Horticulture Commons^™

Nebline, May 2022

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Insect and Disease Control for Organic Vegetable Gardeners by Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

An Egg-cellent Choice!

Recipe of the Month: Sweet Potatoes and Black Bean Hash by Alyssa Havlovic

It’s Time for Private Well Maintenance by Becky Scheurman

Cash Rent Survey

Composting Demonstrations

Monarchs, Migration & Milkweed by Kait Chapman

Getting Outside to Play by Hayley Jackson

4th Graders Learn About “Farm to Fork” at Ag Festival

4-H Clubs Helped at Kiwanis Karnival

Support Local 4-H Youth During “Give to Lincoln Day”

4-H Achievement Celebration

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Rick Waldron

3 Lancaster County …

Genome-Wide Association Study And Genomic Prediction For Bacterial Wilt Resistance In Common Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris) Core Collection, Bazgha Zia, Ainong Shi, Dotun Olaoye, Haizheng Xiong, Waltram Ravelombola, Paul Gepts, Howard F. Schwartz, Mark A. Brick, Kristen Otto, Barry Ogg, Senyu Chen

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is one of the major legume crops cultivated worldwide. Bacterial wilt (BW) of common bean (Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens), being a seed-borne disease, has been a challenge in common bean producing regions. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to identify SNP markers associated with BW resistance in the USDA common bean core collection. A total of 168 accessions were evaluated for resistance against three different isolates of BW. Our study identified a total of 14 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with the resistance to BW isolates 528, 557, and 597 …

Research Report: High Tunnel Tomato Fruit Cluster Pruning, Caterina Roman, Rebecca G. Sideman

Faculty Publications

Tomatoes are a high value crop grown worldwide. Indeterminate varieties are commonly grown in high tunnel structures throughout New England for the fresh market. Indeterminate tomato plants often suffer from a phenomenon called ‘June drop’ in which the plant’s first four to five cluster of fruit set perfectly but the subsequent two to three clusters have poor set and plant productivity drops suddenly. While cluster thinning (e.g., reducing the number of fruit allowed to mature per cluster) has been successfully shown to increase fruit size, it has generally not increased marketable yield. We hypothesized that reducing the fruit load by …

An Investigation Of Factors Affecting The Rooting Ability Of Hardwood Muscadine Cuttings And Genetic Diversity Of Wild And Cultivated Muscadine Grapes (Vitis Rotundifolia Michx.), Kenneth Buck

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia syn. Muscadinia rotundifolia) is a grape species native to the southeastern United States. Muscadines are one of three grape species in subgenus Muscadinia with a chromosome number of 2n=40 (V. rotundifolia, V. munsoniana, and V. popenoei), making them genetically distinct from the European wine and table grape (Vitis vinifera) and other species in subgenus Euvitis. Rooting hardwood cuttings from muscadine vines has traditionally been considered an exceptionally difficult task. Many previous studies observed almost no root formation, leading to a general consensus that muscadines should either be propagated by softwood cuttings or vegetative layering. However, the …

Economic Viability Of Weed Management Strategies In High-Tunnel Tomato, Gracie Morrison

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cost-effective weed suppression is an important consideration for tomato growers. Growers often choose methods which minimize hand labor, as hand weeding can be prohibitively expensive. This project determined economic viability of high tunnel tomatoes treated with several methods of weed control, both organic and chemical. These methods included: 2-week hand weeding, 1-week hand weeding, preemergent, straw, landscape fabric, and untreated weedy control plots. These treatments were applied to randomized blocks in a high-tunnel. Weeding, planting, and harvest were all timed to determine labor and material costs of weed management strategy implementation. After harvest, marketable yield was weighed to determine revenue. …

Integration Of Medicinal Fungi Into The Heber W. Youngken Jr. Medicinal Garden, Anthony Makashov

Senior Honors Projects

The Heber W. Youngken Jr. Medicinal Garden is a one-of-a-kind resource that houses close to 300 medicinal plants and is filled to the brim with educational opportunities. For the College of Pharmacy, this garden has been the centerpiece of many classes taught here at the University of Rhode Island and has roots as a physical teaching space. While the garden contains a plethora of plant species, medicinal fungi have yet to have been included in the garden, despite their relevance as both sources of pharmaceutical drug discovery and as natural products with inherent physiological benefits themselves. The purpose of my …

Dicamba Tank Mixtures And Formulations And Their Effects On Sensitive Crops During Cleanout Procedures, Vinicius Velho

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

The introduction of dicamba-tolerant (DT) soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L) in 2017 provided an additional tool for herbicide resistant weeds management. In the subsequent years, off-target movement of dicamba allegedly caused damage to sensitive crops and vegetation.

