Botany Commons^™

A Symbiosis Between A Dark Septate Fungus, An Arbuscular Mycorrhiza, And Two Plants Native To The Sagebrush Steppe, Craig Lane Carpenter

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Plant roots form symbioses with various fungi, including arbuscular mycorrhizae (AMFs) and dark septate endophytes (DSEs). The symbiosis between plants and AMFs has been extensively studied and is generally considered to be mutualistic. Much less is known about the symbiosis between plants and DSE. In sagebrush habitats, DSEs are common, but their effects on the vegetation are unclear. As a first step to study these effects, I isolated and cultured a DSE from the roots of the shrub Artemisia tridentata. Based on partial sequences of five genes and phylogenetic analyses, the isolated fungus was a non-described species within the …

Sacrificial Seed’S Impact On Native Seedling Establishment In Prairie Restoration, Jacey Meier, Isabella Betzer, Laura Jackson

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Tallgrass prairie used to cover Iowa and much of the midwest– now only a small percentage of it remains. Many prairie restoration efforts are in place, but native prairie seed prices are high and seedling establishment is low. We tested how inexpensive sacrificial seed impacts the establishment of native seedlings. After planting a field with native prairie seed, we marked out six test plots and applied treatment (sacrificial seed) to three of them. We counted and evaluated the number of emerged seedlings per m2 after 4.5 months. We saw no differences in emerged seedlings per m2 between the plots with …

Influence Of Cover Crop Management Practices On Rainfed Corn Production In Semi-Arid Western Nebraska, Alexandre Tonon Rosa

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

With the increased cover crop (CC) popularity, producers of semi-arid regions of western Nebraska are questioning whether they could successfully incorporate CC into their rainfed winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-corn (Zea mays L.)-fallow rotations. The major concern is that CCs may deplete soil water affecting the subsequent crop. Therefore, three studies were established under rainfed conditions of western Nebraska to access the effects of CCs on soil water, soil compaction, nutrient cycling, weed demographics, residue coverage, and subsequent corn yield. The first study evaluated the influence of CC planting and termination times prior to corn establishment. Late termination …

Annotated Checklist Of The Vascular Plant Species Observed At The Gordon Natural Area (West Chester University, Pa) - Version Xiv, Nur Ritter

Gordon Natural Area Baseline Plant Survey Documents

No abstract provided.

Floodplain Forest Regeneration Dynamics In The Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Whitney Anne Kroschel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Floodplain forest species diversity is driven, in part, by variation in disturbance regime. Flood patterns create heterogeneity in microsite quality from small differences in elevation across a floodplain which, in turn, influence flood timing and duration. Differences in species’ regeneration niches in relation to hydrologic patterns can account for long-term coexistence of various species. In the past century floodplain forests have exhibited a wide range of changes in stand development and species composition as a result of altered hydrology in rivers and floodplains. I evaluated the role of regeneration in floodplain forest systems of the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley …

Perioperative And Oncological Outcomes Following Minimally Invasive Versus Open Pancreaticoduodenectomy For Pancreatic Duct Adenocarcinoma, Rui Sun, Jiawen Yu, Yifan Zhang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background The outcomes of minimally invasive pancreaticoduodenectomy have not been adequately compared with those of open pancreaticoduodenectomy in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We performed a meta‐analysis to compare the perioperative and oncological outcomes of these two pancreaticoduodenectomy procedures specifically in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Methods Before this study was initiated, a specific protocol was designed and has been registered in PROSEPRO (ID: CRD42020149438). Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were systematically searched for studies published between January 1994 and October 2019. …

Evaluating Opportunities For Integrated Crop Livestock Systems In Eastern Nebraska, Elizabeth Kay Christenson

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

Current agricultural systems focused on production of few commodities are facing production, economic, and environmental challenges. To address these challenges, Integrated Crop Livestock Systems (ICLS) have emerged through three primary methods 1) perennial grasslands for grazing and/or hay production, 2) crop residue grazing, and 3) cover crop grazing. To evaluate potential of ICLS mitigating current challenges, a field scale model ICLS was developed in 2015. The ICLS includes 4-ha each of ‘Newell’ smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis L.), ‘Liberty’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and ‘Shawnee’ switchgrass. The ICLS also included 8-ha of continuous corn (Zea mays L.). In …

