Latent Variable Phenotypes in Lentil with Sandesh Neupane and Derek Wright
Release Date: 12/15/2023
The Soil Health Cycle with Dr. Bijesh Maharjan
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“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 ...
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Speed Breeding to Combat Wheat Disease with Drs. Nidhi Rawat and Vijay Tiwari
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“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...
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Economics of Autonomous Strip-Cropping with Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer
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“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...
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Benefits of Microarthropods with Dr. Ashley Jernigan
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“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: ...
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Grazing Cover Crops in the Great Plains with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour
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“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 ...
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Pipeline remediation timelines with Theresa Brehm
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“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...
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Managing Sorghum Aphid with Drs. Somashekhar Punnuri, Karen Harris-Shultz, Joseph Knoll, and Xinzhi Ni
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“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...
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Upscaling Soil Moisture Data with Dr. Tyson Ochsner
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“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...
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Phenotyping Crop Variety Mixtures with Flavian Tschurr and Corina Oppliger
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“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...
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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“Focusing the GWAS Lens on days to flower using latent variable phenotypes derived from global multienvironment trials” with Sandesh Neupane and Derek Wright.
Lentil, a pivotal pulse crop, is recognized as an important part of food and nutrition security in the world. It has rich sources of important nutrients, is easy to cook, and thrives well on the farm. Due to its rich dietary benefits, lentil has been introduced to North America, especially in Canada. Originating as a warmer climate crop, domesticated in the Middle East and North Africa, and widely adopted in Southeast Asia, lentil can face adaptation issues in the cooler Canadian climate. This struggle directly impacts flowering, pod-bearing, and overall yield. What precisely are the adaptation constraints hindering lentil introduction in North America? How do varying photoperiods and temperatures exert influence on lentil production? Delving deeper, what genes govern the crop's sensitivity to photoperiods and temperatures? In this episode, Sandesh Neupane and Derek Wright share insights into their research on lentil adaptation and how they dissect the genetic mechanisms orchestrating the photoperiod and temperature sensitivity in lentils with multi-location trials and advanced image-based phenotyping. This groundbreaking work promises to contribute significantly to the breeding of well-suited lentil varieties tailored to thrive in North American conditions.
Tune in to learn about:
· Lentil and its nutritional value
· Lentil’s history
· The challenges of lentil adaptation in Canada
· How the environment affects lentil growth
If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20269
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 Derek Wright, you can find him here:
[email protected]
If you would like to reach out to Sandesh Neupane, you can find him here:
[email protected]
If you would like to reach out to Om Prakash Ghimire from our Student Spotlight, you can find him here:
[email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/baizalla
Resources
CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b66CDC952-F899-EE11-BE37-000D3A32379C%7d
Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/DTO7pupG1PWFmpaCbjNkVKnhQuE9eybRhp_s83uNy5AoLyIlNwjjoi5_3tjqm5lbMxn3ESqOuz1EuC4_GuWmV5Ri604?loadFrom=SharedLink
Plant Sciences, Crop Development Centre – University of Saskatchewan: https://agbio.usask.ca/faculty-and-staff/people-pages/kirstin-bett.php#top/
Know Pulse - https://knowpulse.usask.ca/
Thank you to Om Prakash Ghimire for help on the creation of show notes and other assets.
Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.