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the sector, also contributing to climate change. Antibiotics are used in large quantities without regard to potential future consequences. One potential solution for this problem is lab-grown beef, which demands very little from the consumer and would take pressure off the environmental issues the beef industry creates. Lab-grown …

Pemanfaatan Fenomena Pembentukan Buah Partenokarpi Dalam Perspektif Pertanian Di Indonesia, Firman Rezaldi, Muhammad Abdilah Hasan Qonit, Anne Nuraini, Kusumiyati, Syariful Mubarok

Jurnal Kultivasi

Buah merupakan organ reproduktif yang memainkan peranan penting pada tanaman dalam proses perbanyakan tanaman dan penyebaran biji. Biji akan terbentuk akibat adanya proses polinasi dan fertilisasi. Pada beberapa jenis buah keberadaan biji tidak diinginkan, sehingga sekarang sudah banyak dikembangkan buah tanpa biji atau buah partenokarpi. Secara garis besar partenokarpi terdiri dari dua kelompok utama, yaitu partenokarpi alami dan partenokarpi buatan. Pisang, tomat, dan manggis merupakan contoh tanaman yang bersifat partenokarpi alami. Pembetukan buah partenokarpi dapat dilakukan melalui beberapa cara diantaranya adalah penggunaan hormone auksin/giberelin, iridiasi polen, perubahan jumlah kromosom, gene silencing, modifikasi gen, dan genome editing tools. Review ini menjelaskan …

Management Considerations For Palmer Amaranth In A Northern Great Plains Soybean Production System, Brian Vab De Stroet, Sharon Clay

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) was first observed in a South Dakota field in 2015. This study assessed Palmer amaranth growth based on planting date (PD), impact on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield, and response of seedlings of South Dakota biotype seedlings to herbicides with different mechanisms of action (MOA). Soybean yield loss was influenced by Palmer amaranth density in 2016 (p = 0.001), with yield losses of 33% at densities greater than 15 plants m⁻² (R² = 0.65), although yield losses at low densities were greater than predicted by the fitted …

Effects Of Sudangrass Cover Crop And Soil Solarization On Weed And Pathogen Management In Organic Strawberry Production, Timothy Jacobs

Master's Theses

Field and lab experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of sudangrass (Sorghum X drumondii (Nees ex Steud.) Millsp. & Chase) cover crop management techniques and soil solarization on important agricultural weeds and pathogens in organic strawberry production in Central California. Lab experiments assessed the time needed to kill weed seeds at temperatures typically achieved during soil solarization (40°C, 45°C, 50°C, 55°C, and 60°C) in California. Seeds tested included little mallow, redstem filaree, bristly oxtongue, annual sowthistle, common purslane, nettleleaf goosefoot, and redroot pigweed. Efficacy of simulated …

Evaluation And Enhancement Of Carbon Sequestration Potential Of Existing Vegetation Along Roadsides, Vikram Kapoor, Jeffrey Hutchinson, Samer Dessouky

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18HSTSA01. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"The objectives of this study were to evaluate the vegetative composition and carbon sequestration potential of vegetation along a major roadway in Texas. Soil and vegetation were evaluated along IH-35 within Bexar County for composition and carbon content. Three 20 m transects were placed at each site and percent vegetative cover was estimated and above ground plant biomass, and soil was collected from three 0.25 m2 subplots along each transect. Plant and soil samples were analyzed for carbon content. Two non-native grasses, …

New Approaches To Use Genomics, Field Traits, And High-Throughput Phenotyping For Gene Discovery In Maize (Zea Mays), Zhikai Liang

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

Maize is one of major crop species over the world. With lots of genetic resources and genomic tools, maize also serves as a model species to understand genetic diversity, facilitate the development of trait extraction algorithms and map candidate functional genes. Since the first version of widely used B73 reference genome was released, independent research groups in the maize community propagated seeds themselves for further research purposes. However, unexpected or occasional contamination may happen during this process. The first study in this thesis used public RNA-seq data of B73 from 27 research groups across three countries for calling single nucleotide …

An Integrated Genomics And Phenomics Approach To Study The Evolution Of C4 Photosynthesis, Daniel Santana De Carvalho

