In order to keep up with a growing human population, wildlife habitat has had to be relinquished. Modern technology has furthered the abilities of commodity producers but caused a deterioration of the quality and quantity of habitat available for wild animals in many cases. Many species of wildlife have left areas of the state in order to meet their basic needs. In order to increase wildlife numbers, wildlife habitat will have to be reintroduced or managed differently. The first objective of this research is to identify and evaluate the factors associated with a demand for increased wildlife habitat among Tennessee farmers. The provision of habitat can not only benefit wildlife, but the public and private sectors as well. An analysis was preformed in order to identify a more specific interested individual. These individuals can then be more exclusively targeted by administrators of governmental programs with information that will assist in targeting their programs to farmers in Tennessee. These programs offer a wide range of assistance for landowners who are interested in helping the environment. The analysis revealed that individuals who are interested in providing more habitat on their land are younger, more educated, issue hunting leases, were members of environmentally related organizations, and attended agriculture events. Over half of the interested individuals also reported some amount of erosion on their land. Another topic of this research contemplates the growth of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) for energy production. Switchgrass possesses numerous benefits for both landowners and wildlife. The second goal of this study was to analyze the economics of switchgrass production in order to assist landowners in considering growing this crop. Switchgrass is an excellent source of biomass, which currently supplies over 3 percent of the total United States energy consumption. Switchgrass also comprises a very extensive root system, which provides a large area of storage for carbon that is removed by the plant from the atmosphere. Due to its broad root system, this warm-season grass also is proving to be a wonderful plant to be used for erosion control.

In many parts of the world soils have been found that have apparently been formed under climatic conditions that no longer exist. In many places in northern Utah in areas associated with ancient Lake Bonneville, deep soils, fine-textured and non-calcareous, have been observed immediately above the highest shore line of the ancient lake. These soils have essentially no free carbonates to depths ranging from 4 to 15 feet, even though they exist on relatively steep slopes. In Davis and Utah Counties, soils having these characteristics have been given the tentative series name, Manila.

Tall wheatgrass Agropyron elongatum (Host) Beauv. has gained in importance since its introduction into the United States in 1909 from its native habitat on saline meadows and seashores of Southern Europe and Asia Minor. This very 1late-maturing, coarse, nonlodging 2 1/2 to 6-foot-tall bunchgrass was discarded in Utah in 1919 for being too aggressive. It is now under production in the intermountain and other regions because of its cold and drought tolerance as well as for its salt tolerance and its ability to make excellent fall and spring recovery. According to Weintraub (1953) this salt-tolerant plant gives high yields of forage on sub-irrigated alkaline soils.

Plant breeding and the development of new or better varieties of plants are essential parts of modern agronomy, horitculture and forestry. The basis for such improvement is a knowledge of the factors and principles of genetics. A number of genetic studies have been made with barley in recent years. This is partly because of the commercial importance of the crop, and partly because of the many distinct heritable characters of barley plants. The cultivated species of barley offers the plant breeder and geneticist a wealth of material for genetic studies. Varieties differ in a great many readily distinguishable characters, species hybridize readily, and their small number of chromosomes make it good material for inheritance studies. The barly genetic work has been divided among the principal workers in the U.S., each being responsible for one linkage group. This station has been assigned group IV of which this study is a part. A study of the inheritance of other genes not located in linkage group IV, but appearing in the crosses used, has also been made. This investigation is a by-product of the cereal breeding and improvement program being carried on at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station.

Several wheat characters have been shown to exhibit rather complicated inheritance. Examples are such characters as cola length, spike density, and awn classes. This paper reports a study of the inheritance and of the correlated inheritance of these and some other plant characters in a cross between a hybrid of Dicklow X Sevier (III C 18) with Federation.

Throughout much of western United States the soils contain considerable calcium carbonate. This lime is either distributed throughout the soils profile or it occurs in a zone of accumulation at varying depths. On many of these soils certain plants exhibit a chlorosis in varying intensity. This chlorotic condition is not stable as it varies from year to year and even day to day with changing conditions of climate and soil. this chlorosis has been reported from the wine and fruit regions of Europe, from the pineapple and sugar cane areas of Puerto Rico and Florida, from the sorghum and bean areas of the Great Plains and Southwest. The variety of plants subject to lime-induced chlorosis is great and varied. It includes such diverse species as citrus fruits, deciduous fruits, conifers, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, sugar cane, sorghum, peas and beans. Also many flowers, shrubs and ornamental tress are affected. The economic importance of the disease is evident. Because addition of iron salts to the diseased foliage is known to correct the chlorosis, and because analysis of diseased tissue has failed to prove iron to be deficient, it will be the purpose of this study to investigate the iron content of plants in relation to the disease. An explanation for the observed relationships of iron to the disease will be sought.

