Horticulture Commons^™

High Tunnel Pest Management - Aphids, Nick Volesky, Zachery R. Schrumm

All Current Publications

Aphids are a common pest found on high tunnel crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, grasses, and weeds. Four aphid species commonly found in Utah in high tunnels are green peach aphid (Myzus persicae), melon aphid (Aphis gossypii), potato aphid (Macrosiphum euphorbiae), and cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae). This fact sheet describes different aphids and reviews the aphid life cycle. It also addresses how to monitor for damage caused by aphids and cultural, biological, and chemical controls.

Effects Of Solid Matrix One-Step Planting Practice On Cool Season Turfgrass Germination In Unfavorable Conditions, Ben Duncan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The transition zone in the United States is a difficult area to grow and establish turfgrasses. To establish or repair damaged turfgrass areas, seed priming is an often-used practice. Turfgrass companies and researchers are expanding the practice of solid matrix priming to the practice of one step planting. These products contain seed, fertilizers, and often some type of inert matter and/or mulch. This study took place in Bowling Green, KY and Knoxville, TN during the same period to investigate the effects of using these one step planting products compared to standard cool season turfgrass seeding practices. Two Pennington and two …

Evaluation Of Broadcast Steam Application With Mustard Seed Meal In Fruiting Strawberry, Dong Sub Kim, Steven Kim, Steven A. Fennimore

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soil disinfestation with steam has potential to partially replace fumigants such as methyl bromide, chloropicrin, and 1,3-dichloropropene because it is effective, safer to apply, and has less negative impact on the environment. Here, we compared the efficacy of steam and steam + mustard seed meal (MSM) to chloropicrin on soil disinfection, plant growth, and fruit yield in a strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) fruiting field. The MSM was applied at 3368 kg·ha−1 before the steam application. Steam was injected into a 3-m-wide reverse tiller that was set to till 30 to 40 cm deep. Soil temperatures at depths of …

Nebline, April 2021

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Experiential Learning Teaches Skills and More

DIY FitBall: A Fun Fitness Activity

Recipe of the Month

Get Ready to Control Pine Tip Blight

Garden Guide

2021 Prennial Plant of the Year

Naturally Occurring Elements in Groundwater, Part 2 of a Series: Iron and Manganese

No Bull! Examine Your Sires’ Breeding Soundness

Inspiring Rich Conversations through Questions by Sarah Roberts

Become a Community Scientist by Kait Chapman

Hearto f 4-H Volunteer Award: James Blake

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

Watch Chicks Hatch on Egg Cam

4-H Achievement Celebration

Extension Calendar

2021 Weed Awareness

Controlling and Managing Phragmites

Take 2, Two …

Maize Nitrogen Management Using Reactive Sensor And Proactive Maize-N Model Via Fertigation, Mohammed Abdulridha Naser

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

Applying a portion of total nitrogen (N) during the growing season has the potential to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by achieving greater synchrony between N supply and crop N demand, allowing for responsive adjustments to actual field conditions. Three studies from 2017-2019 evaluated using reactive sensor and proactive Maize-N model for determining in-season N requirements via fertigation in corn. The first study evaluated the integration of reactive sensor and proactive Maize-N model for determining the timing and rate of in-season N via fertigation. Overall, reactive and proactive fertigation treatments reduced total N applied by 35 to 65 kg N …

The Influence Of Adjuvants On Physical Properties, Droplet-Size, And Efficacy Of Glufosinate And Dicamba Plus Glyphosate Solutions, Estefania Gomiero Polli

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

Adjuvants are used in agriculture to improve herbicide activity or application performance. The addition of adjuvants to herbicide solution can enhance its penetration, wettability, and evaporation rates by altering density, viscosity, contact angle between the droplet and plant surface, and droplet surface tension. Furthermore, those alterations in the physical properties of the herbicide solution can result in changes in the droplet-size distribution that directly impact herbicide efficacy. The adoption of glufosinate-based herbicide programs has increased with the widespread occurrence of glyphosate-resistance (GR) weeds in recent years. Also, tank mixture of dicamba and glyphosate has been largely adopted for broad-spectrum weed …