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

The C4 photosynthetic pathway was first described over 50 years ago. Today, it is known that C4 evolved independently > 60 in plant lineages, which involves understanding not only the genetic, but also the metabolic features and differences involved in this process. Also, several adaptations are involved in the evolution of this type of photosynthesis, for example: changes in leaf anatomy and the evolution of kranz anatomy, physiology and metabolic pathways. In order to further investigate this pathway, different technologies and methods have been developed to unravel genes involved in C4 photosynthesis. With the advances in molecular biology and bioinformatics tools …

Microbial Response To Biodegradable Mulch: Can Degradation Rate Be Accelerated By Management?, M. Benjamin Samuelson

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

Single-use, petroleum-based polyethylene mulch is ubiquitous in certified organic mulched vegetable systems, representing a broken nutrient cycle and a waste concern. Current organic-allowable biodegradable mulches cannot match the performance of polyethylene, in part because of the requirements that they contain 100% bio-based feedstock, and biodegrade within two years after soil incorporation. It is valuable to understand whether management can influence postharvest degradation rate of mulch films. Two biodegradable mulches: a potentially organic nonwoven polylactic acid and wood particle prototype (PLA), and a widely-adopted non-organic starch/copolymer blend, Bio360® (BLK), were used in field trials in two distinct ecoregions of Nebraska, at …

Application Of Semi-Hydrophobic Layers To Decrease Bare Soil Evaporation, Jesse Lee Barnes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Evaporative water loss from bare agricultural soils is a primary area of water conservation research. Mulching is the commonly utilized method to decrease evaporative water loss. The most commonly utilized mulch is nonbiodegradable polyethylene sheeting because it tends to decrease evaporative water loss and increase crop yields more than environmentally friendly mulches. This study aimed to test the utility of sand coated with polymerized soybean oil (i.e., hydrophobic sand) as a treatment to reduce bare soil evaporation and an alternative to current practices. Evaporation rates were measured in laboratory soil columns containing both treated and untreated soils. Treatment parameters were …

Investigating Parental Effects On End-Use Quality In Hard Winter Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Hybrids, Anthony Delaney

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

To optimize the performance and marketing of hybrid wheat, breeders need to understand the impact parents have on end-use quality. The goal of this study was to investigate the inheritance of end-use quality traits of hard winter wheat reciprocal hybrids produced by Easterly (2017). The 2016 analysis included 71 reciprocal hybrid combinations from 13 parents and the 2017 analysis included 79 reciprocal hybrid combinations from 14 parents. The reciprocals were composed of crosses between the top performing and bottom performing parents with respect to end-use quality as quantified by a Mixograph, a SDS sedimentation assay, and a SDS-SRC hybrid assay. …

Rust And Viral Mosaic Diseases In Biofuel Switchgrass, Anthony A. Muhle

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

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennial warm-season monocot that is indigenous to locations in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, and is considered a model grass for biofuel feedstock production. As switchgrass production increases, diseases pose a potential threat to biomass production and ethanol extraction. The two predominant switchgrass diseases in Nebraska are rust caused by Puccinia spp. and a viral mosaic disease caused by Panicum mosaic virus (PMV) and its associated Satellite panicum mosaic virus (SPMV). In this thesis, one study determined how SPMV affects PMV infection and systemic spread in two populations of switchgrass at different …

Hormonal Signaling Induced In Soybean By Lysobacter Enzymogenes Strain C3, Jessica C. Walnut

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

The biological control bacterium Lysobacter enzymogenes strain C3 has been shown to suppress fungal diseases by producing a suite of lytic enzymes and antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Previous studies have found that C3, when applied to grass and cereal plants, also is capable of inducing local and systemic resistance against fungal pathogens. It is unknown, however, whether the bacterium has the ability to induce resistance in dicots and what signaling pathways are involved. This study assessed the ability of C3 to trigger local and systemic induced resistance responses in soybean (Glycine max ‘Williams82’) by analyzing relative expression of salicylic acid …

Dual Biological Control: Characterization Of Fungi And Bacteria To Control Granary Weevil And Fungal Pathogens Of Stored Grain, Gülçin Ercan

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

Cereals are main food sources for humans and animals. However, during storage, cereal grains can be infested by insects and fungi. One of the most important insect storage pests is Sitophilus granarius (L., Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Adults and larvae can cause serious grain losses. In addition to insect pests, fungal pathogens may also invade the grain and cause economic loss, including contamination with mycotoxins, which threaten mammal health by causing serious disease. The most common mycotoxigenic grain fungi are species that belong to the genera Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium. Currently, the most commonly used management strategies for insect and …

