Agricultural Science Commons^™

Groundwater Trends In The Fitzgerald Biosphere Sub-Region, Adam Lillicrap

Natural resources published reports

The South Coast Regional Initiative Planning Team (SCRIPT) has divided the South Coast region into six sub-regions. The Fitzgerald Biosphere sub-region is located in the centre of the South Coast region of Western Australia (Figure 1). It is bounded by the Pallinup River to the east, Jerdacuttup River to the west, and includes the catchments of the Gairdner, Fitzgerald and Phillips Rivers. The sub-region encompasses the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve and just over half (730,000 ha) has been cleared for agriculture.

This publication describes the groundwater trends, risk of shallow watertables, and technical feasibility of salinity management in the soil landscape …

Characterization Of Protein Changes In Buffalograsses Challenged By Blissus Occiduus, Tiffany Heng-Moss, Gautam Sarath, Frederick P. Baxendale, D. Novak, S. Bose, N. Xinhi, S. Quisenberry

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

Plant-insect interactions are of profound importance in agriculture. Herbivorous insects can inflict substantial damage to susceptible plants. Thus understanding the mechanisms of plant tolerance to herbivory can lead to breeding resistant plants. Although this area has been studied for many years, we are still largely unaware of the plant-related biochemical changes that result in tolerance or resistance mechanisms. This paucity of data is further complicated by the great range of insect herbivores and in several cases by an almost complete lack of molecular and biochemical information of the agronomically important plant species. We investigated the role of plant proteins and …

Multi-Trophic Level Interactions In A Cassava-Maize Mixed Cropping System In The Humid Tropics Of West Africa, F. Schulthess, A. Chabi-Olaye, S. Gounou

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Multi-trophic level interactions in a mixed crop, involving cassava and maize, were studied in derived-savanna in Benin, West Africa. Two trials were planted, one during the short rainy season two months before onset of the dry season and one during the long rainy season in spring. Key pests under study on maize were the noctuid Sesamia calamistis Hampson and the pyralids Eldana saccharina Walker and Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot, and on cassava, the exotic mealybug, Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero and its encyrtid parasitoid Apoanagyrus lopezi De Santis. Both crops received insecticide treatments to assess the crop loss by a pest species. On …

Stability Of The Allergenic Soybean Kunitz Trypsin Inhibitor, Robin Roychaudhuri, Gautam Sarath, Michael G. Zeece, John P. Markwell

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

The soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (SKTI) is a 21.5 kDa allergenic protein that belongs to the family of all antiparallel h-sheet proteins that are highly resistant to thermal and chemical denaturation. Spectroscopic and biochemical techniques such as circular dichroism (CD), ANS fluorescence and proteolysis were used to study its molecular structure under denaturing conditions such as acid and heat to which these allergens are commonly exposed during food processing. Reduction of native SKTI leads to its complete and rapid proteolysis by pepsin in simulated gastric fluid (SGF). Limited proteolysis with chymotrypsin during renaturation after heating showed that the native structure …

K8 And K12 Are Biotinylated In Human Histone H4, Gabriela Camporeale, Elizabeth E. Shubert, Gautam Sarath, Ronald Cerny, Janos Zempleni

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

Folding of DNA into chromatin is mediated by binding to histones such as H4; association of DNA with histones is regulated by covalent histone modifications, e.g. acetylation, methylation, and biotinylation.We sought to identify aminoacid residues that are biotinylated in histone H4,and to determine whether acetylation and methylation of histones affect biotinylation. Synthetic peptides spanning fragments of human histone H4 were biotinylated enzymatically using biotinidase. Peptide-bound biotin was probed with streptavidin– peroxidase. Peptides based on the N-terminal sequence of histone H4 were effectively recognized by biotinidase as substrates for biotinylation; in contrast, peptides based on the C-terminal sequences were not biotinylated. …

Tyrosine B10 Inhibits Stabilization Of Bound Carbon Monoxide And Oxygen In Soybean Leghemoglobin, Suman Kundu, George C. Blouin, Scott A. Premer, Gautam Sarath, John S. Olson, Mark S. Hargrove