Possible causes of off-target movement include tank contamination, physical drift, and volatility. Additional products, such as herbicides to control grass, are often added to tank with dicamba, which is used to control broadleaf weeds, to increase the spectrum of control and application efficiency. Dicamba products registered for DT crops require the use of drift reducing …

Winter Cover Crop Impacts On Weed Dynamics In Eastern And Central Nebraska, Elizabeth Ann Oys

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

Reducing tillage in cropping systems causes weed management to be dependent on chemical and cultural methods for weed control. Over time, herbicide-resistant weeds have developed due to the continuous selection pressures from herbicides, particularly in the Midwest Corn Belt. Integrated weed management strategies, such as cover crops, can be used to mitigate some of these issues. Cover crops are primarily known for their soil health benefits, but there is evidence that cover crops can suppress weeds. However, less research has been done at the field-scale level to address cover crop impacts on the weed seedbank and aboveground weeds during the …

Regional Plant Community Differences In The Nebraska Sandhills, Travis Millikan

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

The Nebraska Sandhills is very valuable to the state of Nebraska, representing one of the most in-tact and largest grassland ecosystems in temperate regions in the world. Rangeland managers must understand plant community dynamics across the Sandhills to better inform management decisions. The first objective of this study was to evaluate plant community variability on upland Sands ecological sites across different precipitation zones in the Nebraska Sandhills. The second objective of our study was to utilize the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) to examine spatial and temporal variability in biomass production and cover on pastures of ranches analyzed in the first …

Exploration Of Genes Controlling Grain Yield Heterosis In Hybrid Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Utilizing 3ʹ Rna Sequencing, Nichole Lynn Miller

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

The implementation and future success of hybrid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is impacted by breeders’ inability to create consistent high yielding, high heterosis hybrids. This research addresses this problem by conducting an exploration of transcriptomes from hybrids and parent lines to determine what genes are active in heterotic or non-heterotic hybrids and how their level of expression can explain the phenotype of grain yield heterosis. Using hybrids that showed positive mid-parent heterosis (MPH), classified as heterotic in our study, and negative or no difference MPH hybrids, classified as non-heterotic, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) potentially related to heterosis and hybrid …

Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2021, Nathan A. Slaton

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.

Chromosome-Level Thlaspi Arvense Genome Provides New Tools For Translational Research And For A Newly Domesticated Cash Cover Crop Of The Cooler Climates, Adam Nunn, Isaac Rodríguez-Arévalo, Zenith Tandukar, Katherine Anna Frels, Adrián Contreras-Garrido, Pablo Carbonell-Bejerano, Panpan Zhang, Daniela Ramos Cruz, Katharina Jandrasits, Christa Lanz, Anthony Brusa, Marie Mirouze, Kevin Dorn, David W. Galbraith, Brice A. Jarvis, John C. Sedbrook, Donald L. Wyse, Christian Otto, David Langenberger, Peter F. Stadler, Detlef Weigel, M. David Marks, James A. Anderson, Claude Becker, Ratan Chopra

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Thlaspi arvense (field pennycress) is being domesticated as a winter annual oilseed crop capable of improving ecosystems and intensifying agricultural productivity without increasing land use. It is a selfing diploid with a short life cycle and is amenable to genetic manipulations, making it an accessible field-based model species for genetics and epigenetics. The availability of a high-quality reference genome is vital for understanding pennycress physiology and for clarifying its evolutionary history within the Brassicaceae. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of var. MN106-Ref with improved gene annotation and use it to investigate gene structure differences between two accessions (MN108 …

Managing Stress Tolerance On Warm-Season Putting Greens In The Transition Zone, Thomas Edward Walton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of warm-season putting greens in the transition zone has increased in recent years. Ultradwarf bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers x C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) is the most prevalent warm-season putting green selection in the transition zone, however, newly developed greens-type zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) cultivars represent another potential selection for golf courses. The two major limitations of warm-season grasses in the transition zone are a general lack of cold- and shade-tolerance. Protective covers are essential to protect ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens in the winter months. Unfortunately, golf courses can still experience winterkill underneath protective covers. Two field trials were conducted …

Genetic Control Of Prickles And Plant Height In Blackberry, Carmen Johns

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The fresh-market blackberry (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus Watson) industry has been expanding for the past two decades. Blackberry market growth can be attributed to many factors including expanded production regions, improved production systems, and release of superior cultivars. Blackberry breeding is a time- and labor-intensive process which would benefit from implementation of molecular markers for highly heritable, important traits. Next generation sequencing, a high-quality reference genome, and software capable of analyzing this complex genome were applied in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to reveal maker-trait associations related to prickles and plant height variation in fresh-market blackberry. In 2020 and 2021, …

