Halloween Special: Fall Armyworm with Drs. Sandra Woolfolk and Leigh Hawkins
Release Date: 10/31/2023
The Soil Health Cycle with Dr. Bijesh Maharjan
Field, Lab, Earth
“Soil Health Cycle” with Dr. Bijesh Maharjan Researchers, advisers, and farmers alike know that soil health is important, but taking steps forward in the knowledge of which practices to use and their impacts can be difficult. Enter the soil health cycle, an iterative approach to help track how practices and their implementation take soil health forward. In this episode, Bijesh joins me to discuss his work on the soil health cycle. Tune in to learn: · How the soil health cycle is similar to human health care cycles ...
info_outline
Speed Breeding to Combat Wheat Disease with Drs. Nidhi Rawat and Vijay Tiwari
Field, Lab, Earth
“Evaluation of speed breeding conditions for accelerating Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol screening in wheat” with Nidhi Rawat and Vivek Tiwari. Fusarium head blight (FHB), also known as head scab, is one of the most significant diseases affecting wheat, causing substantial economic losses for farmers in the U.S. and worldwide. While FHB resistant wheat lines have been identified, breeding these traits into desirable cultivars is a time-consuming process that can take decades, with uncertain success. In the U.S., particularly for spring wheat, crossing of wheat lines can...
info_outline
Economics of Autonomous Strip-Cropping with Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer
Field, Lab, Earth
“Economics of strip cropping with autonomous machines” with James Lowenberg-DeBoer. With the growing global population, the demand for food continues to rise. However, increasing food production often depends on intensive farming practices and agricultural inputs that can negatively impact environmental health. To counter this, promoting crop diversity, improving soil health, and reducing disease and pest pressure are crucial. Mixed cropping presents a viable solution but poses challenges for mechanization and labor efficiency. In this context, customized autonomous machines and advanced...
info_outline
Benefits of Microarthropods with Dr. Ashley Jernigan
Field, Lab, Earth
“Microarthropods improve oat nutritional quality and mediate fertilizer effects on soil biological activity” with Dr. Ashley Jernigan Microarthropods are little critters that can have a big impact on crop production, particularly when it comes to nutrient cycling and nutrient acquisition. However, there’s still much to learn about how the work these little helpers do is affected when paired with different types of fertilizers. In this episode, Dr. Jernigan joins me to discuss how microarthropods get along with different fertilizer treatments. Tune in to learn: ...
info_outline
Grazing Cover Crops in the Great Plains with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour
Field, Lab, Earth
“Grazing cover crops: How does it influence soils and crops?” with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour. Cover crops have a lot of uses depending on where you live and what you grow, but in some regions like the Great Plains, it can take a little extra help to make sure they’re as helpful as they can be. In this episode, John and Augustine join me to discuss the advantages and challenges of grazing cover crops in the Great Plains. Tune in to learn: · Which factors most impact strategy when incorporating cover crops ...
info_outline
Pipeline remediation timelines with Theresa Brehm
Field, Lab, Earth
“Soil degradation and crop yield declines persist 5 years after pipeline installations” with Theresa Brehm. Underground pipeline installations are crucial for energy supply, helping to meet rising demand. However, these installations can significantly impact agricultural lands due to soil excavation, heavy machinery use, and resulting soil disturbances. Although companies typically offer support to farmers for up to five years, claiming that soil health and productivity are restored within that period, many farmers report ongoing issues with soil degradation and reduced crop yields. This...
info_outline
Managing Sorghum Aphid with Drs. Somashekhar Punnuri, Karen Harris-Shultz, Joseph Knoll, and Xinzhi Ni
Field, Lab, Earth
“Invasive sorghum aphid: A decade of research on deciphering plant resistance mechanisms and novel approaches in breeding for sorghum resistance to aphids” with Drs. Somashekhar Punnuri, Karen Harris-Shultz, Joseph Knoll, and Xinzhi Ni. Sorghum is an important crop in the United States, grown for grain, forage and bioenergy purposes. However, its production is facing several challenges due to abiotic and biotic factors, with aphids emerging as a significant pest in last decade. Once considered a minor pest, sorghum aphids have become a major threat to sorghum cultivation due to susceptible...
info_outline
Upscaling Soil Moisture Data with Dr. Tyson Ochsner
Field, Lab, Earth
“Upscaling soil moisture from point scale to field scale: towards a general model” with Dr. Tyson Ochsner Field scale soil moisture measurements can be difficult to attain. Point scale data can be too small to give field scale advice, and data gathered from satellites often lack important specificity. In this episode, Tyson joins me to discuss a new method to upscale point data into field scale soil moisture estimates. Tune in to learn: · Why field-scale measurements are important for both grower and researcher needs, yet are difficult to...
info_outline
Phenotyping Crop Variety Mixtures with Flavian Tschurr and Corina Oppliger
Field, Lab, Earth
“Mixing things up! Identifying early diversity benefits and facilitating the development of improved variety mixtures with high throughput field phenotyping” with Flavian Tschurr and Corina Oppliger. With increasing yield instability in monocropping systems due to diseases, pests or climatic factors, crop diversification is a potential strategy to improve crop performance and yield stability. However, crop diversification can present challenges in agronomic management and operations. One promising approach to crop diversification is using multiple varieties of one crop rather than multiple...
info_outline
Biochar-Dairy Manure Mixes with Dr. Touyee Thao
Field, Lab, Earth
“The effects of different biochar-dairy manure co-composts on soil moisture and nutrients retention, greenhouse gas emissions, and tomato productivity; observations from a soil column experiment” with Dr. Touyee Thao. Increasing food production needs can sometimes put a strain on the environment. Waste from crop and animal production can exacerbate this problem. But, when waste can be turned into a benefit, we can move closer to a world where both can thrive. In this episode, Touyee joins me to discuss how turning waste products into beneficial materials like biochar and compost can help...
info_outline“Genes and genetic mechanisms contributing to fall armyworm resistance in maize” with Sandra Woolfolk and Leigh Hawkins, research entomologist and molecular biologist (respectively) at USDA-ARS.
Fall armyworm is a major pest around the world, causing millions of dollars in damages yearly. However, farmers are not alone in the fight against these invasive creatures, with plant breeders coming alongside to help develop more resistant plants. This episode, Drs. Sandra Woolfolk and Leigh Hawkins discuss their work tracking down the traits that can lead to higher resistance against this frightful pest.
Tune in to learn:
· What fall armyworms look like
· What makes fall armyworms such a scary pest
· How DNA, SNPs, and metabolic pathways are like a highway
· Which metabolic pathways were the most promising
If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20311
This paper is always freely available.
Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you’d like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.
If you would like to reach out to Sandra, you can find her here:
[email protected]
If you would like to reach out to Leigh, you can find her here:
[email protected]
Resources
Corn Host Plant Resistance Research Unit: https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/mississippi-state-ms/crop-science-research-laboratory/corn-host-plant-resistance-research/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_armyworm
Entomology Department, University of Florida: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/fall_armyworm.htm
Mississippi State Extension Fall Armyworms page: http://extension.msstate.edu/content/fall-armyworms
Mississippi State Extension Fall Armyworms in Hayfields and Pastures article: http://extension.msstate.edu/node/7154
USDA-ARS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgriculturalResearchService
USDA-ARS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars/
FAO Fall Armyworm page: https://www.fao.org/fall-armyworm/en/
USDA Fall Armyworm article: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2018/02/26/fall-armyworm-usda-research-lends-hand-international-pest-outbreak
Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.