Impacts Of Size Fractionation And Processing On Functional Characteristics Of Broken Rice Kernels, Rebecca Mawusi Bruce

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice flour generated from broken rice (brokens) has inconsistencies in functional properties. This may be due to differences in size and composition of brokens used for the flour. It is postulated that size classification of brokens can improve flour functionality. This study sought to investigate the effect of size fractionation of brokens on the functional or pasting properties of resulting rice flour. Broken rice was generated from six cultivars of freshly harvested rough rice that were dried at 25◦C in the laboratory. The brokens were classified into large, medium and small, using US sieve size 10, 12 and 20 respectively. …

Rescue And Reestablishment Of Chicken Models For Spontaneously Occurring Hashimoto’S Thyroiditis And Systemic Sclerosis/Scleroderma, Joseph Zolton Hiltz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The loss of biodiversity is a topic gaining popularity both in the political and scientific forums. Nearly 30 years ago researchers and politicians congregated in Rio de Janeiro (1992) to attend the first Earth Summit. It was the first meeting of its kind discussing the tangible pressing consequences of biodiversity loss as well as the potential long term ramifications. Many of the countries represented at this summit implemented short and long term plans in order to accurately measure losses of biodiversity as well as establishing organizations to help diagnose and remedy the current problems at hand. These new organizations and …

Control Of Protoporphyrinogen Oxidase-Resistant Palmer Amaranth, Michael Mckinley Houston

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Already one of the most troublesome weeds in row crop production in the southern U.S., protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-resistant Palmer amaranth [Amaranthus palmeri (S.) Wats.] was first documented in Arkansas in 2015. Since this confirmation, PPO-resistant Palmer amaranth has been identified throughout the Midsouth. The following research evaluated both current and future herbicide programs for controlling PPO-resistant Palmer amaranth and quantified field-level resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides. On-farm research, located in fields with confirmed PPO-resistant Palmer amaranth, was conducted in 2016 and 2017. In preemergence (PRE) herbicide experiments, PPO-inhibiting herbicides still proved useful when combined with herbicides such as metribuzin and/or pyroxasulfone. …

A Bayesian Analysis Of Longitudinal Farm Surveys In Central Malawi Reveals Yield Determinants And Site-Specific Management Strategies, Han Wang, Sieglinde S. Snapp, Monica Fisher, Frederi Viens

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Understanding the challenges to increasing maize productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, especially agronomic factors that reduce on-farm crop yield, has important implications for policies to reduce national and global food insecurity. Previous research on the maize yield gap has tended to emphasize the size of the gap (theoretical vs. achievable yields), rather than what determines maize yield in specific contexts. As a result, there is insufficient evidence on the key agronomic and environmental factors that influence maize yield in a smallholder farm environment. In this study, we implemented a Bayesian analysis with plot-level longitudinal household survey data covering 1,197 plots and …

Technologies To Increase Animal Performance In Beef Production Systems, Caleb P. Weiss

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three monensin levels during a stocker phase (0, 800, 1600 g/ton in a free choice mineral) and two levels during finishing (0 [U] or 37.5 mg/kg diet DM [M]) were used to determine the effects of monensin supplementation during a stocker and subsequent finishing phase on beef calves. Steers (n = 605, BW = 278 ± 27 kg) were fed pearl millet hay with soybean hull and corn gluten feed supplement (0.5% BW daily [AF basis] Block 1) or grazed fall wheat (Block 2), spring wheat (Block 3), bermudagrass (Blocks 4 & 5) or wheat with mixed-grass baleage (Block 6). …

The Influence Of Water And Nutrient Management On Oil Palm Yield Trends On A Large-Scale Plantation In Ghana, Tiemen Rhebergen, Thomas Fairhurst, Ken E. Giller, Shamie Zingore

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Oil palm (Eleais guineensisJacq.) production in West Africa is limited by poor soils and suboptimal climate. The potential to improve fruit bunch (FB) yields with appropriate water and nutrient management in Ghana is thus considerable. To assess the effects of water and nutrient management on oil palm yields, a 2 x 2 factorial randomized complete block design with irrigation and fertilizer was implemented for three years in the main oil palm production area of Western region, Ghana. Treatments included i) zero irrigation + zero fertilizer (control), ii) zero irrigation + fertilizer, iii) irrigation + zero fertilizer and iv) irrigation + …

