Other Plant Sciences Commons^™

Multiple Light Signaling Pathways Control Solar Tracking In Sunflowers, Christopher J. Brooks, Hagop S. Atamian, Stacey L. Harmer

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Sunflowers are famous for their ability to track the sun throughout the day and then reorient at night to face east the following morning. This occurs by differential growth patterns, with the east sides of stems growing more during the day and the west sides of stems growing more at night. This process, termed heliotropism, is generally believed to be a specialized form of phototropism; however, the underlying mechanism is unknown. To better understand heliotropism, we compared gene expression patterns in plants undergoing phototropism in a controlled environment and in plants initiating and maintaining heliotropic growth in the field. We …

Genetic Analysis Of Basal Stalk Rot Resistance Introgressed From Wild Helianthus Petiolaris Into Cultivated Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.) Using An Advanced Backcross Population, Zahirul I. Talukder, William Underwood, Christopher G. Misar, Xuehui Li, Gerald J. Seiler, Xiwen Cai, Lili Qi

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a serious pathogen causing severe basal stalk rot (BSR) disease on cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) that leads to significant yield losses due to insufficient resistance. The wild annual sunflower species H. petiolaris, commonly known as prairie sunflower is known for its resistance against this pathogen. Sunflower resistance to BSR is quantitative and determined by many genes with small effects on the resistance phenotype. The objective of this study was to identify loci governing BSR resistance derived from H. petiolaris using a quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping approach.

Methods: BSR …

Effects Of Rootstock And Location On Open Field ‘Bhn 589’ And ‘Nebraska Wedding’ Grafted Tomato Yield, Raihanah H. Shonerd, Ashley A. Thompson, Samuel E. Wortman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Grafted tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production is popular, particularly in high tunnels, because grafted plants can mitigate soilborne disease incidence in highly infested soils and increase water and nutrient use efficiency and crop yield and quality. However, these potential benefits are not as well documented in open field production systems with less disease pressure. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of tomato grafting on fruit yield, number, and size across 2 years (2018 and 2019) and three diverse open-field production environments in Nebraska (Lincoln, North Platte, and Dwight). At each location, a scion from one …

Evaluation Of Land Preparation Methods For Soil Stabilization, Revegetation, And Renewed Productivity In Semi-Arid Climates, Jarrett Lardy, North Dakota State University, Miranda Meehan, Aaron L. M. Daigh, James Staricka, Nathan Derby

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In the Williston Basin, land-preparation treatments have not been compared in side-by-side trials to evaluate performance for parameters such as runoff, erosion, and vegetation establishment. Thus, four treatments of wheat-straw crimping, land imprinting, wood-fiber hydromulch, and the combination of land imprinting and hydromulch were evaluated against a bare soil control in a replicated and randomized completed block field experiment near Williston, ND. Rainfall simulations were performed in September 2020 and June 2021 to examine the effectiveness of the treatments to reduce runoff and sediment losses. Vegetation establishment was also evaluated in August 2021. The wheat straw treatment reduced the equivalent …

Irrigation Increases On-Farm Soybean Yields In Water-Limited Environments Without A Trade-Off In Seed Protein Concentration, Walter D. Carciochi, Patricio Grassini, Seth Naeve, James E. Specht, Mitiku Mamo, Ron Seymour, Aaron Nygren, Nathan Mueller, Sarah Sivits, Christopher A. Proctor, Jenny Rees, Todd Whitney, N. Cafaro La Menza

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Context or problem: A trade-off between seed protein concentration (SPC) and yield has been reported for soybean. Therefore, assessing management practices that can nullify this trade-off is relevant to avoid further declines in SPC in the future as yield continues to increase. While the positive effect of irrigation on yield is well documented, only a few studies have assessed the impact of irrigation on SPC, showing conflicting results.

