Agriculture Commons^™

Sustainable And Organic Beekeeping In Chester County, John Pisciotta

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor John Pisciotta, Biology - Sustainable and Organic Beekeeping in Chester County

Propagation Of Bananas, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Horticulture factsheets

Tissue culture is the best method for propagating bananas. It ensures they are true to type and free from pests and diseases.

Check with Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development quarantine officer before bringing tissue culture material into Western Australia.

However, planting with bits is cheap and guarantees that new diseases are not introduced.

Optimal Stomatal Theory Predicts Co2 Responses Of Stomatal Conductance In Both Gymnosperm And Angiosperm Trees, Anna Gardner, Mingkai Jiang, David S. Ellsworth, A. Robert Mackenzie, Jeremy Pritchard, Martin Karl Friedrich Bader, Craig V.M. Barton, Carl Bernacchi, Carlo Calfapietra, Kristine Y. Crous, Mirindi Eric Dusenge, Teresa E. Gimeno, Marianne Hall, Shubhangi Lamba, Sebastian Leuzinger, Johan Uddling, Jeffrey Warren, Göran Wallin, Belinda E. Medlyn

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

Optimal stomatal theory predicts that stomata operate to maximise photosynthesis (Anet) and minimise transpirational water loss to achieve optimal intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE). We tested whether this theory can predict stomatal responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2), and whether it can capture differences in responsiveness among woody plant functional types (PFTs). We conducted a meta-analysis of tree studies of the effect of eCO2 on iWUE and its components Anet and stomatal conductance (gs). We compared three PFTs, using the unified stomatal optimisation (USO) model to account for confounding effects of leaf–air vapour pressure difference (D). We expected smaller gs, but …

Invasive Annual Grasses—Reenvisioning Approaches In A Changing Climate, David Archer, David Toledo, Dana M. Blumenthal, Justin Derner, Usda Ars Burns, Oregon, Kirk Davies, Erik Hamerlynck, Roger Sheley, Pat Clark, Fred Pierson, Charlie Clements, Beth Newingham, Brian Rector, John Gaskin, Carissa L. Wonkka, Kevin Jensen, Tom Monaco, Lance T. Vermeire, Stephen L. Young

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

For nearly a century, invasive annual grasses have increasingly impacted terrestrial ecosystems across the western United States. Weather variability associated with climate change and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are making even more difficult the challenges of managing invasive annual grasses. As part of a special issue on climate change impacts on soil and water conservation, the topic of invasive annual grasses is being addressed by scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service to emphasize the need for additional research and future studies that build on current knowledge and account for (extreme) changes in abiotic and biotic conditions. Much research …

Banana Management In The Ord River Irrigation Area (Oria), Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Horticulture factsheets

The Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) is suitable for growing bananas. However, due to the local climate, management is slightly different to other Western Australian growing regions such as Carnarvon.

There are many considerations when planning to establish a banana plantation. A summary of these practices is given below. For more specific information on each practice see the other documents in this series.

2023 Nebraska Crop Production Budgets Higher Costs And Risks, Glennis Mcmclure

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska crop budgets are available for the 2023 production season. The 84 budgets indicate cost of production increases. Estimated average economic or total costs per bushel for 2023 corn production are expected to be at least 23% to 25% greater than last year. Soybeans are estimated to be 13% to 19% more in economic costs per bushel, with wheat production costs having jumped over 20% compared to last year and running as high as 63% higher over the last two years combined. Cost scenarios for individual producers can vary based on their timing of input purchases and price variabilities.

What Factors Make Consumers In The Usa Buy Hemp Products? Evidence From Nielsen Consumer Panel Data, Gwanseon Kim, Mark Tyler

Faculty Publications

This study aims to identify critical consumer-demographic characteristics associated with the consumption of products containing hemp and investigate their effect on total expenditure in the USA. To estimate the likelihood of market participation and consumption level, the Heckman selection model is employed utilizing Nielsen consumer panel data from 2008 to 2015. Using a Heckman selection model, this study finds that socio-demographic characteristics, especially income, age, and education, play an important role in explaining purchases of and demand for different categories of hemp products. Noteworthy is the finding that the role of the age of the household head is mixed with …

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2022, Nathan A. Slaton, Mike Daniels

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

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

Effective Farm Management Promotes Native Amf And Benefit Organic Farming Systems, Pushpa Soti, Rupesh R. Kariyat, Alexis Racelis

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Highlights

• Agricultural practices have significant influence on the AMF community dynamics.