Soil-Nitrogen, Potentially Mineralizable-Nitrogen, And Field Condition Information Marginally Improves Corn Nitrogen Management, Jason Clark, Fabián G. Fernández, Kristen S. Veum, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard Ferguson, David W. Franzen, Daniel E. Kaiser, Newell R. Kitchen, Carrie A.M. Laboski, Emerson Nafziger, Carl J. Rosen, John E. Sawyer, John F. Shanahan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Anaerobic potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) combined with preplant nitrate test (PPNT) or pre-sidedress nitrate test (PSNT) may improve corn (Zea mays L.) N management. Forty-nine corn N response studies were conducted across the U.S. Midwest to evaluate the capacity of PPNT and PSNT to predict grain yield, N uptake, and economic optimal N rate (EONR) when adjusted by soil sampling depth, soil texture, temperature, PMN, and initial NH₄–N from PMN analysis. Pre-plant soil samples were obtained for PPNT (0- to 30-, 30- to 60-, 60- to 90-cm depths) and PMN (0- to 30-cm depth) before corn planting …

Arkansas Corn And Grain Sorghum Research Studies 2019, Victor Ford, Jason Kelley, Nathan Mckinney Ii

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The 2020 Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Research Studies Series is the inaugural edition of this annual report and includes research results on all topics pertaining to corn and grain sorghum production including disease management, environmental/sustainability, irrigation, post-harvest drying, soil fertility, weed control, and research verification program results. Our objective is capturing and broadly distributing the results of research projects funded by the Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Board. The intended audience includes producers and their advisors, current investigators, and future researchers. The Series will also serve as a citable archive of research results. Research reports contained in this publication …

Phenotypic And Genotypic Studies In The Peach [Prunus Persica (L.) Batsch] And Muscadine Grape (Vitis Rotundifolia Michx.), Jennifer Anne Lewter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Peach: Peaches [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] are routinely chilled to increase shelf-life. Exposure to temperatures of 5° C for two weeks can induce chilling injury (CI) symptoms, including flesh mealiness (or wooliness) and a lack of juiciness. Phenotypic data were collected on seven biparental F1 peach populations maintained at the University of Arkansas Fruit Research Station. A genome wide association study (GWAS) was performed using TASSEL 5 which identified four quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with expressible juice, four QTLs for mealiness, five QTLs for soluble solids, and three QTLs for fruit weight. Exploiting these genetic markers could help breeders …

Leaf Traits Can Be Used To Predict Rates Of Litter Decomposition, Marc Rosenfield, Jennifer L. Funk, Jason K. Keller, Catrina Clausen, Kimberlee Cyphers

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Strong relationships exist between litter chemistry traits and rates of litter decomposition. However, leaf traits are more commonly found in online trait databases than litter traits and fewer studies have examined how well leaf traits predict litter decomposition rates. Furthermore, while bulk leaf nitrogen (N) content is known to regulate litter decomposition, few studies have explored the importance of N biochemistry fractions, such as protein and amino acid concentration. Here, we decomposed green leaves and naturally senesced leaf litter of nine species representing a wide range of leaf functional traits. We evaluated the ability of traits associated with leaf and …

Creating A Multi-Berry Shrub Via Cross Grafting, Alexa Laurent

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Grafting is a process used to physically combine two different plants together. This process allows for a scion, the branch of one plant, to be added to the rootstock, the base of another plant. Combining plants allows for more varieties of fruit to be produced in less space for fruit bearing plants and creates more opportunities for hybridization with the plants utilized. Currently, research shows that grafting is possible when two plants of the same family are used. Using blackberry and raspberry plants, this study tests if the structural integrity of the rootstock can successfully support a scion from a …

Effects Of Pyric Herbivory On Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus Spp) Habitat, Heath D. Starns, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Robert D. Elmore, Dirac Twidwell, Eric T. Thacker, Torre J. Hovick, Barney Luttbeg

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The reduction and simplification of grasslands has led to the decline of numerous species of grassland fauna, particularly grassland-obligate birds. Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus spp.) are an example of obligate grassland birds that have declined throughout most of their distribution and are species of conservation concern. Pyric herbivory has been suggested as a land management strategy for enhancing prairie-chicken habitat and stabilizing declining population trends. We assessed differences in vegetation structure created by pyric herbivory compared to fire-only treatments to determine whether pyric herbivory increased habitat heterogeneity for prairie-chickens, spatially or temporally. Our study was performed at four sites in the southern …

Metabolomic Differences Between Invasive Alien Plants From Native And Invaded Habitats, Sarah A. Skubel, Xiaoyang Su, Alexander Poulev, Llewellyn C. Foxcroft, Vyacheslav Dushenkov, Ilya Raskin

Publications and Research

Globalization facilitated the spread of invasive alien species (IAS), undermining the stability of the world’s ecosystems. We investigated the metabolomic profiles of three IAS species: Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) Datura stramonium (Solanaceae), and Xanthium strumarium (Asteraceae), comparing metabolites of individual plants in their native habitats (USA), to their invasive counterparts growing in and around Kruger National Park (South Africa, ZA). Metabolomic samples were collected using RApid Metabolome Extraction and Storage (RAMES) technology, which immobilizes phytochemicals on glass fiber disks, reducing compound degradation, allowing long-term, storage and simplifying biochemical analysis. Metabolomic differences were analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) of samples …

Leaf Traits And Performance Vary With Plant Age And Water Availability In Artemisia Californica, Jennifer L. Funk, Julie E. Larson, Gregory Vose

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Background and aims
Leaf functional traits are strongly tied to growth strategies and ecological processes across species, but few efforts have linked intraspecific trait variation to performance across ontogenetic and environmental gradients. Plants are believed to shift towards more resource-conservative traits in stressful environments and as they age. However, uncertainty in how intraspecific trait variation aligns with plant age and performance in the context of environmental variation may limit our ability to use traits to infer ecological processes at larger scales.