Comparing A Mixed Model Approach To Traditional Stability Estimators For Mapping Genotype By Environment Interactions And Yield Stability In Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.], Mary M. Happ, George L. Graef, Haichuan Wang, Reka Howard, Luis Posadas, David L. Hyten

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Identifying genetic loci associated with yield stability has helped plant breeders and geneticists begin to understand the role and influence of genotype by environment (GxE) interactions in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] productivity, as well as other crops. Quantifying a genotype’s range of performance across testing locations has been developed over decades with dozens of methodologies available. This includes directly modeling GxE interactions as part of an overall model for yield, as well as methods which generate overall yield “stability” values from multi-environment trial data. Correspondence between these methods as it pertains to the outcomes of genome wide association studies …

Soil Erosion Modelling: A Bibliometric Analysis, Nejc Bezak, Matjǎz Mikǒs, Pasquale Borrelli, Christine Alewell, Dinesh Panday, Panos Panagos, 59 Co-Authors

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soil erosion can present a major threat to agriculture due to loss of soil, nutrients, and organic carbon. Therefore, soil erosion modelling is one of the steps used to plan suitable soil protection measures and detect erosion hotspots. A bibliometric analysis of this topic can reveal research patterns and soil erosion modelling characteristics that can help identify steps needed to enhance the research conducted in this field. Therefore, a detailed bibliometric analysis, including investigation of collaboration networks and citation patterns, should be conducted. The updated version of the Global Applications of Soil Erosion Modelling Tracker (GASEMT) database contains information about …

Genetic Diversity Of Purple Passion Fruit, Passiflora Edulis F. Edulis, Based On Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers Discovered Through Genotyping By Sequencing, Nohra Cecilia Rodriguez Castillo, Xingbo Wu, María Isabel Chacón, Luz Marina Melgarejo, Matthew Wohlgemuth Blair

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Orphan crops, which include many of the tropical fruit species used in the juice industry, lack genomic resources and breeding efforts. Typical of this dilemma is the lack of commercial cultivars of purple passion fruit, Passiflora edulis f. edulis, and of information on the genetic resources of its substantial semiwild gene pool. In this study, we develop single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for the species and show that the genetic diversity of this fruit crop has been reduced because of selection for cultivated genotypes compared to the semiwild landraces in its center of diversity. A specific objective of the present study …

Mental Model-Based Repeated Multifaceted (Mrm) Intervention Design: A Conceptual Framework For Improving Preventive Health Behaviors And Outcomes, Mazbahul G. Ahamad, Fahian Tanin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Objective: Field interventions employed to improve preventive health behaviors and outcomes generally use well established approaches; however, recent studies have reported that health education and promotional interventions have little to no impact on health behaviors, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to develop a conceptual framework to improve intervention designs that would internalize these concerns and limitations.

Results: We identified three major experimental design- and implementation-related concerns associated with mental models, including the balance between the treatment and control groups, the treatment group’s willingness to adopt suggested behaviors, and the type, length, frequency, intensity, and sequence of treatments. …

Pie/Decorative Pumpkin Cultivar Evaluation, Chris Smigell, John Strang, John Snyder, Emily Pfeufer, Bob Perry, Emily Dewitt

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

Fourteen pie and decorative pumpkin cultivars were evaluated in a replicated trial to determine their performance under Central Kentucky growing conditions. Plants were grown using standard commercial growing practices, using raised beds with trickle tube irrigation and fertigation, and covered with black plastic film. Fungicides and insecticides were applied following University of Kentucky Extension guidelines. Yields per-acre, fruit dimensions, weights and sugar contents were measured. Cultivars were also evaluated for visual attributes, such as size- and color uniformity and stem attractivness. Bisbee Gold’, ‘Baby Wrinkles’, ‘Darling’, ‘Fall Splendor Plus’, ‘Jack Sprat’, ‘Little Giant’ and ‘Cinnamon Girl’ were the best overall …