• Soil nutrients regulate AMF spore abundance and diversity.

• Using grass cover crops can promote native AMF in farms.

Abstract

Using soil inoculants containing naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms has become a popular practice in sustainable agriculture. However, an understanding of the environmental variables that affect plant-microbe interactions and the benefit of using commercial inoculum is relatively sparse. To address this, we examined the efficiency of three different methods to inoculate AMF (Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi) in organic vegetable farms in south Texas: cover cropping, application of farm-produced (indigenous) AMF inoculum, …

Potassium Fertilizer Rate Recommendations: Does Accounting For Soil Stock Of Potassium Matter?, Kimberly B. Oliver, Michael P. Popp, Di Fang, John D. Anderson, Nathan A. Slaton, Gerson L. Drescher, Trenton L. Roberts, Jada Thompson

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Profitability, yield, and fertilizer use are compared across three different potassium (K) fertilizer rate recommendation ideologies. Existing agronomic, “build and maintain” rate recommendations (KE) are compared to profit-maximizing rates with and without taking long-run soil-test K (STK) implications into account. Regardless of starting STK, K use equilibrated over the course of 3 years irrespective of ideology. Since taking long-run STK into account did not alter ending STK and only led to a miniscule yield effect, we encourage producers to use annual profit-maximizing K rates that were 3–11% lower than KE rates and generated more profit with minimal yield loss.

Estimating The Demand For Groundwater: A Second-Stage Hedonic Land Price Analysis For The Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, Arkansas, Kent Kovacs, Sheby Rider

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

We estimate the benefits of the saturated thickness (water-bearing porous material) of the alluvial aquifer in Arkansas through an application of the hedonic price model to the sale of agricultural land. There is evidence from the first-stage analysis of diminishing returns from increasing saturated thickness. Using a survey of farmer operators’ preferences and socioeconomic characteristics, we recover the underlying demand function for saturated thickness in a second-stage analysis. Shifts in the demand function reveal that produced/social capital can be a substitute or a complement to saturated thickness, and human capital is a substitute for saturated thickness.

Quantifying Wheat Blast Disease Induced Yield And Production Losses Of Wheat: A Quasi-Natural Experiment, Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb, David P. Hodson, Timothy J. Krupnik, Kai Sonder

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Applying the difference-in-difference (DID) estimation procedure, this study quantifies the wheat blast (Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum) induced losses in wheat yield, quantity of wheat sold, consumed, or stored, as well as wheat grain value in Bangladesh in 2016 following a disease outbreak that affected over 15,000 ha. Estimates show that the blast-induced yield loss was 540 kg ha⁻¹ on average for households in blast-affected districts. Estimated total wheat production loss was approximately 8,205 tons worth USD 2.1 million in during the 2016 outbreak. Based on these insights, we discuss the need for long-term assured investment and concerted research …

Biosynthesis Of Chlorophyll And Other Isoprenoids In The Plastid Of Red Grape Berry Skins, António Teixeira, Henrique Noronha, Sarah Frusciante, Gianfranco Diretto, Hernâni Gerós

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite current knowledge showing that fruits like tomato and grape berries accumulate different components of the light reactions and Calvin cycle, the role of green tissues in fruits is not yet fully understood. In mature tomato fruits, chlorophylls are degraded and replaced by carotenoids through the conversion of chloroplasts in chromoplasts, while in red grape berries, chloroplasts persist at maturity and chlorophylls are masked by anthocyanins. To study isoprenoid and lipid metabolism in grape skin chloroplasts, metabolites of enriched organelle fractions were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMS) and the expression of key genes was evaluated by real-time …

Forecasting Table Beet Root Yield Using Spectral And Textural Features From Hyperspectral Uas Imagery, Mohammad Saif, Robert Chancia, Sarah Pethybridge, Sean Murphy, Amir Hassanzadeh, Jan Van Aardt

Articles

New York state is among the largest producers of table beets in the United States, which, by extension, has placed a new focus on precision crop management. For example, an operational unmanned aerial system (UAS)-based yield forecasting tool could prove helpful for the efficient management and harvest scheduling of crops for factory feedstock. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of predicting the weight of table beet roots from spectral and textural features, obtained from hyperspectral images collected via UAS. We identified specific wavelengths with significant predictive ability, e.g., we down-select >200 wavelengths to those spectral indices …

