Botany Commons^™

Post-Termination Effects Of Cover Crop Monocultures And Mixtures On Soil Inorganic Nitrogen And Microbial Communities On Two Organic Farms In Illinois, Eleanor E. Lucadamo, Ashley A. Holmes, Samuel E. Wortman, Anthony C. Yannarell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Cover crops can continue to affect agricultural systems even after they have been terminated by influencing nitrogen dynamics and by altering soil microbial communities. These post-termination effects can influence soil fertility, weed pressure, and the dynamics of potential plant pathogens in the narrow window of time between cover crop termination and cash crop emergence. We evaluated the post-termination effects of 12 different spring-sown cover crop mixtures and monocultures on soil nitrogen and microbial communities on two different organic farms in Central Illinois (on Lawson silt loam soil) and Northern Illinois (on Virgil silt loam soil). In comparison to control plots …

Practice Cost And Size Differences In Invasive Plant Management Strategies: An Empirical Analysis Of Us Great Plains States, Mazbahul G. Ahamad

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Grassland conservation of the Conservation Stewardship Program in the United States (US) is one of the largest cost-sharing initiatives for protecting grazing land from invasive and woody plants. The practice cost and unit size of various invasive and woody plant management strategies, such as mulching, brush management, and pre- scribed burning, are different from state to state. We aimed to compare and examine the association between practice cost ($/acre[ac]) and standard unit size of practice (acre) of mulching, brush management, and pre- scribed burning strategies in nine US Great Plains states, including Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, …

Arkansas Cotton Variety Test 2021, F. Bourland, A. Beach, B. Milano, C. Kennedy, L. Martin, B. Robertson

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. These annual evaluations will then facilitate the inclusion of new, improved genetic material in Arkansas cotton production. Adaptation of varieties is determined by evaluating the lines at five University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture research sites (Manila, Keiser, Judd Hill, Marianna, and Rohwer). The 2021 tests at Rohwer were abandoned due …

Implementation Of Epigenetic Variation In Sorghum Selection And Implications For Crop Resilience Breeding, Dikungwa Ketumile, Xiaodong Yang, Robersy Sanchez, Hardik Kundariya, John F. Rajewski, Ismail M. Dweikat, Sally A. Mackenzie

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop resilience and yield stability are complex traits essential for food security. Sorghum bicolor is an important grain crop that shows promise for its natural resilience to drought and potential for marginal land production. We have developed sorghum lines in the Tx430 genetic background suppressed for MSH1 expression as a means of inducing de novo epigenetic variation, and have used these materials to evaluate changes in plant growth vigor. Plant crossing and selection in two distinct environments revealed features of phenotypic plasticity derived from MSH1 manipulation. Introduction of an epigenetic variation to an isogenic sorghum population, in the absence of …

Assessment Of Bacterial Inoculant Delivery Methods For Cereal Crops, Yen Ning Chai, Stephanie Futrell, Daniel P. Schachtman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Despite growing evidence that plant growth-promoting bacteria can be used to improve crop vigor, a comparison of the different methods of delivery to determine which is optimal has not been published. An optimal inoculation method ensures that the inoculant colonizes the host plant so that its potential for plant growth-promotion is fully evaluated. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of three seed coating methods, seedling priming, and soil drench for delivering three bacterial inoculants to the sorghum rhizosphere and root endosphere. The methods were compared across multiple time points under axenic conditions and colonization efficiency was …

Seed-Shattering Phenology At Soybean Harvest Of Economically Important Weeds In Multiple Regions Of The United States. Part 3: Drivers Of Seed Shatter, Lauren M. Schwartz-Lazaro, Lovreet S. Shergill, Jeffrey A. Evans, Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan, Shawn C. Beam, Mandy D. Bish, Jason A. Bond, Kevin W. Bradley, William S. Curran, Adam S. Davis, Wesley J. Everman, Michael L. Flessner, Steven C. Haring, Nicholas R. Jordan, Nicholas E. Korres, John L. Lindquist, Jason K. Norsworthy, Tameka L. Sanders, Larry E. Steckel, Mark J. Vangessel, Blake Young, Steven B. Mirsky

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Seed retention, and ultimately seed shatter, are extremely important for the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) and are likely influenced by various agroecological and environmental factors. Field studies investigated seed-shattering phenology of 22 weed species across three soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]-producing regions in the United States. We further evaluated the potential drivers of seed shatter in terms of weather conditions, growing degree days, and plant biomass. Based on the results, weather conditions had no consistent impact on weed seed shatter. However, there was a positive correlation between individual weed plant biomass and delayed weed seed-shattering rates during …

