Agriculture Commons^™

Sustainable Approach To Produce Bioethanol From Karanja (Pongamia Pinnata) Oilseed Residue, Pooja Doshi, Gopal Srivastava

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Agricultural biomass is the world's largest, most sustainable, and most promising renewable energy source. This study investigated the potential of Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) oilseed residual waste (defatted kernel, hull, and their mixture) as a source of ethanol. The pretreatment of the finely ground samples was carried out using dilute sulfuric acid (0.5%) hydrolysis at a higher temperature of 121 °C and 15 psi pressure for 90 min. The pretreatment usually removes the lignin and facilitates the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses. They were further hydrolyzed using 5% H_2SO_4 at 50 °C for 70 h. The analyses of hydrolyzed products have …

Carbon Farming In Wa, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia, Department Of Regional Development And Lands, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

Fact sheets:

1. Applying biochar to improve soil quality and crop productivity

2. Reducing methane emissions from cattle using feed additives

3. Cattle breeding for lower greenhouse gas emissions

4. Managing genetic codes to reduce methane emissions from cattle

5. Managing pastures and stocking rate to reduce methane emissions from cattle

6. Claying as a method of increasing soil carbon content

7. Green and brown manuring as part of carbon farming

8. Permanent environmental plantings to earn carbon credits

9. Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils

10. Sheep genetics in methane reduction

11. Managing sheep pastures to reduce methane production …

An Analysis Of Consumer Preferences For Grass-Fed Versus Grain-Fed Beef, Bo Lin

LSU Master's Theses

As a consequence of the growing concerns about human health and the environment, consumers are becoming more interested in grass-fed beef than conventional grain-fed beef. Therefore, the study of consumers’ preference towards grass-fed versus grain-fed beef steak is the focus of research. In this paper, 2,000 respondents who indicate they have eaten grass fed beef in the past years and 2,000 respondents that complete a nationally representative sample is the general population. Conjoint analysis is utilized to analyze the preference of consumers. Participants are presented ten hypothetical beef steaks to rate. All steaks are identical excluding their product type, source …

Quality Of Care: Analyzing The Relationship Between Hospital Quality Score And Total Hospital Costs, Jordan Andrew Newell

LSU Master's Theses

As healthcare costs and premiums have increased in the recent past, hospitals are forced to try to provide healthcare on tight budgets. In many cases, quality is often sacrificed in an effort to manage patient wait-times and costs. This research attempted to add to the existing body of knowledge of quality of care by defining a relationship between quality of care provided and total hospital costs. This study used the 2006 American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey Database and the 2006 Hospital Compare dataset to meet the data requirements for the study. A log-log, as well as a translog, cost function …

Assessing The Efficiency Of Alternative Best Management Practices To Reduce Nonpoint Source Pollution In The Broiler Production Region Of Louisiana, Bryan Gottshall

LSU Master's Theses

The Louisiana broiler production region is located in North Central and Northwestern Louisiana. The region consists of twelve parishes in Northwestern and North Central Louisiana. The broiler production region is a significant contributor of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution to nearby waterways. This pollution is a consequence of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus runoff caused by agricultural production. NPS pollution is difficult to mitigate due to uncertainties in its point of origin as well as a host of other factors ranging from rainfall to topographical parameters. Best Management Practices (BMPS) have been shown to be a reliable method for reducing nonpoint source …

A Linear Programming Model And Partial Budget Analysis To Optimize Management Strategies Of Western Flower Thrips In Greenhouse Impatiens Production, Xiaohua Yue

LSU Master's Theses

The research problem of this thesis was to compare strategies and costs of protecting impatiens in greenhouse culture from western flower thrips that would provide a plant of acceptable quality to the market and would address the issue of development of resistance to commonly used pesticides by evaluating biopesticides. Partial budgets based on alternative strategies were identified. Six control strategies were identified from a combination of commercial growers, research experts and biopesticide recommendations from product distributors. The research-recommended strategy 6 had the highest total production cost ($197.44), while one of the grower strategies based on conventional pesticides had the lowest …

Environmental Kuznets Curve In Water Pollution: A Semiparametric Approach, Mahesh Pandit

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between pollution and per capita income generally appears as an inverted U-shaped curve. This inverted U-shaped curve is known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The shape of the curve, however, is very sensitive to the data, location and pollutant considered in the analysis. Since the early 1990s, there has been an exponential growth in the number of empirical studies in this field, but many refute the inverted U-shaped nature of the curve for pollutants across different time periods and geographical regions. This has generated an increased interest in developing a more flexible functional form for model specification …