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

Detailed comparisons of the carbon monoxide FTIR spectra and ligand-binding properties of a library of E7, E11, and B10 mutants indicate significant differences in the role of electrostatic interactions in the distal pockets of wild-type sperm whale myoglobin and soybean leghemoglobin. In myoglobin, strong hydrogen bonds from several closely related conformations of the distal histidine (His^E7) side chain preferentially stabilize bound oxygen. In leghemoglobin, the imidazole side chain of His^E7 is confined to a single conformation, which only weakly hydrogen bonds to bound ligands. The phenol side chain of TyrB10 appears to “fix” the position of His …

Perennial Herbaceous Biomass Energy Crops: Potential And Status, Kenneth P. Vogel, Hans-Joachim Jung, Robert B. Mitchell, Joann Lamb, Gautam Sarath

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

Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA-ARS), U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), and cooperating Universities have been investigating the feasibility of using perennial forages (herbaceous biomass) for energy production. The most promising species include switchgrass, a native prairie grass, and alfalfa, a nitrogen-fixing legume. Using technology that is under continual improvement, it is feasible to break down the cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin of these biomass species into simple sugars that can be converted into ethanol or other fermentation products. These species can produce high biomass yields on lands with high erosion potential such as the land currently enrolled in …

Moisture Potential Affects Rate Of Leaf Appearance In Cool Season Grasses, Nina Cherone Terrell

McCabe Thesis Collection

The rate of leaf appearance and onset of growth in cool season grasses may be influenced by soil moisture potential and exposure to below freezing temperatures. Levels of moisture potential and days exposed to freezing temperatures, which will restrict leaf appearance, are not well defined. The first part of this study was to determine the effects of different moisture potentials on the leaf appearance rates in two cool season grasses. Italian ryegrass (IRG) and tall wheat grass (TWG) were grown hydroponically at 4 moisture potentials in seed pouches in an incubator under a photoperiod of 13 hours light and 11 …

Tyr(B10) Prevents Stabilization Of Bound Oxygen In Soybean Leghemoglobin, Suman Kundu, G. Bloudin, Scott Premer, Gautam Sarath, J. S. Olson, Mark Hargrove

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

Root nodules are complex structures that occur on roots of many agronomically important plants such as soybeans. Root nodules are a symbiosis between the plant and soil-borne bacteria. Once formed, and functional, root nodules can fix atmospheric nitrogen and provide the plant with a pollution-free source of nitrogen for seed production. A basic component of functional and efficient root nodules are the heme proteins called leghemoglobins. Leghemoglobins can bind to, and transport molecular oxygen and thereby maintain a low oxygen environment within the root nodule, permitting the microaerobic bacteria to convert atmospheric dinitrogen into ammonia, which is then assimilated by …

National Science Foundation-Sponsored Workshop Report. Draft Plan For Soybean Genomics, Gary Stacey, Lila N Vodkin, Wayne A. Parrott, Randy C. Shoemaker

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

Recent efforts to coordinate and define a research strategy for soybean (Glycine max) genomics began with the establishment of a Soybean Genetics Executive Committee, which will serve as a communication focal point between the soybean research community and granting agencies. Secondly, a workshop was held to define a strategy to incorporate existing tools into a framework for advancing soybean genomics research. This workshop identified and ranked research priorities essential to making more informed decisions as to how to proceed with large scale sequencing and other genomics efforts. Most critical among these was the need to finalize a physical …

Cattle As Grazing Management And Seed Dispersal Tools For Increasing Native Species Diversity On Great Basin Rangelands, Marina K. Whitacre

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A series of experiments evaluated: 1) the influence of seed intake and gut retention time on seed passage, recovery, and germinability; 2) fecal seeding and broadcast /trampling as techniques to incorporate seeds into a well-established Agropyron desertorum (Fisch.) Schult. stand in Skull Valley , Utah; 3) intensive grazing as a means to reduce Agropyron biomass and increase establishment and survival of seeded species; and 4) the recovery and germinability of seed extracted from dung collected from the field. Two shrubs (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young and Atriplex confertifolia Torr. & Frem.), a grass (Elymus elymoides (Raf.) …

Miscellaneous Publication 8/2004 - Midas User Manual. Version 1, Ross Kingwell, Felicity Flugge, Emma Kopke, Michael O'Connell

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

What is MIDAS?

