Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons^™

Summaries Of Arkansas Cotton Research 2021, Fred Bourland

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

While the basic growth and development of the cotton plant have not changed significantly in recent history, the business of cotton production is ever-changing. The last two years have seen us plant a crop just about as late as we thought possible, yet extended favorable conditions at season's end have been our salvation, helping to lead us to record yields. The economic environment over the last few years has been such that farmers need to produce record or near-record yields to advance. Unfortunately, production levels at the state yield average barely cover out-of-pocket expenses.

Great uncertainties exist for the upcoming …

Herbaceous Production Lost To Tree Encroachment In United States Rangelands, Scott L. Morford, Brady W. Allred, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D. Maestas, Caleb P. Roberts, David E. Naugle

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

1. Rangelands of the United States provide ecosystem services that benefit society and rural economies. Native tree encroachment is often overlooked as a primary threat to rangelands due to the slow pace of tree cover expansion and the positive public perception of trees. Still, tree encroachment fragments these landscapes and reduces herbaceous production, thereby threatening habitat quality for grassland wildlife and the economic sustainability of animal agriculture.

2. Recent innovations in satellite remote sensing permit the tracking of tree encroachment and the corresponding impact on herbaceous production. We analysed tree cover change and herbaceous production across the western United States …

Adaptation Of Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa Willd.) To Australian Environments, Richard Snowball, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Mario Francesco D'Antuono, David Troldahl, Ian Biggs, Callen Thompson, Mark Warmington, Amanda Pearce, Darshan L. Sharma

Grain and Other Field Crops Research Articles

Quinoa is being evaluated in cropping systems in many countries outside of its natural range of South America. Very few attempts have been made by farmers or researchers to grow or evaluate quinoa under Australian environments. Given the growing popularity of quinoa with consumers, new commercial opportunities for farmers and international interest in the crop, it was timely to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the potential of quinoa in Australia. Two advanced selections and nine germplasm lines (six of Chilean and three of Bolivian origin) identified in an earlier project were tested in 23 field trials at 14 locations on …

From Free-Energy Profiles To Activation Free Energies, Johannes C. Dietschreit, Dennis J. Diestler, Andreas Hulm, Christian Ochsenfeld, Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Given a chemical reaction going from reactant (R) to the product (P) on a potential energy surface (PES) and a collective variable (CV) discriminating between R and P, we define the free-energy profile (FEP) as the logarithm of the marginal Boltzmann distribution of the CV. This FEP is not a true free energy. Nevertheless, it is common to treat the FEP as the “free-energy” analog of the minimum potential energy path and to take the activation free energy, ΔF‡ _RP, as the difference between the maximum at the transition state and the minimum at R. We show that this …

A Yield Comparison Between Small-Plot And On-Farm Foliar Fungicide Trials In Soybean And Maize, Anabelle Laurent, Emily Heaton, Peter Kyveryga, David Makowski, Laila A. Puntel, Alison E. Robertson, Laura J. Thompson, Fernando Miguez

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Agronomic research provides management recommendations based on small-plot trials (SPTs) and on-farm trials (OFTs) with very different characteristics. SPTs are traditionally conducted at agricultural experiment stations by research institutes or universities, while OFTs are conducted under commercial-scale conditions and managed by farmers using their own equipment. Several researchers claimed that discrepancies could occur between these two types of trials, which can make the extrapolation of results from SPTs to the farm level difficult. In our study, we conducted an extensive comparison of small-plot and on-farm trials to analyze the effect of foliar fungicide application on maize and soybean yields. We …

Genome Architecture And Diverged Selection Shaping Pattern Of Genomic Differentiation In Wild Barley, Wenying Zhang, Cong Tan, Haifei Hu, Rui Pan, Yuhui Xiao, Kai Ouyang, Yong Jia, Xiao-Qi Zhang, Camilla Hill, Penghao Wang, Brett Chapman, Yong Han, Gaofeng Zhou, Le Xu, Yanhao Xu, Tefera Angessa, Hao Luo, Sharon Westcott, Darshan Sharma, Eviatar Nevo, Roberto Barrero, Matthew I. Bellgard, Tianhua He, Xiaohai Tian, Chengdao Li

