Agricultural Science Commons^™

B.R. Wells Rice Research Studies 2007, R. J. Norman, J. F. Meullenet, K. A.K. Moldenhauer

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Potential Of Improved Fallows To Increase Household And Regional Fuelwood Supply: Evidence From Western Kenya, B. A. Jama, J. K. Mutegi, A. N. Njui

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Fuelwood is the main energy source for households in rural Africa, but its supply is rapidly declining especially in the densely populated areas. Short duration planted tree fallows, an agroforestry technology widely promoted in sub-Sahara Africa for soil fertility improvement may offer some remedy. Our objective was to determine the fuelwood production potential of 6, 12 and 18 months (the common fallow rotation periods) old Crotalaria grahamiana, Crotalaria paulina, Tephrosia vogelli and Tephrosia candida fallows under farmer-managed conditions in western Kenya. Based on plot-level yields, we estimated the extent to which these tree fallows would meet household and sub-national fuelwood …

Farmers' Perceptions Of A 'Push-Pull' Technology For Control Of Cereal Stemborers And Striga Weed In Western Kenya, Zeyaur R. Khan, David M. Amudavi, Charles A.O. Midega, Japhether M. Wanyama, John A. Pickett

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Striga and cereal stemborers are major constraints to cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa causing serious food security concerns. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and partners have developed a novel integrated management system called the 'push-pull' technology (PPT) in mitigation. This involves inter-cropping maize with a stemborer moth-repellent forage legume, silverleaf desmodium (push), and planting an attractive trap crop, Napier grass (pull), around the intercrop. Additionally, chemicals produced from desmodium roots inhibit Striga. We evaluated farmers' perceptions of the pests, PPT attributes and factors influencing the likelihood of its adoption in 15 districts in western Kenya. A …

Quantitative Trait Loci For Resistance To Pre-Harvest Sprouting In Us Hard White Winter Wheat Rio Blanco, Shubing Liu, Shibin Cai, Robert A. Graybosch, Cuixia Chen, Guihua Bai

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

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) of wheat is a major problem that severely limits the end-use quality of flour in many wheat-growing areas worldwide. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for PHS resistance, a population of 171 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed from the cross between PHS-resistant white wheat cultivar Rio Blanco and PHS-susceptible white wheat breeding line NW97S186. The population was evaluated for PHS in three greenhouse experiments and one Weld experiment. After 1,430 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers were screened between the two parents and two bulks, 112 polymorphic markers between two bulks were used to screen …

Integrated Management Of Striga Hermonthica, Stemborers, And Declining Soil Fertility In Western Kenya, B. Vanlauwe, F. Kanampiu, G. D. Odhiambo, H. De Groote, L. J. Wadhams, Z. R. Khan

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Striga hermonthica (Delile) Benth., stemborers, and declining soil fertility are serious threats to sustainable food production in the Lake Victoria zone of Kenya. To address these constraints, promising integrated crop management technologies were evaluated, using a multi-locational design in four sub-locations in Siaya and Vihiga district (western Kenya) for six cropping seasons. Technologies evaluated consisted of the traditional maize (Zea mays L.) - bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) intercrop, maize - Desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.) push-pull intercrop, Crotalaria (Crotalaria ochroleuca G. Don) - maize rotation, and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) - maize rotation. Within each of these systems, imazapyr-coated …

Capacitan A Personas Intersadas Y Panaderos Sobre La Utilización De Harina De Sorgo: Más De 25 Personas Interesadas Entre Ellos Panaderos Son Capacitados Sobre El Uso De Harina De Sorgo, Roxana Ortiz, Eduardo Funes

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

El Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) a través del Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA), capacitan a un grupo de personas interesadas y panaderos sobre la utilización de harina de sorgo para la producción de pan y otros productos.

La ingeniera Margarita Alvarado, Coordinadora del Laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos del CENTA, expresó que se ha investigado el cultivo de sorgo a través del Programa de Granos Básicos, y también las bondades que el grano tiene para el uso de harina.