It's a computer model of dryland farming in Western Australia. MIDAS is an acronym (Model of an Integrated Dryland Agricultural System). Currently there are five versions of MIDAS, each describes a representative farm in a particular farming region of Western Australia. Versions exist for the following regions (see Figure 1):

• the Eastern Wheatbelt;
• the Central Wheatbelt;
• the West Midlands;
• the Great Southern; and,
• the South Coast.

Each of these versions is a mathematical programming model of a representative farm.

Field Evaluation Of Herbicides On Rice 2003, Ronald E. Talbert, Brian V. Ottis, Mayank S. Malik, Andrew T. Ellis

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Herbicide evaluation studies on rice were conducted in 2003 at the Rice Research and Extension Center near Stuttgart, Ark., in an effort to evaluate new herbicides, herbicide mixtures, and their application timings for weed control efficacy and crop tolerance. Results of these studies, in part, provide useful information to producers, fellow researchers, and the crop protection industry for the potential use of new herbicide programs for successful rice production in Arkansas.

Arkansas Cotton Variety Test 2003, Fred M. Bourland, S. B. Jackson, J. M. Hornbeck, F. E. Groves

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The primary aim 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 dealers establish marketing strategies and assists producers in choosing varieties to plant. In this way, the annual test facilitates the inclusion of new, improved genetic material in Arkansas cotton production.

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2003, Nathan A. Slaton

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Rapid technological changes in crop management and production require that the research efforts also be presented in an expeditious manner. The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors in all Arkansas crops. The studies contained within will allow producers to compare their practices with the university's research efforts. Additionally, soil test data and fertilizer sales are presented to allow comparisons among years, crops, and other areas within Arkansas.

Tillage And Rotation Interactions For Corn And Soybean Grain Yield As Affected By Precipitation And Air Temperature, Wally Wilhelm, Charles S. Wortmann

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

Reduced tillage, including no-till, and crop rotation are common practices for corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] production in the Midwest. Benefits of no-till vary with latitude and cropping system. This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of seasonal temperature and precipitation on the effects of primary tillage (plow, disk, chisel, subsoil, ridge-till, and no-till) and rotated and continuous corn and soybean production under rainfed conditions over 16 yr in southeastern Nebraska. Corn and soybean produced less grain with greater summer temperatures. Corn yield increased with less spring and more summer rainfall. Tillage …

Evaluation Of A Real-Time Pcr Kit For Detecting Escherichia Coli O157 In Bovine Fecal Samples, James L. Bono, James E. Keen, Laura C. Miller, James M. Fox, Carol G. Chitko-Mckown, Michael P. Heaton, William Laegreid

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

A commercially available real-time, rapid PCR test was evaluated for its ability to detect E. coli O157. Both the sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 99% for isolates in pure culture. The assay detected 1 CFU of E. coli O157:H7 g^-1 in artificially inoculated bovine feces following enrichment.

Gene Expression Profiling Of Bovine Macrophages In Response To Escherichia Coli O157:H7 Lipopolysaccharide, Carol G. Chitko-Mckown, James M. Fox, Laura C. Miller, Michael P. Heaton, James L. Bono, James E. Keen, William M. Grosse, William W. Laegried

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

The aim of this study was to identify changes in bovine macrophage gene expression in response to treatment with Escherichia coli 0157:H7 lipopolysaccharide (LPS), utilizing a human gene microarray. Bovine cDNA from control and LPStreated primary macrophages hybridized to greater than 5644 (79.8%) of the non-control gene targets on a commercially available microarray containing greater than 7075 targets (Incyte Genomics, St. Louis, MO). Of these target sequences, 44 were differentially expressed upon exposure to LPS, including 18 genes not previously reported to exist in cattle. These included a pentaxin-related gene, CASP8, TNF-induced genes, interferon-induced genes, and inhibitors of apoptosis. Using …

