Horticulture Commons^™

Corn Residue Baling And Grazing Impacts On Corn Yield Under Irrigated Conservation Tillage Systems, Sabrina J. Ruis, Charles Burr, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Brian Olson, Mark Reiman, Daran Rudnick, Johnna Baller, Kathryn J. Hanford

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop residue grazing or baling is common in the western Corn Belt. However, its impacts on subsequent crop yields under different irrigation levels and tillage systems are unclear. We investigated the impacts of corn (Zea mays L.) residue baling and cattle grazing on soil compaction, water content, and corn yield under full and limited irrigated no-till in Nebraska during three years. In Years 2 and 3, an additional tillage treatment (strip till) was implemented to evaluate its effects on grain yield under the above treatments. Residue removal effects on compaction and water content did not vary with irrigation level. …

Seedextractor: An Open-Source Gui For Seed Image Analysis, Feiyu Zhu, Puneet Paul, Waseem Hussain, Kyle Wallman, Balpreet K. Dhatt, Jaspreet Sandhu, Larissa Irvin, Gota Morota, Hongfeng Yu, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Accurate measurement of seed size parameters is essential for both breeding efforts aimed at enhancing yields and basic research focused on discovering genetic components that regulate seed size. To address this need, we have developed an open source graphical user interface (GUI) software, SeedExtractor that determines seed size and shape (including area, perimeter, length, width, circularity, and centroid), and seed color with capability to process a large number of images in a time-efficient manner. In this context, our application takes 2 s for analyzing an image, i.e., significantly less compared to the other tools. As this software is open-source, it …

Soil Properties Limiting Vegetation Establishment Along Roadsides, Shad D. Mills, Martha Mamo, Sabrina J. Ruis, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Walter Schacht, Tala Awada, Xu Li, Pamela Sutton

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Roadside vegetation provides a multitude of ecosystem services, including pollutant remediation, runoff reduction, wildlife habitat, and aesthetic scenery. Establishment of permanent vegetation along paved roads after construction can be challenging, particularly within 1 m of the pavement. Adverse soil conditions could be one of the leading factors limiting roadside vegetation growth. In this study, we assessed soil physical and chemical properties along a transect perpendicular to the road at six microtopographic positions (road edge, shoulder, side slope, ditch, backslope, and field edge) along two highway segments near Beaver Crossing and Sargent, NE. At the Beaver Crossing site, Na concentration was …

Intervention Of Climate‐Smart Practices In Wheat Under Rice‐ Wheat Cropping System In Nepal, Jamma Jaya Gairhe, Mandeep Adhikari, Deepak Ghimire, Arun Kjatri-Chhetri, Dinesh Panday

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Besides a proper agronomic management followed by Nepalese farmers, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production has been severely affected by changing climate. There are many interventions, including climate‐smart practices, to cope with this situation and possibly enhance crop and soil productivity. Field experiments were set up in a randomized complete block design with six treatments (TRT) with four replications in three locations (LOC) during wheat‐growing seasons in Nepal from 2014 to 2016. Treatments included (i) Controlled Practice (CP), (ii) Improved Low (IL), (iii) Improved High (IH), (iv) Climate Smart Agriculture Low (CSAL), (v) Climate Smart Agriculture Medium (CSAM), and (vi) Climate …

A Bumper Crop Of Snps In Soybean Through High-Density Genotyping-By-Sequencing (Hd-Gbs), Davoud Torkamaneh, Jerome Laroche, Brian Boyle, David L. Hyten, Fancois Belzile

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Bell Pepper Cultivars With And Without Resistance To Bacterial Leaf Spot And Phytophthora, West Central Minnesota, Nathan Dalman, Steve Poppe

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Bacterial leaf spot (BLS) and Phytophthora (PHY) diseases are a common problem for Minnesota bell pepper producers and if not detected and treated early enough, these diseases can kill the plants. There are cultivars that have resistance to these particular diseases but these cultivars must maintain yields similar to traditional cultivars in order to be desired by producers and buyers. Our goal was to determine any differences in performance between cultivars with and without resistance. Yield, fruit size and number of fruit per plant were the evaluated characteristics.