Grain and Other Field Crops Research Articles

Divergent selection of populations in contrasting environments leads to functional genomic divergence. However, the genomic architecture underlying heterogeneous genomic differentiation remains poorly understood. Here, we de novo assembled two high-quality wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum K. Koch) genomes and examined genomic differentiation and gene expression patterns under abiotic stress in two populations. These two populations had a shared ancestry and originated in close geographic proximity but experienced different selective pressures due to their contrasting micro-environments. We identified structural variants that may have played significant roles in affecting genes potentially associated with well-differentiated phenotypes such as flowering time and drought response between …

Alfalfa Establishment And Management In South Carolina, Liliane Silva, Michael Mrshall, Jeremy Greene, Matias Aguerre

Livestock and Forages

Alfalfa is a perennial legume with high forage quality that can be used under grazing or hay management. This publication outlines establishment and management recommendations for alfalfa plantings in South Carolina.

Snp Discovery In Proso Millet (Panicum Miliaceum L.) Using Lowpass Genome Sequencing, Rituraj Khound, Guangchao Sun, Ravi V. Mural, James C. Schnable, Dipak K. Santra

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Domesticated ~10,000 years ago in northern China, Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a climate-resilient and human health-promoting cereal crop. The genome size of this self-pollinated allotetraploid is 923 Mb. Proso millet seeds are an important part of the human diet in many countries. In the USA, its use is restricted to the birdseed and pet food market. Proso millet is witnessing gradual demand in the global human health and wellness food market owing to its health-promoting properties such as low glycemic index and gluten-free. The breeding efforts for developing improved proso millet cultivars are hindered by the …

An Analysis Of Decolonization Efforts In Urban Agriculture: A Pathway To Indigenous Food Sovereignty And Cultural Revitalization, Sarah Fisher

Environment and Sustainability Summer Fellows

My research focuses on applications of urban agriculture, relationships between Indigenous peoples and community-based agriculture projects, and decolonizing food systems. I provide insight on colonialist tendencies, or ways in which the marginalization of Indigenous peoples is deeply entrenched within government, educational, and other leadership settings, as a way to evaluate and restructure urban agriculture projects to serve, represent and heal Native communities. Conventional urban agriculture has many known benefits, including its capacity for food production; however, the extent to which Indigenous communities participate in and benefit from urban agriculture has not been widely studied. Ongoing exclusion of Indigenous peoples from …

Assessing Consumer Demand, Producer Profitability, And The Environmental Impacts Of Conservation Agriculture Adoption In Sub-Saharan Africa, Willy Byamungu Mulimbi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores three aspects of conservation agriculture (CA) in the Sub-Saharan African region (SSA). The first article examines the demand side of CA and explores whether urban maize (Zea mays L.) consumers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would be willing to pay a premium for CA-produced maize flour. The second article estimates the effects CA provides to adopters and their farms in smallholder farming systems in the DRC, focusing on changes in soil properties and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) yields. The final article uses a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to monetize the environmental impacts of adopting …

The Genetic Basis For Panicle Trait Variation In Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum), Li Zhang, Alice Macqueen, Xiaoyu Weng, Kathrine D. Behrman, Jason Bonnette, John L. Reilley, Francis M. Rouquette, Philip A. Fay, Yanqi Wu, Felix B. Fritschi, Robert B. Mitchell, David B. Lowry, Arvid R. Boe, Thomas E. Juenger

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Key message: We investigate the genetic basis of panicle architecture in switchgrass in two mapping populations across a latitudinal gradient, and find many stable, repeatable genetic effects and limited genetic interactions with the environment. Abstract: Grass species exhibit large diversity in panicle architecture influenced by genes, the environment, and their interaction. The genetic study of panicle architecture in perennial grasses is limited. In this study, we evaluate the genetic basis of panicle architecture including panicle length, primary branching number, and secondary branching number in an outcrossed switchgrass QTL population grown across ten field sites in the central USA through multi-environment …