Nitrogen Leaching Losses And Balances In Conventional And Organic Farming Systems In Kenya, Martha W. Musyoka, Noah Adamtey, Anne W. Muriuki, David Bautze, Edward N. Karanja, Monica Mucheru-Muna, Komi K.M. Fiaboe, Georg Cadisch

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Organic farming has been proposed as a solution to foster agricultural sustainability and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of conventional farming. This study assessed N losses and soil surface N balances in conventional and organic farming systems in a sub-humid and semi-humid (Chuka and Thika) sites in Kenya. Nitrate–N (NO3−–N) leached was trapped at 1 m depth using the Self Integrating Accumulator core method and the changes in mineral-N were assessed at different soil depths and different crop growth stages. Both conventional and organic farming systems lost substantial amounts of NO3−–N at the early growth stages of all the crops. …

How Do Ecological Resilience Metrics Relate To Community Stability And Collapse?, Caleb P. Roberts, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The concept of ecological resilience (the amount of disturbance a system can absorb before collapsing and reorganizing) holds potential for predicting community change and collapse—increasingly common issues in the Anthropocene. Yet neither the predictions nor metrics of resilience have received rigorous testing. The crossscale resilience model, a leading operationalization of resilience, proposes resilience can be quantified by the combination of diversity and redundancy of functions performed by species operating at different scales. Here, we use 48 years of sub-continental avian community data aggregated at multiple spatial scales to calculate resilience metrics derived from the cross-scale resilience model (i.e., cross-scale diversity, …

Identification Of Loci Controlling Adaptation In Chinese Soya Bean Landraces Via A Combination Of Conventional And Bioclimatic Gwas, Ying-Hui Li, Delin Li, Yong-Qing Jiao, James C. Schnable, Yan-Fei Li, Hui-Hui Li, Huai-Zhu Chen, Hui-Long Hong, Ting Zhang, Bin Liu, Zhang-Xiong Lui, Qing-Bo You, Yu Tian, Yong Guo, Rong-Xia Guan, Li-Juan Zhang, Ru-Zhen Chang, Zhiwu Zhang, Jochen Reif, Xin-An Zhou, Patrick S. Schnable, Li-Juan Qiu

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Landraces often contain genetic diversity that has been lost in modern cultivars, including alleles that confer enhanced local adaptation. To comprehensively identify loci associated with adaptive traits in soya bean landraces, for example flowering time, a population of 1938 diverse landraces and 97 accessions of the wild progenitor of cultivated soya bean, Glycine soja was genotyped using tGBS. Based on 99 085 high-quality SNPs, landraces were classified into three subpopulations which exhibit geographical genetic differentiation. Clustering was inferred from STRUCTURE, principal component analyses and neighbour-joining tree analyses. Using phenotypic data collected at two locations separated by 10 degrees of latitude, …

Economic Contribution Of The Agricultural Sector To The Arkansas Economy In 2017, Leah English, Jennie Popp, Wayne Miller

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Agriculture and associated agricultural activities are major contributors to the Arkansas economy. Agriculture is defined as the sum of agricultural production and processing activities, unless otherwise specified, and includes crop and animal production and processing, agricultural support industries, forestry and forest products, and textile goods. Agriculture contributes to the economy through direct agricultural production and value-added processing, and also leads to economic activity in other parts of the economy. This report is the eleventh in a series of reports examining agriculture’s economic contribution to the Arkansas economy. The total economic contribution of agriculture (direct, indirect, and induced effects) on value …

Herbicide Drift Influence On Amaranthus Spp. Herbicide Resistance Evolution, Bruno Canella Vieira

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

The adverse consequences of herbicide drift towards sensitive crops have been extensively reported in the literature. However, no information is available on the consequences of herbicide drift onto weed species inhabiting boundaries of agricultural fields. Exposure to herbicide drift could be detrimental to long-term weed management as several weed species have evolved herbicide resistance after recurrent selection with low herbicide rates. Despite the herbicide drift exposure and its potential implications on resistance evolution and weed management, resistance prone weed species such as Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) and waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) are often neglected and not properly …

