Agricultural Science Commons^™

Potential Of Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (Nirs) To Predict Nutrient Composition Of Bromus Tomentellus, Hossein Arzani, Anvar Sour, Javad Motamedi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to analyse the nitrogen (N), acid detergent fiber (ADF), dry matter digestibility (DMD) and metabolizable energy (ME) content of three phenological stages (vegetative, flowering and seeding) of Bromus tomentellus samples in grazing pastures of Iran. The sample set consisted of 40 samples for calibration and 23 samples for validation was used to predict N, ADF, DMD and ME, separately. The samples were measured by reflectance NIR in a 950-1650 nm range. Calibration models between chemical data and NIR spectra were produced using the method of partial least squares (PLS). The coefficients of determination (R2) …

Trace Element Imbalance In Vegetation As A Threat To Free Ranging Cattle In The Gilgel Gibe Valley, Ethiopia, Thomas Van Hecke, Veronique Dermauw, Kechero Yisehak, Gijs Du Laing, Luc Duchateau, Geert P. J. Janssens

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

As in many tropical countries, natural pastures are the main source of nutrients for cattle in Ethiopia. However, there is limited information available with regard to trace element concentrations in Ethiopian forages. In this study, 58 plants were sampled in the Gilgel Gibe valley based on the observed ingestion by zebu cattle (Bos indicus) herds, grazing at different elevation and soil types, and analysed for copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn), sulfur (S), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn). The effect of elevation, soil type and plant type on the above trace element concentrations was …

Variations An Α-Tocopherol And Β-Carotene Concentrations In Forage Legumes And Grasses Harvested At Different Sites And Maturity Stages, Elisabet Nadeau, Hanna Lindqvist, Søren Krogh Jensen, Nilla Nilsdotter-Linde, Anne-Maj Gustavsson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Forage is a major source of natural α-tocopherol and β-carotene for dairy cows. This study examined vitamin concentrations of birdsfoot trefoil (Bft), red clover (Rc), timothy (Ti) and meadow fescue (Mf) at different sites, years and cutting dates. Mixtures of Bft+Ti, Rc+Ti and Rc+Mf were established at Skara (58°21’N; 13°08’E) and Umeå (63°45’N; 20°17’E) in Sweden. First-year leys were cut on three occasions in spring (Umeå 2005, Skara 2005 and 2007); one week before heading of timothy, at heading and one week after heading. Birdsfoot trefoil had higher α-tocopherol concentration at Skara than at Umeå in the first two cuts …

Comparing Drying Protocols For Perennial Ryegrass Samples In Preparation For Chemical Analysis, Marion Beecher, Deirdre Hennessy, Tommy M. Boland, Michael O’Donovan, Eva Lewis

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Diet formulation for animals requires accurate estimation of feed nutritive value. In order to determine the nutritive value of grass, the moisture in the samples must be removed, with minimum damage to cell structure, and then the dried samples milled, prior to chemical analysis. Generally samples are oven dried. The aim of this study was to verify if differing drying protocols gave diverging results when drying grass samples. The drying protocols investigated were 40°C for 48 hours, 60°C for 48 hours and 95°C for 15 hours in forced convection ovens. Four perennial ryegrass samples were cut to 4 cm from …

Remote Sensing Of Pasture Quality, Reddy R. Pullanagari, Robyn A. Dynes, Warren M. King, Ian Yule, Susanne Thulin, Nichola M. Knox, Abel Ramoelo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Worldwide, farming systems are undergoing significant changes due to economic, environmental and social drivers. Agribusinesses must increasingly deliver products specified in terms of safety, health and quality. Increasing constraints are being placed on them by the market, the community and by government to achieve a financial benefit within social and environmental limits (Dynes et al. 2003).

In order to meet these goals, producers must know the quantity and quality of the inputs into their feeding systems, be able to reliably predict the products and by-products being generated, and have the skills to be able to manage their business accordingly. …

Infrastructure To Improve Beef Business Outcomes In The Queensland Gulf, Kiri C. Broad, Bernie H. English, Rebecca A. Gunther, Emma S. Hegarty, Joe W. Rolfe, Steven G. Bray

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

There are significant economic and environmental issues impacting on the short and long term viability of family-run breeding enterprises in the Queensland Gulf. Falling cattle prices and increased business costs threaten the social and financial well-being of many beef producers. Set stocking and overgrazing combine to reduce native 3P (productive, palatable and perennial) grass frequency and herd productivity. The Ryan family on Greenhills Station at George-town in the Queensland Gulf embarked on a 5 year water and fencing infrastructure development program aiming to improve pasture utilisation, land condition and long term carrying capacity.