Characterization And Selection Of Hop Cultivars Adapted To Nebraska, Kristina Alas

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

Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) is an ingredient in the beer brewing industry that provides beer its flavor and aroma. High demand from the brewing industry has encouraged production outside of the traditional Pacific Northwest, the primary production region. Producers in the Midwest are attempting to grow cultivars adapted to the Pacific Northwest, but environmental differences have caused low yields and changes in secondary metabolite content. To aid producers, a regional breeding program was initiated to develop cultivars adapted to the Midwest. Success of any breeding program relies on the selection of genetically superior parents to generate progeny with the …

Mycorrhizae In Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cropping Systems Respond Differently To Nitrogen Fertilization Under Increasing Crop Rotational Diversity, Morgan R. Mcpherson

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

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) remain a vital obligate symbiont of nearly all plants. It is well established that the symbiosis between AMF and host plant improves plant nutrient acquisition, alleviates abiotic and biotic environmental stressors, defends against plant pathogens, and contributes to overall plant fitness and productivity through modification of the soil habitat. Modifications include increased soil aggregation and stability, carbon sequestration through provision of fungal wall precursors to soil organic matter (SOM) formation, and enhanced nutrient cycling in the mycorrhizosphere. The goal of this dissertation was to assess how AMF respond to nitrogen (N) fertilization regimes in maize cropping …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 12 - August 2022, Alan Lord, Ciara Beard, Cindy L. Webster

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 12 - August 2022 contents:

• Native budworm activity update
• Sclerotinia update
• Oat disease webinar recording can now be viewed online
• Explainer video for new PestFacts WA Reporter app

Pestfacts Wa Issue 14 - August 2022, Cindy L. Webster, Alan Lord, Lizzy Lowe, Ciara Beard, Geoff J. Thomas

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 14 - August 2022 contents:

• Russian wheat aphid activity update
• Native budworm moth numbers are increasing
• Beneficials insecticide toxicity table
• Late season wheat powdery mildew management

Environmental Weed Risk Assessment Protocol For Growing Non-Indigenous Plants In The Western Australian Rangelands, Geoff A. Moore Mr, Christine Munday Ms, Papori Barua Dr

Bulletins 4000 -

This bulletin is a post-border environmental weed risk assessment (WRA) protocol which is based on the Environmental WRA Protocol developed for the Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre (FFI CRC), but with some changes to reflect the different environment and objectives.

The WRA protocol was developed specifically as a post-border assessment of non-indigenous species that may have agricultural value in the WA rangelands and the risk that they may become environmental weeds. Weeds can occur in many land-use systems including agriculture, horticulture and forestry; however, the focus of this protocol is on the risk that non-indigenous agricultural plants may become …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 13 - August 2022, Cindy L. Webster, Dusty Severtson, Alan Lord, Andrea Hills

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 13 - August 2022 contents:

• Identifying caterpillars in cereal crops
• Diamondback moth update
• Native budworm
• Wheat powdery mildew fungicide resistance testing

Quantification And Machine Learning Based N2o–N And Co2–C Emissions Predictions From A Decomposing Rye Cover Crop, Deepak R. Joshi, David E. Clay, Sharon A. Clay, Janet Moriles-Miller, Aaron L. M. Daigh, Graig Reicks, Shaina Westhoff

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Cover crops improve soil health and reduce the risk of soil erosion. However, their impact on the carbon dioxide equivalence (CO_2e) is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this 2-yr study was to quantify the effect of cover crop-induced differences in soil moisture, temperature, organic C, and microorganisms on CO_2e, and to develop machine learning algorithms that predict daily N₂O–N and CO₂–C emissions. The prediction models tested were multiple linear regression, partial least square regression, support vector machine, random forest (RF), and artificial neural network. Models’ performance was accessed using R², …