No-Till Sweet Corn After Winter Rye Cover Crop, Northern Indiana, 2020, Elizabeth Maynard

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

No-till planting of sweet corn into a killed winter rye cover crop is not a widely used practice in Indiana, but has potential to provide soil health benefits such as reduced compaction, improved soil waterholding capacity, reduced evaporation from soil surface, in addition to other benefits. This paper reports on a project to develop a workable system at a university research farm that can be used for demonstration and in future research to better understand and improve production practices. The trial included two methods for killing rye in no-till systems: herbicide and roller-crimping either before or after seeding. An early …

Chile Pepper Variety Evaluation At Four Sites Across Minnesota And Wisconsin, 2020, Charlie Rohwer, Natalie Hoidal, Cala Farm, Agua Gorda Farm Cooperative, Jarl's Produce

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Latinx fresh market vegetable farmers in Minnesota face numerous barriers to market access. Many Latinx farmers live in rural communities where farmers market sales are low, and opportunities for wholesale are limited. The growers who make up Shared Ground Farmers’ Cooperative have developed an innovative cooperative marketing system to aggregate produce and sell it in Twin Cities markets, but many of the individual farmers involved also wish to find ways to keep the produce they grow in their own communities. This project emerged through a series of discussions about finding niche markets for culturally relevant crops in small-town Mexican restaurants …

Genome-Wide Discovery Of Natural Variation In Pre-Mrna Splicing And Prioritising Causal Alternative Splicing To Salt Stress Response In Rice, Huihui Yu, Qian Du, Malachy Campbell, Bin Yu, Harkamal Walia, Chi Zhang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Pre-mRNA splicing is an essential step for the regulation of gene expression. In order to specifically capture splicing variants in plants for genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we developed a software tool to quantify and visualise Variations of Splicing in Population (VASP). VASP can quantify splicing variants from short-read RNA-seq datasets and discover genotype-specific splicing (GSS) events, which can be used to prioritise causal pre-mRNA splicing events in GWAS. We applied our method to an RNA-seq dataset with 328 samples from 82 genotypes from a rice diversity panel exposed to optimal and saline growing conditions. In total, 764 significant GSS events …

Gwas Revealed Effect Of Genotype × Environment Interactions For Grain Yield Of Nebraska Winter Wheat, Shamseldeen Eltaher, P Stephen Baenziger, Vikas Belamkar, Hamdy A. Emara, Ahmed A. Nower, Khaled F.M. Salem, Ahmad M. Alqudah, Ahmed Sallam

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Improving grain yield in cereals especially in wheat is a main objective for plant breeders. One of the main constrains for improving this trait is the G × E interaction (GEI) which affects the performance of wheat genotypes in different environments. Selecting high yielding genotypes that can be used for a target set of environments is needed. Phenotypic selection can be misleading due to the environmental conditions. Incorporating information from phenotypic and genomic analyses can be useful in selecting the higher yielding genotypes for a group of environments. Results: A set of 270 F_3:6 wheat genotypes in the …

Nebline, January 2021

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

2020 Extension Highlight Highlights Responding as Local Needs Changed

Helping People Solve Real-World Problems

20,311 Youth Engaged in 4-H Programs

Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Recipe of the Month

Crop Production Clinics, Jan. 7, 14, and 21

Pesticide Applicator Trainings

Extension’s 2021 Master Gardener Trainings, Two Sites Available

Upcoming Green Industry Conferences

Garden Guide Things to do This Month

HEART OF 4-H VOLUNTEER AWARD: Emalea Dean

PASE Results

4-H Thanks Sponsors

4-H Announcements for 4-H’ers and Volunteers

4-H Thanks Volunteers

EXTENSION CALENDAR

EXTENSION NEWS

Contents, Discovery Editors

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.

