Horticulture Commons^™

Asparagus (Asparagus Officinalis L.) Root Distribution: Cultivar Differences In Mature Plantings, Daniel Drost

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Annual plant growth patterns and seasonal conditions have both been shown to influence asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) root development over time. Root biomass and distribution changes in mature asparagus cultivars are herein illustrated and described. Asparagus root length density and biomass were estimated from soil cores using a systematic field sampling approach each spring. Soil cores (0.9 m deep) were divided into 0.15 m lengths and fleshy roots collected from the soil. Root length density and dry weights were determined and root distribution maps generated from collected data. As asparagus plantings matured, the sampling year had a significant influence …

A Follow-Up Survey To Assess Stakeholders’ Perspectives On Weed Management Challenges And Current Practices In Nebraska, Usa, Shawn T. Mcdonald, Debalin Sarangi, Jennifer M. Rees, Amit J. Jhala

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Stakeholders across the state of Nebraska, USA, were surveyed in 2019–2020 to assess problem weeds and weed management practices in agronomic crops. A total of 420 complete responses were obtained across four Nebraska districts (Northeast, Panhandle, Southeast, and West Central). Accumulated across the state, 65.5% of farmed or scouted crop ground in Nebraska was under no-till production, with the major crops being corn and soybean representing 39.3% and 30.7% of agronomic crop production area, respectively. Palmer amaranth, horseweed, waterhemp, kochia, and giant ragweed were ranked the most problematic weeds. In a 2014–2015 survey, Palmer amaranth was the sixth most problematic …

The Evolving Definition Of Plant Cell Type, Sahand Amini, Jeffrey J. Doyle, Marc Libault

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In 1665 Robert Hooke, looking at cork through his microscope, discovered that plants are composed of elementary structures he named “cells”. Variation in the expression of a single genome in a complex eukaryotic organism guides the initiation, maturation, physiology, and biochemistry of cells with different shapes and sizes, playing different structural and functional roles in space and time. How many kinds of cells—”cell types”— an organism possesses of course depends on the organism’s cellular complexity, but the plasticity within a cell type fuels the emergence of the concept of cell state (Figure 1). The transition between cell states is driven …

Shortening Harvest Interval, Reaping Benefits? A Study On Harvest Practices In Oil Palm Smallholder Farming Systems In Indonesia, Rosanne E. De Vos, Lisa Nurfalah, Fatima A. Tenorio, Ya Li Lim, Juan Pablo Monzon, Christopher R. Donough, Hendra Sugianto, Asri A. Dwiyahreni, Nurul L. Winarni, Nadia Mulani, Gilang Ramadhan, Muhammad Ali Imran, Antonius P. Tito, Pandu Sulistiawan, Muhammad Khoirul, Rana Farrasati, Iput Pradiko, Patricio Grassini, Maja Slingerland

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

CONTEXT: Smallholders are responsible for a large share of global palm oil production. Yet, in Indonesia, the main palm oil producing country, smallholders’ yields remain low. Better management practices, including short harvest interval (HI, the number of days between two harvest rounds), could help to raise smallholder yields. However, at present, HI is long in smallholder fields and the drivers underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood.

OBJECTIVE: We explored agronomic, socio-economic, and institutional factors that underlie harvesting practices in independent oil palm smallholder farming systems in Indonesia to assess scope for sustainable intensification through shorter HI and reduced …

Exotic Herbivores And Fire Energy Drive Standing Herbaceous Biomass But Do Not Alter Compositional Patterns In A Semiarid Savanna Ecosystem, Virginia D. Preiss, Carissa L. Wonkka, Devan A. Mcgranahan, Alexandra G. Lodge, Matthew B. Dickinson, Kathleen L. Kavanagh, Heath D. Starns, Douglas R. Tolleson, Morgan L. Treadwell, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, William E. Rogers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Questions: Fire regime alterations are pushing open ecosystems worldwide past tipping points where alternative steady states characterized by woody dominance prevail. This reduces the frequency and intensity of surface fires, further limiting their effectiveness for controlling cover of woody plants. In addition, grazing pressure (exotic or native grazers) can reinforce woody encroachment by potentially reducing fine-fuel loads. We investigated the effects of different fire energies on the herbaceous plant community, together with mammalian wildlife herbivory (exotic and native combined) exclusion, to inform best management practices.

Location: Texas semi-arid savanna, southern Great Plains, USA.