Registration Of Lcs ‘Valiant’ Hard Red Winter Wheat, P. Stephen Baenziger, S. D. Masterson, J. D. Boehm Jr., Vikas Belamkar, M. D. Barnett, Devin J. Rose, Lan Xu, Stephen N. Wegulo, T. Regassa, Amanda Easterly, Cody F Creech, Dipak K. Santra, G. R. Kruger, G. W. Hergert, R. N. Klein, J. Kolmer, J. Kolmer, M.-S. Chen, Gary L. Hein, R. L. Bowden, M. J. Guttieri, G. Bai, El-Basyoni Salah, J. Poland

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Historically cultivars developed jointly by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and USDA-ARS wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) improvement project tend to be late and better adapted to the northern Great Plains. LCS ‘Valiant’ (Reg. no. CV-1196, PI 693223; tested as NE10478-1) was released based on the merits of its earliness, agronomic performance, relevant disease resistances, and end-use quality characteristics and its adaptation to the central Great Plains. As such, the line was licensed to Limagrain Cereal Seeds for their ability to market outside of Nebraska. LCS Valiant hard red winter wheat was released in March 2020 by the developing institutions and …

Association Analyses Of Host Genetics, Root-Colonizing Microbes, And Plant Phenotypes Under Different Nitrogen Conditions In Maize, Michael A. Meier, Gen Xu, Martha G. Lopez-Guerrero, Guangyong Li, Christine Smith, Brandi Sigmon, Joshua R. Herr, James R. Alfano, Yufeng Ge, James C. Schnable, Jinliang Yang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The root-associated microbiome (rhizobiome) affects plant health, stress tolerance, and nutrient use efficiency. However, it remains unclear to what extent the composition of the rhizobiome is governed by intraspecific variation in host plant genetics in the field and the degree to which host plant selection can reshape the composition of the rhizobiome. Here, we quantify the rhizosphere microbial communities associated with a replicated diversity panel of 230 maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes grown in agronomically relevant conditions under high N (+N) and low N (-N) treatments. We analyze the maize rhizobiome in terms of 150 abundant and consistently reproducible …

Replacing Fallow With Field Pea In Wheat Production Systems Across Western Nebraska, Samuel T. Koeshall, Amanda Easterly, Rodrigo Werle, Strahinja Stepanovic, Cody F. Creech

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Integration of field pea (Pisum sativum L.) (FP) into dryland cropping systems has increased due to ecological and economic benefits, paired with a growing market for pea-derived products. Challenges exist in the High Plains that limit the integration of crop rotations to replace fallow periods with FP in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)- based systems. This experiment compares chemical summer fallow to FP in a fallow– wheat rotation at two locations in western Nebraska. Soil water content, soil fertility, N mineralization, FP yield, and subsequent hard red winter wheat (HWW) yields were recorded. Subsequent HWW yields were not different …

Non-Destructive Classification And Quality Evaluation Of Proso Millet Cultivars Using Nir Hyperspectral Imaging With Machine Learning, Laruen E. Doyle, Julia R. Loeb, Nader Ekramirad, Dipak K. Santra, Akinbode A. Adedeji

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Millet is a small-seeded cereal crop with big potential and remarkable characteristics such as high drought resistance, short growing time, low water footprint, and the ability to grow in acidic soil. There is a need to develop nondestructive methods for differentiation and evaluation of the quality attributes of different of proso millet cultivars grown in the U.S. Current methods of cultivar classification are either subjective or destructive, time consuming, not allowing for the whole population to be tested, and requiring trained operators and special equipment. In this study, the feasibility of using near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging (900-1700 nm) to predict …

International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2021–2031, A. Durand-Morat, S. Bairagi

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

The war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are pushing input costs to record levels. Although rice prices have increased some in the last several months, production costs have increased more than proportionally, undermining rice profitability.

We project global rice production will surpass global rice consumption for most of the coming decade, with a small deficit developing by the end of the projected period.

The projected growth in production is almost exclusively due to productivity gains since the global rice area is projected to increase only marginally by 2029–2031.