A Technique For Measurement Of Cattle Form Using A Trail 3d Digital Camera, Tamaki Kida, Shigeki Tejima, Toshitaka Uchino, Fumihiko Tanaka

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Measurement of weight and form are important for the management of grazing cattle; however, form measurement is seldom carried out. Recently, use of 3D digital cameras has been increasing, and 3D-technology for reconstruction of 3D pictures has been developed. The measurement of withers and hip height of cattle from 3D pictures using the image-analysis technique has been reported (Kida et al. 2012). However, time and effort are required to obtain 3D images of grazing cattle in pastures.

Here, we examined an automatic photographic technique using a sensor camera.

Modelling Complex Sheep Systems Using Ausfarm, Susan M. Robertson, Michael A. Friend

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Simulation modelling can be a valuable method for extrapolating experimental findings to different weather or management conditions. However, most of the decision support tools which are available for sheep grazing systems, for example GrassGro® (Donnelly et al. 1997), are limited to modelling of relatively simple sheep management. This makes validation of simulations against experimental results difficult where management changes from year to year, and where more complex sheep management is used. This study evaluated the use of the AusFarm® decision support tool (Moore et al. 2007) to model a split-joined sheep system, using different ram breeds against experimental …

Does Targeted Short-Term Grazing Of Lucerne Increase Twinning Rates In Unsynchronised Merino Ewes?, Jessica M. Rummery, Susan M. Robertson, Belinda J. King, Michael A. Friend

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Reproduction is one of the key profit drivers in the sheep industry and increased reproductive output is needed to address the decline in sheep numbers in Australia to maintain supply to export markets (Curtis 2009). Increased nutrition around mating, or ‘flushing’, is a well-known means of increasing twinning rates. Studies using synchronisation methods have shown that short-term (acute) supplementation can increase prolificacy if targeted at days 9-14 of the oestrous cycle (Stewart and Oldham 1986). However, synchronisation involves increased chemical and labour costs, so may not suit extensive production systems. This study aimed to test whether an increase in twinning …

Evaluating Rangeland's Grazing Capacity For Livestock And Wild Herbivores Using The Delta Diet Tool And Gis Technology, Sandra A. Santos, Arnaud L. J. Desbiez, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Juliana M. Alvarez

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Rangelands are dynamic and complex systems requiring appropriate adaptive decision-making to calculate grazing capacity integrating livestock and herbivore wildlife. This work describes the development and application of an integrated framework using the microhistological analysis (DeltaDiet tool) to identify key forage used by different herbivores from the same area associated with GIS technology to mapping landscape containing forage productivity and quality information. This study was conducted in a management unit, representative of the Nhecolândia sub-region landscape, Pantanal. During the dry period, representative fecal samples were collected from cows, capybaras and deer grazing in the same management unit for diet analysis, using …

Characterization Of The Transcriptional Divergence Between The Subspecies Of Cultivated Rice (Oryza Sativa), Malachy T. Campbell, Qian Du, Kan Li, Sandeep Sharma, Chi Zhang, Harkamal Walia

Agronomy & Horticulture -- Faculty Publications

Background: Cultivated rice consists of two subspecies, Indica and Japonica, that exhibit well-characterized differences at the morphological and genetic levels. However, the differences between these subspecies at the transcriptome level remains largely unexamined. Here, we provide a comprehensive characterization of transcriptome divergence and cis-regulatory variation within rice using transcriptome data from 91 accessions from a rice diversity panel (RDP1).