Methods: We conducted an …

Black Experiences With Community Gardening In Southeast Louisiana, Kiarah Craft

LSU Master's Theses

Community gardens have been rising in popularity over the past few years (Mayers, 2023). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people across the United States have decided that it is crucial to grow their own food and develop sustainability within their community. Historically, Black communities have been underserved and ignored, especially in relation to food security and community safety (White, 2019, Penniman, 2018). The purpose of this study was to collect information about the effects of community-based gardening programs on Black people in Southeast Louisiana. Additionally, the researcher would like to gain knowledge regarding the reasons that Black people …

Targeted Sequencing Of The Panicum Miliaceum Gene Space And Genotyping Of Variant Sites From Population Genetics Studies, Combined In A Single Assay, As A Tool For Broomcorn Millet Assisted Breeding, Gabriele Magris, Serena Foria, Silvano Ciani, Dipak K. Santra, Ombretta Polenghi, Virna Cerne, Michele Morgante, Gabriele Di Gaspero

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a prehistorical cereal, today cultivated as a minor crop with low yields but with a renewed interest for its high water use effciency and gluten-free grains. To reverse the downward trend in broomcorn millet cultivation, the crop needs genetic improvement and creation of novel genetic variation to increase productivity. In order to facilitate genomics-assisted breeding, we designed a reduced representation genome-sequencing assay that investigates 1.8% of the nuclear DNA in a targeted and reproducible way, with an intensity of genomic sampling that is a direct function of local recombination rate. We used this …

Indigenous Lakadong Turmeric Of Meghalaya And Its Future Prospects, Manjit Kumar Ray, Dipak K. Santra, Piyush Kumar Mishra, Saurav Das

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) has long been used in traditional Indian medicine. India accounts for 80% of total global turmeric production. Lakadong turmeric gets its name from the tiny village of Lakadong, which is located in the foothills of the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, India. It is known for having a high curcumin content of more than 7%, as opposed to 2 - 4% in regular varieties. The tribes of this region brought Lakadong turmeric from the forest and domesticated it for medicinal purposes centuries ago. Growth in local coal industries and a gradual decline in the market have …

Effect Of Cutting Management On The Forage Production And Quality Of Tepary Bean (Phaseolus Acutifolius A. Gray), Travis W. Witt, Brian K. Northup, Timothy G. Porch, Santos Barrera, Carlos A. Urrea

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) is an underutilized drought tolerant annual legume, originating from the Sonoran Desert, that may be a beneficial forage/hay for beef cattle in the Southern Great Plains of the US (SGP). The SGP has erratic rainfall and periods of intermittent drought exacerbated by high summer temperatures. In 2020 and 2021, a split-plot design was used to evaluate 13 genotypes of tepary bean and a forage soybean (control) at El Reno, OK, USA to compare production of plant biomass and forage nutritive value parameters under seven harvest regimes. Genotypes were used as the main plot …

Soil Health As Influenced By The Integration Of Cover Crops And Poultry Litter In North-Central Mississippi, Nikitha Reddy Kovvuri

Theses and Dissertations

Soil health-based agricultural management practices are widely promoted to improve soil structure, infiltration and reduce erosion. This study was conducted at two locations in North-Central Mississippi to evaluate the influence of different cover crop species and poultry litter on soil health that can impact crop production, climate change, and resilience. The results indicated that the cover crops showed a little effect on some soil health indicators compared to control treatment. However, in one location, rye, and a mixture of cover crops decreased bulk density and increased available water content and organic matter. The poultry litter had a positive effect on …

Response Of Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa L.) To Salt Stress, Bikash Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations

Lettuce is a highly nutritional crop that is sensitive to multiple stresses, including salt stress. The decreasing availability of salt-free water is posing a major challenge to growing nutritious lettuce in hydroponic systems. Despite evidence that salt stress affects yield and nutrition, its impacts on economically important growth stages are overlooked. This study addressed the knowledge gaps regarding the salt stress impact on romaine lettuce. Four independent experiments were conducted in controlled environment conditions using 2-38 lettuce genotypes, to assess the effects of salt stress at rosette or head formation. An increase in sodium chloride (NaCl) levels (0 to 150 …

Impacts Of Cover Crop, Soil Steaming, And Plastic Mulch On Field-Grown Tomato Production And Virus-Induced Gene Silencing In Antirrhinum, Penstemon, Petunia, Rosa, And Rudbeckia, Brenton Andrew Earl Breland

Theses and Dissertations

Weeds and soil-borne diseases can cause large yield losses in field-grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production. Techniques have been developed to reduce soil-based problems. In this study, we evaluated the impacts of cover crops, soil steaming, and plastic mulch to reduce weed and disease pressure in field-grown tomatoes. Four cover crop treatments were grown in the fall and winter before spring planting. Soils were steamed to a target temperature of 71.1 °C for 0, 5, or 20 minutes. Plastic mulch was also used on half of the rows. Yield, weed densities, and disease incidence were recorded.

