Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons^™

Shifts In Microbial Communities In Soil, Rhizosphere And Roots Of Two Major Crop Systems Under Elevated Co2 And O3, Peng Wang, Ellen L. Marsh, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Andrew D. B. Leakey, Amy M. Sheflin, Daniel P. Schachtman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Rising atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ and O₃ are key features of global environmental change. To investigate changes in the belowground bacterial community composition in response to elevated CO₂ and O₃ (eCO₂ and eO₃) the endosphere, rhizosphere and soil were sampled from soybeans under eCO2 and maize under eO₃. The maize rhizosphere and endosphere α-diversity was higher than soybean, which may be due to a high relative abundance of Rhizobiales. Only the rhizosphere microbiome composition of the soybeans changed in response to eCO₂, associated with an increased abundance of nitrogen …

Genomic-Enabled Prediction Accuracies Increased By Modeling Genotype × Environment Interaction In Durum Wheat, Sivakumar Sukumaran, Diego Jarquin, José Crossa, Matthew Reynolds

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Genomic prediction studies incorporating genotype × environment (G×E) interaction effects are limited in durum wheat. We tested the genomic-enabled prediction accuracy (PA) of Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (GBLUP) models—six non-G × E and three G × E models—on three basic cross-validation (CV) schemes— in predicting incomplete field trials (CV2), new lines (CV1), and lines in untested environments (CV0)— in a durum wheat panel grown under yield potential, drought stress, and heat stress conditions. For CV0, three scenarios were considered: (i) leave-one environment out (CV0-Env); (ii) leave one site out (CV0- Site); and (iii) leave 1 yr out (CV0-Year). The …

Evaluation Of Jules-Crop Performance Against Site Observations Of Irrigated Maize From Mead, Nebraska, Karina Williams, Jemma Gornall, Anna Harper, Andy Wiltshire, Debbie Hemming, Tristan Quaife, Tim Arkebauer, David Scoby

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The JULES-crop model (Osborne et al., 2015) is a parametrisation of crops within the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES), which aims to simulate both the impact of weather and climate on crop productivity and the impact of croplands on weather and climate. In this evaluation paper, observations of maize at three FLUXNET sites in Nebraska (US-Ne1, US-Ne2 and US-Ne3) are used to test model assumptions and make appropriate input parameter choices. JULES runs are performed for the irrigated sites (US-Ne1 and US-Ne2) both with the crop model switched off (prescribing leaf area index (LAI) and canopy height) and with …

Science In The Supply Chain: Collaboration Opportunities For Advancing Sustainable Agriculture In The United States, Allison M. Thomson, Stewart Ramsey, Ed Barnes, Bruno Basso, Marlen Eve, Sasha Gennet, Patricio Grassini, Brandon Kliethermes, Marty Matlock, Eileen Mcclellen, Ed Spevak, Clifford S. Snyder, Mark D. Tomer, Chris Van Kessel, Tristram West, Grant Wick

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Consumers and corporations are increasingly interested in understanding the sustainability of agricultural supply chains and reducing the environmental impacts of food, fiber, feed, and fuel production. This emerging need to quantify environmental impacts from agricultural production creates an opportunity for collaboration with the scientific community. Without such collaboration, sustainability efforts risk failure by adopting unrealistic goals or misguided approaches. This commentary explores the role of science in Field to Market, a nonprofit organization developing a sustainability program for US commodity crops, and highlights opportunities to address emerging science challenges. We evaluate changes over the past 35 years in key environmental …

Genetic Characterization Of The Soybean Nested Association Mapping Population, Qijian Song, Long Yan, Charles Quigley, Brandon D. Jordan, Edward Fickus, Steve Schroeder, Bao-Hua Song, Yong-Qiang Charles An, David Hyten, Randall L. Nelson, Katy Rainey, William D. Beavis, Jim Specht, Brian Diers, Perry Cregan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A set of nested association mapping (NAM) families was developed by crossing 40 diverse soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] genotypes to the common cultivar. The 41 parents were deeply sequenced for SNP discovery. Based on the polymorphism of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and other selection criteria, a set of SNPs was selected to be included in the SoyNAM6K BeadChip for genotyping the parents and 5600 RILs from the 40 families. Analysis of the SNP profiles of the RILs showed a low average recombination rate. We constructed genetic linkage maps for each family and a composite linkage map based on …