Results: The transcriptomes of the two subspecies of rice are highly divergent. Japonica have significantly lower expression and genetic diversity relative to Indica, which is likely a consequence of a population bottleneck during Japonica domestication. We leveraged high-density genotypic data and …

Planting Date, Cultivar, Seed Treatment, And Seeding Rate Effects On Soybean Growth And Yield, Thandiwe Nleya, Matthew Schutte, David Clay, Graig Reicks, Nathan Mueller

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield is a function of many factors including genetic attributes of the cultivar, environmental conditions, and management practices. Temporally variable weather patterns in North America, especially in the northern Great Plains, have resulted in the re-examination of how spring production practices interact with the environmental conditions to influence yield. This study evaluated the impact of four plantings dates, four seeding rates, and two soybean maturity groups (MGs) using treated and untreated (control) seed on soybean growth, seed yield, and composition. The study was conducted at Volga, SD, in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The planting …

Improving On Modis Mcd64a1 Burned Area Estimates In Grassland Systems: A Case Study In Kansas Flint Hills Tall Grass Prairie, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Jayson Prentice, Yao Tang, Dirac Twidwell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Uncertainty in satellite-derived burned area estimates are especially high in grassland systems, which are some of the most frequently burned ecosystems in the world. In this study, we compare differences in predicted burned area estimates for a region with the highest fire activity in North America, the Flint Hills of Kansas, USA, using the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD64A1 burned area product and a customization of the MODIS MCD64A1 product using a major ground-truthing effort by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE-MODIS customization). Local-scale ground-truthing and the KDHE-MODIS product suggests MODIS burned area estimates under predicted fire …

A Comparison Of Media To Determine Optimal Growth In Aquaponics, Rachel L. Fogle, Andrea Nagy, Allison Bernard, Jordan Brown, Samantha Delvalle-Trinh, James Shuler

Harrisburg University Presidential Research Grants

No abstract provided.

Predicting Farinograph Stability Of Wheat Flour With Mixograph And Glutomatic Tests, Brooke Shumate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.; HRSW) flour is typically used to produce wheat-based foods where dough strength is a key quality component. Maintaining acceptable levels of dough strength is an important goal in the development of new HRSW cultivars. In a commercial setting, dough strength is often measured as Farinograph stability, though due to various resource constraints, stability is often predicted in breeding programs via other methods like the Mixograph. The objective of this research was to combine Glutomatic with Mixograph data to determine whether Farinograph stability predictions might be improved over the use of Mixograph data …

Mineral Fertilizer Use In Land-Scarce Conditions: Case Of Rwanda, Josaphat Rusisiro Mugabo, Eric Tollens, Jonas Nwankwo Chianu, Bernard Vanlauwe

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This study was undertaken to investigate the use of mineral fertilizer by smallholder farmers in order to understand the set of factors influencing the decisions of smallholder farmers to use fertilizers in land-scarce conditions. Using descriptive analysis and the Cragg's double-hurdle model, the study identified and analyzed factors that determine smallholder farmer adoption of mineral fertilizers and those that affect the intensity of household mineral fertilizer use. From factors that only influence the decision of smallholder farmers to use mineral fertilizers, distance to fertilizer market and livestock affects it negatively; while farmer association membership, landholding per capita, access to extension …

Corn Response To Wastewater-Recycled Phosphorus Fertilizers, Shane R. Ylagan, Kristofor R. Brye

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The ability to recycle phosphorus (P) from wastewaters could provide a sustainable, continuous source of P that might also help protect surface water quality from P enrichment. The mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4 · 6H2O) is an understudied material that can be created from P- and nitrogen (N)-containing wastewater and has been shown to have agricultural fertilizer value. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of electrochemically precipitated struvite (ECST), chemically precipitated struvite (Crystal Green; CG), diammonium phosphate (DAP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), rock phosphate (RP), and triple superphosphate (TSP) on corn (Zea mays) response in a greenhouse pot study. …

Evaluating The Impact Of Grafting On Local Tomato Production In Nebraska, Raihanah Hassim, Samuel E. Wortman, Ashley A. Thompson, Stacy A. Adams

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

Grafting has been successfully used in vegetable production for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and watermelon. Besides its usefulness for managing soil-borne diseases, grafting can improve nutrient uptake and yield. However, few studies have assessed the effects of grafting and soil fertility management on yield of open field-grown tomatoes in the Midwest. Therefore, the objective of this two-year research was to better document the effects of grafting heirloom and hybrid tomato cultivar onto hybrid tomato rootstocks on tomato yield and quality. The field experiments were located at the University of Nebraska Lincoln - East Campus in Lincoln, West Central Research and …

Intercropping For Water Conservation: Environmental And Economic Implications Of A Sustainable Farming Practice In California's Central Valley, Sophie Baker