Evaluation, Characterization, And Utilization Of Weed-Suppressive Sweetpotato Cultivars For Sustainable Weed Management, Isabel Schlegel Werle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is a low-technology, subsistence crop that enhances food and nutrition security particularly in developing nations. Weed interference with the crop can reduce sweetpotato storage root yields and product quality. Current weed management practices in sweetpotato include PRE or POST herbicides application, cultivation, mowing, or handweeding. Unlike row crops, herbicide options for sweetpotato are few; therefore, alternative weed control practices are needed. The overall objective of this research was to determine the weed suppressive ability of several sweetpotato cultivars. This research also provides information about cover crop use for weed suppression in sweetpotato production in Arkansas. Field …

Agricultural Intensification Can Help Protect The Amazon Forest And Reduce Global Warming / Protecting The Amazon Forest And Reducing Global Warming Via Agricultural Intensification, Fabio R. Marin, Alencar J. Zanon, Juan P. Monzon, José F. Andrade, Evandro H.F.M. Silva, Gean L. Richter, Luis A.S. Antolin, Bruna S.M.R. Ribeiro, Giovanna G. Ribas, Rafael Battisti, Alexandre B. Heinemann, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The Amazon basin includes 550 M ha covered with rainforests, with 60% of this area being in Brazil. Conversion of rainforest for soybean production raises concerns about the degree to which Brazil can reconcile production and environmental goals. Here we investigated the degree to which intensification could help Brazil produce more soybean without further encroachment of the Amazon Forest. Our analysis shows that continuation of current trends in soybean yield and area would lead to conversion of additional 5.7 M ha of forests and savannas during the next 15 years, with an associated 2550 Mt of CO2eq released into the …

Abiotic Disorders Of Tomatoes, Nick Volesky, Marion Murray, Sheriden M. Hansen, Maegen A. Lewis

All Current Publications

Monitoring tomato plants regularly from seedling to harvest allows for early detection of abnormal conditions. Although tomato plants can be attacked by a variety of living organisms (insects, mites, pathogens, vertebrates), nonliving (abiotic) conditions can cause just as much damage. Abiotic diseases in tomato plants can arise from nutrient deficiencies, temperature extremes, abnormal lighting, chemical application, changes in water uptake, mechanical damage, genetic mutations, and more. This guide will cover most of the abiotic disorders and diseases that can affect tomatoes in Utah.

Climate Change And Management Impacts On Soybean N Fixation, Soil N Mineralization, N2O Emissions, And Seed Yield, Elvis F. Elli, Ignacio A. Ciampitti, Michael J. Castellano, Larry C. Purcell, Seth Naeve, Patricio Grassini, Nicolas C. La Menza, Luiz Moro Rosso, André F. De Borja Reis, Péter Kovács, Sotirios V. Archontoulis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Limited knowledge about how nitrogen (N) dynamics are affected by climate change, weather variability, and crop management is a major barrier to improving the productivity and environmental performance of soybean-based cropping systems. To fill this knowledge gap, we created a systems understanding of agroecosystem N dynamics and quantified the impact of controllable (management) and uncontrollable (weather, climate) factors on N fluxes and soybean yields. We performed a simulation experiment across 10 soybean production environments in the United States using the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model and future climate projections from five global circulation models. Climate change (2020–2080) increased N …

Fall-Bearing Cultivars: A High Tunnel System For Early Production, Alyssa Palmer, Brent Black

All Current Publications

Fresh red raspberries are a consumer favorite in Utah and have a high value but short shelf life, making them an excellent candidate crop for local direct market sales. However, Utah’s high-elevation valleys often experience harsh winter temperatures and short growing seasons, limiting raspberry yields. Raspberry plants exhibit one of two fruiting patterns: the summer-bearing type or the fall-bearing varieties, also referred to as “ever bearers” because of their ability to produce both fall and summer crops. These may be better suited in areas with harsh winter conditions that cause cane dieback. High tunnels can be an effective tool in …

Fighting Food Insecurity In New York City: What Role For Street Trees?, Kristen Cooney

Environment and Sustainability Honors Papers

There is growing recognition that urban forests have the potential to combat food insecurity via their edible parts, namely fruits, berries, and nuts. I researched New York City’s street trees, by locating trees with edible parts within food insecure communities, to analyze this potential.