Editorial: Genomic Approaches For Improvement Of Understudied Grasses, Keenan Amundsen, Gautam Sarath, Teresa Donze-Reiner

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Grasses are diverse, spanning native prairies to high-yielding grain cropping systems. They are valued for their beauty and useful for soil stabilization, pollution mitigation, biofuel production, nutritional value, and forage quality; grasses encompass the most important grain crops in the world. There are thousands of distinct grass species and many have promiscuous hybridization patterns, blurring species boundaries. Resources for advancing the science and knowledgebase of individual grass species or their unique characteristics varies, often proportional to their perceived value to society. For many grasses, limited genetic information hinders research progress. Presented in this research topic is a brief snapshot of …

Expression Of The Maize Dof1 Transcription Factor In Wheat And Sorghum, Pamela A. Pena, Truyen Quach, Shirley Sato, Zhengxiang Ge, Natalya Nersesian, Taity Changa, Ismail M. Dweikat, Madhavan Soundararajan, Tom E. Clemente

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Nitrogen is essential for plant growth and development. Improving the ability of plants to acquire and assimilate nitrogen more efficiently is a key agronomic parameter that will augment sustainability in agriculture. A transcription factor approach was pursued to address improvement of nitrogen use efficiency in two major commodity crops. To this end, the Zea mays Dof1 (ZmDof1) transcription factor was expressed in both wheat (Triticum aestivum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) either constitutively, UBI4 promoter from sugarcane, or in a tissue specific fashion via the maize rbcS1 promoter. The primary transcription activation target of ZmDof1 …

High-Throughput Profiling And Analysis Of Plant Responses Over Time To Abiotic Stress, Kira M. Veley, Jeffrey C. Berry, Sarah J. Fentress, Daniel P. Schachtman, Ivan Baxter, Rebecca Bart

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a rapidly growing, high-biomass crop prized for abiotic stress tolerance. However, measuring genotype-by-environment (G x E) interactions remains a progress bottleneck. We subjected a panel of 30 genetically diverse sorghum genotypes to a spectrum of nitrogen deprivation and measured responses using high-throughput phenotyping technology followed by ionomic profiling. Responses were quantified using shape (16 measurable outputs), color (hue and intensity), and ionome (18 elements). We measured the speed at which specific genotypes respond to environmental conditions, in terms of both biomass and color changes, and identified individual genotypes that perform most favorably. With this …

Influence Of Tillage On Common Ragweed (Ambrosia Artemisiifolia) Emergence Pattern In Nebraska, Ethann R. Barnes, Rodrigo Werle, Lowell Sandell, John L. Lindquist, Stevan Z. Knezevic, Peter H. Sikkema, Amit J. Jhala

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Spring tillage is a component of an integrated weed management strategy for control of early emerging glyphosate-resistant weeds such as common ragweed; however, the effect of tillage on common ragweed emergence pattern is unknown. The objectives of this study were to evaluate whether spring tillage during emergence would influence the emergence pattern or stimulate additional emergence of common ragweed and to characterize common ragweed emergence in southeast Nebraska. A field experiment was conducted for three years (2014 to 2016) in Gage County, Nebraska in a field naturally infested with glyphosate-resistant common ragweed. Treatments consisted of a no-tillage control and three …

Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself?, Martin K. Van Ittersum, Lenny G. J. Van Bussel, Joost Wolf, Patricio Grassini, Justin Van Wart, Nicolas Guilpart, Lieven Claessens, Hugo De Groot, Keith Wiebe, Daniel Mason-D'Croz, Haishun Yang, Hendrik Boogard, Pepijn A. J. Van Oort, Marloes P. Van Loon, Kazuki Saito, Ochieng Adimo, Samuel Adjei-Nsiah, Alhassane Agali, Abdullahi Bala, Regis Chikowo, Kayuki Kaizzi, Mamoutou Kouressy, Joachim H. J. R. Makoi, Korodjouma Ouattara, Kindie Tesfaye, Kenneth G. Cassman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Although global food demand is expected to increase 60% by 2050 compared with 2005/2007, the rise will be much greater in sub- Saharan Africa (SSA). Indeed, SSA is the region at greatest food security risk because by 2050 its population will increase 2.5-fold and demand for cereals approximately triple, whereas current levels of cereal consumption already depend on substantial imports. At issue is whether SSA can meet this vast increase in cereal demand without greater reliance on cereal imports or major expansion of agricultural area and associated biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies indicate that the global increase …

Modeling Long-Term Corn Yield Response To Nitrogen Rate And Crop Rotation, Laila A. Puntel, John E. Sawyer, Daniel W. Barker, Ranae Dietzel, Hanna Poffenbarger, Michael J. Castellano, Kenneth J. Moore, Peter J. Thorburn, Sotirios V. Archontoulis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Improved prediction of optimal N fertilizer rates for corn (Zea mays L.) can reduce N losses and increase profits. We tested the ability of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) to simulate corn and soybean (Glycine max L.) yields, the economic optimum N rate (EONR) using a 16-year field-experiment dataset from central Iowa, USA that included two crop sequences (continuous corn and soybean-corn) and five N fertilizer rates (0, 67, 134, 201, and 268 kg N ha^-1) applied to corn. Our objectives were to: (a) quantify model prediction accuracy before and after calibration, and report calibration steps; (b) …

Characterization And Development Mechanism Of Apios Americana Tuber Starch, Hanyu Yangchen, Vikas Belamkar, Steven B. Cannon, Jay-Lin Jane

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Apios americana is a wild legume-bearing plant with edible tubers. Domestication of Apios is in progress because of the superior nutritional value and health benefits of the tuber. Objectives of this study were to: (1) characterize physicochemical properties of the Apios tuber starch; and (2) understand differences in starch structures and properties between the mother (seed) and child (progeny) tubers and the mechanism of starch development. Granules of the Apios tuber starch displayed ellipsoidal, rod, or kidney shape with diameter ranges of 1–30 m. The mother tuber starches displayed greater percentage crystallinity, larger gelatinization enthalpy-changes, longer branch-chain lengths of amylopectin, …

Genomics-Assisted Characterization Of A Breeding Collection Of Apios Americana, An Edible Tuberous Legume, Vikas Belamkar, Andrew Farmer, Nathan T. Weeks, Scott R. Kalberer, William J. Blackmon, Steven B. Cannon

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

For species with potential as new crops, rapid improvement may be facilitated by new genomic methods. Apios (Apios americana Medik.), once a staple food source of Native American Indians, produces protein-rich tubers, tolerates a wide range of soils, and symbiotically fixes nitrogen. We report the first high-quality de novo transcriptome assembly, an expression atlas, and a set of 58,154 SNP and 39,609 gene expression markers (GEMs) for characterization of a breeding collection. Both SNPs and GEMs identify six genotypic clusters in the collection. Transcripts mapped to the Phaseolus vulgaris genome–another phaseoloid legume with the same chromosome number–provide provisional genetic …

Plants Having Increased Bomass And Methods For Making The Same, Aleel K. Grennan, Donald R. Ort, Stephen Patrick Moose, Damla D. Bilgin, Thomas Clemente, Fredy Altpeter, Stephen P. Long

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The impact of plastid size change in both monocot and dicot plants has been examined. In both, when plastid size is increased there is an increase in biomass relative to the parental lines. Thus, provided herein are methods for increasing the biomass of a plant, comprising decreasing the expression of at least one plastid division protein in a plant. Optionally, the level of chlorophyll in the plant is also reduced.

