No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Demand for ruminant-derived products high in beneficial fatty acids (FA) has led to a desire to maximize the alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and total FA (ΣFA) content of forage crops. Several management factors affect the ALA and ΣFA content of forages, including phenology, species, season, and nitrogen fertility. Yet, the influence of harvest management decisions that affect wilting time of conserved forages is under-studied. Similarly, the majority of published research regarding ALA and ΣFA content is of cool season (C3 photosynthetic) temperate perennial forage species, and not warm season (C4 photosynthetic) annual species. Sample preservation methodologies used in published research are often too expensive and time consuming for desired practicality, or unreliable. This dissertation aids in addressing these deficiencies. In the first study, forced hot air drying of forage samples was shown to be unreliable for accurate FA analysis, and an alternative methodology was established utilizing brief microwave pretreatment of small fresh weight samples prior to forced hot air drying, yielding results similar in accuracy to lyophilized samples. Oxidative losses of ground dried forage samples were also examined, again suggesting that microwave pretreatment prior to forced hot air drying is a fast, inexpensive and otherwise desirable choice for forage sample preservation in anticipation of later FA analysis. A second study investigated two warm season annual forage species (sorghum-sudangrass and pearl millet), showing that maturity-associated declines in whole plant ALA and ΣFA content are largely a product of an increasing ratio of ALA- and ΣFA-scarce pseudostem fractions, and only secondarily resultant of maturity associated declines within individual plant fractions. Lamina mass ratio was identified as a correlate with ALA and ΣFA content, at least as useful as two common correlates - crude protein and neutral detergent fiber content. A third study also showed the critical influence of crop maturity upon ALA and ΣFA content in two warm season annual forages (pearl millet and sudangrass), in addition to differences between species and those resultant from differing nitrogen fertility. Conserved forage harvest decisions were evaluated in the fourth study. No difference was found between wide and narrow swath treatments (70% and 40% of mower width, respectively) of AM and PM mown reed canarygrass, but there was evidence to suggest that AM mowing may allow for a higher content of ALA and ΣFA content relative to PM mowing. Ensiling was also found to decrease ALA content or proportion. In conclusion, management choices promoting grazing and/or harvesting of a higher laminae proportion, optimizing nitrogen fertility, and suitable choice of species for meeting these goals may be the best way to maximize the ALA and ΣFA content of forages grown for livestock. AM mowing may reduce ALA and ΣFA content losses otherwise caused by overnight wilting of forages mown for conservation, and microwave pretreatment prior to forced hot air drying is an advisable sample preservation methodology for researchers furthering the study of forage ALA and ΣFA content, when lyophilization is impractical or too expensive.

Covered smut is a fungus disease that has caused serious losses of wheat for centuries. Its origin is not known, but it was well known to early Romans as evidenced by the fact that they had a god, Robigus, whose special work was to watch over crops to "avert the mildew". It is often referred to as "bunt" or "stinking smut of wheat". Throughout this paper the term' "bunt" will be used to designate this disease in order to avoid confusing it with other smuts of wheat.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influences of American student teachers on a rural community in New South Wales, Australia. The study analyzed interviews with twelve participants of the American student teacher program in A Rural New South Wales community, Australia. Two researchers worked together to complete this study. Both researchers were student teachers with the New South Wales community for ten weeks and taught Agriculture in one the community‟s two high schools. After allowing one year to pass, researcher one returned to the community to interview twelve individuals involved with the program. The interviewed participants were questioned based on a predetermined protocol. The interviews were then transcribed, coded, and categorized into themes by researcher two. Using participatory action research and a modified grounded theory approach, the researchers were able to identify areas of influence suggested by the participants. The participants identified nine areas of influence within the school and community of the American student teachers: cultural awareness, stereotypes, language, classroom distractions, teaching methods awareness, cultural changes in community members, student performance, community unification, and impact of student teacher presence.

“Growing Up Green,” is a research based environmental education program that teaches children about recycling, energy conservation, and composting. This program was taught to fourth grade students at H.B. Williams Elementary School, in White House, Tennessee. The children were given a pre-test before the program and a post-test two weeks after the program. The pre and post-test was composed of three parts. The three parts tested their environmental attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. The study found that most of the children already had positive attitudes toward the environment. While, their attitudes decreased minimally after the program, they still remained very positive. The children did well on the knowledge test. Their environmental knowledge increased after the “Growing Up Green,” program. While the program did not appear to have a substantive impact on their environmental behavior adoption, the children already participated in some behaviors like recycling and conserving energy before the program, and continued these behaviors after the program, too.

