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 more...>Louisiana Agriculture Magazine>Past Issues>2005>Winter>

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 Printable Version

ON THE COVER

As part of the effort to find out how widespread Asian soybean rust was in Louisiana, Ray Schneider and other scientists hunted for the disease in a 100-mile radius of Baton Rouge on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004. Schneider is the LSU AgCenter plant pathologist who discovered the disease several days earlier and touched off an international flurry of activity. His discover was the first in North America. The disease had been spreading around the world from its origins in China. This photo was taken in a soybean field in St. James Parish by Mark Claesgens.

in this issue

[Image: Asian soybean rust]2005 will be learning year for Asian soybean rust
LSU AgCenter scientists are launching a series of research projects in 2005 to learn what they can about Asian soybean rust and how this potentially devastating disease will develop in Louisiana.
[Image: USA Map]What Homebuilders Think of Southern Yellow Pine Lumber
Southern yellow pine (SYP) has for many years provided the homebuilding industry with abundant, cost-competitive wood products. Recent research indicates that softwood lumber, including SYP, continues to lose market share in the U.S. residential construction industry to substitute products such as concrete, steel and plastic and that builders remain concerned about softwood lumber quality and price.
[Image: seedling]Effects of Defoliation on Field Corn Seedlings
Several physical, chemical and biological factors can influence corn seedling development and reduce maximum yield potential. Early-season seedling defoliation can make replant decisions difficult. Producers typically underestimate the resilience of corn plants after they undergo early-season injury.
[Image: perlite]Recycling Perlite to Reduce Greenhouse Tomato Production Costs
Most greenhouse tomato operations in the southern United States are small. These growers have to hold down production costs to compete well in a market dominated by more efficient, larger operations. One way they do this is to reuse the root medium (perlite) for growing the greenhouse tomato plants.
[Image: Louisiana Agriculture Magazine Winter 2005]Louisiana Agriculture Magazine Winter 2005
Louisiana Agriculture Magazine Winter 2005
[Image: pub 2827]Find corn information at the LSU AgCenter
Each year LSU AgCenter scientists test commercial corn hybrids. Results are compiled and made available every October as a publication and online. The title is “Corn Hybrids for Grain.” #2827
[Image: team]Less revenue from soybeans predicted for 2005
How the Asian soybean rust discovery in Louisiana will affect the agricultural outlook for the state in 2005 is difficult to predict.
[Image: San Pedro Sula]Helping Honduras' Forest Products Industry Recover from Hurricane Mitch
Because of the significant impact of Hurricane Mitch in October 1998 on the entire agricultural sector in Honduras, representatives of the LSU AgCenter contacted Honduran President Carlos Flores to offer assistance to and collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. This offer of help has resulted in long-term cooperation and collaboration.
[Image: Hanna]Pollinating Greenhouse Tomatoes with Vibrators, Blowers. Bees fail in small operations.
The flower structure of most commercial tomato cultivars assures self-pollination and virtually eliminates the opportunity for outcrossing. Pollen is shed within the individual flowers during blooming when there is a strong enough vibrating force, such as wind, to shake the plant and the flower.
Reducing Listeria monocytogenes on roast beef with acidified sodium chlorite
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause illness when consumers eat refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods contaminated with this micro-organism. Eating foods contaminated with L. monocytogenes normally causes flu-like symptoms in healthy adults.
[Image: Grain Sorghum Hybrids]Plant Patterns for Different Grain Sorghum Hybrids
Research has found a consistent sorghum yield response to row widths narrower than 40 inches, particularly on alluvial soils. On Macon Ridge soils, narrow rows tend to yield better than wider rows in years with adequate rainfall, while wider rows are superior to narrow row widths in rain-deficient years.
[Image: sorghum image]Planting Patterns for Different Grain Sorghum Hybrids
Research has found a consistent sorghum yield response to row widths narrower than 40 inches, particularly on alluvial soils. On Macon Ridge soils, narrow rows tend to yield better than wider rows in years with adequate rainfall, while wider rows are superior to narrow row widths in rain-deficient years.
[Image: Texas Border]Slowing Down the Mexican Rice Borer
The Mexican rice borer has been the major economic pest in Texas sugarcane since it became established in 1980, quickly surpassing that same year the sugarcane borer in economic importance. Even though the insect has not yet been found in Louisiana, scientists from both states and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are working together to conduct research on the areawide population dynamics of the Mexican rice borer and to develop cultural and production practices to reduce its spread.
[Image: Borer Trap]Monitoring of Pheromone Traps and Regulatory Actions
During the winter of 1999, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) entered into a compliance agreement with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) concerning a pheromone trapping protocol that would allow sugarcane produced in Southeast Texas to be transported to mills in Louisiana for processing.
Economics of the Mexican Rice Borer
The Mexican rice borer was first detected in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1980. The insect caused yield reductions in sugarcane of up to 50 percent before the end of that year and now represents more than 95 percent of the sugarcane stalk borer population in the valley.
[Image: Dr. Zhijun Liu]Noni Tree: Potential Cancer Preventative, Therapy
Current technologies for the prevention and treatment of cancer are far from being effective at safe, non-toxic doses. Standard chemotherapeutic drugs are all designed to be toxic, harming cancerous and healthy tissues to varying degrees. Targeted therapies such as angiogenic inhibitors directed toward specific receptors or growth-factor pathways offer hope in managing cancer.
Forewarned is fore-armed for Asian soybean rust
Plant pathology researcher, Ray Schneider, discovered the presence of a soybean disease new to this country at the perfect time, so the agricultural industry could gear up to prevent potentially catastrophic losses.
[Image: Graduate Assistantship]Looney funds animal sciences graduate assistantship
Charles R. Looney, president and founder of OvaGenix of Bryan, Texas, has established a graduate assistantship in the Department of Animal Sciences. The first recipient is Casey Ballard from Atlanta, Texas, who began his program of study fall semester 2004.
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