Conducting Landscape Assessments For Agroforestry, Gary Bentrup, Mike Dosskey, Gary Wells

Agroforestry Notes (USDA-NAC)

Landscape assessments describe existing resource conditions and trends within a larger planning area and identify opportunities to produce environmental benefits with strategically placed management activities, including agroforestry practices. In this Agroforestry Note, we:

• Explain why assessing the landscape is important for agroforestry
• Describe a basic landscape assessment process
• Discuss ways to use landscape assessments for agroforestry

In Vitro And In Vivo Techniques For Screening New Natural Product-Based Fungicides For Control Of Strawberry Anthracnose, Maritza Abril

Dissertations

Seven plant pathogenic fungi (Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, C. fragariae, C. gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Phomopsis obscurans, and P. viticola) valuable in screening fungicide efficacy were tested. Optimal and reproducible conditions for germination of these selected fungi were established by incorporating Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 (RPMI) as a medium of known composition and washing conidia to remove innate germination inhibitors. This step reduced average fungal germination times between 3.5 h and 21.2 h. The natural product-based fungicide, sampangine, seven sampangine analogs (4-bromo-sampangine, 4-methoxysampangine, benzo[4,5]sampangine, liriodenine Mel AMC-XIII-103, onychine, cryptolepine, and liriodenine CDH-II-37), plus seven conventional fungicides (benomyl, captan, cyprodinil, fenbuconazole, …

Blood-Feeding Patterns Of Culex Quinquefasciatus And Other Culicines And Implications For Disease Transmission In Mwea Rice Scheme, Kenya, Ephantus J. Muturi, Simon Muriu, Josephat Shililu, Joseph M. Mwangangi, Benjamin G. Jacob, Charles Mbogo, John Githure, Robert J. Novak

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Studies were conducted in Mwea Rice Scheme, Kenya during the period April 2005 and January 2007 to determine the host-feeding pattern of culicine mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were collected indoors and outdoors and tested for human, bovine, goat, and donkey blood meals by an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. A total of 1,714 blood-engorged samples comprising Culex quinquefasciatus Say (96.1%), Culex annulioris Theobald (1.8%), Culex poicilipes Theobald (0.9%), Aedes cuminsi Theobald (1.0%), Aedes taylori Edwards (0.1%), and Mansonia africana Theobald (0.1%) were tested. Except for A. taylori, in which the single blood meal tested was of bovine origin, the other species fed mostly on …

No-Till Corn After Bromegrass: Effect On Soil Carbon And Soil Aggregates, Ronald F. Follett, Gary E. Varvel, John M. Kimble, Kenneth P. Vogel

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

Grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the USA may be converted to grain crops for bioenergy. The effect of no-till conversion of a smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss) grassland to no-till corn (Zea mays L.) production on soil organic carbon (SOC) in the western Corn Belt was monitored for over 6 yr. A different ¹³C/¹²C isotope signature is imparted to SOC by C4 plants including corn versus C3 plants such as bromegrass. Changes in C isotope ratios in SOC in three soil depths (0- to 5-, 5–10, and 10–30 cm) by particle size …

Testing A Simple Field Method For Assessing Nitrate Removal In Riparian Zones, Philippe Vidon, Michael G. Dosskey

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

Being able to identify riparian sites that function better for nitrate removal from groundwater is critical to using efficiently the riparian zones for water quality management. For this purpose, managers need a method that is quick, inexpensive, and accurate enough to enable effective management decisions. This study assesses the precision and accuracy of a simple method using three ground water wells and one measurement date for determining nitrate removal characteristics of riparian buffer zones. The method is a scaled-down version of a complex field research method that consists of a large network of wells and piezometers monitored monthly for over …

Review: Gardening With Heirloom Seeds: Tried-And-True Flowers, Fruits, And Vegetables For A New Generation, Diane Hartle

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the non-fiction book "Gardening With Heirloom Seeds: Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for a New Generation," by Lynn Coulter.