Thiobencarb (TB), widely used for the control of broadleaf weeds, grasses, and sedges in rice fields, is considered safe for rice plants when used at recommended rates. TB's reductive dechlorination product, dechlorinated thiobencarb (DTB), is highly toxic to rice. TB is naturally transformed into DTB in field soils in certain areas in Japan and the United States. The resultant syndrome is called delayed phytotoxicity syndrome (DPS). This research was conducted to characterize DPS in Louisiana, to compare the toxicity of TB and DTB to rice, to determine uptake and retention rates of TB and DTB by rice, to confirm that soil microorganisms convert TB to DTB, to determine factors affecting the dechlorination of TB, and to develop methods for isolating dechlorinating microorganisms. An in vitro bioassay developed in this study showed that seedling heights were reduced as concentrations of TB and DTB in soil increased. The effective dosage for 50% reduction in height, using Lafitte rice, was 6.6 μg/ml for TB and 0.3 μg/ml for DTB. By developing and using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method, it was shown that DTB was not taken up preferentially by rice plants. Rice plants absorbed and accumulated more TB than DTB when exposed at equal concentrations. The toxic effects of TB and DTB to rice seedlings was additive. When rice cultivars were evaluated for sensitivity to DTB, M201 was more tolerant than Bengal, Cocodrie, and Lafitte. The conditions affecting the transformation of TB into DTB in soil were studied using a special apparatus developed to measure the redox potential of soil columns at different depths. Reductive dechlorination of TB peaked after 14 days incubation, at a position in the soil column corresponding to an Eh of -230 mV. TB was converted to DTB in vitro in a conducive soil, but not after the soil was autoclaved. Bacterial and fungal isolates from conducive soil inoculated into sterile soil suspensions, or the soil column, all failed to dechlorinate TB. Repeated attempts to isolate the organisms responsible for dechlorination of TB in Louisiana rice field soils failed.

The efficacy of herbicide combination on burley and dark air-cured tobacco Nictotiana tabacum were tested in field research plots in the summer of 2000 at Western Kentucky University's Agricultural Research and Education Complex. The randomized complete block design contained six treatments replicated three times in each of the two experiments (burley and dark air-cured tobacco). Transplants (cv. 'TN 97' and cv. 'KY 160') were established on June 2, 2000 in a conventionally tilled Pembroke silt loam soil with a pH of 6.5 and organic matter content of 12 g/kg. Herbicide treatments were applied on June 1, 2000 with a CO2 backpack sprayer. Six treatments were applied to both burley and dark air-cured plots. Sulfentrazone was applied alone and in combination with either clomazone, pendimethalin, or napropamide. A sulfentrazone + clomazone combination followed by sethoxydim, as well as a clomazone + pendimethalin tank mix were also evaluated. Weeds targeted for control were: Ipomoea hederacea L. (ivyleaf morningglory), Amaranthus hybridus L. (smooth pigweed), and Eleusine indica L. (goosegrass). Sulfentrazone alone provided >69% control of smooth pigweed and >89 % control of ivyleaf morningglory in burley and dark-air cured tobacco. At 21 days after treatment (DAT) the combinations of sulfentrazone/pendimethalin, sulfentrazone/clomazone/sethoxydim, and clomazone/pendimethalin gave better control of smooth pigweed in burley tobacco than did sulfentrazone/clomazone, but there were no differences between treatments at later evaluation dates. In dark-air cured tobacco, at 21 DAT sulfentrazone and the sulfentrazone/napropamide combination provided better control of smooth pigweed than did sulfentrazone/sethoxydim, but there were no differences between treatments at later evaluation dates. With respect to ivyleaf morningglory control, addition of herbicide combinations did not provide an advantage to sulfentrazone alone. Goosegrass control in dark-air cured tobacco was > 85% at all DAT, and control was > 45% in the burley plot. Control of goosegrass in both types of tobacco was > 94% with the triple combination of sulfentrazone/clomazone and sethoxydim at all evaluation dates, yet all combinations provided >86% goosegrass control at all evaluation dates. Addition of herbicides to sulfentrazone, (with the exception of napropamide) provided an advantage to goosegrass control in burley tobacco.