The projected growth in global rice consumption …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 09 - July 2022, Cindy L. Webster, Svetlana Micic, Dusty Severtson, Alan Lord

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 09 - July 2022 contents:

• Diamondback moth

Helping Utah Landowners Reduce Pesticide Use Through A Statewide Ipm Program, Nick Volesky, Mair Murray

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

The Utah Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program provides outreach and education to Utahns to reduce pesticide use and ultimately protect human and environmental health. In 2022, the IPM program responded to stakeholders’ needs by partnering with county Extension offices to deliver eight (8) in-person workshops across the state. The workshops connected Extension specialists and county faculty with managers of home landscapes and farms. The objective of the workshops was to provide participants with IPM skills to identify, monitor, and manage pest problems in preparation for the upcoming growing season.

Optimization Of Nozzle, Application Height, And Speed For Uass Pesticide Applications, Trenton Houston

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

Unmanned aerial spray systems (UASS) applications have the potential to be efficient pesticide application platforms under conditions that are not accessible or fit for typical pesticide application equipment. Although this type of application is still under development in the United States, UASS pesticide applications are common in Asia, as they have replaced backpack sprayers. There is limited literature on the optimization of UASS applications and many parameters need to be investigated to identify the best combination of application variables such as flight height, flight speed, and nozzle selection. The objectives were to identify the deposition patterns of a four rotor …

Neuropilin-2 Regulates Androgen-Receptor Transcriptional Activity In Advanced Prostate Cancer, Samikshan Dutta, Navatha Shree Polavaram, Ridwan Islam, Sreyashi Bhattacharya, Sanika Bodas, Thomas Mayr, Sohini Roy, Sophie Alvarez, Marieta I. Toma, Anza Darehshouri, Angelika Borkowetz, Stefanie Conrad, Susanne Fuessel, Manfred Wirth, Gustavo B. Baretton, Paramita Ghosh, Kenneth J. Pienta, David L. Klinkebiel, Surinder K. Batra, Michael H. Muders, Kaustubh Datta

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Aberrant transcriptional activity of androgen receptor (AR) is one of the dominant mechanisms for developing of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Analyzing AR-transcriptional complex related to CRPC is therefore important towards understanding the mechanism of therapy-resistance. While studying its mechanism, we observed that a transmembrane protein called neuropilin-2 (NRP2) plays a contributory role in forming a novel AR-transcriptional complex containing nuclear pore proteins. Using immunogold electron microscopy, high-resolution confocal microscopy, chromatin immunoprecipitation, proteomics, and other biochemical techniques, we delineated the molecular mechanism of how a specific splice variant of NRP2 becomes sumoylated upon ligand stimulation and translocates to the inner nuclear …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 08 - July 2022, Benjamin S. Congdon, Svetlana Micic, Cindy L. Webster, Jean Galloway, Janette Pratt

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 08 - July 2022 contents:

• Cold winter conditions are reducing winged aphid activity
• Russian wheat aphid
• UCI BlacklegCM – A new decision support tool for upper canopy blackleg management

Soybean Management For Seed Composition: The Perspective Of U.S. Farmers, Andre F. Borja Reis, Luiz Rosso, Dan Davidson, Peter Kovacs, Larry C. Purcell, Frederick E. Below, Shaun Casteel, Hans J. Kandel, Seth Naeve, Sotirios V. Archontoulis, Ignacio A. Ciampitti

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

The soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] compositional quality is mainly provided by the seed concentration of protein and oil. These traits are critical for sustaining global use, and although there is demand for high protein soybean, no mechanism to differentiate production is in place. At the opposite end of the supply chain, farmers are remunerated on a mass basis without having any incentive regarding seed composition. This study evaluated farmers' perspectives and knowledge on soybean quality and their propensity to adopt quality improvement technologies. Farmers from the main U.S. producing regions (n = 271) were investigated with a …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 10 - July 2022, Saleh Adnan, Benjamin S. Congdon, Alan Lord

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 10 - July 2022 contents:

• Russian wheat aphids found at Geraldton
• Turnip yellows virus detected n canola in Albany port zone
• Meet PestFacts WA team member – Alan Lord