Expression Of Multi-Domain Lytic Peptide Genes In Transgenic Plants For Disease Resistance, George Biliarski

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

Four non-plant multi-domain lytic peptide genes coding for antimicrobial peptides were expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana plants and tested against three fungal pathogens: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Pythium sp. Detached-leaf bioassay was performed for the transgenic plants carrying multi-domain lytic peptide constructs and compared with transgenic and wild type control plants. Symptom area of each leaf was measured with high precision using the Compu-Eye software and processed by SAS statistical package. The transgenic lines ORF13 and RSL1 showed substantial resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infection producing significantly smaller lesion areas compared to control plants. However, these lines were not …

Climate Change Impacts On Winter Wheat Yield In Northern China, Xiu Geng, Fang Wang, Wei Ren, Zhixin Hao

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Exploring the impacts of climate change on agriculture is one of important topics with respect to climate change. We quantitatively examined the impacts of climate change on winter wheat yield in Northern China using the Cobb–Douglas production function. Utilizing time-series data of agricultural production and meteorological observations from 1981 to 2016, the impacts of climatic factors on wheat production were assessed. It was found that the contribution of climatic factors to winter wheat yield per unit area (WYPA) was 0.762–1.921% in absolute terms. Growing season average temperature (GSAT) had a negative impact on WYPA for the period of 1981–2016. A …

Biomethane Production From Distillery Wastewater, Zachary Christman

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

Distillery wastewater treatment is a great ecological problem, for example, India produces 2.7 billion liters of alcohol that results in 40 billion liters of wastewater. However, this material can be seen as a resource since 11 million cubic meters of biogas at 60% methane could be produced in addition to cleaning the water. The distillery has two options of what to do with the biogas. The first is to use the biogas to fuel the distillery making the production plant more energy efficient and removing some of the need to buy natural gas. The other is to upgrade the biogas …

A Comparative Analysis Of Planetscope And Sentinel Sentinel-2 Space-Borne Sensors In Mapping Striga Weed Using Guided Regularised Random Forest Classification Ensemble, B. T. Mudereri, T. Dube, E. M. Adel-Rahman, S. Niassy, E. Kimathi, Z. Khan, T. Landmann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Weeds are one of the major restrictions to sustaining crop productivity. Weeds often outcompete crops for nutrients, soil moisture, solar radiation, space and provide platforms for breeding of pests and diseases. The ever-growing global food insecurity triggers the need for spatially explicit innovative geospatial technologies that can deliver timely detection of weeds within agro-ecological systems. This will help pinpoint maize fields to be prioritized for weed control. Satellite remote sensing offers incomparable opportunities for precision agriculture, ecological applications and vegetation characterisation, with vast socioeconomic benefits. This work compares and evaluates the strength of Sentinel-2 (S2) satellite with the constellation of …

The Effects Of Agricultural Waste-Based Compost Amendments In Organic Pest Management, Gregg T. Stephenson

Master's Theses

Soil-borne pests and pathogens, such as Verticillium dahliae, can devastate a wide range of annual and perennial crops. Current management options for organic production are limited and sustainable management of pathogens, weeds, and arthropods is important for staying profitable and reducing the use of harmful chemicals. Organic soil amendments play an important role in supplying some of the nutritional needs of vegetable crops and improving soil structure, while also contributing to pest control. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of grape and olive-based composts on soil pathogen load, arthropod communities, and weed biomass and diversity. …

Caterpillar-Induced Plant Volatiles Attract Conspecific And Heterospecific Adults For Oviposition Within A Community Of Lepidopteran Stemborers On Maize Plant, Bonoukpoè Mawuko Sokame, Eric Siaw Ntiri, Peter Ahuya, Baldwyn Torto, Bruno Pierre Le Ru, Dora Chao Kilalo, Gerald Juma, Paul André Calatayud

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Olfactory cues may influence host plant preferences for oviposition of female moths within a community of stemborers that utilise the same resource. This study aimed to evaluate plant preferences for oviposition of gravid females of noctuid stemborers, Busseola fusca and Sesamia calamistis, and the crambid Chilo partellus for uninfested maize plants and plants infested by conspecific or heterospecific larvae. The involvement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by uninfested and maize plants infested by conspecific or heterospecific larvae on moth orientation was studied in Y-tube olfactometer assays and in the field. All gravid female moths significantly preferred VOCs emitted by …