Location, Acceptance And Suitability Of Lepidopteran Stemborers Feeding On A Cultivated And Wild Host-Plant To The Endoparasitoid Cotesia Flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Meshack Obonyo, Fritz Schulthess, Juma Gerald, Onesmus Wanyama, Bruno Le Rü, Paul André Calatayud

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Maize fields in Africa are usually surrounded by land occupied by wild plants many of which harbor lepidopteran stemborer species not found on crops. It is not known if the exotic braconid parasitoid Cotesia flavipes, which was released in Kenya in 1993 against the invasive crambid Chilo partellus, searches for and attacks these borers in their natural habitats and whether they are suitable for parasitoid development. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between acceptance and suitability of six stemborer species attacking cultivated sorghum (C. partellus, Busseola fusca, Sesamia calamistis, and S. nonagrioides) or Napier grass (Busseola …

On-Farm Evaluation Of The 'Push-Pull' Technology For The Control Of Stemborers And Striga Weed On Maize In Western Kenya, Zeyaur R. Khan, Charles A.O. Midega, David M. Amudavi, Ahmed Hassanali, John A. Pickett

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The 'push-pull' technology is a novel pest management strategy developed for control of stemborers and striga weed, Striga hermonthica, in maize-based farming systems in eastern Africa, where maize is intercropped with desmodium, a forage legume, and Napier grass is planted as a border crop. Desmodium repels stemborer moths while Napier grass attracts them. Desmodium also suppresses the parasitic striga weed through a series of mechanisms ranging from shading to allelopathy through the root system. The technology is currently being disseminated among smallholder farmers in eastern Africa and adoption rates are rising. Our on-station studies have reported efficacy of this technology …

Adding Value To Swine Manure Through Accurate Prediction Of Organic Nitrogen Availability, Charles S. Wortman, Charles Shapiro, Aaron Nygren

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Animal manure contains organic and inorganic nitrogen. The inorganic N, which is mostly ammonium-N but nitrate-N can be significant in composted manure, is typically considered to be 100% plant available if there are not significant losses, especially due to volatilization of ammonia-N. The availability of organic N, which is mostly from undigested and partially digested plant material needs to be mineralized to become plant available, is less predictable. Field research was conducted in eastern Nebraska to improve the basis for estimating organic N availability from injected or incorporated swine manure and from surface applied composted and stockpiled FM. The factors …

El Sorgo O Llamado Comúnmente “Maicillo” Es Cultivado En Todo El Territorio Nacional Y Utilizado Para El Consumo Humano Y Animal (El Sorgo Es Alternativa De Harina Para Pan), Roxana Ortiz

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

A fi n de buscar nuevas alternativas para la industria panifi cadora, el Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA) del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) ve la posibilidad de industrializar el sorgo para convertirlo en harina y darle un valor agregado al cultivo.

Vilma Calderón de Zacatares, técnica del laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos del CENTA, manifestó que la institución realiza investigaciones donde afi rma que la harina de trigo puede ser sustituida por la de sorgo.

“Actualmente, el costo de la harina de trigo varía de $30 a $36 por quintal, precio muy alto en comparación …

Apuesta Por Sorgo Para Hacer Pan: Mezclar Harina De Trigo Con Sorgo Podría Reducir Hasta 50% Los Costos De Producción De Pan Francés Y Dulce, Pero El Proyecto Necesita Más Equipo, Lourdes Quintanilla

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Los salpores y el pan francés esperan su turno frente al horno en la panadería de Iván Calderón. El empresario, que fabrica y distribuye pan en Antiguo Cuscatlán, ya probó una mezcla inusual para la masa: harina de sorgo (maicillo) combinada con harina de trigo.

Calderón probó el nuevo ingrediente hace año y medio, cuando el Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA) llegó a dejarle una arroba de harina de sorgo. Usó un 10% de sorgo para el pan francés y otro 20% para el pan dulce. “No hay que ponerle más, porque si no el pan no …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies Affected By Plague, David J. Augustine, Marc R. Matchett, Theodore P. Toombs, Jack F. Cully, Tommy L. Johnson, J. G. Sidle