Baseline Sensitivity To Demethylation Inhibitors Fungicides In Cercospora Spp. And Corynespora Spp. In Arkansas Soybeans, Evan Buckner, Alejandro Rojas

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

Cercospora spp. and Corynespora spp. are two common foliar fungal pathogens in Arkansas and other soybean-producing areas. Two primary diseases caused by Cercospora spp. are Cercospora Leaf Blight (CLB, caused mainly by C. kikuchii) and Frogeye Leaf Spot (C. sojina). Over time, many fungicides used to combat these diseases have become ineffective as the pathogens have developed a resistance to them. The class of the fungicide in question is Triazoles [Demethylation Inhibitors (DMI)–FRAC 3]. Fifteen isolates consisting of Corynespora cassiicola, Cercospora sojina, and Cercospora flagellaris were tested to determine baseline sensitivities using serial dilutions (0, 0.01, 1, 10, 50 mg/L) …

Seed-Shattering Phenology At Soybean Harvest Of Economically Important Weeds In Multiple Regions Of The United States. Part 2: Grass Species, 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 shatter is an important weediness trait on which the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) depends. The level of seed shatter in a species is likely influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed shatter of eight economically important grass weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after maturity at multiple sites spread across 11 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. From soybean maturity to 4 wk after maturity, cumulative percent seed shatter was lowest in the southern U.S. regions and increased …

Coal Char Effects On Soil Chemical Properties And Maize Yields In Semi-Arid Region, Dinesh Panday, Maysoon M. Mikha, Xiaocun Sun, Bijesh Maharjan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soil amendments with high carbon (C) content can be effective in semi-arid regions where soils are characterized by low C. A field study was conducted in 2016–2018 to evaluate the effect of char on soil chemical properties and irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) yields in sandy loam fertilized with urea or composted manure. Carbon-rich char used was a product of coal combustion residue from a local factory in western Nebraska. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot randomized complete block design in four replications with char (0, 6.7, 13.4, 20.1, and 26.8Mg C ha⁻¹) as main and …

Letter From The Dean, Deacue Fields

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

No abstract provided.

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 22 2021, Several Authors

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

No abstract provided.

James B Beard: The Father Of Contemporary Turfgrass Science, G.K. Stahnke, P.E. Rieke, Robert C. Shearman, Roch E. Gaussoin, David Kopec

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

James B Beard (24 Sept 1935 to 8 May 2018) can rightly be considered the “Father” of contemporary turfgrass science. During his career, he was known for setting a standard that provided the foundation for turfgrass science through his thorough approach to research, teaching, mentoring and communications. The books he published outlined a vision for an evolving scientific discipline. He trained and mentored >45 domestic and international doctoral and master students and numerous post-doctoral trainees, who in turn continued to raise the quality of contemporary turfgrass science in the USA and internationally. He led the effort to change the name …

Featured Faculty Mentor And Student Explore The Dynamics Of This Research Relationship, Alejandro Rojas, Evan Buckner

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.

Does Biochar Improve All Soil Ecosystem Services?, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Biochar is considered to sequester C and deliver other soil ecosystem services, but an overview that synthesizes the current knowledge of biochar implications on all essential soil ecosystem services is difficult to find in the ample biochar literature. Most previous research and review articles on this topic focused on a single ecosystem service and did not integrate all essential soil ecosystem services. This overview paper (1) synthesizes the impacts of biochar on water and wind erosion, C sequestration, soil water, nutrient leaching, soil fertility, crop yields, and other soil ecosystem services based on published literature and (2) highlights remaining research …

Representativeness Of Eddy-Covariance Flux Footprints For Areas Surrounding Ameriflux Sites, Housen Chu, Timothy Arkebauer, Dave P. Billesbach, Hideki Kobayashi, Thomas J. Kolbe, Gregory Starr, Andrew Suyker, 63 Other Coauthors

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Large datasets of greenhouse gas and energy surface-atmosphere fluxes measured with the eddy-covariance technique (e.g., FLUXNET2015, AmeriFlux BASE) are widely used to benchmark models and remote-sensing products. This study addresses one of the major challenges facing model-data integration: To what spatial extent do flux measurements taken at individual eddy-covariance sites reflect model- or satellite-based grid cells? We evaluate flux footprints—the temporally dynamic source areas that contribute to measured fluxes—and the representativeness of these footprints for target areas (e.g., within 250–3000 m radii around flux towers) that are often used in flux-data synthesis and modeling studies. We examine the land-cover composition …

Guidelines For The Use And Interpretation Of Assays For Monitoring Autophagy (4th Edition), Daniel Klionsky, Rodrigo Franco, Guangchao Sun, Richard Wilson, More Than 2000 Coauthors