Empirical And Simulation Essays On Analyzing A Country's Export Performance : The Case Of Ghana, Aude L. Pujula

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A large array of literature has revealed the complexity of export performance analysis. Using the case of Ghana, this dissertation, divided into three essays, seeks to provide the methodological guidance, empirical and simulation evidence necessary to analyze a country’s export performance. The choice of Ghana was motivated by the country’s growth experience, strong export and agricultural sectors and implemented reforms and programs since 1983. In the first essay, we created a new trade-weighted Cedi index or real effective exchange rate (REER) that takes into account Ghana’s most relevant patterns of trade and captures the evolution of Ghana’s export price competitiveness …

The Effects Of U.S. Shrimp Imports On The Gulf Of Mexico Dockside Price : A Source Differentiated Mixed Demand Model, Maryam Tabarestani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ever increasing demand for the shrimp products in the 1980s and 1990s caused the volume of shrimp imports to increase. The import of shrimp has had an upward trend, from 847 million pounds in 1997 to 1,636 million pounds in 2010.The imports price has declined since 1997. Along with the decrease in imports price, the U.S. domestic shrimp price has also declined. However, the annual production of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico has, in the long-run, remained relatively stable. These facts indicate that there is not the same quantity-price relation between the U.S. domestic shrimp market and shrimp …

Consumer's Preferences For Goat Meat In The United States : An Application Of Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis, Jessica Irene Hill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The meat goat industry is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors in the United States. However, there has been limited research on consumers’ preferences for goat meat; therefore, a choice experiment was used to assess consumer preferences for goat meat and/or live goats. A national online survey was conducted from April 27, 2012 to May 4, 2012. Respondents were asked to complete either the goat meat choice experiment, live goat choice experiment or both. In addition to the choice experiment, respondents answered a set of questions about goat meat consumption and purchasing behavior as well as demographics. The attributes …

Recycling In Utah: Paper, Rebecca Mills, Craig Pearson

All Current Publications

This factsheet is part of a series highlighting different recyclable commodities and focuses on paper recycling.

Scaling Food Security: A Political Ecology Of Agricultural Policies And Practices In Bukidnon, Philippines, Ryan Ehrhart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Debates over food security strategies in the Philippines have pitted the neoliberal paradigm of trade liberalization, export cropping, and chemical and biotech agricultural methods against the food sovereignty paradigm of protectionism, staple cropping, and sustainable agriculture methods.

The Philippine government has long pushed for yield increases of staples. However, there has been dissonance between governmental desires for rice self-sufficiency and pursuit of a more export-oriented agricultural economy. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Trade Organization have pressured the government of the Philippines to adopt various tenets of neoliberalism (trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, …

Northern Utah Small Cow-Calf Pasture Finished Beef Production Costs & Returns, 2012, Kynda Curtis, Trevor Knudsen, Jennifer Macadam

All Current Publications

Sample costs and returns to raise pasture-fed beef cattle for direct to consumer sales on small cow-calf operations in northern Utah are presented in this publication.

Functional Characterization Of Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase And Caffeic Acid O-Methyltransferase In Brachypodium Distachyon, Gina M. Trabucco, Dominick A. Matos, Scott J. Lee, Aaron J. Saathoff, Henry D. Priest, Todd C. Mockler, Gautam Sarath, Samuel P. Hazen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Lignin is a significant barrier in the conversion of plant biomass to bioethanol. Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) catalyze key steps in the pathway of lignin monomer biosynthesis. Brown midrib mutants in Zea mays and Sorghum bicolor with impaired CAD or COMT activity have attracted considerable agronomic interest for their altered lignin composition and improved digestibility. Here, we identified and functionally characterized candidate genes encoding CAD and COMT enzymes in the grass model species Brachypodium distachyon with the aim of improving crops for efficient biofuel production.

Results: We developed transgenic plants overexpressing artificial microRNA designed …

Enzyme Activity In Wheat Breeding Lines Derived From Matings Of Low Polyphenol Oxidase Parents, Somrudee Nilthong, Robert A. Graybosch, P. Stephen Baenziger

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in grain plays a major role in time-dependent discoloration of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) products, especially fresh noodles. Breeding wheat cultivars with low or nil PPO activity can reduce undesirable product darkening. The low PPO line PI 117635 was crossed to two low PPO wheats, IDO580 and ‘IDO377s’, to determine whether matings between wheats with low levels of grain PPO would result in complementation, such that lines with still lower or nil PPO would be generated. Progeny in a population derived from PI 117635/ IDO580 displayed no variation in PPO activity. In the F_3:4 populations …

Erratum To: Identification And Characterization Of Four Missense Mutations In Brown Midrib12 (Bmr12), The Caffeic Acid O-Methyltranferase (Comt) Of Sorghum, Scott E. Sattler, Nathan A. Palmer, Ana Saballos, Ann M. Greene, Zhanguo Xin, Gautam Sarath, Wilfred Vermerris, Jeffrey F. Pedersen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The original version of this article unfortunately contained some mistakes. The name of the enzyme “Caffeic O-methyltransferase” should be read as “Caffeic acid O-Methyltranferase” throughout the paper, including the title.