Cross Species Selection Scans Identify Components Of C4 Photosynthesis In The Grasses, Pu Huang, Anthony J. Studer, James C. Schnable, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Thomas P. Brutnell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

C₄ photosynthesis is perhaps one of the best examples of convergent adaptive evolution with over 25 independent origins in the grasses (Poaceae) alone. The availability of high quality grass genome sequences presents new opportunities to explore the mechanisms underlying this complex trait using evolutionary biology-based approaches. In this study, we performed genome-wide cross-species selection scans in C₄ lineages to facilitate discovery of C₄ genes. The study was enabled by the well conserved collinearity of grass genomes and the recently sequenced genome of a C₃ panicoid grass, Dichanthelium oligosanthes. This method, in contrast to previous studies, …

Herbicide Resistantsorghum Mutants, Ismail M. Dweikat

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This disclosure provides for four different sorghum mutants that exhibit resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides. This dis closure also provides for methods of using such Sorghum mutants that exhibit resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in breeding methods to make Sorghum hybrids, varieties, or lines. The Sorghum hybrids, varieties, and lines provided in this disclosure can be used in methods of controlling weeds.

Long-Term Sandhills Prairie Responses To Precipitation, Temperature, And Cattle Stocking Rate, John A. Guretzky, Cheryl Dunn, Heidi L. Hillhouse

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Understanding of Sandhills prairie, the most expansive sand dune region stabilized by perennial grasses in the Western Hemisphere, is limited by lack of long-term vegetation data. We used a 26-year dataset to evaluate Sandhills prairie responses to yearto- year variation in precipitation, temperature, and cattle stocking rate. Basal cover, a measurement that is constant seasonally and used to detect long-term changes in bunchgrass vegetation, was measured in 38–40 permanent plots positioned along four transects spanning 769 ha from 1979 to 2007. Across this period, total basal cover averaged 2.4 % and was dominated by warm-season grasses (81.1 %). Schizachyrium scoparium …

Information Thermodynamics Of Cytosine Dna Methylation, Robersy Sanchez Rodriguez, Sally Ann Mackenzie

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Cytosine DNA methylation (CDM) is a stable epigenetic modification to the genome and a widespread regulatory process in living organisms that involves multicomponent molecular machines. Genome-wide cytosine methylation patterning participates in the epigenetic reprogramming of a cell, suggesting that the biological information contained within methylation positions may be amenable to decoding. Adaptation to a new cellular or organismal environment also implies the potential for genome-wide redistribution of CDM changes that will ensure the stability of DNA molecules. This raises the question of whether or not we would be able to sort out the regulatory methylation signals from the CDM background …

Ws-2 Introgression In A Proportion Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Col-0 Stock Seed Produces Specific Phenotypes And Highlights The Importance Of Routine Genetic Verification, Mon-Ray Shao, Vikas Shedge, Hardik Kundariya, Fredric R. Lehle, Sally Ann Mackenzie

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Arabidopsis thaliana is an important model organism with a robust network of resources that has been of enormous value to the plant science research community. The use of isogenic material as a reference point or control is critical for many types of experiments in plant molecular biology and genetics. Recently, we noticed that some seed from a common source of the widely used Columbia-0 (Col-0) strain gave rise to plants showing features atypical for this strain. Whole-genome DNA-sequencing and allelespecific PCR assays confirmed that the abnormal individuals contain multiple introgressions from the ecotype Wassilewskija-2 (Ws-2), as described below. This …

Student-Conducted Farmer Video Interviews, Jenn K. Simons, Justin Van Wart, Charles Francis, Kristyn Harms

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

High school agricultural education teachers have expressed concern about the lack of easily accessible educational materials dealing with contemporary topics in sustainable agriculture. There are numerous textbooks and monographs available for farmers and students at the college level, including the highly practical resources available from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) book series on soil fertility (Magdoff and van Es, 2010), cover crops (Bowman et al., 2007) and building a farm business (DiGiacomo et al., 2003), among others. Although these are full of color photos and easily accessible graphs and tables, they are still in the print media category. …