Chlorosis of the foliage of higher plants has constituted a severe fertility problem in many areas of the world. It has been reported in no less than 30 countries. It has manifested itself in the western states and has usually been associated with a high CaCO3 content in the soil. The problem considered here will be limited to the effects of age, and of calcium and bicarbonate ions on the uptake of iron by plants, and on chlorophyll formation. It is the hope of the author to determine which of the ions in the soil are conducive to "lime-induced chlorosis." Great Northern beans were selected as experimental material in view of their susceptiblity to typical "lime-induced chlorosis." These beans were grown in solution.

Zinc deficiency in Utah is found in about 7 per cent of the orchards. The severity varies from minor cases to sever instances in which many of the trees have died. The areas where zinc deficiency is found are becoming more extensive as land cultivation continues. The treatment of the disorder is expensive and must be repeated often, for it cannot be overcome by the addition of zinc to the soils. The soils in Utah seem to have ample zince, but in areas where zince deficiency occurs it apparently is in a form which is not available for plant growth. Preliminary evidence indicates high soluble phosphate in the siol may reduce the availability of zinc to higher plants. It is the purpose of this study to test the validity of this hypothesis. This report is not an attempt to determine the mechanism of zinc fixation or its reduction in availability; its purpose is to determine if there is a reduction in zinc availability as measured by uptake by plants in the presence of high soluble phosphate.

Heavy and repeated ungulate browsing on reproductive suckers has limited trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) regeneration on many Western landscapes. However, little is known about the specific effects of season and intensity of browsing. My objectives were to determine the effects of season and intensity of clipping (simulated browsing) on suckers’ (1) density and growth characteristics, and (2) nutritional quality and quantity. Three randomly selected stands were clear-felled in mid-July, 2005, and fenced. Simulated browsing treatments of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% removal of current year’s growth were randomly applied in early, mid-, and late summers of 2006 and 2007. Sucker density, height, leader length, twig numbers, bud numbers, basal area, and biomass harvested were monitored in each quadrat. Harvested material was analyzed for crude protein and in vitro true dry matter digestibility. Early summer clipped suckers suffered no winter mortality compared to mortalities of 41% and 42% for mid- and late summer clipped suckers, respectively. However, even at the highest mortality, there were still ample numbers of suckers for stand regeneration. Sucker height was restricted by all early summer treatments. Clipping at 20% and 40% in mid- and late summer, respectively, did not reduce sucker height, but suckers clipped 60% were ≤ 40 cm shorter than controls. Twig and bud density both declined with increasing intensity of clipping. By the study’s end, basal area of early summer clipped suckers was higher than for those clipped in late summer. Crude protein of clipped biomass decreased with season’s advance and clipping intensity. Levels ranged from 12.8% to 22.9% and 10.6% to 16.5% in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Digestibility ranged from 80.1% to 93.4% and 75.2% to 90.7% in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Biomass (260 vs. 181 kg/ha) and total digestible dry matter (197 vs. 142 kg/ha) harvested were higher in mid-summer clipped plots in 2007 than in 2006, respectively. Apart from early summer, total nitrogen harvested was not affected differently by season of clipping. Clear-felling programs that allow browsing of ≤ 40% in mid- and late summer would ensure sustained aspen stand density and growth. (184 pages)

Agriculture first developed in the Middle East where, probably about 15,000-10,000 B.c., the earliest wheat crop was reaped from cultivated wild grasses. In Biblical times the Middle East acted as a granary of the western world and led the world in cereal production. Now, however, the situation is different. The Middle East is one of the lowest yielding areas in the world. This failure of the agriculture of the Middle East may be due to both climatic and cultural reasons. Many students of the Middle East report tha tthe climate has changed and that there has been a gradual decline in the amount of rainfall, especially of the autumn rainfall on which the grower of winter wheat depends for the sowing and germination of his crop. Cultural practices have not change appreciably in that region even though the while area may have changed from sub-humid to semi-arid. farmers still follow the same routine thousands of years ago. Another eason for agricultural failure is the lack of knowledge about climate and crop relationships and the attempts of growing wheat in areas where the climatic pattern is not suited to wheat production. The present problem is to investigate weather in relation to winter wheat production and to determine the extenet to which yields are influenced by climatic factors at different periods of the growth cycle of the wheat plant. Knowledge of such relationships makes it possible to determine, to a certain degree of accuracy, the suitability of a region to winter wheat production.