Corn Nitrogen Nutrition Index Prediction Improved By Integrating Genetic, Environmental, And Management Factors With Active Canopy Sensing Using Machine Learning, Dan Li, Yuxin Miao, Curtis J. Ransom, Gregory Mac Bean, Newell R. Kitchen, Fabián G. Fernández, John E. Sawyer, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard B. Ferguson, David W. Franzen, Carrie A. M. Laboski, Emerson D. Nafziger, John F. Shanahan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Accurate nitrogen (N) diagnosis early in the growing season across diverse soil, weather, and management conditions is challenging. Strategies using multi-source data are hypothesized to perform significantly better than approaches using crop sensing information alone. The objective of this study was to evaluate, across diverse environments, the potential for integrating genetic (e.g., comparative relative maturity and growing degree units to key developmental growth stages), environmental (e.g., soil and weather), and management (e.g., seeding rate, irrigation, previous crop, and preplant N rate) information with active canopy sensor data for improved corn N nutrition index (NNI) prediction using machine learning methods. Thirteen …

Tracking Spatial Regimes In Animal Communities: Implications For Resilience-Based Management, Caleb P. Roberts, Daniel R. Uden, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Larkin A. Powell, Brady W. Allred, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D. Maestas, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Spatial regimes (the spatial extents of ecological states) exhibit strong spatiotemporal order as they expand or contract in response to retreating or encroaching adjacent spatial regimes (e.g., woody plant invasion of grasslands) and human management (e.g., fire treatments). New methods enable tracking spatial regime boundaries via vegetation landcover data, and this approach is being used for strategic management across biomes. A clear advancement would be incorporating animal community data to track spatial regime boundaries alongside vegetation data. In a 41,170-hectare grassland experiencing woody plant encroachment, we test the utility of using animal community data to track spatial regimes via two …

Water Use Characteristics Of Weeds: A Global Review, Best Practices, And Future Directions, Mandeep Singh, Meetpal Singh Kukal, Suat Irmak, Amit J. Jhala

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Weeds usually penalize crop yields by competing for resources, such as water, light, nutrients, and space. Most of the studies on the crop-weed competition domain are limited to assessing crop-yield losses due to weed pressure and other crop-weed interactions, overlooking the significant uptake of soil-water by weeds that exacerbates global water constraints and threatens the productivity and profitability. The objective of this review was to synthesize globally available quantitative data on weed water use (WU) sourced from 23 peer-reviewed publications (filtered from 233 publications via a multi-step protocol of inclusion criteria) with experimental investigations across space (3 continents), time (1927–2018), …

Management-Intensive Grazing Impacts On Total Escherichia Coli, E. Coli O157: H7, And Antibiotic Resistance Genes In A Riparian Stream, Laura M. Rubeck, James E. Wells, Kathy Hanford, Lisa M. Durso, Walter H. Schacht, Elaine D. Berry

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The impacts of management-intensive grazing (MIG) of cattle on concentrations of total Escherichia coli, total suspended solids (TSS), and nitrate-nitrite nitrogen (NO₃+NO₂-N), and occurrence of E. coli O157:H7 and selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in stream water and/or sediments were evaluated. Cattle were grazed for twoweek periods in May in each of three years. Overall, grazing increased total E. coli in downstream water by 0.89 log10 MPN/100 mL (p < 0.0001), and downstream total E. coli concentrations were higher than upstream over all sampling intervals. Downstream TSS levels also increased (p ≤ 0.0294) during grazing. In contrast, there was …

The Last Continuous Grasslands On Earth: Identification And Conservation Importance, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Grasslands are the most threatened and least protected biome. Yet, no study has been conducted to identify the last remaining continuous grasslands on Earth. Here, we used World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifications to measure the degree of intactness remaining for the world's grassland ecoregions. This analysis revealed three findings of critical conservation importance. First, only a few large, intact grasslands remain. Second, every continent with a grassland ecoregion considered in this study contains at least one relatively intact grassland ecoregion. Third, the largest remaining continuous grasslands identified in this analysis have persisted …

A Phytobacterial Tir Domain Effector Manipulates Nad+ To Promote Virulence, Samuel Eastman, Thomas Smith, Mark A. Zaydman, Panya Kim, Samuel Martinez, Neha Damaraju, Aaron Diantonio, Jeffrey Milbrandt, Thomas Clemente, James R. Alfano, Ming Guo