Corn Era Hybrid Response To Nitrogen Fertilization, Krishna P. Woli, Matthew J. Boyer, Roger Wesley Elmore, John E. Sawyer, Lori J. Abendroth, Daniel W. Barker

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Corn (Zea mays L.) N use is of continued interest due to agronomic performance and environmental issues. This 2-yr study evaluated era hybrid response to fertilizer nitrogen (FN) rate in a factorial arrangement of one popular hybrid per five decades (1960–2000 eras) and five N rates (0–224 kg N ha^–1). An additional hybrid per era was grown at 168 kg N ha^–1. Hybrid productivity and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) increased across the eras, but not between the 1980 and 1990 eras. Grain yield (GY) increased 65% and total plant biomass 43%, however, total plant nitrogen …

Mapping Qtls And Association Of Differentially Expressed Gene Transcripts For Multiple Agronomic Traits Under Different Nitrogen Levels In Sorghum, Malleswari Gelli, Sharon E. Mitchell, Kan Liu, Thomas E. Clemente, Donald P. Weeks, Chi Zhang, David R. Holding, Ismail M. Dweikat

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Sorghum is an important C₄ crop which relies on applied Nitrogen fertilizers (N) for optimal yields, of which substantial amounts are lost into the atmosphere. Understanding the genetic variation of sorghum in response to limited nitrogen supply is important for elucidating the underlying genetic mechanisms of nitrogen utilization.

Results: A bi-parental mapping population consisting of 131 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was used to map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) influencing different agronomic traits evaluated under normal N (100 kg.ha⁻¹ fertilizer) and low N (0 kg.ha⁻¹ fertilizer) conditions. A linkage map spanning 1614 cM was developed …

Proteomic Profiling Of Maize Opaque Endosperm Mutants Reveals Selective Accumulation Of Lysine-Enriched Proteins, Kyla J. Morton, Shangang Jia, Chi Zhang, David R. Holding

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Reduced prolamin (zein) accumulation and defective endoplasmic reticulum (ER) body formation occurs in maize opaque endosperm mutants opaque2 (o2), floury2 (fl2), defective endosperm*B30 (DeB30), and Mucronate (Mc), whereas other opaque mutants such as opaque1 (o1) and floury1 (fl1) are normal in these regards. This suggests that other factors contribute to kernel texture. A liquid chromatography approach coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) proteomics was used to compare non-zein proteins of nearly isogenic opaque endosperm mutants. In total, 2762 proteins were identified that were enriched for biological processes such …

Simulating Long-Term Impacts Of Cover Crops And Climate Change On Crop Production And Environmental Outcomes In The Midwestern United States, Andrea D. Basche, Sotririos V. Archontoulis, Thomas C. Kaspar, Dan B. Jaynes, Timothy B. Parkin, Fernando E. Miguez

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

It is critical to evaluate conservation practices that protect soil and water resources from climate change in the Midwestern United States, a region that produces one-quarter of the world’s soybeans and one-third of the world’s maize. An over-winter cover crop in a maize–soybean rotation offers multiple potential benefits that can reduce the impacts of higher temperatures and more variable rainfall; some of the anticipated changes for the Midwest. In this experiment we used the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) to understand how winter rye cover crops impact crop production and environmental outcomes, given future climate change. We first tested APSIM …

Decipher The Molecular Response Of Plant Single Cell Types To Environmental Stresses, Mehrnoush Nourbakhsh-Rey, Marc Libault

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The analysis of the molecular response of entire plants or organs to environmental stresses suffers from the cellular complexity of the samples used. Specifically, this cellular complexity masks cell-specific responses to environmental stresses and logically leads to the dilution of the molecular changes occurring in each cell type composing the tissue/organ/plant in response to the stress.Therefore, to generate a more accurate picture of these responses, scientists are focusing on plant single cell type approaches. Several cell types are now considered as models such as the pollen, the trichomes, the cotton fiber, various root cell types including the root hair cell, …