Grass Bud Responses To Fire In A Semiarid Savanna System, Quinn A. Hiers, Morgan L. Treadwell, Matthew B. Dickinson, Kathleen L. Kavanagh, Alexandra G. Lodge, Heath D. Starns, Doug R. Tolleson, Dirac Twidwell, Carissa L. Wonkka, William E. Rogers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Increasingly, land managers have attempted to use extreme prescribed fire as a method to address woody plant encroachment in savanna ecosystems. The effect that these fires have on herbaceous vegetation is poorly understood. We experimentally examined immediate (<24 hr) bud response of two dominant graminoids, a C₃ caespitose grass, Nassella leucotricha, and a C₄ stoloniferous grass, Hilaria belangeri, following fires of varying energy (J/m² ) in a semiarid savanna in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion of Texas. Treatments included high- and low-energy fires determined by contrasting fuel loading and a no burn (control) treatment. Belowground axillary buds were counted and their activities classified to determine immediate effects …

Diagnostic Walkabouts: Seventeen Years Of Specialized Training For Horticultural Professionals, Timothy J. Malinich, Jacqueline Kowalski, Charles Behnke

Journal of Extension

A diagnostic walkabout (DW) is an in-field diagnostic training program for professionals in the green industry (greenhouse, landscape, nursery, and turf businesses). DWs have been scheduled annually since 2002 and are easily replicable, fee-based programs that provide cost recovery. DWs also serve as a mentoring program for new Extension educators. Four generations of Extension Educators have participated. Recently, the annual program has been sponsored by state and regional trade associations. What began as an educational outreach program has become a bridge spanning Extension, trade associations, businesses, and generations of Extension educators.

Effects Of Intraguild Interactions On Anticarsia Gemmatalis And Chrysodeixis Includens Larval Fitness And Behavior In Soybean, Sabrina Ongaratto, Edson Ll Baldin, Thomas E. Hunt, Debora G. Montezano, Emily A. Robinson, Maria C. Dos Santos

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Crop pest management requires an understanding of the complex interactions among species that potentially impact crop yield. In soybean, the velvetbean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis (Hübner), and the soybean looper, Chrysodeixis includens (Walker), are described as key pests, sharing the same feeding guild. We assessed the intraguild interactions of these species under laboratory conditions. Fitness cost study was conducted to examine the influence of competition on insect development. A video tracking system was used to evaluate behavioral parameters during larval interactions in scenarios with and without food availability. RESULTS: In the fitness cost assay, pupal weight was not significantly affected, …

Microbial Community Field Surveys Reveal Abundant Pseudomonas Population In Sorghum Rhizosphere Composed Of Many Closely Related Phylotypes, Dawn Chiniquy, Elle M. Barnes, Jinglie Zhou, Kyle Hartman, Xiaohui Li, Amy Sheflin, Ellen Marsh, Jessica Prenni, Adam M. Deutschbauer, Daniel P. Schachtman, Susannah G. Tringe

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

While the root-associated microbiome is typically less diverse than the surrounding soil due to both plant selection and microbial competition for plant derived resources, it typically retains considerable complexity, harboring many hundreds of distinct bacterial species. Here, we report a time-dependent deviation from this trend in the rhizospheres of field grown sorghum. In this study, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to determine the impact of nitrogen fertilization on the development of the root-associated microbiomes of 10 sorghum genotypes grown in eastern Nebraska. We observed that early rhizosphere samples exhibit a significant reduction in overall diversity due to a high …

