Latest American Society of Agronomy Stories
Phosphorus (P) is both an essential nutrient in agricultural fields and a contributor to poor water quality in surface waters. To encourage improved P management in fields, the P Index was proposed as a risk assessment tool in 1992. After 20 years of use, modifications, and growing pains, does the P Index accurately assess the risk of P loss? A special section being published next month in the Journal of Environmental Quality addresses that question. The collection of papers grew out of a...
New edge of extinction research is creating a revival of conservation and interest in what these old plants mean to the future A botanist brings a species of alfalfa from Siberia, to the United States. His hope? The plant survives, and leads to a new winter-hardy alfalfa. But what also happened during this time in the late 1800's, isn't just a story of legend and lore. The truth of the matter is creating a current revival in both interest and conservation of what's now called a crop's...
Researches Try Accounting for Spatial Trend in Single Crop Field TrialsScientists at Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, in collaboration with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Syria have developed a method of accounting for spatial trend in single crop field trials. Spatial trend refers to the variations in crop yield and other characteristics observed when repeating this single crop field trial. Usually plant breeders will grow several...
Planting soybean [(Glycine max (L.) Merr.] into Fe chlorosis-prone soils where soybean has seldom, if ever, been grown may require special precautions to establish effective Bradyrhizonium japonicum populations, while simultaneously providing adequate levels of N for the current crop. However, adding fertilizer N likely will increase rhizosphere pH and [ OH− ] and, thus, promote Fe deficiency. Our objective was to determine whether varieties (Vs) that differed in Fe efficiency also...
Urban agriculture aims at helping Seattle's at-risk youthA case study published in the 2010 Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education by professors at Washington State University studies the challenges one organization faced in maintaining an urban market garden. The journal is published by the American Society of Agronomy.Since 1995, Seattle Youth Garden Works (SYGW) has employed young homeless individuals or those involved in the juvenile justice system. SYGW offers teens and...
Study Tests Water Quality Trends for Nitrogen and PhosphorusResearchers at the University of Florida Research and Education Centers and scientists at the South Florida Water Management District have published a report regarding the trends in water quality feeding into Everglades National Park. The report can be found in the September-October 2010 Journal of Environmental Quality, published by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society...
Scientists find low levels of bacteria in fields sprayed with swine manureThat swine manure sprayed on to fields adds valuable nutrients to the soil is well known. But what is not known is whether all that manure is bringing harmful bacteria with it.A new study looks at the levels of nutrients and bacteria in soils of fields that have been sprayed with manure for fifteen years or more. The research team, composed of scientists from the USDA-ARS Crop Science Research Laboratory at Mississippi...
Horticulture, library and English departments team up to engage studentsUndergrads often take communication courses unrelated to their major or discipline. The Iowa State University Department of Horticulture teamed up with the Library and English Departments to develop a course section to teach students to research and understand literature searchers and incorporate them into papers and posters.Andrea L. Dinkelman, Jeanine E. Aune, and Gail R. Nonnecke, Iowa State University faculty from the...
A simple and inexpensive demonstration of soil water retention and field capacityUsing little more than PVC rings, a trashcan, and a scale, students can literally get a feel for soil water retention and field capacity, concepts that are important and useful in fields from farming to engineering.The demonstration, developed by Adam Howard, Drs. Josh Heitman and Dan Bowman of North Carolina State University, was designed to illustrate concepts that can be difficult for students to visualize and...
Scientists compile field studies across U.S. to identify influences on biomass yieldWhile scientists have conducted numerous studies on production of biomass from biofuel crops, such as switchgrass, no one has yet compiled this information to evaluate the response of biomass yield to soils, climate, and crop management across the United States.A team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Dartmouth College published just such a study in the July-August 2010 Agronomy Journal,...