Methods
We measured leaf physiological and morphological traits, canopy volume, and flowering effort for Artemisia californica (California sagebrush), a …

Production And Selection Of Quality Protein Popcorn Hybrids Using A Novel Ranking System And Combining Ability Estimates, Leandra Parsons, Ying Ren, Abou Yobi, Preston Hurst, Ruthie Angelovici, Oscar Rodriguez, David R. Holding

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Popcorn varieties are agronomically sub-optimal and genetically limited compared to other maize subspecies. To increase genetic diversity and improve popcorn agronomics, dent germplasm has been introduced to popcorn with limited success and generally, major loss of popping. Between 2013 and 2018, 12 Quality Protein Popcorn (QPP) inbreds containing Quality Protein Maize (QPM) and popcorn germplasm were produced that maintained popping while carrying the opaque-2 allele conferring elevated kernel lysine. This is an opportune trait in the growing market for healthier snacks and a model for mining QPM traits into popcorn. We crossed QPP inbreds to explore the effects of heterosis …

Genomic Prediction Enhanced Sparse Testing For Multi-Environment Trials, Diego Jarquin, Reka Howard, José Crossa, Yoseph Beyene, Manje Gowda, Johannes W.R. Martini, Giovanny Covarrubias Pazaran, Juan Burgueño, Angela Pacheco, Martin Grondona, Valentin Wimmer, Boddupalli M. Prasanna

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

“Sparse testing” refers to reduced multi-environment breeding trials in which not all genotypes of interest are grown in each environment. Using genomic-enabled prediction and a model embracing genotype · environment interaction (GE), the non-observed genotype-in-environment combinations can be predicted. Consequently, the overall costs can be reduced and the testing capacities can be increased. The accuracy of predicting the unobserved data depends on different factors including (1) how many genotypes overlap between environments, (2) in how many environments each genotype is grown, and (3) which prediction method is used. In this research, we studied the predictive ability obtained when using a …

Effects Of Tank Contamination And Impact Of Drift-Reducing Agents On Weed Control In Response To Dicamba Applications, Milos Zaric

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

Availability of dicamba-tolerant (DT) crops from 2017 provided farmers with additional herbicides for weed control management in row crops. However, the technology alike this one has concerns regarding dicamba off-target movement (OTM) causing undesirable effects on sensitive vegetation. Even though dicamba has high water solubility OTM that has often been overlooked when it comes to unintended crop exposure is dicamba tank contamination. Considering the complexity of spraying equipment soybean response may be expected even when small amounts of residues are left in the spray equipment. Typically, the same field spray equipment is used to perform herbicide application through growing season …

Use Of Different Agro-Wastes In The Cultivation Of Pleurotus Ostreatus (Jacq.) Kummer, Mary O. Iwuagwu, Deborah S. Nwaukwa, Chidi E. Nwaru

Journal of Bioresource Management

Agro-wastes are abundant in both rural and urban areas and when carelessly disposed off to the environment by dumping or burning, they lead to environmental pollution, and consequently to health hazards. Growing of edible mushroom on these wastes can contribute to decrease in environment pollution. This work investigated the growth and yield of Pleurotus ostreatus on different agro-wastes: plantain midrib (PM), corn straw (CS), sugarcane bagasse (SB) and their combinations (PM+CS, PM+SB, CS+SB, CS+PM+SB) with a view to finding the best substrate for the growth of P. ostreatus. The experiment was carried out using completely randomized design with seven treatments …

Irrigation, Carbon Amelioration, Nitrogen, And Stover Removal Effects On Continuous Corn, Marty Schmer, Virginia L. Jin, Richard B. Ferguson, Brian J. Wienhold

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Corn (Zea mays L.) residue or stover is harvested as supplemental feed for livestock and is a potential feedstock for cellulosic biofuels. Limited information is available on corn stover removal effects on grain yield under different irrigation rates, nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates, and practices to maintain soil carbon (C) and minimize soil erosion. We evaluated potential interactions between irrigation rate (full or limited), C amelioration practices (cover crop, surface-applied manure, or no amelioration practice), fertilizer N management (125 or 200 kg N ha⁻¹), and stover removal (residue removal or no residue removal), on no-till continuous corn …