Screening Spring Wheat Genotypes For Tadreb-B1 And Fehw3 Genes Under Severe Drought Stress At The Germination Stage Using Kasp Technology, Elsayed A. Mohamed, Asmaa A. M. Ahmed, Matías Schierenbeck, Mohamed Y. Hussein, P. Stephen Baenziger, Andreas Börner, Ahmed Sallam

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Drought stress is a major yield-limiting factor throughout the world in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), causing losses of up to 80% of the total yield. The identification of factors affecting drought stress tolerance in the seedling stage is especially important to increase adaptation and accelerate the grain yield potential. In the current study, 41 spring wheat genotypes were tested for their tolerance to drought at the germination stage under two different polyethylene glycol concentrations (PEG) of 25% and 30%. For this purpose, twenty seedlings from each genotype were evaluated in triplicate with a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in …

Dwarf Bunt In Winter Wheat, Justin Clawson, Claudia Nischwitz, Margaret Krause, Will Krause

All Current Publications

Dwarf bunt or stinking smut is a disease that impacted Utah winter wheat production in the 1930s, resulting in fields with 95% infections. Breeding and selection of resistant varieties has irradiated the disease. As organic production of winter wheat increases, selecting resistant varieties will become of utmost importance to prevent crop loss.

A Novel Insect And Pest Identification Model Based On A Weighted Multipath Convolutional Neural Network And Generative Adversarial Network, Vinita Abhishek Gupta, M.V. Padmavati, Ravi R. Saxena, Raunak Kumar Tamrakar

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Timely identification of insects and their management play a significant role in sustainable agriculture development. The proposed hybrid model integrates a weighted multipath convolutional neural network and generative adversarial network to identify insects efficiently. To address the shortcomings of single-path networks, this novel model takes input from numerous iterations of the same image to learn more specific features. To avoid redundancy produced due to multipath, weights have been assigned to each path. For Xie2 dataset, the model shows 3.75%, 2.74%, 1.54%, 1.76%, 1.76%, 2.74 %, and 2.14% performance improvement from AlexNet, ResNet50, ResNet101, GoogleNet, VGG-16, VGG-19, and simple CNN respectively. …

Regenerative Agriculture - A Literature Review On The Practices And Mechanisms Used To Improve Soil Health, Ravjit Khangura, David Ferris, Cameron Wagg, Jamie Bowyer

Natural Resources Research Articles

Conventional farming practices can lead to soil degradation and a decline in productivity. Regenerative agriculture (RA) is purported by advocates as a solution to these issues that focuses on soil health and carbon sequestration. The fundamental principles of RA are to keep the soil covered, minimise soil disturbance, preserve living roots in the soil year round, increase species diversity, integrate livestock, and limit or eliminate the use of synthetic compounds (such as herbicides and fertilisers). The overall objectives are to rejuvenate the soil and land and provide environmental, economic, and social benefits to the wider community. Despite the purported benefits …

The Impact Of Organized Activism On Technology Sharing, Ahmed Chennak, Amalia Yiannaka

Cornhusker Economics

What factors influence a firm's decision to share its technology with competitors? While patent licensing has received considerable attention in the literature, studies have typically focused on the optimal licensing contract for product and process innovations in various market settings. A key finding of this literature is that the optimal licensing strategy depends on the type of the patentee; that is, whether the patentee is a producer in the market (insider patentee) or not (outsider patentee). Little attention has been given, however, to the role the general public can play on firms' incentives to share their innovations through licensing contracts …

Investigating The Potential Role Of Termites As Pathogen Vectors In The Decline Of Ironwood Trees (Casuarina Equisetifolia) In Guam, Garima Setia

LSU Master's Theses

Termites have been found associated with the decline of Casuarina equisetifolia (ironwood), an important agro-forestry species in Guam. While the ironwood tree decline (IWTD) was first reported in 2002, its association with termites as well as with bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum and Klebsiella species (K. oxytoca and K. variicola) was determined in 2010 and 2012 respectively. In 2019, the termite species attacking the ironwood trees were identified as Nasutitermes takasagoensis, Coptotermes gestroi, and Microcerotermes crassus. However, the role of termites in IWTD is not known. Since termites are repositories of bacteria and consume wood, termite foragers might …