Reduced flowering time …

Nebline, August/September 2023

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Understanding the “WHY” of Challenging Behavior in Young Children Can Help With Strategies by Hayley Jackson

5 Reasons to Support Your Farmers Market by Tara Dunker

Recipes of the Month: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins and Fresh Salsa by Kayla Colgrove

Time for Fall Lawn Seeding by Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Using Water Resources More Efficiently by Becky Schuerman

Parasitoids: Nature’s Biocontrol by Kait Chapman

Lancaster County Super Fair, Aug. 3-12, 2023

Webinars Addressing Biting Pests in Early Childhood and School Settings

Ag Landlord/Tenant Workshop

4-H Announcements for 4-H'ers or 4-H Volunteers

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: …

Screening A Set Of Tomato Genotypes For Resistance To Bacterial Wilt And A Genomic Wide Association Study And Genomic Prediction For Yield-Related Traits In ‘Lcp 85-384’. I. Sugarcane, Theresa Makawa Phiri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comprises two studies that focused on screening tomato genotypes for bacterial wilt resistance and a genome-wide association study and genomic prediction for yield-related traits in sugarcane with the aim of contributing to the breeding programs. In the first chapter, 40 tomato accessions from the USDA collection were evaluated for their resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum isolate P822 under controlled greenhouse conditions. The plants were inoculated, and disease symptoms were visually assessed. Disease severity was rated on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0 represented no wilting and 4 indicated complete leaf wilting. Among the tested accessions, five (PI …

Lunchbox Hydroponics, Stacy A. Adams

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Growing plants with hydroponics is less complicated than it may appear when the fundamentals of the system are understood. This publication provides instruction on the construction of a simple hydroponic prototype suitable for school or youth education programs. The fundamentals of hydroponics, basic design of a solution system, seed starting, creating a nutrient solution, and plant care are explored through this engaging project. This prototype can successfully be used to grow small edible and herb plants in the classroom or at home.

Evaluation Of Drought Tolerance In Usda Tomato Germplasm And Genome-Wide Association Study And Genomic Prediction Of Fusarium Wilt Resistance In Common Bean Core Collection, Kenani Edward Chiwina

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drought stress and Fusarium wilt disease present significant challenges to plant growth and agricultural productivity, particularly affecting crops such as tomato and common beans. To address these issues, researchers have extensively evaluated germplasm collections under field and greenhouse conditions to identify genotypes with drought tolerance and disease resistance. This study aimed to achieve two objectives. Firstly, we conducted a phenotypic evaluation of drought tolerance in USDA tomato germplasm to identify drought-tolerant accessions for future breeding programs targeting enhanced drought tolerance in tomato cultivars. Secondly, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic prediction (GP) on USDA common bean germplasm …

Evaluation Of Biochar Rate And Hemp Cultivar For The Phytoremediation Of Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil From The Tar Creek Superfund Site, Dietrich Thurston

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soil contamination by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) at the Tar Creek Superfund site in Northeast Oklahoma remains a threat to the environment and local ecosystem. Phytoremediation by industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and the use of biochar (BC) have been independently shown to be effective methods to remediate heavy-metal-contaminated soils. The objective of this greenhouse study was to evaluate the effects of industrial hemp cultivar (‘Carmagnola’ and ‘Jinma’), BC rate (0, 2, 5, and 10% by volume), soil contamination level (low, medium, and high), and their interactions on above- and belowground (AG and BG, respectively) plant dry …

Salinity In Propagation: Germination And Juvenile Acclimatization Of Wetland Halophytes Using Saline Irrigation, Morgan Tomlin

All Theses

The introduction of poor water quality into commercial nursery crop production is predicated on optimized methods that apply saline irrigation without compromising plant success and health. Halophytes have many mechanisms of salt tolerance; however, these are greatly tied to physiological and developmental maturity. Thus, evaluating salt tolerance of halophytic crops (Hibiscus moscheutos and Kosteletzkya virginica) during seed germination and juvenile phases of life may provide insight into the efficacy of integrating poor quality water in horticultural operations.

Four seed priming methods (hydropriming, proline priming, low concentration halopriming, and high concentration halopriming) were evaluated as pre-sowing techniques to ameliorate …

Evaluating The Effect Of Biochar Soil Amendments On Belonolaimus Longicaudatus Populations Damaging Bermudagrass In South Carolina, Malone Thomason

All Theses

Belonolaimus longicaudatus Rau, (1958) (sting nematode) is a prevalent plant-parasitic nematode found in association with Cynodon spp. (bermudagrass) in South Carolina (Ye et al., 2012). Due to the persistence of the pest, long-term management strategies are necessary. Applications of biochar and compost amendments have reduced nematodes in various crop systems, but research on turfgrass systems is limited. The objectives of the studies were to determine: (1) The effect of topdressing or soil incorporated biochar amendments on sting nematode populations, and (2) The effect of topdressing or soil incorporated amendments on turf quality. A field study was established to examine topdressings …

Increasing Rye Cover Crop Biomass Production After Corn Residue Removal To Balance Economics And Soil Health, Sabrina J. Ruis, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Paul J. Jasa, Glen Slater, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Low or variable cover crop (CC) biomass production could limit CC benefits. Longer CC growing periods via late termination could increase CC benefits, especially under limited crop residue return. We studied whether early (2–3 wk before planting)- or late (at planting)-terminated winter rye (Secale cereale L.) CC maintains soil properties, crop yields, and farm income under 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal in rainfed and irrigated no-till in the U.S. Great Plains after 6 yr. Early-terminated CCs produced < 1 Mg ha^-1 of biomass while late-terminated CCs averaged 1.6 Mg ha^-1 at the rainfed …