Proceedings Of The 31st Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (February 15-16, 2004, St. Louis, Missouri), Boyd Padgett, Patrick Fenn, Ray Schneider, Jason Bond, Stephen R. Koenning

Southern Soybean Disease Workers: Conference Proceedings

Contents

Southern United States Soybean Disease Loss Estimate for 2003. Compiled by Stephen R. Koenning

Shifts in Soybean Disease Incidence and Severity Following Adaptation of the ESPS (Early Soybean Productions system) in Mississippi. GL Sciumbato and DH Poston

Impact of Foliar Fungicides on Soybean Yield and Net Returns. BL Spinks, DH Poston, GL Sciumbato, and MA Blaine

Inheritance of Resistance to Phompsis Seed Decay in Soybean PI 80837. EW Jackson, P Fenn, P Chen, and PK Miller

Inheritance of Resistance to Purple Seed Stain in Soybean PI 80837. EW Jackson, P Fenn, P Chen, PK Miller

Population Structure of Cercospora …

Effect Of Constant Temperatures On Germination, Radial Growth And Virulence Of Metarhizium Anisopliae To Three Species Of African Tephritid Fruit Flies, Susan Dimbi, Nguya K. Maniania, Slawomir A. Lux, Jones M. Mueke

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The effect of temperature on conidial germination, mycelial growth, and susceptibility of adults of three tephritid fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), C. fasciventris (Bezzi) and C. cosyra (Walker) to six isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae were studied in the laboratory. There were significant differences among the isolates in the effect of temperature on both germination and growth. Over 80% of conidia germinated at 20, 25 and 30°C, while between 26 and 67% conidia germinated at 35°C and less than 10% at 15°C within 24 hours. Radial growth was slow at 15°C and 35°C with all of the isolates. The optimum temperature …

Estimation Of Carbon Sequestration By Combining Remote Sensing And Net Ecosystem Exchange Data For Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie And Sagebrush–Steppe Ecosystems, E. Raymond Hunt Jr., Robert D. Kelly, William K. Smith, Jace T. Fahnestock, Jeffrey M. Welker, William A. Reiners

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

Carbon sequestration was estimated a northern mixed-grass prairie site and a sagebrush–steppe site in southeastern Wyoming using an approach that integrates remote sensing, CO₂ flux measurements, and meteorological data. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO₂ was measured using aircraft and ground flux techniques and was linearly related to absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR). The slope of this relationship is the radiation use efficiency (ε = 0.51 g C/MJ APAR); there were no significant differences in the regression coefficients between the two sites. Furthermore, ecosystem chamber measurements of total respiration in 1998 and 1999 were used to develop …

Establishing Effects Of Application Of Swine Manure On Crop Leaf Damage To Growing Crops, Charles Shapiro, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Swine manure from a below barn storage facility was applied to growing corn and soybeans to determine phytotoxic effects. The manure had an electrical conductivity of around 20 mmhos/cm and was diluted for treatment at full, half, quarter and none. The manure mixtures were applied at a rate of 0.5 in/acre using a procedure that wet the foliage three times in a 15-minute time span. Manure mixtures were applied at V7 and V14 for corn and V3 and R1 for soybeans. Phytotoxic effects were shown at the high rate for both crops, but soybeans were killed at the early application …

Intsormil 2004 Annual Report, John M. Yohe, Thomas Crawford Jr., Kimberly Christiansen, Joan Frederick

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The 2004 INTSORMIL Annual Report presents the progress and notable achievements by the SorghumlMillet CRSP during the period of July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004. These results are an outcome of partnerships between scientists at six U.S. Land Grant Universities (Kansas State University, Mississippi State University, University of Nebraska, Purdue University, Texas A&M University and West Texas A&M University) and scientists of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Tifton, Georgia and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and National Universities in nineteen countries in Central America, West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa.