Organic Struggle: The Movement For Sustainable Agriculture In The United States [Book Review], Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Organic Struggle chronicles the challenges encountered by innovators in a growing segment of the U.S. food production and marketing system. Practiced for millennia by farmers before the introduction of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and first developed more formally in Europe, organic farming practices began to gain prominence in the United States only in the 1950s. Far more than a system for producing food, this strategy has become a focus for those supporting healthy and pesticide-free products, for some who embrace the organic system as a food movement, and by many who disagree with the current domination of the country’s food …

Draft Genome Sequence Of Erwinia Tracheiphila, An Economically Important Bacterial Pathogen Of Cucurbits, Lori R. Shapiro, Erin D. Scully, Dana Roberts, Timothy J. Straub, Scott M. Geib, Jihye Park, Andrew G. Stephenson, Erika Salaau Rojas, Quin Liu, Gwyn Beattie, Mark Gleason, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Mark C. Mescher, Shelby G. Fleischer, Roberto Kolter, Naomi Pierce, Olga Zhaxybayeva

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Erwinia tracheiphila is one of the most economically important pathogens of cucumbers, melons, squashes, pumpkins, and gourds in the northeastern and midwestern United States, yet its molecular pathology remains uninvestigated. Here, we report the first draft genome sequence of an E. tracheiphila strain isolated from an infected wild gourd (Cucurbita pepo subsp. texana) plant. The genome assembly consists of 7 contigs and includes a putative plasmid and at least 20 phage and prophage elements.

Muts Homolog1 Silencing Mediates Orf220 Substoichiometric Shifting And Causes Male Sterility In Brassica Juncea, Na Zhao, Xinyue Xu, Yashitola Wamboldt, Sally Ann Mackenzie, Xiaodong Yang, Zhongyuan Hu, Jinghua Yang, Mingfang Zhang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) has consistently been associated with the expression of mitochondrial open reading frames (ORFs) that arise from genomic rearrangements. Spontaneous fertility reversion in CMS has been observed in several cases, but a clear understanding of fertility reversion controlled by nuclear genetic influences has been lacking. Here, we identified spontaneous fertile revertant lines for Brassica juncea CMS cytoplasm in which the mitochondrial genome has undergone substoichiometric shifting (SSS) to suppress ORF220 copy number. We placed ORF220, with or without a mitochondrial targeting presequence, under the control of the CaMV35S and AP3 promoters in Arabidopsis to confirm that ORF220 …

Prospects Of Genomic Prediction In The Usda Soybean Germplasm Collection: Historical Data Creates Robust Models For Enhancing Selection Of Accessions, Diego Jarquin, James Specht, Aaron Lorenz

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The identification and mobilization of useful genetic variation from germplasm banks for use in breeding programs is critical for future genetic gain and protection against crop pests. Plummeting costs of next-generation sequencing and genotyping is revolutionizing the way in which researchers and breeders interface with plant germplasm collections. An example of this is the high density genotyping of the entire USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection. We assessed the usefulness of 50K SNP data collected on 18,480 domesticated soybean (G. max) accessions and vast historical phenotypic data for developing genomic prediction models for protein, oil, and yield. Resulting genomic prediction models explained …

Corn (Zea Mays L.) Seeding Rate Optimization In Iowa, Usa, Mark A. Licht, Andrew W. Lenssen, Roger W. Elmore

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Collecting soil, topography, and yield information has become more feasible and reliable with advancements in precision technologies. Combined with the accessibility of precision technologies and services to farmers, there has been increased interest and ability to make site-specific crop management decisions. The objective of this research was to develop procedures to optimize corn seeding rates and maximize yield using soil and topographic parameters. Experimental treatments included five seeding rates (61 750; 74 100; 86 450; 98 800; and 111 150 seeds ha^-1) in a randomized complete block design in three central Iowa fields from 2012 to 2014 (nine …