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

Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are a key component of the disturbance regime in semi-arid grasslands of central North America. Many studies have compared community and ecosystem characteristics on prairie dog colonies to grasslands without prairie dogs, but little is known about landscape-scale patterns of disturbance that prairie dog colony complexes may impose on grasslands over long time periods. We examined spatiotemporal dynamics in two prairie dog colony complexes in southeastern Colorado (Comanche) and northcentral Montana (Phillips County) that have been strongly influenced by plague, and compared them to a complex unaffected by plague in northwestern Nebraska (Oglala). …

Proceedings Of The 35th Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (March 12-13, 2008, Pensacola, Florida), Allen Wrather, Daniel H. Poston, Clayton A. Hollier, Jason Bond, Steve R. Koenning

Southern Soybean Disease Workers: Conference Proceedings

Contents

Southern United States Soybean Disease Loss Estimate for 2007. Compiled by SR Koenning

Contributed papers (Clayton Hollier, moderator)

Effects of Row Spacing and Leaf Wetness on the Temporal and Spatial Spread of Soybean Rust within Soybean Canopies. DF Narváez, JJ Marois, DL Wright, and S Isard

Effects of Potassium, Chloride, and Minor Elements Nutrition on Asian Soybean Rust. RW Schneider, EP Mumma, CL Clark, and CG Giles

The Impact of Selected Fungicide Treatments on Disease Progress of Asian Soybean Rust and Other Diseases of Soybean. GB Padgett, MA Purvis, A Hogan, and S Martin

Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome Variety …

Arkansas Turfgrass Report 2007, Michael Richardson, Douglas Karcher, Aaron Patton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Release And Establishment Of Cotesia Flavipes For Biological Control Of Maize Stemborers In Zimbabwe, P. Chinwada, F. Schulthess, W. A. Overholt, P. Jowah, C. O. Omwega

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Five populations of the crambid stemborer Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and one of the noctuid borer Busseola fusca (Fuller) from Zimbabwe were evaluated for their suitability for immature development of the exotic braconid larval parasitoid Cotesia flavipes Cameron. Successful parasitoid development occurred only on C. partellus but parasitism as well as egg-to-adult development time did not vary among the five populations. Smallest parasitoid broods, and sex ratios as the proportion of female offspring, however, were produced with C. partellus from the Muzarabani area of Zimbabwe. Co. flavipes became successfully established in five out of eight locations, where it had been released …

Effect Of Irrigation Amounts Applied With Subsurface Drip Irrigation On Corn Evapotranspiration, Yield, Water Use Efficiency, And Dry Matter Production In A Semiarid Climate, Jose O. Payero, David D. Tarkalson, Suat Irmak, Don Davison, James L. Petersen

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

Quantifying the local crop response to irrigation is important for establishing adequate irrigation management strategies. This study evaluated the effect of irrigation applied with subsurface drip irrigation on field corn (Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration (ETc), yield, water use efficiencies (WUE = yield/ETc, and IWUE = yield/irrigation), and dry matter production in the semiarid climate of west central Nebraska. Eight treatments were imposed with irrigation amounts ranging from 53 to 356 mmin 2005 and from 22 to 226mmin 2006. A soil water balance approach (based on FAO-56) was used to estimate daily soil water and ETc. Treatments resulted in seasonal …

Geochemistry In The Modern Soil Survey Program, M. A. Wilson, R. Burt, J. M. Scheyer, A. B. Jenkins, J. V. Chiaretti, M. G. Ulmer

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

Elemental analysis has played an important role in the characterization of soils since inception of the soil survey in the US. Recent efforts in analysis of trace and major elements (geochemistry) have provided necessary data to soil survey users in a variety of areas. The first part of this paper provides a brief overview of elemental sources, forms, mobility, and bioavailability; critical aspects important to users of soil survey geochemical data for appropriate use and interpretations. Examples are provided based on data gathered as part of the US soil survey program. The second part addresses the organization of sample collection …