On Table 2, the fifth column should have been captured as part of the sub-heading “Unpretreated”. The corrected version is shown on the next page.

Table 2 Variation in Klason lignin content and glucose yields obtained after enzymatic saccharification at 50 °C at 60 FPU/ g cellulase of native (unpretreated) stover after 4, 20, and 96 h, and of pretreated stover after 24 h

Complete Plastid Genomes From Ophioglossum Californicum, Psilotum Nudum, And Equisetum Hyemale Reveal An Ancestral Land Plant Genome Structure And Resolve The Position Of Equisetales Among Monilophytes, Felix Grewe, Wenhu Guo, Emily A. Gubbels, A Katie Hansen, Jeffrey P. Mower

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Plastid genome structure and content is remarkably conserved in land plants. This widespread conservation has facilitated taxon-rich phylogenetic analyses that have resolved organismal relationships among many land plant groups. However, the relationships among major fern lineages, especially the placement of Equisetales, remain enigmatic.

Results: In order to understand the evolution of plastid genomes and to establish phylogenetic relationships among ferns, we sequenced the plastid genomes from three early diverging species: Equisetum hyemale (Equisetales), Ophioglossum californicum (Ophioglossales), and Psilotum nudum (Psilotales). A comparison of fern plastid genomes showed that some lineages have retained inverted repeat (IR) boundaries originating …

Indoor Application Of Attractive Toxic Sugar Bait (Atsb) In Combination With Mosquito Nets For Control Of Pyrethroid-Resistant Mosquitoes, Zachary P. Stewart, Richard M. Oxborough, Patrick K. Tungu, Matthew J. Kirby, Mark W. Rowland, Seth R. Irish

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Attractive toxic sugar bait (ATSB) sprayed onto vegetation has been successful in controlling Anopheles mosquitoes outdoors. Indoor application of ATSB has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ATSB stations positioned indoors have the potential to kill host-seeking mosquitoes and constitute a new approach to control of mosquito-borne diseases.

Methods: Insecticides were mixed with dyed sugar solution and tested as toxic baits against Anopheles arabiensis, An. Gambiae s.s. and Culex quinquefasciatus in feeding bioassay tests to identify suitable attractant-insecticide combinations. The most promising ATSB candidates were then trialed in experimental …

Genetic Dissection Of Yield And Its Component Traits Using High-Density Composite Map Of Wheat Chromosome 3a: Bridging Gaps Between Qtls And Underlying Genes, Sachin Rustgi, Mustafa N. Shafqat, Neeraj Kumar, P. Stephen Baenziger, M. Liakat Ali, Ismail M. Dweikat, B. Todd Campbell, Kulvinder Singh Gill

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Earlier we identified wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) chromosome 3A as a major determinant of grain yield and its component traits. In the present study, a high-density genetic linkage map of 81 chromosome 3A-specific markers was developed to increase the precision of previously identified yield component QTLs, and to map QTLs for biomass-related traits. Many of the previously identified QTLs for yield and its component traits were confirmed and were localized to narrower intervals. Four novel QTLs one each for shoot biomass (Xcfa2262-Xbcd366), total biomass (wPt2740-Xcfa2076), kernels/spike (KPS) (Xwmc664-Xbarc67), and Pseudocercosporella induced lodging ( …

Nutrient Partitioning And Grain Yield Of Tanam-Rnai Wheat Under Abiotic Stress, Mary J. Guttieri, Ricardo J. Stein, Brian M. Waters

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Aims — Decreased expression of TaNAM genes by RNAi results in delayed senescence and decreased grain protein, iron, and zinc concentrations. Here, we determined whether NAM expression level alters onset of senescence under stress conditions, whether delayed senescence in the TaNAM-RNAi line resulted in improved tolerance to post-anthesis abiotic stress, and determined the effects of post-anthesis abiotic stress on N and mineral remobilization and partitioning to grain.

Methods — Greenhouse-grown WT and TaNAM-RNAi wheat were characterized in two studies: three levels of N fertility or water limitation during grain fill. Studies were conducted under both optimal and heat stress …