Objective or research question: The objective was to determine if the trade-off between seed yield and SPC persists when irrigation is applied and how management, soil, and weather factors influence the trade-off. …

Deleterious Mutations Predicted In The Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor) Maturity (Ma) And Dwarf (Dw) Genes From Whole‑Genome Resequencing, Nathan P. Grant, John J. Toy, Deanna L. Funnell, Scott E. Sattler

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] the Maturity (Ma1, Ma2, Ma3, Ma4, Ma5, Ma6) and Dwarf (Dw1, Dw2, Dw3, Dw4) loci, encode genes controlling flowering time and plant height, respectively, which are critical for designing sorghum ideotypes for a maturity timeframe and a harvest method. Publicly available whole-genome resequencing data from 860 sorghum accessions was analyzed in silico to identify genomic variants at 8 of these loci (Ma1, Ma2, Ma3, Ma5, Ma6, Dw1, Dw2, Dw3) to identify novel loss …

The Silver Bullet That Wasn’T: Rapid Agronomic Weed Adaptations To Glyphosate In North America, Christopher Landau, Kevin Bradley, Erin Burns, Michael Flessner, Karla Gage, Aaron Hager, Joseph Ikley, Prashant Jha, Amit Jhala, Paul O. Johnson, William Johnson, Sarah Lancaster, Travis Legleiter, Dwight Lingenfelter, Mark Loux, Eric Miller, Jason Norsworthy, Micheal Owen, Scott Nolte, Debalin Sarangi, Peter Sikkema, Christy Sprague, Mark Vangessel, Rodrigo Werle, Bryan Young, Martin M. Williamsii

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The rapid adoption of glyphosate-resistant crops at the end of the 20th century caused a simplification of weed management that relied heavily on glyphosate for weed control. However, the effectiveness of glyphosate has diminished. A greater understanding of trends related to glyphosate use will shed new light on weed adaptation to a product that transformed global agriculture. Objectives were to (1) quantify the change in weed control efficacy from postemergence (POST) glyphosate use on troublesome weeds in corn and soybean and (2) determine the extent to which glyphosate preceded by a preemergence (PRE) improved the efficacy and consistency of weed …

Nebline, October 2023

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Super Fair Showcases 4-H’ers Learning Experiences

4-H Youth Use Videovoice to Address Health Equity

Recipe of the Month: Jajic Middle-Eastern Cucumber Salad by Emily Gratopp

American Bittersweet Brightens Up Fall by Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Helping Children Calm Down by Hayley Jackson

Adding Wheat to Your Corn-Soybean Rotation Has Many Benefifits by John Nelson

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Kari Schepers

Be Part of Something Big! Join 4-H!

State 4-H Horse Expo Top Results

13-Year-Old Tenley Bauman Embraces 4-H Learning Experience at Fairs

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

Super Fair 4-H/FFA Top Results

State …

Did Cover Crop Or Animal Manure Ameliorate Corn Residue Removal Effects On Soil Mechanical Properties After 10 Years?, Hans W. Klopp, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Michael Sindelar, Virginia L. Jin, Marty R. Schmer, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop residue removal may negatively affect soil mechanical properties, which are key components of soil quality. To evaluate potential long-term effects, we assessed the 10-yr impact of corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal (59 % of non-grain biomass annually) on surface soil mechanical properties (0–20 cm). We also evaluated whether adding carbon (C) amendments, such as using a winter rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop or surface-applying cattle manure (24 Mg ha− 1 biannually) can ameliorate the effects of crop residue removal. This long-term study was under irrigated no-till continuous corn on a silt loam soil in south-central …

Dynamic Reconfiguration Of Switchgrass Proteomes In Response To Rust (Puccinia Novopanici) Infection, Nathan A. Palmer, Sophie Alvarez, Michael J. Naldrett, Anthony Muhle, Gautam Sarath, Serge J. Edmé, Satyanarayana Tatineni, Robert B. Mitchell, Gary Yuen

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) can be infected by the rust pathogen (Puccinia novopanici) and results in lowering biomass yields and quality. Label-free quantitative proteomics was conducted on leaf extracts harvested from non-infected and infected plants from a susceptible cultivar (Summer) at 7, 11, and 18 days after inoculation (DAI) to follow the progression of disease and evaluate any plant compensatory mechanisms to infection. Some pustules were evident at 7 DAI, and their numbers increased with time. However, fungal DNA loads did not appreciably change over the course of this experiment in the infected plants. In total, 3830 …