Agricultural research …

Last Frost Project, Midori Kubozono

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

For nursery stores and garden shops planning Spring deliveries, it is crucial to be able to predict last frost dates for frost-tolerant and frost-tender plants. This project provides historically reliable information on the seasonal last frost occurrence for U.S. store locations. Stores can use this information as a general guide in making Spring distribution plans but would also need to take the current season’s weather variations and predictions into account. Using geospatial software and an historical weather data set provided by National Climatic Data Center, the probability from 10 percent to 90 percent for days below a specified temperature (i.e., …

Seed Quality Qtl In A Prominent Soybean Population, D. L. Hyten Jr., V. R. Pantalone, C. E. Sams, A. M. Saxon, D. Landau-Ellis, T. R. Stefaniak, M. E. Schmidt

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is a versatile crop due to its multitude of uses as a high protein meal and vegetable oil. Soybean seed traits such as seed protein and oil concentration and seed size are important quantitative traits. The objective of this study was to identify representative protein, oil, and seed size quantitative trait loci (QTL) in soybean. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population consisting of 131 F6-derived lines was created from two prominent ancestors of North American soy-beans (‘Essex’ and ‘Williams’) and the RILs were grown in six environments. One hundred simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers …

Spectacular Recovery In The Ord River Catchment, A L. Payne, I W. Watson, P E. Novelly

Agriculture reports

Regeneration work on severely damaged country in what is now known as the Ord River Regeneration Reserve (ORRR) commenced in 1960. The ORRR is in the East Kimberley area of Western Australia with an associated small area in the Northern Territory. The work included strip contour cultivation and seeding (which proceeded at various levels of intensity during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s), fencing and destocking of cattle by mustering over many years, and the eradication of donkeys.

Characteristics Of Perrennial Grasses [Poster], T M. Lacey, Geoff Allan Moore

All other publications

Growth Characteristics of perennial C3 grasses: this table presents information on a range of perennial grass species but it is not a recommendation for them. Consider species characteristics in relation to local conditions and then source specific variety information before making decisions. It is suggest you grow trial plots of grasses before planting large areas (see key below for rating system).

Trends In Precipitation, Streamflow, And Evapotranspiration In The Great Plains Of The United States, J. Garbrecht, M. Van Liew, G. O. Brown

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

Planning and strategic management of water resources are contingent on trends in water availability. In this study, the impact of decade-scale variations in annual and seasonal precipitation on streamflow and evapotranspiration (ET) were identified for 10 watersheds in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In the Great Plains, an upward trend in precipitation over the last two decades of the 20th Century had a strong impact on streamflow and a comparatively weaker impact on ET. Even though precipitation, streamflow, and ET amounts differed between watersheds, the trend due to the precipitation increase was similar for all watersheds. Increased precipitation led to a …

A Simple Roller-Mill Grinding Procedure For Plant And Soil Samples, S. L. Arnold, James Schepers

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

Obtaining finely ground, homogeneous plant and soil samples for chemical analysis without cross contamination is a major concern when using direct combustion procedures for determination of total nitrogen (N), total carbon (C), and isotope-ratio analysis. A rollermilling device, using square glass bottles instead of round grinding bottles, was evaluated. Rotation of the square bottles on the roller mechanism increased the milling action by the stainless steel rods inside the bottles. The roller-milling device with square grinding bottles resulted in a sample with smaller particles (99.2%<100 >mesh) than with a ball-milling device (83%<100 >mesh). The roller-mill provided acceptable results (soil and …

Localization Of Aquaporins In The Sperm Storage Tubules In The Turkey Oviduct, L. Zaniboni, M. R. Bakst

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

Oviductal sperm storage tubules (SST), located at the uterovaginal junction, are the primary site of sperm storage in turkeys. Sperm reside within these storage sites and may be released via a dynamic interaction between sperm mobility and a fluid current generated by the SST epithelial cells. In this study, aquaporins 2, 3, and 9 (proteins that form water channels in the plasmalemma of a variety of cells) were immunocytochemically localized within the apical aspect of the epithelial cells that form the SST. These observations support the contention that the SST epithelial cells are capable of water exchange that may interact …