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to …

Continuous In Situ Soil Nitrate Sensors: The Importance Of High-Resolution Measurements Across Time And A Comparison With Salt Extraction-Based Methods, Yunjiao Zhu, Yuncong Chen, Md. Azahar Ali, Liang Dong, Xinran Wang, Sotirios V. Archontoulis, James Schnable, Michael J. Castellano

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soil NO₃^– affects microbial processes, plant productivity, and environmental N losses. However, the ability to measure soil NO₃^– is limited by labor-intensive sampling and laboratory analyses. Hence, temporal variation in soil solution NO₃^– concentration is poorly understood. We evaluated a new potentiometric sensor that continuously measures soil solution NO₃^– concentration with unprecedented specificity due to a novel membrane that serves as a barrier to interfering anions. First, we compared sensor and salt extraction-based measurements of soil NO₃^– in well-controlled laboratory conditions. Second, using 60 d of in situ soil NO …

Colored Sweet Bell And Tapered Pepper Cultivar Evaluation For High Tunnel Production In West-Central Indiana, 2020, Petrus Langenhoven

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Sweet colored pepper is a very popular crop among small and medium-sized farm enterprises in Indiana. Especially farms selling to specialty markets or doing direct-to-consumer marketing. Growers always wonder which variety will work best for them. They might ask will this variety perform in my high tunnel. This paper report on a sweet pepper variety trial that was conducted during 2020 at the Purdue Student Farm, West Lafayette IN. Overall, most varieties performed well. Bell pepper variety Flavorburst was again a top contender. Midas (yellow bell pepper), however, was the best performing bell pepper variety. Tapered pepper varieties Carmen (red) …

2021 Standard-Size Triploid Watermelon Variety Evaluation In Indiana, Wenjing Guan, Dan Egel, Dennis Nowaskie, Dean Haseman

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

A total of 6,700 acres of watermelons were planted in Indiana in 2020 with a production value of $46.9 million (USDA 2021). Production in Indiana in 2020 was increased from 6,500 acres and $35.3 million production value in 2019. Primary watermelon type grown in Indiana is standard-sized triploid watermelons. Variety selection based on yield, disease resistance and fruit quality is a key decision in watermelon production. The objective of this study is to provide watermelon producers and seed companies with the updated information on the performance of watermelon varieties grown in Indiana.

Effects Of Using Low Tunnel And Grafted Plants For Watermelon Production Under Low Temperature Stress In Indiana, Wenjing Guan

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

This study evaluated the effect of using low tunnel and grafted plants for early-season watermelon production in Indiana. Results of the study indicated that grafted seedless watermelon plants can better tolerate cold stress in the early watermelon season compared to non-grafted seedless watermelon plants. Grafted plants with ‘Camelforce’ rootstock had better old tolerance than that of ‘Carolina Strong Back’ rootstock. The effect of using low tunnels to improve plant survival rate under extreme weather conditions is limited, which depend on temperate stress and cold tolerance of the plants.

2021 Personal-Size Triploid Watermelon Variety Evaluation In Indiana, Wenjing Guan, Dan Egel, Dennis Nowaskie, Dean Haseman

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Personal-size triploid watermelons are usually defined as weighing 4.4 to 8.8 lbs (Vinson et al., 2010). The ideal size is about 6-7 lbs. They open have firm flesh and high lycopene content and attract certain consumers. This variety trial included 12 personal-size triploid watermelons. Yield and fruit quality parameters were evaluated.

Nitrogen Response Functions Targeted To Technology Extrapolation Domains In Ethiopia Using Ceres-Maize, Feyera Merga Liben, Charles S. Wortmann, Haishun Yang, Tsegaue Tadesse, Z. P. Stewart, D. Wegary, W. Mupangwa

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The profitability of fertilizer-N use can be optimized using N response functions specific to climate-based technology extrapolation domains (TED). Crop growth simulation can complement field research for targeting of response functions. The objective of this study was to target maize (Zea mays L.) N response functions to seven TED in Ethiopia through CERES-Maize simulation of continuous maize over 30 yr. The complete factorial set of treatments included seven levels of N in 25 kg ha⁻¹ increments under no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems. The CERES-Maize simulated experiments were done for two or three sites per TED. Nitrogen …