Lichens Of Iller Creek: A Checklist For The Iller Creek Unit, A Division Of Dishman Hills Conservation Area, Spokane Valley, Wa, Devin M. Mumey, Giovanna Bishop, Jessica L. Allen

2023 Symposium

The field of biodiversity documentation encompasses a broad range of research including new species discovery and description, compilation of species present in a given area, and investigation of interspecies interaction. In an era of increasingly devastating and rapid environmental change, documenting biodiversity has become increasingly important. Anthropogenic effects on urban-adjacent natural areas are especially significant, as they can cause numerous, often drastic, responses in ecosystems. Our objective here was to document the lichen biodiversity in a large urban-adjacent protected area: the Iller Creek Unit of the Dishman Hills Conservation Area in Spokane Valley, Washington. This unit encompasses a diversity of …

Is Climate Change Causing The Range Contraction Of Cape Rock-Jumpers (Chaetops Frenatus)?, Gregory D. Duckworth, Raquel A. Garcia, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Res Altwegg

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Species distribution models often suggest strong links between climate and species' distribution boundaries and project large distribution shifts in response to climate change. However, attributing distribution shifts to climate change requires more than correlative models. One idea is to examine correlates of the processes that cause distribution shifts, namely colonization and local extinction, by using dynamic occupancy models. The Cape Rock-jumper (Chaetops frenatus) has disappeared over most of its distribution where temperatures are the highest. We used dynamic occupancy models to analyse Cape Rock-jumper distribution with respect to climate (mean temperature and precipitation over the warmest annual quarter), …

Development And Characterization Of Rice Lines Carrying Both Sub1 And Anaerobic Germination Tolerance: Sub1a Does Not Inhibit Ag [Research Note], Georgina V. Vergara, Abdelbagi M. Ismail

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Accelerated coleoptile elongation in flooded soils allowed seedling shoots to reach the water surface to maintain gas exchange and CO₂ fixation. Rice genotypes with tolerance of flooding during germination (anaerobic germination, AG) exhibited fast coleoptile elongation as an escape mechanism. On the other hand, tolerance of complete submergence during the vegetative stage, conferred by SUB1A, involved growth retardation to conserve energy for maintenance metabolism, with resumption of growth upon de-submergence. Combining genes controlling flood tolerance at these two stages with contrasting mechanisms was necessary in flood-prone areas for protection during germination under direct seeding and during vegetative stage. …

Determining Cardinal Temperatures For Eight Cover Crop Species, Mila V. Pessotto, Trenton Roberts, Matthew B. Bertucci, Caio Dos Santos, Jeremy Ross, Mary C. Savin

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Growing degree days (GDD) is a tool to predict plant growth and can be adapted for use in any plant species, including cover crops. A limitation of the GDD calculation is accurate temperature parameters used to predict plant development. For most cover crop species, the cardinal temperatures are not well defined in the literature, leading to a less accurate calculation of GDD. The objective of this study was to determine the cardinal temperatures of eight cover crop species, including Austrian winter pea (Pisum sativum), balansa clover (Trifolium michelianum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), black-seeded oats ( …

Dicamba Off-Target Movement From Applications On Soybeans At Two Growth Stages, Greg R. Kruger, Guilherme S. Alves, Kasey Schroeder, Jeffrey A. Golus, Daniel B. Reynolds, Darrin M. Dodds, Ashli E. Brown, Bradley K. Fritz, Wesley C. Hoffmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to evaluate dicamba off-target movement during and after applications over soybean at two growth stages. Dicamba-tolerant soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] at V3 and R1 growth stages in Nebraska and Mississippi fields were treated with diglycolamine salt of dicamba (560 g ae ha⁻¹), potassium salt of glyphosate (1260 g ae ha⁻¹), and a drift-reducing adjuvant (0.5% v v⁻¹). Filter papers positioned outside the sprayed area were used to determine primary movement and air samplers positioned at the center of sprayed area were used to calculate dicamba flux …

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 …

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 …