Utility Of Climatic Information Via Combining Ability Models To Improve Genomic Prediction For Yield Within The Genomes To Fields Maize Project, Diego Jarquin, Natalia De Leon, Cinta Romay, Martin Bohn, Edward S. Buckler, Ignacio Ciampitti, Jode Edwards, David Ertl, Sherry Flint-Garcia, Michael A. Gore, Christopher Graham, Candice N. Hirsch, James B. Holland, David Hooker, Shawn M. Kaeppler, Joseph Knoll, Elizabeth C. Lee, Carolyn J. Lawrence-Dill, Jonathan P. Lynch, Stephen P. Moose, Seth C. Murray, Rebecca Nelson, Torbert Rocheford, James C. Schnable, Patrick S. Schnable, Margaret Smith, Nathan Springer, Peter Thomison, Mitch Tuinstra, Randall J. Wisser, Wenwei Xu, Jianming Yu, Aaron Lorenz

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Genomic prediction provides an efficient alternative to conventional phenotypic selection for developing improved cultivars with desirable characteristics. New and improved methods to genomic prediction are continually being developed that attempt to deal with the integration of data types beyond genomic information. Modern automated weather systems offer the opportunity to capture continuous data on a range of environmental parameters at specific field locations. In principle, this information could characterize training and target environments and enhance predictive ability by incorporating weather characteristics as part of the genotype-by-environment (G×E) interaction component in prediction models. We assessed the usefulness of including weather data variables …

A Microbiome Engineering Framework To Evaluate Rhizobial Symbionts Of Legumes, Kenjiro W. Quides, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Background

For well over a century, rhizobia have been recognized as effective biofertilizer options for legume crops. This has led to the widespread use of rhizobial inoculants in agricultural systems, but a recurring issue has emerged: applied rhizobia struggle to provide growth benefits to legume crops. This has largely been attributed to the presence of soil rhizobia and has been termed the ‘rhizobial competition problem.’

Scope

Microbiome engineering has emerged as a methodology to circumvent the rhizobial competition problem by creating legume microbiomes that do not require exogenous rhizobia. However, we highlight an alternative implementation of microbiome engineering that focuses …

Effects Of Foliar Fungicide On Yield, Micronutrients, And Cadmium In Grains From Historical And Modern Hard Winter Wheat Genotypes, Hollman Motta-Romero, Ferdinand Niyongira, Jeffrey D. Boehm Jr, Devin J. Rose

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Plant breeding and disease management practices have increased the grain yield of hard winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) adapted to the Great Plains of the United States during the last century. However, the effect of genetic gains for seed yield and the application of fungicide on the micronutrient and cadmium (Cd) concentration in wheat grains is still unclear. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of fungicide application on the productivity and nutritional quality of wheat cultivars representing 80 years of plant breeding efforts. Field experiments were conducted over two crop years (2017 and 2018) with eighteen …

Nebline, March 2021

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Naturally Occurring Elements in Groundwater - Part 1 of a Series — Calcium and Magnesium

Celebrate National Nutrition Month

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

2021 All-America Selections Vegetable Winners

Starting Seeds Indoors

Garden Guide Things to Do This Month

Planning for Spring Calving Season

Chemigation Trainings

2021 Nebraska On-Farm Research Annual Results Update Meetings

Houseplants: Simple Solutions to Plant Pests

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Whitney Lehn

Meet 2020–2021 4-H Council

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

Private Pesticide Applicator Trainings by Zoom

EXTENSION CALENDAR

Upcoming Early Childhood Trainings

Cultivating Hops For Cone Production In Nebraska, Stacy A. Adams

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The hop cone is the primary product of agronomic value when growing Humulus lupulus L. (common hop). Cones are modified stem and leaf structures that protect the female flower cluster that forms chemical compounds important for flavoring beer and other uses. The majority of hops in the United States (~96%) is grown in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Hops can be grown in very diverse climates, but it is the climatic consistency of the Pacific NW that provides product consistency and reasoning commercial hops production is prevalent in the region. Hops is a niche crop outside of the …