Scripps Senior Theses

California’s agricultural sector is the biggest water consumer in the state and faces intense pressure to reduce its overall water usage. Industrialized monoculture systems dominate the industry and often disregard long-term environmental and economic externalities for short-term profit maximization. To maintain longstanding food security and economic stability as well as protect the state’s water supply, it is critical that these systems transition to more sustainable and resilient production mechanisms. As an alternative to monoculture, intercropping affords greater potential to conserve water, protect soil quality, and increase crop yields, among other metrics of sustainability. However, there has been much controversy over …

Paleoethnobotanical Evidence Of Early Formative Period Diet In Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, Éloi Bérubé, Guy David Hepp, Shanti Morell-Hart

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In this paper, we discuss dietary and possible medicinal practices of an Early Formative period (2000–1000 BCE) community transitioning from Archaic-style to Formative-style lifeways. The results we present come from the analysis of plant residues, including microbotanical and macrobotanical remains, which were excavated at the village site of La Consentida in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. Phytoliths and starch grains were recovered by sonication from twenty ceramic and lithic artifacts. The microbotanical analyses identified plant remains from four different families: Bombaceae (flowering plants), Dioscoreaceae (yam family), Fabaceae (bean family), and Poaceae (grasses, including maize). We also report on limited macrobotanical analysis, including …

Growth And Development, From: Forages: The Science Of Grassland Agriculture, Volume Ii, Robert B. Mitchell, Daren Redfearn, Kenneth J. Moore

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The growth and development of forage plants is an amazing process. In some annual grasses such as cereal rye, plants can go from the late vegetative stage to fully-flowered in less than two weeks. Conversely, some perennial grasses like indiangrass can go from the vegetative stage to the elongation stage, then enter a quiescent phase for several weeks until adequate moisture is available which then moves plants into the flowering stages to complete the seed production process. Understanding the developmental morphology of forage plants is important for making good management decisions. Many such decisions involve timing the initiation or termination …

Floral Trait Architecture In Crop Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus) Under Drought Conditions, Lauren Segarra

All Master's Theses

Longer and more intense droughts are predicted to become more common in the coming century due to anthropogenic climate change. Drought can reduce crop yield and decrease food security. In order to mitigate the negative effects of drought on crop production, it is important to elucidate the underlying mechanisms that promote drought stress resistance in crop plants. Floral traits impact yield, especially in oilseed crops such as sunflower (Helianthus annuus), but their susceptibility to drought stress is understudied. The goal of this study was to describe the floral trait architecture of H. annuus crop lines under drought versus …

Internet Of Things For Sustainable Forestry, Abdul Salam

Computer Information Technology Faculty Publications

Forests and grasslands play an important role in water and air purification, prevention of the soil erosion, and in provision of habitat to wildlife. Internet of Things has a tremendous potential to play a vital role in the forest ecosystem management and stability. The conservation of species and habitats, timber production, prevention of forest soil degradation, forest fire prediction, mitigation, and control can be attained through forest management using Internet of Things. The use and adoption of IoT in forest ecosystem management is challenging due to many factors. Vast geographical areas and limited resources in terms of budget and equipment …

Comparing And Linking Organic Carbon And Iron In Soil And Headwater Stream In A Pasture And A Forest Catchment In A Central Appalachian Region, West Virginia, Lili Lei

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Continued global warming and surface water brownification are two main environmental issues which have attracted attention and are related to soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling. Iron oxides differ in reducibility and thus have essential roles in regulating SOC preservation and remineralization in soil and transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from soil to surface water. In the central Appalachian region, anthropogenic disturbances are increasing, which leads to major issues of soil degradation and depletion of SOC concentrations. Cropland and pasture soils are subject to intense disturbances compared to the forest soil, which may lead to differences in SOC fractions and …

Arthropod Resistant Tomatoes: Screening Tools, Yield And Nutritional Quality Of Interspecific Hybrids, Mohammad Hasan Salman Ali Dawood

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most economically important vegetable crops grown around globe but is a host for numerous pests and pathogens. In the future, tomato breeders will have to focus on increasing fruit quantity and on enhancing pest resistance. Many accessions of the wild relative of tomato, S. habrochaites display high levels of resistance towards arthropods such as spider mites. The presence of the sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, 7-epi-zingiberene, found in S. habrochaites type IV trichomes has been associated with arthropod resistance. However, the presence of other compounds in its trichome secretions may also be related …