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 type III effector HopAM1 suppresses plant immunity and contains a Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain homologous to immunity-related TIR domains of plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors that hydrolyze nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) and activate immunity. In vitro and in vivo assays were conducted to determine if HopAM1 hydrolyzes NAD+ and if the activity is essential for HopAM1’s suppression of plant immunity and contribution to virulence. HPLC and LC-MS were utilized to analyze metabolites produced from NAD+ by HopAM1 in vitro and in both yeast and plants. Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression and in planta inoculation assays were performed to …

Student Perceptions Of Messages Regarding Genetically Modified Organisms Delivered Using Creative Media, Faith Mills, Casandra K. Cox

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

The purpose of this study was to determine how communicating authentic agricultural information using an infographic affects Millennial and Generation Z students’ perceptions of genetically modified organisms (GMO) and to determine the perceptions of college students regarding the infographic used to convey agricultural messages. This study used survey research methods with open- and closed-ended questions administered through Qualtrics. The questionnaire was designed with five sections including a pre-questionnaire, content presentation, post-questionnaire, infographic perception questionnaire, and demographics section. All questions in the pre- and post- questionnaire were focused on the content found in the researcher developed infographic. Overall, participants increased accuracy …

Preventative Weed Management Strategies In Arkansas Tomato Production, Gracie E. Morrison, Matthew Bertucci

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

Cost-effective weed suppression is an important consideration for tomato growers. Growers often choose methods which minimize hand labor, as hand weeding can be prohibitively expensive. This project determined economic viability of high tunnel tomatoes treated with several methods of weed control, both organic and chemical. These methods included: 2-week hand weeding, 1-week hand weeding, preemergent herbicide application (plots sprayed with herbicide prior to weed emergence), straw mulch (plots bedded with straw), landscape fabric (plots covered in fabric), and untreated weedy control plots. These six treatments were applied to randomized blocks in a high tunnel. Weeding, planting, and harvesting were all …

Using Poultry To Enhance Food Security In Stann Creek, Belize, Emily Spatz, Lisa S. Wood

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

Food insecurity is a growing issue in developing and developed countries alike, and in countries like Belize, the prevalence of hunger has soared in recent years. Not having access to diets with sufficient calories and nutrients leads to a host of developmental issues, including stunting and cognitive delays. The purpose of this work was to create an all-encompassing manual for small-scale poultry production in order to provide nourishment for the students and staff of a school in Belize. After determining that the best way to meet the school’s needs was through dual-purpose birds, background research was conducted to determine small-scale …

Predicting Munsell Color For Turfgrass Leaves, William L. Berndt, Roch E. Gaussoin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Linking turfgrass color to hue, value, chroma (H V/C) in the Munsell Plant Tissue Color Book is a visual comparison process for specifying and communicating plant color. If subjectivity of visual comparison can be mitigated, then accuracy of color matching may be improved. Research was conducted to develop an algorithm predicting H V/C from CIE-xyY color (xyY) in digital images of leaves of four turfgrasses. First, value-chroma (V/C) arrays for Munsell hue groups 5Y, 2.5GY, 5GY, 7.5GY, 10GY, and 2.5G were converted to xyY. Next, chromaticity (xy) plots from each array were fitted with …

Contents, Discovery Editors

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

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Faculty Editor, Beth Kegley

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

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

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

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Salt And Drought Tolerance In Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.), Sevgi Saylak

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

Consequent to the increasing world population, food sources are needed to be increased to meet the nutritional needs. However, due to natural processes and agricultural activities, the most destructive environmental factors that limit crop production, soil salinity, and drought-exposed areas are growing. As one of the major oilseed crops, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), is considered to be moderately tolerant to salt and drought. Although it can grow in arid to semi-arid regions, increasing salinity and drought might adversely affect sunflower production. This study aimed to investigate several sunflower germplasms' morphological responses to salt and drought stresses. For this purpose, …

Letter From The Dean, Jean-Francois Meullenet

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

No abstract provided.

Consumers' Perception Of Quality For Ladies' Swimwear Based On Price And Brand, Jennifer Avila, Laurie M. Apple, Lance M. Cheramie, Leigh Southward

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

Consumers shop at multiple retailers for different needs, and it is understood that many choose a retailer for an experience and others will shop at another retailer for better savings. In a time where E-commerce is at an all-time high, retailers need to consider how they compare against online retailers in the apparel sector. In this study, three retailers were compared against one another since they are all swimwear competitors. As these retailers adjust to store and production shortages, it is important to understand how the quality of clothing will keep sales consistent. Consumers are likely to keep shopping at …

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences- Volume 23 2022, Several Authors

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

No abstract provided.