High-Throughput Genotyping With The Goldengate Assay In The Complex Genome Of Soybean, David L. Hyten, Qijian Song, Ik-Young Choi, Mun-Sup Yoon, James E. Specht, Lakshimi Matukumalli, Randall L. Nelson, Randy C. Shoemaker, Nevin D. Young, Perry B. Cregan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Large numbers of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are now available for a number of crop species. However, the high-throughput methods for multiplexing SNP assays are untested in complex genomes, such as soybean, that have a high proportion of paralogous genes. The Illumina GoldenGate assay is capable of multiplexing from 96 to 1,536 SNPs in a single reaction over a 3-day period. We tested the GoldenGate assay in soybean to determine the success rate of converting verified SNPs into working assays. A custom 384-SNP GoldenGate assay was designed using SNPs that had been discovered through the resequencing of five diverse …

Responsive In-Season Nitrogen Management For Cereals, J.F. Shanahan, N. R. Kitchen, W. R. Raun, James S. Schepers

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

Current nitrogen (N) management strategies for worldwide cereal production systems are characterized by low N use efficiency (NUE), environmental contamination, and considerable ongoing debate regarding what can be done to improve N fertilizer management. Development of innovative strategies that improve NUE and minimize off-field losses is crucial to sustaining cereal-based farming. In this paper, we review the major managerial causes for low NUE, including (1) poor synchrony between fertilizer N and crop demand, (2) uniform field applications to spatially variable landscapes that commonly vary in crop N need, and (3) failure to account for temporally variable influences on crop N …

Arkansas Cotton Variety Test 2007, Fred M. Bourland, A. B. Beach, J. M. Hornbeck, A. J. Hood

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The primary goal of the Arkansas Cotton Variety Test is to provide unbiased data regarding the agronomic performance of cotton varieties and advanced breeding lines in the major cotton-growing areas of Arkansas. This information helps seed companies establish marketing strategies and assists producers in choosing varieties to plant.

Opportunities And Roadblocks In Utilizing Forages And Small Grains For Liquid Fuels, Gautam Sarath, Robert B. Mitchell, S. E. Sattler, Deanna L. Funnell, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, Robert A. Graybosch, Kenneth P. Vogel

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

This review focuses on the potential advantages and disadvantages of forages such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and two small grains: sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and wheat (Triticum aesitvum), as feedstocks for biofuels. It highlights the synergy provided by applying what is known from forage digestibility and wheat and sorghum starch properties studies to the biofuels sector. Opportunities therefore, exist to improve biofuel qualities in these crops via genetics and agronomics. In contrast to cereal crops, switchgrass still retains tremendous exploitable genetic diversity, and can be specifically improved to Wt a particular agronomic, management, and conversion …

Sorghum Lager And Stout Beer: A Boost To The African Economy, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

For millennia, sorghum has been the basis of traditional African beers such as the clear beers of West Africa (dolo and pito) and the opaque beers of southern Africa. These beers are part of the African tradition and remain very popular but today Africans also enjoy lager and stout beers. These beers, of European origin, use barley as their major ingredient. This presents a major problem as barley is a temperate cereal and the African climate is unsuitable for cultivation. Thus, barley grain or barley malt must be imported which requires the use of valuable foreign exchange and increases the …

K-State Agronomists Help West African Farmers Increase Sorghum And Pearl Millet Production, Katie Starzec

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Grain sorghum is an important crop not only to farmers in Kansas, but to farmers in many countries in Africa.

Some of the production challenges are the same, but many challenges are different or more severe in West African countries, said Vara Prasad, assistant professor of agronomy at K-State. West African farmers battle against drought, soil infertility and parasitic weeds.

INTSORMIL Regional Project Sites in Africa

The purpose of INTSORMIL is to find ways to improve production practices in those countries. West African farmers face serious problems of a localized and volatile market, the agronomists said.

My Biomass, Your Biomass, Our Solution, Wallace Wilhelm

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

The USA is pursuing an array of renewable energy sources to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biomass energy and biomass ethanol are key components in this pursuit. Vast amounts of biomass feedstock will be needed to produce sufficient ethanol to meet any of the numerous target production goals. The Billion Ton Vision suggests one billion tons of biomass is needed annually to meet the ‘30x30’ goal (to replace 30% of 2004 levels of fossil transportation fuel use with ethanol by the year 2030). Great advances in technology will be required to produce this …