Soil Carbon Dynamics And Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Conservation Tillage Systems At Multiple Scales, Yawen Huang

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Conservation tillage practices like no-tillage and reduced tillage have been widely implemented worldwide, with expectations they would provide multiple benefits (e.g., yield enhancement and soil carbon sequestration) for food security and climate adaptation and mitigation. However, the adoption of conservation tillage faces both opportunities and challenges. A knowledge gap still exists regarding the effects of conservation tillage on the carbon cycle in agroecosystems. This dissertation reflects a comprehensive evaluation of conservation tillage at multiple scales using an integrated systems approach, a combination of data synthesis, the agriculture ecosystem model, and field observations and measurements. I first conducted a meta-analysis to …

Allelic Variation In Rice Fertilization Independent Endosperm 1 Contributes To Grain Width Under High Night Temperature Stress, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Puneet Paul, Jaspreet Sandhu, Waseem Hussain, Larissa Irvin, Feiyu Zhu, Maria Arlene Adviento-Borbe, Argelia Lorence, Paul Staswick, Hongfeng Yu, Gota Morota, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A higher minimum (night-time) temperature is considered a greater limiting factor for reduced rice yield than a similar increase in maximum (daytime) temperature. While the physiological impact of high night temperature (HNT) has been studied, the genetic and molecular basis of HNT stress response remains unexplored.

We examined the phenotypic variation for mature grain size (length and width) in a diverse set of rice accessions under HNT stress. Genome-wide association analysis identified several HNT-specific loci regulating grain size as well as loci that are common for optimal and HNT stress conditions.

A novel locus contributing to grain width under HNT …

Voxel Carving-Based 3d Reconstruction Of Sorghum Identifies Genetic Determinants Of Light Interception Efficiency, Mathieu Gaillard, Chenyong Miao, James Schnable, Bedrich Benes

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Changes in canopy architecture traits have been shown to contribute to yield increases. Optimizing both light interception and light interception efficiency of agricultural crop canopies will be essential to meeting the growing food needs. Canopy architecture is inherently three-dimensional (3D), but many approaches to measuring canopy architecture component traits treat the canopy as a two-dimensional (2D) structure to make large scale measurement, selective breeding, and gene identification logistically feasible. We develop a high throughput voxel carving strategy to reconstruct 3D representations of sorghum from a small number of RGB photos. Our approach builds on the voxel carving algorithm to allow …

Genome-Wide Identification And Analysis Of Heterotic Loci In Three Maize Hybrids, Hongjun Liu, Qin Wang, Mengjiao Chen, Yahui Ding, Xuerong Yang, Jie Liu, Xiaohan Li, Congcong Zhou, Qilin Tian, Yiqi Lu, Danlin Fan, Junpeng Shi, Lin Zhang, Congbin Kang, Mingfei Mingfei Sun, Fangyuan Li, Yujian Wu, Yongzhong Zhang, Baoshen Liu, Xiang Yu Zhao, Qi Feng, Jinliang Yang, Bin Han, Jinsheng Lai, Xian Sheng Zhang, Xuehui Huang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, is a predominant phenomenon in plant genetics, serving as the basis of crop hybrid breeding, but the causative loci and genes underlying heterosis remain unclear in many crops. Here, we present a large-scale genetic analysis using 5360 offsprings from three elite maize hybrids, which identifies 628 loci underlying 19 yield-related traits with relatively high mapping resolutions. Heterotic pattern investigations of the 628 loci show that numerous loci, mostly with complete–incomplete dominance (the major one) or overdominance effects (the secondary one) for heterozygous genotypes and nearly equal proportion of advantageous alleles from both parental lines, are the …

Cover Crops And Cover Crop Mixes: Stratification Of Biological Effects, Landon M. Gibbs

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

The potential nutrient cycling benefits from legumes (e.g. N₂-fixation) and the high biomass potential of cereal rye are well known. Further studies are warranted to evaluate bi-culture mixtures and their effects on soil nutrient stratification and microbial enzyme activity because these two properties may be differently expressed (enhanced) by legume/grass mixes. The objectives of this study were: (1) show different cover crops and cover crop mixes containing grasses and legumes differentially stratify carbon and N; (2) show the change in microbial enzyme activity in soils planted with individual cover crops relative to cover crop mixes; 3) determine the …