Featured Faculty Mentor And Student Explore The Dynamics Of This Research Relationship, Matt Bertucci, Gracie Morrison

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

No abstract provided.

Plant-Pollinator Interaction Networks In Remnant And Reconstructed Palouse Prairie In Eastern Wa, Usa, Emma Hoskins

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Ecological restoration is often focused on re-establishing native plant communities, without considering the larger ecological community, specifically pollinators, despite their being critical to native forb reproduction. Further, ecological restoration has the potential to mitigate global pollinator declines by rebuilding native ecosystems, providing pollinators with floral resources and nesting habitat. This is especially true for prairie restoration, which struggles to establish diverse, abundant native forb communities. The USDA Conservation Reserve Program State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (CRP SAFE) Palouse Prairie Project provides funding to convert agricultural fields into native Palouse Prairie habitat for the benefit of wildlife. Due to financial and …

Analysis Of Root System Architecture And Qtl Identification In Grapevines, Sujan Thapa

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The root system of the plant plays a vital role in water and nutrient uptake. Native North American grapevines adapted to a broad range of climatic and soil conditions, which led to the evolution of diverse root system architecture (RSA) within the Vitis genus. Despite the importance of RSA in viticulture, little is known about the genetic basis of the RSA in grapevine. I used novel root phenotyping tool, RhizoVision Analyzer to characterize the root system of 208 genotypes of an F₁ grapevine progeny obtained from a cross between Vitis rupestris Scheele B38 and Vitis riparia Michx. HP-1. Dormant …

A Micro-Environmental System For Fast Propagation Of Blueberries, Tristan Bonifield

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The demand for blueberries has continued to rise over the decades as its popularity has spread in North America and the world. Propagation of new plants to supply new farms and individuals is needed to meet that demand. Here we report the invention of a closed system that was tested by examining the growth of the cuttings (plant length, rooting, and root length) after a one-month period in both the proposed system and a traditional mist system. The proposed system showed a few statistically significant advantages over the traditional mist system with no consistent trend, besides a decrease in wilting …

Observing Gravitropism In Brassica Rapa Roots, Trang Ly, Maya O'Callagham, Lan Poeschl, Adil Saeed, George Zorn

Undergraduate Research Posters

The objective of this experiment is to observe the effect of gravitropism on the orientation of Brassica rapa (B. rapa) roots. Specifically, amyloplasts that reside at the bottom of root tips act as gravity sensors. As plants are disturbed from upright orientation, roots automatically grow according to the downward pull of gravity. It is hypothesized that as the angle of rotation increases, the angle of root growth is inversely proportional. Five plants containing four seeds of B. rapa were grown over the course of 10 days. Each plates, aside from the control, were rotated once 90°, 80°, and 270° to …

Field Validation Of A Farmer Supplied Data Approach To Close Soybean Yield Gaps In The Us North Central Region, José F. Andrade, Spyridon Mourtzinis, Juan I. Rattalino Edreira, Shawn P. Conley, John Gaska, Herman J. Kandel, Laura E. Lindsey, Seth Naeve, Scott Nelson, Maninder P. Singhi, Laura J. Thompson, James E. Specht, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

CONTEXT: Producer-reported data can be used to identify suites of management practices that lead to higher yield and profit. However, a rigorous validation of the approach in relation to its potential impact on farmer yield and profit is lacking.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to validate a producer-data approach on its capability to guide on-farm evaluation of management practices with greatest potential for increasing producer yield and profit. We show proof of concept using soybean in the North Central US region as a case study.

METHODS: We used a combination of regression tree analysis and a spatial framework to determine practices …

A New Perspective When Examining Maize Fertilizer Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Incrementally, Newell R. Kitchen, Curtis J. Ransom, James S. Schepers, Jerry L. Hatfield, Raymond Massey, Scott T. Drummond

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

For maize (Zea mays L.), nitrogen (N) fertilizer use is often summarized from field to global scales using average N use efficiency (NUE). But expressing NUE as averages is misleading because grain increase to added N diminishes near optimal yield. Thus, environmental risks increase as economic benefits decrease. Here, we use empirical datasets obtained in North America of maize grain yield response to N fertilizer (n = 189) to create and interpret incremental NUE (iNUE), or the change in NUE with change in N fertilization. We show for those last units of N applied to reach economic optimal N …